(John 15:9-17)

One of my favorite illustrations for talking about the spiritual life is the thermostat. Those little boxes on the wall in our houses that help us to regulate the inside temperature. Thermostats are “all about” regulation. That's all they do – they “regulate.” That word “regulate,” is an interesting word. It comes from the old Latin term, “regula,” which means “rule.”

These little boxes on the wall have rules inside of them, which once they're set, get automatically followed. If the little dial is set on 70° F, the rule is that any time the temperature goes above 70°, the furnace shuts off; any time the temperature goes below 70°, the furnace starts up again. If the house has central air conditioning, then the cooling of the air can also be regulated by your thermostat... so, for example, the rule might be that every time the temperature reaches 75°, the air conditioning goes on, and when the temperature goes back down below 75°, the air condition shuts off. And so... because the thermostat always faithfully follows these rules, the temperature inside of the house always gets regulated to adjust for whatever may be going on weather-wise outside of the house. And that makes it possible for life inside of the house to stay habitable and hospitable, no matter what the season is.

Each of us human beings is, in a way, like a house. Each of us, as part of our standard human equipment have built-in “heating and cooling systems” that we call moods. But these inner heating and cooling systems of ours are much more complicated than furnaces and air conditioners. Because they interconnect all of our bodily sensations and emotions, our thoughts and beliefs and imagination, and especially our habits. So it takes a very extraordinary kind of thermostat to regulate our moods well.

When I first came to Canada in 1989, I worked in Sarnia, in the children's mental health field. At that time, there was a shortage of psychologists here in Ontario, and so I was recruited from Detroit, where I was working at the time. That's how I came to Canada. The job in Sarnia involved working with children who had all sorts of complicated problems. But if I could sum it up in a simple way, I would say that they were struggling with basically two kinds of problems:

1. Some of these kids were what you might describe as “under-controlled” – their inner thermostats didn't seem to work well. And in stressful situations they would get very overheated, they couldn't cool down. Sometimes they would even get violent, with other children, with their parents, or their teachers. Or they would get just as cold as ice with others... become very distant... and they couldn't warm up. They might cut a person completely out of their lives for good... over just a small frustration or disappointment.

2. And, then, there were others who you might describe as “over-controlled” – their inner thermostats didn't seem to work well either, but in a different way. They didn't get overheated. And they didn't get overcooled. In fact, their inner temperature didn't seem to get moved at all! As soon as they experienced even a bit of stress from the outside world, they just completely shut down emotionally. They didn't get violent or or icy with people. These were the kids who were very easy to miss because they were often very quiet and compliant; they didn't bother anyone. They didn't make any waves at all. But inside they were very distressed about their lives, and it would show up in their schoolwork, in their not wanting to play, in their not eating or sleeping well, and so on.

And so all of these troubled kids had “emotional regulation” problems of one kind or another. Their inner thermostats just weren't working in the way they were supposed to. And that meant that the living conditions inside of their young lives weren't very habitable... or hospitable. Their own bodies and minds had become very difficult places to live in... which is a pretty serious problem... because if we can't live comfortably within our own body and mind... we can't very well move somewhere else... can we?! This is where we're born & where we die. No refunds or exchanges... And so... if we're having problems with our inner thermostats... our only hope is to somehow get them repaired or replaced... So...where do we get these “inner thermostats” anyway? And how come some people's inner thermostats clearly work much better than others?

Imagine a young child who is sick with a fever. She has no real idea what is going on, only that everything has changed in her body and mind in a way that is very uncomfortable. There is aspirin or tylenol that can help reduce the pain and the fever, but these are not quick solutions, and sometimes they don't make much difference at all. Often the child has to bear the experience of the fever for quite a while before things get better. And the problem there is that young children are typically not very good at bearing unpleasant experiences.

And so what do parents often do in these kinds of situations? Well, when things go well, the parents kind of “lend” themselves to the child. They can't make the pain disappear, but they can sit with the child, maybe place a cool cloth on her forehead, maybe sing her favorite song to her. In these ways, they can “lend” their own emotional stability to the child to help her cope with the difficult circumstance she is in.

On the other hand, imagine a young child who is angry, let's say he's angry with the family dog, because the dog doesn't want to play “horsey” right now. The child has no real idea what is going on, only that the doggie is not doing what he wants it to do, and that is frustrating, and it makes him angry. And young children are typically not very good at bearing those kinds of frustrating experiences.

And so parents often step in... and help them understand that doggies get frustrated too... and sometimes doggies just like to be petted or even left alone... but we can always play “horsey” on the arm of the sofa... or we can even find something else that is fun to do.. and so on. The parent can't make the frustration disappear, but they can “lend” their own emotional stability to the child to help him cope with the difficult situation.

These are just the kinds of things that healthy parents do... right? And children are powerfully helped by these sorts of efforts by their parents. They remember how mommy or daddy helped them to calm down and feel better... they treasure those experiences within their little minds... and that helps them to develop their own “inner thermostats...” So that, eventually, when they are on their own... and they face some kind of stressful situation, they don't have to shut down emotionally, or get overheated, or frozen. They can adapt to the situation because through many of these kinds of experiences, they have developed helpful ways to regulate their emotions. They've developed their own inner thermostat, which is almost as good as having Mom or Dad right there with them in the difficult situation.

But what if the parents own inner thermostats don't work too well? What if, when the parents face stress in their lives, they themselves are getting emotionally overheated, or frozen, or just shutting down in depression? Or.... what if the only way that the parents can regulate their own emotions is through alcohol or drugs or some kind of unhealthy behavior? If the parents don't have enough emotional stability of their own to “lend” the child when he/she is struggling emotionally, the child naturally develops an inner thermostat much like their parents... one that doesn't quite work like it's supposed to.

The reality is that there are no parents whose lives always perfectly mirror the wise and loving presence of the Living God to their children. I'm afraid we all fall short of that glorious standard. Of course, some parents are better mirrors of the Divine than others. They relate to their children in more godly ways – they're more loving and compassionate; more aware of right and wrong; better listeners; better able to set limits without breaking the child's spirit, and so on. And the fortunate children of those parents tend to develop pretty good inner thermostats... which help them to stay emotionally balanced in their lives, even when they find themselves in stressful situations.

In the end, though, no matter how helpful or unhelpful our parents were... eventually the time comes for us all when, ready or not, our parents are gone, and we're left on our own...with whatever inner equipment that they passed on to us... for keeping our emotional lives balanced and regulated. There's no way to “make” our parents better at parenting than they actually were. There's no going back to childhood... And it's very sad, but it's very true, that the less our parents were like Jesus in how they related to us, the more difficult our lives will be... because inevitably we get formed as human beings in our parents image. And the less that their image reflects Christ, the human face of God, the more problems we are going to have in living. When I was working with these troubled kids in Sarnia, I asked myself a lot of funny questions... I think, as a way of coping with the stress. I wondered: Why does growing up into a healthy, fully human being, have to be so very challenging? Why couldn't it just be as easy as raising a puppy or a kitten?

It's actually a pretty good question I think. Remember that, as human beings, each of us is, in a way, like a house. And, as part of our standard human equipment we have these built-in heating and cooling systems called moods. And these inner systems are very complicated. They connect all of our bodily sensations and emotions, our thoughts and beliefs, our imaginations and our habits, with one another. Perhaps, in the end, the reason that they are so very complicated is because, by design, we human beings are created in the image of God. For us to grow up well, we simply must be cared for as God's children, as parents must solemnly vow in the Sacrament of Baptism. And, of course, that vow is primarily about the parents' attending to their own spiritual development, so that they can then, in turn, attend well to the spiritual development of their child. I'm sure that it's true that, at some level, every parent wants the very best for their child. But the very best is very costly... the parents have to essentially die to themselves in order to give their children the kind of love and guidance that they need. And that requires spiritual maturity. In order to live really well in this life, to be at peace as a person, even in the midst of very trying circumstances, we need a Thermostat inside of us that is no less than Divine. As we were reflecting on last Sunday, we need an Inner Prophet, an Inner Priest, & an Inner Shepherd if we are to flourish in this life no matter what comes our way. Because, after all, this life isn't easy. We all need all the help that we can get when it comes to growing up spiritually...

Today's gospel reading suggests that the Inner Thermostat that we all need within us is no less than the Living Christ. Christ can cool us down, no matter how overheated we get. Christ can warm us up, no matter how frozen and brittle we become. Christ can get us going, no matter how shut down we are in our lives. Christ can slow us down. Christ can speed us up. Christ can bring about the exact changes in our lives that are needed in order for us to flourish and be fruitful. Because Christ has already done it all before... and under the worst conditions imaginable...

If we haven't had perfectly Christ-like parents, welcome to the human race! In spite of that unfortunate fact, we now have Christ, always available to comfort and care for us, to guide us in the direction of God's will for our lives. Christ is real. And Christ is here now, not just somewhere up in the sky but within each and every one of us, ready and willing to form our lives, day by day, into his own beautiful, fully human image. Ready to meet us in prayer, and in the ministries of Word, and Sacrament, and the Pastorally Caring Relationships that the Church offers. And the more we meet with Christ, the more we allow Christ to form us from within into his image, the more genuine lovingkindness and forgiveness and hope we have to offer one another, and our children, and our neighbors. We develop a Christ-like thermostat within us that everyone we encounter benefits from, and wonders how they can get one like that for their own lives...

The Dutch Canadian priest, Henri Nouwen, once wrote:

“How do we know about God's love, God's generosity, God's kindness, God's forgiveness? Through our parents, our friends, our teachers, our pastors, our spouses, our children ... they all reveal God to us. But as we come to know them, we realise that each of them can reveal only a little bit of God. God's love is greater than theirs; God's goodness is greater than theirs; God's beauty is greater than theirs. At first we may be disappointed in these people in our lives. For a while we thought that they would be able to give us all the love, goodness, and beauty we needed. But gradually we discover that they were all signposts on the way to God.”

Jesus understood all of this.... but, of course, they didn't have thermostats or central heating and cooling back in ancient Palestine. They had a whole lot of foliage, though, a lot of plant-life. And so in today's Gospel reading, Jesus says:

It's like this: God the Father is the Vinegrower. I am the Vine. You are the branches. The Spirit of the Living God flows from the Vinegrower through the Vine to the Branches. The branches have zero ability to regulate themselves. That's not how they were created. They can only be regulated by the Vine.... If some nutrient or some process needs to be increased or decreased in the branches – in order for them to be healthy and bear fruit – that only happens through the Vine.

I'm taking the risk of mixing some metaphors here today, because I want to offer you another way to reflect on this teaching of Jesus. The Vinegrower (or God the Father) is like the Housebuilder. The Vine (or God the Son) is like the Housebuilder's perfect thermostat. The Vine regulates all the vital systems according to the rules set by the Vinegrower. Just like the thermostat perfectly regulates the flow of all of the vital systems in the house, so that no matter what is going on outside... we can be at peace on the inside. The branches are like all of the ducts and all of the connecting wires that hook up to the furnace and to the air conditioning systems. And what flows through those ducts and wires when they are being properly regulated by Christ is Divine Love itself (or God the Spirit.)

Actually I prefer Jesus' Vine & Branches metaphor, but in some ways it might be easier for us today to grasp the more modern example. (And besides, the wisdom of our modern technology only mirrors the wisdom of God's creation. Vines were regulating branches long before thermostats were regulating houses.) If we were to translate today's Gospel reading into the more modern metaphor, Jesus would be saying to us something like this:

“Let me be your Inner Thermostat! I always follow the rules set by the Father. When you find yourself getting overheated, or too cold, or shutting down altogether... Turn to me! I know exactly how to handle what you're facing. Don't try to regulate your life as if you were on your own. That's just not how it works. You may not be aware of it in every moment...but the Father has built me in to your soul...I am closer to you than your own breath. And I can enable you to adjust to any circumstance that Our Father allows to come into your life.”

Thanks be to God !!!

Easter V, May 6^th, 2012 ☩ Christ Church (Glanworth) & Trinity (Lambeth) ☩