|
The biggest joke in biblical history was read to us this morning…and no one laughed. Let’s try it again. Did you hear the one about Moses and God on the mountain? Moses is keeping to himself, minding his own business, shepherding the flock of sheep that belongs to his father-in-law, when all of a sudden, he stumbles up a mountain, and lo and behold, there is a bush afire. Looking more closely, Moses sees that, though the bush is burning, it seems not to be consumed. Puzzled, Moses approaches to get a better look. As if a burning-bush-not-to-be-consumed is not enough, all of a sudden, a voice comes from out of the middle of said burning bush. “Moses, Moses!” To his own surprise, Moses answers this talking burning bush now calling to him. “Here I am!” The bush continues, “Stop there. Do not come any closer. And take off your shoes. The ground you stand upon is holy ground.” Moses does as instructed. The talking burning bush continues, “I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham and Sarah, the God of Isaac and Rebekah, the God of Jacob and Leah.” Moses falls flat on his face. The conversation between Moses and the Creator of the Universe cleverly disguised as a burning talking bush proceeds, with God telling Moses that he is to return to Pharaoh’s court—the same court from which Moses had fled after murdering an Egyptian—and he, Moses is to lead the Hebrews out of their miserable circumstances in slavery to a bright future of freedom. Singlehandedly. Laughing yet? It gets better.
Knowing that this jaunt into Pharaoh’s court cannot end well as is, Moses asks God for a calling card: “Whom shall I say sent me there? What is your name?” Put into common parlance, “Help me out here, God…work with me…” And here comes the biggest joke of all time… God strokes the divine forehead, realizing that this one is a bit more intelligent than the average bear, and replies, “My name? You want to know my name, do you? All right. My name is I AM or I Am what I am or I am the one who causes to be or I will be what I will be or I will be what I was or I was what I will be or I will be what I want to be or I will be what tomorrow demands… Pick one, Moses! Pick several if you wish! By whatever name I am known, I will go with you…that is all you need to know.” The joke? When asked to self-identify, God chooses a name that from its first utterance is unintelligible, untranslatable, because, simply stated, it is a word in Hebrew that is unfinished. An English equivalent would be God telling Moses that God’s name is gd—now is that God, Gad, Gud, Good, Giddy, Glad, Glide, Grand, Gold, Grid, Guard, or Ground? God doesn’t say. The biggest joke in the history of the world is this: God of no name is sending timid, wanted for murder Moses back into the Egyptian lion’s den without even a name of a respectable God to accompany him. Laughing yet? Well, neither was Moses! But if you’ve read the book or seen the movie, you know that Moses did follow the disembodied voice of God from the burning talking bush. Moses did return to Egypt and did manage, with the no-name-God’s assistance, to lead the Hebrews on a wild pilgrimage from slavery to the life of freedom that same God had promised. No joke!
Why focus on this story as we prepare to write our annual covenants? Because, from the beginning of this congregation, the notion of pilgrimage has been one of our guiding metaphors. Pilgrimage, as it is defined and lived here at Redlands UCC, is not the same as wandering aimlessly. Nor is pilgrimage some kind of strict religious discipline, such as the pilgrimages to sacred relics and holy places that captivated people during the Middle Ages. Our notion of pilgrimage is more akin to that of the ancient Celtic Christians living throughout their known world in the early centuries of Christianity.
A people on a journey, just as we are today, so were these Celtic Christians. Living from the fifth to the eleventh centuries of the Common Era, they rode out the so-called dark ages of Europe with a refreshing lightness of spirit and a common sense of mission. Theirs was a spirituality that was more a tapestry than a fresco—rather than painting one rigid picture of faith on an extended wall for all to see, the Celts wove together various strands of experience and tradition, of appreciation for the created order and its ancient elements, of celebration of the human spirit. And they had the freedom so to do. Located on the outskirts of the empire, outside the purview of European leaders, these island-dwellers quietly and whimsically created a spirituality unlike any other in Christendom.
The deep sense of journey, of pilgrimage, is unique to these Celtic Christians. Captured but not easily translated, their notion of pilgrimage is described in the word peregrinatio. According to Esther de Waal, who has written extensively on Celtic Christianity, the most effective way of understanding what the Celts meant by pilgrimage is through a story from the ninth century. Three Irishmen were drifting over the sea from Ireland for seven days. They were in coracles—small boats—without oars; they drifted ashore in Cornwall and were brought into the court of King Alfred. When he asked them where they had come from and where they were going they answered that they “stole away because we wanted for the love of God to be on pilgrimage, we cared not where.” “We wanted, for the love of God, to be on pilgrimage, and we cared not where…!”
They could be speaking about Redlands UCC as well! For the Celts, as for us, there is no specific end or goal such as that of reaching a shrine or a holy place that allows the pilgrim at the end of the journey to return home with a sense of proud accomplishment. Peregrinatio is not undertaken at the suggestion of some ecclesiastical leader or spiritual figure. Peregrinatio occurs out of a single heart, and an inner prompting, a passionate conviction that now is the time and here is the place for one to embark on an inner journey. You know the feeling, the stirring. Ready to go wherever the Spirit might take you—peregrinatio is a journey begun for the love of God, for the love of Christ, with the companionship of Spirit, and having absolutely no clue whatsoever where you will land. Peregrinatio is not about pride or ego; it is about love.
The impulse of pilgrimage is love, always love. Pilgrimage is a journey continued for the love of adventure, and for the love of relationship. We here in Redlands United Church of Christ well understand those sentiments. For nearly 35 years, this church has been on a pilgrimage…and it will continue for many more. A few years ago, there was an article in the church newsletter about the viability of the newsletter’s name…“The Wanderings”. Perhaps, the author suggested, it was time to consider that we were no longer wandering, but rather, with a building, programs, and a structure, we had arrived. In good Celtic fashion, the author then went on to write that as long as we have breath and life and love, we will be a people on a journey, wandering in our openness and attentiveness to the Spirit’s movement in our lives, wandering but not aimless, wandering in the loving energy fueled by our love for one another and grounded in our common love for God.
Jesus said as much in the little snippet we heard this morning from his last teaching interpreted in John’s gospel. The disciples, knowing that something unpleasant and perhaps even tragic is in their future, are despondent, confused, and troubled. Jesus comforts them with a promise of a new teacher, a new companion, known by name as the Spirit of all truth. Ron Buford, creator of the wildly effective ‘God is Still Speaking,’ campaign, has written of this passage, “Long before the Internet, Jesus reassures his followers that when he can no longer be with them physically as master teacher, they will have something even better—the presence of a Divine teacher so close as to be a virtual teacher running alongside them. Jesus goes on to say their new teacher will be even better than his physical presence because they will have access to a perpetual Presence as teacher, coach, and comforter, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Such a teacher could only be God’s own presence with us, the Holy Spirit…Perhaps the Church is tentative when it teaches about this virtual teacher because of the natural fear of losing control or fear of change…Jesus seems more interested in creating an expectation for dynamism and continuous learning about life, the world around us, and God than he is about control…This passage creates a picture of dynamism…” I would add, that pilgrimage with the Spirit promised here by Jesus is a picture of dynamism framed by love, always love.
Earlier this week, I was enjoying conversation with one of our long-time active embers. We were talking about how communities of faith endure and survive conflict. As I told her horror stories from other congregations, she wisely noted that here at RUCC, we do business differently than in other places. Our life together is based on core principles, and deeply-agreed-upon values. Among those values and principles is that of pilgrimage…more specifically we honor that everyone is on a pilgrimage of some sort and each of us lovingly respects wherever the other person is on the journey. With such loving values in place on our pilgrimage together, a system such as our congregation can weather change or conflict for we are always grounded in these common values and principles. So, as the long-time member continued, around here when disagreements arise, there is a built-in resiliency that stems from there is a built-in resiliency that stems from mutual respect and fosters a willingness of agreeing to disagree, always keeping the love for one another in the forefront. Conversely, when someone speaks without a loving respect for another pilgrimage traveler, that complainant’s love-bereft opinion is more quickly dismissed and has little disruptive effect on the body. In this body, framed as it is by love for God and loving respect for one another, varieties of beliefs can exist happily beside one another. Diverse opinions are welcome. Speaking the truth in love is how we learn from one another while traveling this pilgrimage together. My conversation partner succinctly concluded, “Jesus made it simple: Love God, love one another…that is our mandate…and that mandate doesn’t depend on whether Mary was a virgin!”
On this peregrinatio, this pilgrimage into which we are invited through the writing of our annual covenants, we are challenged to believe that God will be with us, lovingly respecting our place on the pilgrimage, thereby providing us a model of how we are to treat one another.
As the joke from the mountain of the burning and talking bush truthfully reveals, “God will be with us…no joking!” Through the twists and turns of the journey itself, we will know God as one God, with or without a pronounceable name, as one with a verb identity more than a noun.
The pilgrimage itself will be our teacher, with God hearing, seeing, and guiding, just as the burning talking bush and Jesus himself promised. So, my friends, for one more year, let us embrace covenant for the joy and adventure of the pilgrimage that it promises, for the love of God and the love of one another! Another long-time member of our community often says aloud in describing the covenant pilgrimage, “Sign me up—I’m here to serve!”
|
