Comments for Jim Other sermons.                 

Christ is "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation." (Colossians 1:15). In our tradition, God is ultimately invisible, mysterious, and unknowable. God is the ground and abyss of Being. God is on the other side of a "Cloud of Unknowing." Since God is Eternal, God is no-thing, nothing; for to be something is to be of this observable world of time and space. God is the power of Being that sustains and fills that world but lives and reigns beyond it.

At yet, mysteriously, God encounters us in time and space. The New Testament teaches that God has come to us in Jesus Christ. And since everything in time and space has a name and a form, for us, the name and form of "God with us" is the historical Jesus of Nazareth, who is one and the same with the Risen Christ. Christ is the image of the invisible God. The Greek word is eikon, the same as in English (icon). In the Letter to the Philippians, Paul says:

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.

God entered time and space, taking the form of a human being; emptying God’s Self of everything, including divine power, to become a servant. The Divine in this world must take some form. Yes, God is Spirit, which is invisible, but Spirit seeks form.

Consider the scriptures this morning. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the story of the Passion of Jesus. Jesus has his triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and is met by cheering crowds. Why did they cheer him? They saw him as the Messiah, the one who would save them from the Romans. They had an image of Jesus. Were they right? No. They misinterpreted the image. And when they saw that Jesus had come not as a king, but as a servant, they turned against him. Together with images of suffering in Baghdad last week, we saw cheering crowds. I believe those delirious people are grateful to be liberated. But for how long will the cheering last? Already we are being warned that people who are happy at being liberated will not be happy at being occupied. And we have also seen that cheering crowds can quickly become looting mobs.

The New Testament story of the unnamed woman who pours the costly ointment over Jesus really is quite beautiful. Jesus says that she understands who he truly is. In fact, she foresees his coming death and is living into the preparation of his body for burial. How is this possible? One can imagine this dinner party scene. You know how that goes – idle chatter, or people trying to impress one another, or jockeying for the limelight, or trying to please Jesus. I suppose that those gathered revered Jesus sincerely. They prided themselves in being his followers; but were they really following him? When the woman poured out the ointment, they missed the point entirely, offering up sanctimonious claptrap about their love for the poor. Their image of the woman was that she was a wasteful fool, a nobody; one not entitled to the prerogatives they enjoyed by associating with Jesus. Paul says Jesus took the form of a servant, a self-emptying slave. And this is exactly what this woman did. Her form was as one who emptied herself of who she was, and of what she had. Jesus emptied himself and God shone through him. This woman emptied herself and God shone through her.

This story shows us the Divine in this woman recognizing the Divine in Jesus. And at the same instant, the Divine in Jesus recognizing the Divine in this woman. And with that mutual recognition, she was lifted out of time and space and into Eternity. She saw the present and future with Jesus’ eyes and she understood. Paul says, "Have the same mind in you that was in Christ Jesus." Jesus is the icon of God, but so was this woman. In the Eastern Orthodox tradition icons are very important in spiritual practice. It is believed that to look into the eyes of Jesus, pictured in an icon, is to allow Jesus to look back into your eyes.

To recognize that one is loved and accepted by God in one’s very heart, to experience the Divine within and without, means that one’s life assumes a form. And that form includes every aspect of how you order your life: your appearance, your habits, your lifestyle. The form your life takes can either reveal God in you to the world, or obstruct God. And the form (and forms) your life takes will be uniquely personal to you. A form cannot be imposed. The form itself is a gift from God. And this is not about figuring out the right image to impress others with. If we worry about the approval of others, that means we are not fully trusting God, and giving control over our happiness to others.

One important form in life is one’s calling - which can be broadly defined as vocation or avocation, including life in retirement. How do you feel about your calling? Does the form it takes fulfill and satisfy? Do you sense that sometimes you are a transparent window for the light of God to shine through? It may be happening more than you realize. For some people, finding the right form may require a radical change to a new calling. For others, it may be a recommitment to one’s present calling. But your true calling will not be discovered or reconfirmed simply by some act of the will. Of course this requires thoughtful reflection and analysis, or maybe painful decision making, but ultimately the answer is listening to God. If we overlook that, the most painstaking efforts are self-defeating. Trust your intuition more. Seek out someone whom you see as transparent to God. But the ultimate answer is emptying oneself, as did Jesus, as this woman with the ointment did, and letting God shine through you. And as God shines through you, new forms will emerge. God will give you that.

I think that what I’ve said applies to churches, communities and nations. Our congregation is engaged in an ongoing process of planning with regard to some important matters, including the form that worship takes on Sunday morning, and the form that staffing will take. And, of course, we have been mightily involved in determining the form of this facility. It goes without saying that this has involved and will continue to involve much effort: study, listening to one another, hard thinking, and reams of paper. But the goal is to discover what gives the fullest expression of God and God’s will for us. We need to recognize the forms CCC needs to take in every way, so that we are a self-emptying servant church. This is not something, ultimately, that we can "figure out." Instead, it is something that God tells us and shows us. And just like individuals, we need to always get our "collective ego" out of the way in order to listen. This means reaffirming the centrality of prayer and humility at the heart of our lives together. To be honest, if you ask me what the best size and structure of staffing at CCC should be, the best worship schedule, and so forth, though I am not shy about sharing my opinions, the fact is - I don’t know. What’s important, speaking for myself, is get my ego out of there and listen for what God has to say. For me that means, somehow trusting my gut. I also believe in trusting the process, especially at CCC. And if we can truly keep the channel to God open, we have nothing to worry about. We can be joyous, give thanks, and trust that all will be well.

Consider the forms that cities take. Is the revitalized downtown Silver Spring that we are all cheering, going to be an urban landscape that expresses prosperity, safety, entertainment, service and community? I hope so. The developers and county government herald what is happening as a success story. But there are also voices asking whether, as Silver Spring becomes more upscale, more and more low-income people won’t be able to shop there or live there. Are we seeing emergent of forms of community that are ultimately inclusive or exclusive?

And finally, it appears that the military phase of the War in Iraq is ending, and the rebuilding will soon begin. E. J. Dionne wrote last week in the Washington Post:

For a moment…Consider only whether the Iraqi people are better off to be rid of Saddam Hussein. There is only one answer, and it was visible on the joyful faces from Baghdad and Kirkuk..(For those protesting the war) Almost all the objections focused on the administration’s diplomacy before the war, and on what would come after. The fall of Saddam Hussein was always going to be good for Iraqis. Now we’ll learn whether this venture will be good for the United States…The hardest part is just starting.

No one should be surprised at the military victory. And as we are relieved at our low number of casualties, U. N. Secretary General Kofi Annan reminds us that the Iraqi people have paid a high price for their liberation. What form will a new Iraq take? And what form will a new United States of America take as we move from invasion to nation building, seek the reshape the Middle East, wage a War on Terror, and heighten national security? Can we do all these and still be the "city set upon a hill" that our Pilgrim forebears dreamed of? Will the form our nation takes be transparent to the very best of our values, or will that form obstruct them, revealing instead our very worst? God knows. AMEN.

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