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LETTING GO: AN EASTER MIRACLE

Letting Go: An Easter Miracle

“Do not hold on to me” Jesus, to Mary Magdalene, Easter morning

“Don’t you know things can change?” Wilson Phillips, Hold On

I completely get it. When a life preserver is in reach of those who feel like they’re going under, they hold on for dear life. It wasn’t just a big hug that Mary was attempting to give to a Risen Jesus; it was an attempt to recreate a hopeful reality that once was, rather than embrace an unforeseen alternative that might be. She liked how things were—not perfect, but the best she had known, or at least could imagine, at the time. And you have to think she was hoping they could pick up where they had left off, that things could go back to how they had been before the cruel reality of crucifixion. Jesus surprises her by telling her to let go. It’s not that he doesn’t love her dearly; in fact, it is because of his great love that he startles her into relinquishing her hold on him. Things have changed, and so should she. Resurrection, in this case, means that she has to let go of what was so that he, and she, can be raised to a new life of unanticipated possibility.

Christ is risen! But what about you? Most of us find some comfort in staying put in the dank, dark tomb of disappointment. Perhaps we wagered on love and lost. Or maybe we got hurt along the way and turned inward. Or maybe our dreams turned too quickly to disillusionment? Why venture out and take a chance that it might happen again? It seems sadly reassuring to settle in for some long-term groveling in the darkness. The sunlight just beyond and outside might illuminate something we’d just as soon stayed hidden, if not buried. It is easier to deny that which remains in the dark.

The good news of Easter is that it is possible to let go—of a hurt that never healed, a grudge that was never settled, a dysfunctional relationship that keeps one down, an addiction that has power over us because we withhold the fight of our life, a bad habit, an unhealthy behavior, or a terminal complacency to settle for something we know to be less than life for fear that the alternative could turn out to be much worse. The Easter season is brought to you by the word “CHANGE.” Stasis, paralysis, same old same old, contentment, mediocrity, boredom, and all the other “been there done that” attitudes that hold us back and keep us under are now targeted for removal in the same way the stone was rolled away on Easter morning.

You can’t keep a good man, or a good woman, down, unless they choose to hold on to the pre-Easter reality, which wasn’t all we thought it was anyway. The good old days were not that good. And the days ahead are filled with promise and potential. Let go. Move on. Be resurrected. Ascend. It happened once. It can happen again. Even to you.

REMEMBERING MALCOLM

Remembering Malcolm

“We are here to dream great dreams, have great hopes and carry out a master plan for our lives.”

Malcolm Miner, Healing and the Abundant Life

This is the most challenging reflection I have written in recent memory. It took much longer to write than your average tribute to a good man – probably because Father Malcolm Miner was not an average man! The most difficult part about remembering Malcolm is figuring out what not to remember about Malcolm: his was a rich, interesting, challenging and inspiring life. He was a musician, writer, teacher, healer, and preacher. He lived and ministered in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, California, Alaska, and Hawaii. He wrote three books. He served as the Executive Director of the United Way in Alaska. He lost a wife to cancer. He fathered a child at age 53. He found true love at age 67. He rode a motorcycle until he was 88. He preached, prayed, and presided until the end. He was universal in his outlook and bold in his conviction. He laughed and made us laugh. He left this world with a smile on his face. He was a kind of spiritual father to me, a Hawaiian kahuna and kapuna. I will never forget him. So, knowing that I’ll be preaching about his insights for the rest of the Easter season, if not the rest of my life, here’s a start to the lessons I learned from Malcolm:

Dream Great Dreams. The power and presence of God in each of our lives is tangible, transforming, and real. God moves among us and within us – enlightening, enlivening, reconciling, and healing. Malcolm talked about this in his first book, Healing is for Real. He believed that. But he also admitted that there is a lot we do not know and cannot know. About two years ago, he sat with me in my study and prayed for me. I was looking at the possibility of major surgery for a serious injury. Malcolm began by acknowledging that we would “probably” see some sort of healing, but he had no idea how God might accomplish it. God might use surgery, physical therapy, or even his simple touch. It might be a lengthy process, or I might have immediate results. He did not know for sure. “Bill,” he said, starting to laugh as only Malcolm could do while making a profound theological point, “the truth is, we don’t know a damn thing about anything!” And then he laid his hands on me, waved them over my injury, and prayed for my healing. I never had the surgery and I got much better. I admit, with Malcolm, that I really don’t know a damn thing about anything. But I believe, with Malcolm, that God is present and powerful and real. And I dare to dream even greater dreams all the time.
Have Great Hopes. Malcolm always hoped for – and assumed the best for – the world and for each person. From childhood, Malcolm had a universal understanding of truth and salvation. He believed that truth is large and God is love. For Malcolm, the reach of Christ was inclusive, embracing, and empowering, revealed not only by outstretched arms on a cross but also by a stone rolled away from the tomb of our intolerance. For Malcolm, there is no condemnation in Christ. His accepting views of those traditionally marginalized, such as divorced or gay persons, were put in print years before the rest of the church began to catch on. One of the last times he read the gospel at St. Michael’s Church in Kauai, he paused beforehand and gave his editorial comments – as was his custom! When he got to the part in the Gospel of John, following the powerful sentiment that God sent Jesus not to condemn but to save, not to judge but to love, he paused before reading what does indeed sound like an editorial gloss: he read, “those who do not believe are condemned already,” and then he added a bold question mark, pointing out that many scholars believe Jesus never said that! He once wrote, “It is essential to master one path to the truth, while keeping open to the insights of others.” Malcolm mastered the one path of God’s love as revealed in Jesus Christ but remained open to a truth revealed from many sources.
Carry out a Master Plan for Your Life. A recurring theme in Malcolm’s life and teaching was that God calls each one of us to a special vocation and ministry. God has a plan and calling for each of our lives. In his first book, Healing is for Real, Malcolm put it this way: “God uses each one of us to perform His wonders” (43) and “God can make you the instrument that will bring new life to another person” (120). Although I enjoy pretty much everything Malcolm ever wrote or said, my favorite book is Healing and the Abundant Life. In this book, Malcolm exuberantly offers up “The Rejoice Plan.” The Rejoice Plan is a series of affirmations that remind us and help us understand where we come from, who we are, and where God is calling us. The core truths Malcolm shares are that God has a plan for me; that what I am becoming continues to unfold in God’s mind; that I am a child of God who is created, beloved, and forgiven; that I receive power in Christ; and that God wishes for me to have abundant life: physical and relational health, insight, and inspiration.

Malcolm preached his first sermon, at age 18, on Easter Day. He died on the day after Easter. His ongoing message to us is really an Easter message, one of life, death, and new beginnings. But why not let Malcolm have the last word? After all, he’s used to it!

“The ‘new you’ is an exciting person, one who never stops having dreams and aspirations. The ‘new you’ is in reality the ‘original you,’ one clearly stamped in the image of God and strengthened by learning experiences in the ‘school of life’ but now alive with a new self-awareness. Whether you are a ‘new you’ or the old one revitalized, it does not matter. What matters is your future. There is still much to be done. You have more potential than you can ever possibly realize. It is time to open the doors and let it happen. Remember, this is the day which the Lord has made. Let us step forward and rejoice in it!” (Healing and the Abundant Life 104)

THE DOORMAN’S DENIAL

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Jesus Christ “No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.” William Penn A few times a year I venture out to […]

A WORD ABOUT A-WORDS DURING LENT

A WORD ABOUT A-WORDS IN LENT “Almighty and everlasting God, you hate nothing you have made and forgive the sins of all who are penitent.” Opening prayer for Ash Wednesday “I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me………………..The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit; a […]

WHY ARE YOU SO HAPPY?

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New Year’s Revolutions!

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Charlie, Vince, Snoopy and Me: The Unlikely Choices of Christmas

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WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

“Waiting patiently is the foundation of the spiritual life.” Simone Weil

“Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.” Isaiah 40:31

Here it comes again. The season that directly contradicts everything our world is telling us to do this time of year is about to begin. The world says: “Shop!” Advent says “Stop!” The world says: “Party!” Advent says: “Pray!” The world says “Want!” Advent says:
“WAIT!”

Waiting is at the heart of the Advent experience. But such Advent waiting is not passive. It is not an insular work stoppage that removes us from the realities of renewal. It is more of a watchful kind of waiting that is willing to engage in the hard work of preparation: to fill in the pukas (holes) that keep tripping us up as we try to grow and evolve, to level the obstacles that continually arise to make us detour from our true calling, to embrace the possibility that we need to repent, to change our ways, not to mention our hearts, before we can welcome the Full Presence of Christ into our lives.

Advent waiting is expectant, prayerful, active, discerning, mindful, and even sacrificial. It is the solemn witness that too many stocking stuffers can sometimes prevent us from putting on our socks and moving forward into a bold new future. Bishop Stephen Cottrell, who wrote the provocatively-titled book “Do Nothing: Christmas is Coming!” has said: “Waiting is not a waste of time but, as we see in nature, a time for change, growth, and transformation. Advent is the season in which the church celebrates waiting as an essential part of the human experience – it is much more than the countdown to Christmas or the season of shopping.”

The timely truth of Advent is that it is the true antidote to the “isms” that have kidnapped both Jesus and St. Nicholas, and are holding them hostage until we pay the ransom of exchanging a season of much needed preparation in order to arrive at Bethlehem far too soon. Advent comes just in time to remind us that birth cannot be rushed. The full term of faith observes the whole season, so that all is ready, and all are ready, when the child is born.

So, what are you waiting for? Advent is here. And I can’t wait. To wait……

PRAISE THE LORD AND PASS THE DAINTIES!

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” Psalm 34:8

“We drank toasts, and I made a speech, telling them that He who was present at the marriage feast of Cana in Galilee was with them in their innocent mirth; that it was the bounty of the great God which had provided their dainties for them so abundantly.”

The Right Reverend Thomas Nettleship Staley, first Episcopal Bishop of Hawaii, reflecting on his first Luau, as guest of King Kamehameha IV.

Here on the garden island of Kauai where I live, dainties abound. They’re delicious reminders of God’s goodness and blessing. For those unfamiliar with the King’s English, a dainty is not just something frilly you wear underneath your clothes. It’s a delicacy, something pleasing to the taste buds, beautiful and satisfying, a savory morsel reflecting God’s love.

Sometimes religion gets it all wrong. Take the earliest Protestant missionaries to Hawaii, for example. They preached a religion of scarcity, a God who constricted rather than liberated, a creation that was to be avoided rather than enjoyed. If it was fun, it must be of the devil, if it was good then it must be bad, these confused souls seemed to suggest.

In 1862 along came the first Anglican Bishop Thomas “I’ll toast to that” Staley, representing a religion that was born of Celtic roots on distant islands. At his farewell sermon in Westminster Abbey in London he pointed out that the skin God put on us is not a “crust” to protect us against the enjoyment of daily life, and that religion was never designed to make “innocent pleasures” the less or to crush one’s natural instincts. Then he told the story of Jesus’ first miracle turning water into wine at a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee. At his first sermon in Honolulu he said that Christianity is not sourness and taboo, that God would have us use thankfully all the gifts given to us, which is true “temperance.” Then he told the story of Jesus’ first miracle turning water into wine at a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee. At his first Luau, he spoke fondly of arriving by horseback, observing a new wave phenomenon called “surf-riding” and described a feast of “every kind of dainty” including fish, pork, poi and refreshing tropical beverages. Then began dancing, the bishop said, marked by “grace and propriety”, no doubt to reassure any crusty puritan who might object on religious grounds. Finally, he told the story of Jesus’ first miracle turning water into wine at a wedding feast in Cana of Galilee. He sure liked that story!

The good bishop got it right. On every day of Creation, our good God looked over all that He had made and said: “Oooh, that’s good. That’s real good!” This more accurate and emphatic rendering of the original Hebrew suggests that God hallows everything that God has made. And that religion, if it is true religion, tastes good. Such “dainty dogma“ does not disallow for facets of religion that are demanding and challenging. But it does suggest that religion, at least envisioned by the God who created our desire to be religious, is not just another bitter pill to swallow. And that the more we enjoy God’s good gifts, the more likely we will share them with others.

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Praise the Lord and pass the dainties!

ARE YOU SURE?

Certainty undermines one’s own power, and turns happiness into a long shot. Certainty confines.

Dears, there is nothing in your life that will not change – especially all your ideas of God.

Tukaram (c. 1608-1649)

The antithesis of the spiritual life is certitude. The enemy of faith is certainty. The opposite of truth is conclusiveness. The good question, pondered openly, will take us much further on the journey toward awareness and completeness than the final answer, uttered with unchangeable presumption.

Surety is a shortcoming that is shared by every persuasion on the entire spectrum – whether one is an atheist or a fundamentalist, spiritual or religious, conservative or liberal, ascetic or aesthetic. It is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Albert Einstein discovered abundant truth about the universe because he began with the inner truth that “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” What we seek is what we might be able to find. If our search ends with certainty, we have already limited ourselves, our understanding, and our God.

To gaze into the vast open space of unknowing and get lost, to dive into the deeper waters yet unexplored, to come face to face with a component of the self we had previously denied – these are the ultimate pathways to “knowing”. Without such openness and without such a posture of receptivity, we will find ourselves returning to that place where we have always been.

It is important to recognize that the question mark and the exclamation each contain a dot. Each dot hints at something more to come, something not yet said or seen or fully expressed. Connect those two dots and you might be on to something – something that questions, exclaims, and discovers – something that is real, life-changing and true.

To stand at the threshold of what we do not know and say “I wonder” is to embark on the spiritual journey. I wonder. I just wonder. In such wonder, is the beginning of faith.