Still Waters

Living God,

like those disciples on the road to Emmaus,

we struggle to recognize you in the everyday journey of our lives.

We seek your wisdom in the midst of the questions we have

about the circumstances we find ourselves in—

circumstances sometimes beyond our control.

Open our eyes, O God,

to your work of transformation in and around us.

As we walk with you day by day,

may your new life be made manifest in what we say to and how we treat others.

Help us to understand the power of our words to hurt or to heal;

give us the graciousness to reflect your love in all we say.

As you opened the scriptures to the disciples

and taught them everything,

open our eyes to behold you in your Word.

Help us to live these words in all we say, do, and think.

You were known to the disciples in the breaking of the bread.

May your resurrection presence guide our lives.

We pray now, silently and aloud, for the things weighing on us today…

So often we forget

that you invite us to abide with you;

to have our lives hidden in you.

We thank you that you travel with us in our joys and our concerns.

Amen

I thought I would take a moment, and name a reality for parents in this season. Sometime this week, depending on what school district you are in, It will hit 40 days since schools have closed. 

Not that I am counting or anything. 

This is important because parenting is a war of attrition. Attrition is defined, as the action or process of gradually reducing the strength or effectiveness of someone or something through sustained attack or pressure. 

You might spend an hour with my children and find it charming. Like when they are coloring in there coloring books; until the second you turn your attention to an adult thought, it’s guaranteed, that they will start coloring all over their faces, eating the marker, coloring anywhere but on the paper; on each other, or the couch, or the walls. 

Now in small doses anyone can take it all in stride. If you take this example, and apply it every day, for 40 plus days, you’ve got parents who feel like they are losing a war of attrition to their own children. They are not sure when reinforcements are coming, and the parents are about to panic. The kids are winning the game of parental attrition.

My sister is a Fifth Grade teacher in San Diego. In the midst of describing how “Zoom Teaching” is working out, she tells of a challenging students behavior on the Zoom call. She said one of his retorts to “Zoom Classroom Discipline” was, “My Mom says at my house right now there is only one rule, don't die.” 

Maybe that should be the only rule in all of our houses right now. 

To get personal for a moment. 

When we realized that school was closing, and child care was not going to be a possibility, it meant that we had about 15 hours of work that we were going to have to add to our already jam packed life. 

Not that I am counting or anything. 

Now compared to what many of us are dealing with, we are incredibly thankful for our health and well being. But I still want to express solidarity with others out there who are struggling with our current chaos. I want to keep it real when it comes to thinking about green pastures and still waters this morning. 

Green Pastures 

Returning to the theme that we can know something cognitively, but we really haven’t fully learned the lesson it has to teach us, until we are deprived of it, lets talk about green pastures.  

We all know that life thrives when it is lived in a vibrant Eco System. Now, through our lack, we have experienced the truth that we are holistic beings. We need nature hikes, hugs from family, meaningful work, strong coffee, art, good conversation, music, and Mexican food. In order to stay healthy. We know what it is to miss our run on the beach in the morning; that helped us be a better parent, boss, and co-worker. 

Sitting in this empty church on Sundays for the last month has taught me that singing, praying, and ministering, in person; with all of you is nourishing to my soul. I knew that cognitively, but as I stand here in this empty church, I must imagine seeing you in your homes. It is a truth I feel so much deeper now. It is a lesson that I will carry with me long after this is all over. My lament is simple, I miss you all dearly.

When the church comes together we create a vibrant Holy Spirit Eco System that nourishes us, at a level we might not have been aware of until now. 

So how do we get to green pastures and quiet waters now? 

I like the language of Psalm 23:2 where it says, “He makes me lie down in green pastures…”

The implication being, there are times when we act like bad sheep. Sheep that want to keep going, when it is time to lie down. 

In the rare moments when my kids let me put them to bed, (because they prefer their mom, of course) I have been known to make my kids lay down. Every parent knows the dreaded “over tired” mode of children. Children that are up way past their bed time, are really more tired than their external appearance; they exhibit delirious reserves of energy. Maybe this is what Jesus was referring to when he spoke of Gehenna, the place of great tears and gnashing of teeth. 

Sometimes we just need to be given permission to lie down. 

David is speaking of true rest, not the rest that comes from a vacation or something on Netflix. Not the “Tiger King” rest many of us have been experiencing lately.  

To find the true rest; our heart’s desire, we must submit ourselves to the Lord.

“Thou hast made us for thyself, Oh Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.” - Saint Augustine 

The true rest our heart desires is only found in the providence of the Good Shepherd.

A great centering prayer during this time is, The Serenity Prayer. It is a prayer written by the American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, to help us to find God’s peace in a turbulent world. 

The Serenity Prayer goes like this,

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change

Courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will;

That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him;

Forever in the next. Amen.

Do you see all the submissive language in this prayer. 

Accepting hardships are the pathway to peace

Taking the sinful world as it is, not as I would have it. 

Trusting  that He will make all things right. 

There is a fascinating  rabbinic tradition that says that on the Seventh Day God created peace. The idea, is that God’s peace is a place that we can enter into. Much like a green pasture. 

Psalm 95: 6-7 

Come, let us bow down in worship,

    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;

for he is our God

    and we are the people of his pasture,

    the flock under his care.

Lets keep going.

Still Waters 

Take a moment and get a glass of water, or whatever beverage is in front of you. Don't drink it, take it and shake it a little bit, and notice the form of the water, notice the shape it takes. 

Now stop and observe when it is calm; shake it again and then let it get calm again.  

If you were to describe the state of your soul today, which one of these would it be? 

Some of you feel like you’ve been shot through a fire hose? 

This is what the psalmist tells us; God leads us to still waters that connect us with our souls.  

For a Shepherd in the Judean wilderness there were very few places of still water. It is a desert climate, hot and dusty. So when it did rain, it evaporated quickly. Then, on a rare occasion  their might be a flash flood. So still waters were rare, a vital life giving resource.

God wants to take our turbulent waters and make them calm, still waters. Could anybody use that today? 

The word for “soul” in Hebrew is Nepehesh. 

It is an ancient Hebrew word that can be translated as Spirit/Breath.

So is the soul a mystical spirit; as natural as breathing? 

For far too long we have thought that there is a great divide between that which is mystical, something of the spirit; and our normal day to day lives. For many in the modern world, spiritual things are somewhere over here; and life, blood, sweat, sandwiches, Saturday night, are over there. 

But the scripture reminds us that these things are connected. Humans are integrated beings. Our Spirit is inseparable from our life.

So what does God do? He revives our humanity, He renews our soul. 

You are more than a “to do list.” In the midst of the hustle and bustle of daily life, your job, the laundry, meals, dishes and children, stop for a moment and realize how much God longs to care for you. To have you lay down with Him in green pastures beside still waters.

Still Waters, remind us of our value as God’s children

Still Waters, are a reminder of our fundamental human dignity, that no abuse, wrong, or sin can take from us. 

Still Waters, is where God reveals the essence of our soul to us, who we really are.

Still Waters, is the place where God abides with us.

Maybe God wants to take this time to really teach us how to make our home a church. Forcing us to ingrate our spiritual life, with our home life. 

I saw a great internet meme the other day that went something like this; 

The devil said to God, look I cancelled church. I Win. 

God answered back, church isn't cancelled, I just opened millions of satellite campuses. 

Now is the time to learn how to integrate work, family, and spirit into our daily routines. What we do now out of necessity, may create a deeper well of understanding and practice going forward. 

The other day I had the opportunity to spend a little time at my childhood home. I grew up in a magical place near Malibu, called Monte Nido, Spanish for Mountain Nest. This time of year it is lush with the green of spring and blooming flowers. In my parents front yard there is a creek. This creek most of the year is pretty small or even dry, but every so often there is a spring rain that creates a strong, steady flow of fresh water. As a child when this happened I would spend the days playing in the creek. The other day, I got to share this experience with my son. The other times he went to the creek without me, he was only willing to venture in so far as to get his feet wet. But the day I went with him, he went all in. My Son was willing to go all in, because his Father was there. So we went on an “adventure” navigating the rocks and rapids together.  When things got scary, he would reach out his hand so that I could help him balance, when he didn't know where to go, I went ahead of him to show the way, when he fell down and skinned his knee, I was there to pick him up and encourage him to keep going; and when the waters were calm, he ran ahead. 

St. Andrew’s, you have a Good Shepherd who is with you now. To give you confidence, if you feel unsure. Leading the way, on the path of righteousness that he blazed just for you. To restore you, to lift you up when you fall down, and to delight in you as you discover the green pastures and still waters that He leads us to, even now.