St.
Hildegard's Community
Sermon for First Sunday in Lent, 3/5/06
by Judith Liro
Judith Liro is the
priest of the St. Hildegard's community, an innovative liturgical
community located at St. George's Episcopal Church.
Mark tells us that Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan
River. Immediately upon coming out of the water, Jesus saw the
heavens opening and the Spirit descending upon him and heard
the voice from the heavens declaring: "You are my Beloved,
my Own. On you my favor rests."
At that moment Jesus came into a new/old way of being human
that was whole and reconnected with God. Genesis tells the story
of Adam and Eve walking with God in the garden as friends as
a way to speak of this primal divine-human connection. And of
course the story goes on to tell of "the Fall", the
broken relationship describing human estrangement from self,
others, creation as well as the Source..
In baptism Jesus experienced a restoration. His life could unfold
as a friend of God, as a friend of the
Earth Community; he experienced liberation from existential estrangement. Jesus'
life reflected his
growing compassion and healing work, his wisdom and insight into the negative
impact of the status quo. He became available to be someone fresh, opening
to the Dream of God, finding ways to make it real. Beyond that he created a
path for us to follow to find our own full humanity.
For us Baptism is the sacrament of living this transformed life
of Belovedness. In it we die to sin-to
an ingrained way of hard-heartedness and isolation-and we rise to this new
life of being truly human, living in the House of Love. It is a high calling-a
way of living that we were born for and that we long for in our depths even
without knowing it. In Lent we are on a journey of preparation, moving toward
the transformed life.
This morning I had a bizarre thought: what if there were a BPS-Belovedness
Protective Services-along the lines of a CPS-Child Protective
Services. I wasn't really referring to the creation of a state
agency-heaven forbid!-but to the possibility of an awareness
within each of us so that we would be able to recognize how we
treat ourselves and others. Each one of us is precious. Yet in
our unconsciousness, we sometimes abuse our bodies, minds and
spirits. When we mistreat ourselves, we are more likely to lack
empathy for others and fail to respond with compassion and initiative
to create a more humane world. In the worst case we are destructive
towards others or indifferent.
In St. Hildegard's Vision we say we are a community for "those
seeking the nurture and stretching of the
nephesh, which encompasses both intellectual liveliness and openness to the
wisdom of our bodies." We use the Hebrew term, nephesh, which means the "breathing
person, the total self, the animated body, the total human being, body and
soul together" because there isn't a word in English to speak of this
wholeness. We hope to enflesh Belovedness in all of who we are. We are specifically
reminded to listen to our bodies and what they need as well as what they reveal
about the world and our own lives.
In the Hebrew Scriptures there is a powerful story of King David
and the prophet, Nathan. David had seen the lovely Bathsheba,
the wife of one of his army commanders, Urriah, and desired her
for himself. David then sent Urriah to the frontlines of battle
and made sure he was given a dangerous assignment. Predictably
Urriah was killed. David waited the proscribed number of days
of mourning and then sent for Bathsheba and made her his wife.
In those days the prophet was charged with speaking truth to
power and Nathan wisely took an indirect
approach. He told David a story about a large landholder with flocks of sheep
who lived next to a
small farmer who only had one little lamb, and this lamb was dear to his heart.
Nathan dramatically finished his story with the news that the landholder saw
the sweet
lamb and desiring it, took it for himself. The farmer's heart was broken. David
roared in outrage. Where was this landholder? Have him killed immediately!
Nathan looked him in the eye and said, "You are the one!" At that
moment David knew the depth of his sin.
Our own egos are often the powerful ones, the royalty, who don't
realize what they are doing. The ego is
usually fear-based driving us harder and harder indifferent to the impact on
ourselves and others; it's
focus is narrow and short-sighted. When it comes to our bodies we may be as
oblivious as King David, treating it as expendable. Yet when we consider wholeness,
our bodies have great value.
In contrast to years ago I think I have become more conscious
and more caring of my body and then I will lapse back into taking
it for granted and not caring for its needs. Finally something
will get my attention and say "You are the one!" With
a start I come back to my senses and see how I haven't been enjoying
the outdoors or eating in ways that give me energy or getting
enough sleep so that I feel enlivened. I haven't been doing things
that give me delight like dancing and hiking. I am brought up-short.
What needs to change?
During Lent this year we are hoping to wake ourselves up. We
want to remember how wonderful we feel when we practice the way
of life of Belovedness. We want to prepare ourselves to practice
resurrection. We need to be Nathan's to ourselves and to each
other finding creative ways to bring us to what is good for the
whole, for ourselves and for others. Nathan was not David's enemy
but was acting from love, calling him to his true self.
So close your eyes if you'd like and remember a particular time
when you were being very caring of
yourself, a time when you felt wonderful. Now there may be new limitations
that weren't there before-illness or stress for example.
Begin to imagine what taking good care of your body looks like
now. What are those habits that help you to experience your greatest
degree of health? Also allow yourself to see things you do or
fail to do that are harmful. What are those habits that are causing
you the greatest harm? If you could choose one thing to change
that is harmful, what would it be? If you could imagine living
in a transformed way, how would that look? What step can you
take to move in that direction?
Silence
Our minds are an important aspect of our wholeness as human
beings. What would it look like if we enfleshed Belovedness mentally?
What deadens our minds? As we become more aware of the connectedness
of mind-body, we have to concede that habits of body impact the
mind and
vice-versa. We can be too much in our heads, cut-off from the real world. Rarely
are we too much in our
bodies. What can we do to integrate mind-body and allow them to work together?
Our Vision speaks of intellectual liveliness. What nurture do
our minds need? Partly this can be personal:
following your own curiosity. Partly it is communal: are we discussing and
reading and learning together in healthy ways? What is mind-numbing for you?
What keeps your mind alert and active? What do we read or watch on TV? What
sort of entertainment do we choose? I think many of us know ourselves pretty
well and know that we need the nourishment of fresh ideas, the energy of good
scholarship, the fun of learning for its own sake.
Our emotions are crucial as well. We need safe places where
we can feel and express fear, anger, sorrow,
bitterness and other negative feelings as well as more pleasant feelings such
as joy, wonder, and playfulness. In a culture like ours where toughness and
efficiency are king, vulnerability can be a beautiful part of life that is
stolen away. When our Vision calls us to intimacy, creativity and play that
is a prophetic stance that would be ridiculed in many places.
Our souls long for beauty and meaning and authenticity. Color,
music, good design, time in nature, connections to friends and
family, working for justice and the well-being of the larger
community. Our imaginations need metaphor and symbol. We need
the refreshment of play and creative arts. Sometimes what we
need most is the spaciousness of silence. Julia Cameron in The
Artist's Way recommended talking a week off from reading to experience
our own thoughts and feelings. Reading
isn't bad but needs to be balanced with silence for listening to our own inner
voices.
So close your eyes if you'd like and remember a particular time
when you were being very caring of your
mind and soul. What is most nurturing to your mind? What does your soul long
for? Begin to imagine what taking care of your nephesh entails. What habits
are soulful and bring you intellectually alive? Also allow yourself to see
things you do or fail to do that are harmful. If you could choose one thing
to change that is harmful, what would it be? If you could imagine living in
a transformed way, how would that look? What step can you take to move in that
direction?
Silence
Lent is a time when our energies connect with the life-giving
forces of the Universe to offer us
opportunities for breakthroughs, for healing, for liberation. During the prayers
of the people we will
offer those ways we are doing violence to ourselves, the ways we ignore and
even extinguish our belovedness. We'll also offer prayers for empowerment in
practicing a way of life of our true selves. When we go home this week, let
us take these steps toward belovedness be they big or small. Let us encourage
one another and claim that deep blessing from the voice within: You are my
beloved, my own. On you my favor rests.
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