Sermon Library
“Love and Relationships”
Gregg Anderson
May 15, 2005
Service Theme: Pentecost Sunday
Source: Acts 2: 1 - 21
Age Old Question of Love
A man walking along a California beach was deep in thought. All of a sudden, he said out loud, “Lord, please grant me just one wish.” Suddenly the sky clouded above his head and in a booming voice the Lord said, “Because you have tried to be faithful to me in all ways, I will grant you one wish.” The man said, “Build a bridge to Hawaii so I can drive over anytime I want.” The Lord said, ‘Your wish is very materialistic. Think of the enormous challenges for that kind of undertaking. The supports required to reach the bottom of the Pacific! The concrete and steel it would take! I can do it, but it is hard for me to justify your desire for worldly things. Take a little more time and think of another wish, a wish you think would honor and glorify me.” The man thought about it for a long time. Finally he said, “Lord, I want to love again and have a deep, wonderful relationship. I wish that I could understand women. I want to know how they feel inside, what they are thinking when they give the silent treatment; why they cry when they’re happy; why they get mad when they’re sad; what they mean when they say nothing and expect you to know what they are thinking; what do you say when they ask to tell them what you are feeling; how can I make a woman truly happy?” The Lord paused for a moment and replied, “You want two lanes or four lanes on that bridge?”
Learning how to understand one another in meaningful relationships is one of life’s greatest challenges and greatest rewards. It has been a mystery since the beginning of the creation of man and woman. For example, when Adam stayed out very late one night, Eve became upset and accused him of running around with another woman. Adam said, “That’s crazy, you are the only woman on earth.” That night when Adam was sound asleep, he was awoken by Eve poking him several times in the chest. “What do you think you are doing,” Adam asked. “Counting your ribs,” said Eve.
Love and Relationships
This Sunday I would like to begin a series entitled, “Love and Relationships.” This is segment within the 2005 theme of “Philia.” The origin of this theme began in January and February as motivated by my interest in Ron James interest and Master’s degree in Philology which is about love and language. Then in March and April we talked about Philosophy which is love and wisdom with the help of Cynthia Bourgeault and her interest in establishing The Aspen Wisdom School at the Aspen Chapel. We also talked about “Love and Passion” in preparation for Easter. This summer we will begin a theme entitled simply “Philharmonic” which is love and harmony. In September it will be “Philanthropy” which is defined etymologically as love of humanity. We typically define philanthropy as giving money, but the word anthropo means human as in Anthropology. Philanthropy literally means love of humanity. At the end of the year we will look at Philathea which is love of Theos or God. Hopefully, all of this gives us a sense of direction and continuity which we human beings love.
In the theme “Love and Relationships” we will talk about intimate relationships, but mostly love and relationships in the broadest sense and specifically how do we come to God through our relationships? How do we live out our faith in relationships? How does God come to us in relationships? God must think this theme is important because God sent his son Jesus to relate to us as human beings - to put it plain and simple. We will begin this theme this morning and conclude on Sunday, July 10, on top of Aspen Mountain with the Spiritual Paths theme entitled “The Path of Relationships” with seven scholars and exemplars from the major faiths of the world.
Spiritual Paths
Ed Bastian’s model for Spiritual Paths started when he always realized that one of the more common elements in the different religions was not particularly their theology or philosophy, but in their practice of their respective faiths. The ways in which they experienced their faith was quite common. Ed selected 12 ways which are illustrated on the first outer circle of the Mandela of Spiritual Paths.
As I list these twelve ways think about the ways in which you manifest your faith. You may find yourself identifying with most of them, but you could prioritize which is more or less practical to your practice and perspective. Here they are: intuition, intellect, emotion, devotion, contemplation, body (or physical), aesthetics (or through art and music), ritual, mystical, mythic archetype, occult, or relationship.
When Ed was first explaining the Mandela model to me almost six years ago now, I remember prioritizing the way of relationship as first for me. Intellect was a close second and aesthetics as third. I am eager to explore a deeper look at the way of relationships and especially excited about the upcoming Spiritual Paths weekend. Hopefully, we can all do this together as we relate to one another on a continual basis.
Pentecost
The way of relationship as part of our religious and spiritual journey has been most significant since Adam and Eve, Moses led his people through the wilderness, Jesus chose twelve disciples, and the people of the way of Jesus were all gathered together on the day of Pentecost. Today is Pentecost Sunday and an appropriate time to introduce this theme. It is the birthday of the church and the Greek word for church is ekklesia which simply means a gathering together of people or an assembly. Some Greek philologists interpret ekklesia as a gathering of community leaders which is going to be interesting to note in just a moment.
Pentecost is reported in the second chapter of Acts immediately following the gospels. From here on the book of Acts and the Letters of the Apostles describe the make up of the church and how people are to relate to one another. Jesus said it pretty clearly when he said, “Love God and your neighbor as yourself,” but the intricacies of practicing that truth become challenging from the very beginning. Yet, it was how the early followers of Jesus related to one another, as to how the great commission of Jesus was manifested. At the end of this great chapter in Acts we read, “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And all who believed were together and had all things in common; and they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they partook of food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
I suspect most of us have heard these words and we can easily pass over them as mere poetry, idealistic at the least, but if it is true and I suspect it is, it places an incredible responsibility upon the people; the incredible responsibility to actually live out the life and words of Jesus. The problems of doing this soon became obvious as well in later letters. Paul admonished the new followers as much as he praised them. In love or anger, compassion or dispassion people come to faith in relationships.
Age of Relationships
The truth and task are equal today. It is a bit more difficult, but even more crucial because our population on this planet has grown a bit since 33 AD. I suspect the people of the new church had a fairly limited perspective of the planet. The world was flat. Heaven was up and hell was down and beyond the walls of their own community was another planet. This is an obvious over-simplification because we know of interactions with the Far East and the seat of Rome on the other side all within the first century. The point is, their world view was much smaller than today. Yet, at the beginning of this third millennium we may have just begun understanding what the term “Global Village” really means.
I want to introduce you to a teacher and international consultant from London named Sabina Spencer. She writes in the opening of her book The Heart of Leadership, “As we move more fully into this new millennium we have a tremendous chance to choose more consciously a future for ourselves that is different from the past. It is a time when people all over the world are waking up to the fact that our societies and institutions can no longer operate effectively with assumptions and beliefs designed for an age long gone.” She continues, “The Industrial Age of the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s, with its focus on the manufacture of goods and continued scientific development, led to significant advances in technology. As consumerism increased in the West, we witnessed the introduction of sophisticated machines that changed the world and the way we live. It was the spawning of the Information Age, a time when computer technology began to blow wide open the traditional channels of power and communication, and shifted the rules of the game in virtually every facet of the Western way. During the second half of the twentieth century we saw the birth of the debtor society, the creation of global economies and radical changes in the ways families live together and children learn. The Information Age, like its predecessor, is merely the facilitator to the next era of our development as a human family. It has allowed us to open our eyes to a whole new world view. The Internet, email, video conferencing, CNN and mobile phones are busy connecting us in every way imaginable, showing us that we are not as distant or as different from one another as we may have thought. Products like Levi Jeans, Coca-Cola, Sony television, 3 M’s yellow sticky Post-it notes and Nike trainers, once only available in developed countries, can now be found virtually everywhere. The Global Giants have penetrated every corner of the world and, with technology as their greatest ally, have led us from the Information Age slap-bag into the Relationship Age.”
“It seems, however, given the recent crises in corporate confidence and the war in Iraq, that the evolution of a leadership consciousness consistent with this age of interconnection is lagging behind the systems and technology that are weaving us all together. Many of us are demanding more integrity and more transparency. People want recognition that they are not simply cogs in the vast machine, to be used up and replaced. Wealth and success are no longer enough for many as the search for greater fulfillment from life and work becomes paramount.”
Now I want you to remember the last passage that I read from the book of Acts written 2000 years ago and place it right next to the following paragraph from Sabina Spencer. “We are hungry for something different, something new. We want a leadership orientation that is rooted in deeper, more spiritual values and that takes into account the full spectrum of the human experience. We want truth, authenticity and the recognition that self-interest is no longer acceptable when it is at the cost of the common good. People want those in leadership roles to place the care for the collective above (or at the very least on a par with) their own personal gain. Their legitimacy will be seriously challenged if they fail to value the well-being of every individual within their sphere of influence irrespective of wealth and position.”
Correlations
I cannot help but think of the extreme correlation of the words of Paul at Pentecost in Acts 2000 years ago and the words of an international corporate consultant just last year. They are almost identical. The difference is that the community in which Paul spoke was smaller than the community in which Sabina Spencer talks today, which happens to include the entire population of the planet.
My purpose this morning was to review the theme of “Philia” for this year and introduce the current theme of Love and Relationships and then to dig into the beginning of Sabina Spencer’s book The Heart of Leadership and the Age of Relationships. I have done the first part, but have only touched on the second part. My old inclination would have been to keep going, but I have learned to stop. So I am going to stop with one more repeated sentence from Sabina and one last story.
One More Sentence and One More Story
Throughout Sabina’s first part she repeats this phrase a few times to typify the problem and the solution in a simple slogan. “In our increasing interdependent global village we need to realize more and more, day by day, that if somebody loses, anybody loses, nobody wins.” This is the sentence. Here is the story. It is a true story. It is from Fred Rogers at a recent commencement at Chatham College in Pittsburgh.
In the Seattle Special Olympics of 2002, there were nine so called disabled contestants for the 100 yard dash. All nine lined up at the starting line and at the sound of the gun, they took off. But one little boy didn’t get very far. He stumbled and fell and hurt his knee and began to cry. The others slowed down, turned around and ran back to him - everyone one of them ran back to him. One little girl with Down syndrome bent down and kissed the boy and said, “This will make it better.” The little boy got up, and he and the rest of the runners linked arms together and joyfully walked to the finish line. They all finished the race at the same time. And when they did, everyone in the stadium stood up and clapped and whistled and cheered for a long, long time. People who were there are still telling the story with obvious delight. And you know why? Because deep down we know that what matters in this life is more than winning for ourselves. What really matters is helping others win too, even if it means slowing down and changing our course now and then. The age and attention of relationships today is basically the same as yesterday. The only difference from yesterday and today is that it now involves 12 billion lives and the very existence of the planet for our next generation. I think we need to consider being as responsible today as the people were at the day of Pentecost.
Amen.
Rev. Dr. Gregg R. Anderson
Aspen Chapel
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