Sermon Library
“Advent and Adversity”
Rev. Dr. Gregg R. Anderson
December 07, 2008
Service Theme: Advent II-2008
Source: Mark 4: 35 – 41
Advent II-2008 December 7, 2008
Advent and Adversity
Mark 4: 35 – 41
That Was The Tradition
A young rabbi found a problem in his new congregation. During the Friday evening services, half the congregation stood for the prayers and half remained seated, and each side shouted at the other, insisting that theirs was the true tradition. Nothing the rabbi said or did helped toward solving the impasse. This went on for weeks. In desperation, the young rabbi sought out the synagogue’s 99 year old founder. He met the old rabbi in the nursing home and poured out his troubles. “So tell me,” he pleaded to the elder, “was it the tradition for the congregation to stand during the prayers?” “No,” answered the old rabbi. “Ah,” responded the younger man, “then it was the tradition to sit during the prayers?” “No,” answered the old rabbi. “Well,” the young rabbi responded, “what we have is complete chaos! Half the people stand and shout and the other half sit and scream.” “Uh, huh,” said the old rabbi, “THAT was the tradition.”
Chaos and Conflict is the Tradition
Chaos and conflict is, indeed, the tradition. It always has been. One might even say it is tradition of all human beings and societies and in all times. Adversity is part of life. I was about to say Adversity is “simply” part of life, but it is not simple. It is difficult. Why is there conflict and suffering? There is no answer to this ageless question. There is only the question as to how we apply ourselves to adversity and suffering. The bible is filled with stories of conflict and tribulation. The bible is also about faith and hope and survival through tragedy. There are many reasons and purposes for religion. One of them is to provide a big picture of life or metaphysical perspective of the universe and world in which we live. Part of the over-arching purpose is to also provide some meaning, perspective and even solace to our struggles and sufferings. All religions apply themselves to chaos and various calamities and they have various ways in which this is understood and reconciled.
Buddhism is Based on Suffering
One significant religion which originates out of its grasp of suffering is Buddhism. One might say Buddhism is based on suffering. Buddhism is based on The Four Noble Truths which are: (1) life means suffering; (2) the origin of suffering is attachment; (3) the cessation of suffering is attainable, and (4) there is a path to the cessation of suffering.
There are many interpretations of these four noble truths. Essentially, there is a realistic acceptance that life includes suffering and that we suffer more when we cling to things and ideas which falsely lead us to believe we can always avoid suffering. Transient things do not only include the physical objects that surround us, but also ideas and beliefs and in a larger sense, all objects of our perception. The problem is the lack of understanding of how our mind is attached to impermanent things and perspectives. The Buddhist reasons for suffering are desire, passion, pursuit of power and prestige, striving for fame and popularity, or in short: craving and clinging. Because the objects of our attachment are transient, their loss is inevitable, thus suffering will necessarily follow. Letting go of attachments, both physical and philosophical is to begin to reduce the anxiety of our expectations. If the origin of suffering is attachment, the relief of suffering is detachment.
When Things Fall Apart
Pema Chodron is an American Buddhist nun. She became so because of her struggles in life. She has written a number of books and one of them is entitled When Things Fall Apart. This book was given to my niece at the hospital in Denver by the Christian Chaplain who happened to visit her as she was beginning her treatment for Leukemia. Pema’s first line in this book is “Embarking on the spiritual journey is like getting into a very small boat and setting out on the ocean to search for unknown lands.”
She talked about the sign in the monastery which read, “Only to the extent that we expose ourselves over and over to annihilation can that which is indestructible be found in us.” She writes, “Somehow, even before I heard the Buddhist teachings, I knew that this was the spirit of true awakening. It was all about letting go of everything.” “Thinks falling apart is a kind of testing and also a kind of healing. We think that the point is to pass the test or to over-come the problem, but the truth is that things don’t really get solved. They come together and they fall apart. Then they come together again and fall apart again. It’s just like that. The healing comes from letting there be room for all of this to happen: room for grief, for relief, for misery, for joy. When we think that something is going to bring us pleasure, we don’t know what’s really going to happen. When we think something is going to give us misery, we don’t know. Letting there be room for not knowing is the most important thing of all. We try to do what we think is going to help. But we don’t know. We never know if we’re going to fall flat or sit up tall. When there’s a big disappointment, we don’t know if that’s the end of the story. It may be just the beginning of a great adventure.”
Pema mentions the story about a family who had only one son. They were very poor. This son was extremely precious to them, and the only thing that mattered to his family was that he bring them some financial support and prestige. Then he was thrown from a horse and crippled. It seemed like the end of their lives. Two weeks after that, the army came into the village and took away all the healthy, strong men to fight in the war, and this young man was allowed to stay behind and take care of his family.
“Life is like that. We don’t know anything. We call something bad; we call it good. But really we just don’t know. When things fall apart and we’re on the verge of we know not what, the test for each of us is to stay on that brink and not concretize. The spiritual journey is not just about heaven and finally getting to a place that’s really swell. In fact, that way of looking at things is what keeps us miserable. Thinking that we can find some lasting pleasure and avoid pain is what in Buddhism is called samsara, a hopeless cycle that goes round and round endlessly and causes us to suffer greatly.”
“The first noble truth of the Buddha points out that suffering is inevitable for human beings as long as we believe that things last – that they don’t disintegrate, that they can be counted on to satisfy our hunger for security. From this point of view, the only time we ever know what’s really going on is when the rug’s been pulled out and we can’t find anywhere to land.” Cynthia Bourgeault often refers to an emptying of self and ego for our own self. Thomas Keating refers to a false self and I assume there is a real self. It is all about a selfless self for a more fulfilling egoless self. Chodron says, “We use these situations either to wake ourselves up or to put ourselves to sleep. Right now – in the very instant of groundlessness – is the seed of taking care of those who need our care and of discovering our goodness.”
“Life is a good teacher and a good friend. Things are always in transition, if we could only realize it. Nothing ever sums itself up in the way that we like to dream about. The off-center, in-between state is an ideal situation, a situation in which we don’t get caught and we can open our hearts and minds beyond limit. It’s a very tender, non-aggressive, open-ended state of affairs. Staying with uncertainty, getting the knack of relaxing in the midst of chaos, learning not to panic – this is the spiritual path. Getting the knack of catching ourselves, of gently and compassionately catching ourselves is the path toward inner peace.”
Jesus and Adversity
Jesus also taught about inner peace and a detachment to things that are impermanent. Today we have the privilege of having numerous books about Buddhism and Christianity or Buddha and Jesus. Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings by Marcus Borg and Jack Kornfield and Jesus and Buddha as Brothers by Thich Nhat Hanh are to name a couple excellent comparisons. This would be another great series or seminar, but for now let me just bring up one story of Jesus about inner peace.
Remember Chodron’s opening of her book, “Embarking on the spiritual journey is like getting into a very small boat and setting out on the ocean to search for unknown lands.” In keeping with this image let us look at the story of Jesus calming the storm. We know the story. We heard it in our scripture lesson this morning. It is mostly known as an exercise of power of Jesus over the wind. Yet, Leonard Sweet suggests that is only one interpretation. The other is more personal. After stretching out his arms and stilling the storm, Jesus turned to his companions and essentially chastised them. “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” Although they had been specially chosen as Jesus’ fellow travelers on this journey, they may have missed the boat, one could say. One could also ask, “What could have been more of a thrill than witnessing this miracle of Jesus’ calming the storm? Yet, perhaps the miracle Jesus wanted to show them was not the miracle of calming the storm, but the miracle of calming them in the storm.
Traveling with Jesus does not mean there is not going to be a storm. There was a storm. Traveling with Jesus begs us to face the storm with faith; faith in whatever will happen whether we make it to the other side or not. Jesus did not say after calming the wind, “What do you think? Pretty good trick, huh?” Instead he directs his remark to them personally. “Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?” The emphasis is not quelling the storm, but quieting the mind. Jesus is the still point in an ever turning world in that he taught his disciples to have a faith in a much bigger picture of life and spirit. John Wesley writes about the time he crossed the Atlantic and a terrible storm ensued. Everyone was afraid including himself except for a small group of Moravian Christians who quietly sang a few hymns and read a few verses and sat calmly among themselves. From that moment on, writes Wesley, he remembered their faith and asked God to have such faith within himself.
Jesus said, “Those who want to save their life will loose it. Those who loose their life for my sake will save it.” Buddha said, “With the relinquishing of all thought and egotism, the enlightened one is liberated through not clinging.” Jesus said, “No slave can serve two masters for a slave will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Buddha said, “One is the way to gain, the other is the way to Nirvana, knowing this fact, students of the Buddha should not take pleasure in being honored, but should practice detachment.”
Faith is living still in the midst of a storm. Not just in hope of a miracle that will stop the storm, but a peace of mind that will exist in the middle of the storm. It is a real matter of faith in God and trust in life’s outcome. It comes with relinquishing our extra tight hold of everything and everyone we think we can control. Let Go and let God is not a blind faith, but an open faith that “what will be, will be” and we will be in one form or another.
This is not to say there is still much we can do in being still in the midst of the storm. We need not be adrift in the ocean and at complete mercy to the winds. There is a line in Taylor Caldwell’s book From Captains and Kings which says, “We all choose what we wish to be. No one impels or compels us. We may delude ourselves that it is so, but it is not. The same wind which blows a ship on the rocks could blow it into safe harbor. In short, it is not the wind, it is the set of the sail.” Life is always a balance of those things we can control and those we cannot. The wisdom is to know the difference. Our responsive attitude is generally one we own. It is the set of our sail.
Advent
We all face challenges - sometimes small and sometimes big. Right now, our country is in a financial recession. When can be constantly worried or we can take some time to reflect on what is really important and what is not. There are opportunities within each conflict and adversity. We just need to open ourselves to such realities. This is Advent and Advent is about anticipation. We can pray for a better economy, but I don’t think that is as important to God as it is to us. Instead we can pray for trust and solace in the midst of where we are exactly in this time in history. I guess we could call it an economic storm. The task is not to stop the storm, but find a new found peace within it and within ourselves.
Christmas is fast approaching and it has many ideals and expectations. We all want our Christmases to be white. But let us, for a moment, suspend such traditional expectations. Let us, this Advent, look at Christmas differently. Let us look at it as a complete surprise upon our world and tradition. In many ways, our world and lives are in place, but Christmas is a constant reminder that our world has been interrupted with a person named Jesus who has completely disturbed our given and controlled world. Jesus said, “For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?” (Matt. 16: 26) He also said, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Amen.
Rev. Dr. Gregg R. Anderson
Aspen Chapel
0077 Meadowood Drive
Aspen, Colorado 81611
http://www.aspenchapel.org