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April 26, 2009

Wow! Staying in the Moment

Sermon. April 26, 2009 W: Wow! Staying in the Moment
Psalm 4, John 21:1-8

Today we begin a seven-week series of how to stay in love with God. I am using the book, Spiritual Disciplines Handbook: Practices that Transform Us by Adele Ahlberg Calhoun as one of my resources. (1) Adele uses the Acronym WORSHIP to categorize the spiritual practices in her book. And so today, we begin with W. I’ve entitled it, Wow! Staying in the moment.

Life is unpredictable. We look ahead, make our plans and then try to live with the deviations or detours that occur. Think about yesterday. Did it go according to your plan? How many of you had a day that went perfectly according to your plan? Raise your hand. We get those once in a while—just to mess with our mind and give us the false illusion that we are in control. Good think I’m talking about this today, because chances are 1 million to 1 that today will go according to your plan giving you two consequences days of perfection.

So the rest of you had a day that did not go according to your plan. How many got a welcome surprise yesterday? Raise your hand. Did you appreciate the surprise at the time or did you realize it in retrospect? The rest of you must have received an unwelcome event. These occurrences have the ability to really mess up the best laid plans don’t they? The thing that is confusing is why I am still surprised when the day doesn’t go according to my plan. What happens to my brain while I’m sleeping that makes me think I’m in control of my life?

It’s as if each day we need to remind ourselves that we don’t rule the day, God does. Our ability to go with the flow is a direct correlation to how much we enjoy or cope with the unexpected. The unexpected events in our lives are hard enough to manage in good times. But now, some of the worldly structures we have depended on are crumbling or being called into question. The unpredictability of life is being magnified because of the uncertainty of the times. Yes, times are tough right now. But we are blessed in that we have a God who never crumbles, a Savior who experienced the worst the world had to offer and persevered, and a Holy Spirit that moves among us, inviting us to connect with God.

God created us with a desire to be in relationship with Her. And God also created us with free will to respond to God’s invitation or not. My premise this morning is that many of life’s gifts are found in the present moment—that includes a relationship with God. Our responsibility is to actively participate in the present (i.e. don’t drink or drug it away, don’t wish it away, don’t push it away, don’t live in the “if’s”—if only or what if.) This is not always easy. But what would it look like if we did?

Meet Lillian. She gives us a great example of living in the moment…A minister of a large church, national lecturer and writer, Lillian was feeling guilty that she had not seen much of her youngest son, Josh, home from college for spring break. So she cancelled an appointment and met up with him for the afternoon. After a wonderful lunch at a local bistro, they headed to the beach.

Josh went surfing and Lillian took a short run. On the way home, they pulled into a Quick Mart gas station, Lillian sat in the car while Josh ran inside for something to drink. Sitting there in her sweat pants, her hair pulled up in a sloppy pony tail, a warm, gentle breeze caught her attention through the open car window. Looking west toward the setting sun, she saw a group of palm trees silhouetted against the spring sky. Her mind quieted. Her feelings of guilt and being overwhelmed left. They were replaced with a sense of deep contentment.

Lillian felt at one with God and the world. This lasted about…30 seconds, before her thoughts went elsewhere and her son came bounding into the car, breaking the silence. Nevertheless, Lillian was grateful for the moment of renewal and centering. With a smile on her face, she started up the car and they drove home. (2)

Being attuned to the present, Lillian received a moment of renewal and centering, just what she needed. Not only that, Lillian was grateful for the gift. Do you and I take life granted? Are we, the richest nation in the world, people who find it easier to recall traumatic events rather than to relive experiences of delight?

We sure seem to be able to conjure up our past hurts, difficult times, and injustices quickly.
On radio 720, WGN, you can experience both sides of this idea. On Wednesday mornings, around 11:00am there is a timeslot entitled, “Speak Your Peace.” People call in and rant about things that make them mad. When I listen to this segment, I find myself getting angry and indignant about things that are not going my way or are wrong in my life.

In contrast, on Friday morning, about 8:30am there is a segment called “the Bright Side of Life.” People call in and share something personal from their own lives. I happened to be listening on Friday and here is an example of the range of calls. One man said, “The quote to fix my sewer was $8,000 and it turned out to be only $4,000.”

And the last caller shared, “Our son was born 12 weeks premature and my wife got to hold him for the first time yesterday.” The on-air silence lasted about 5 seconds while we all swallowed the lump in our throat. When I get done listening to this segment, I think about my own life and wonder, “what would I say about my bright side of life?” I feel more positive and uplifted about my life and consequently our world.

What are some ways that we can increase our gratitude? One way to is to keep a gratitude journal. In this journal, we keep a record of gifts from God. For example, if Lillian kept a gratitude journal, she would record her moment sitting in the car—her feeling of being at one with God and the world. Then she could return to it again and again, savoring God’s presence in her life. We could do a gratitude journal with our children, helping them to think about what they are grateful for. We could cut out stuff from magazines, include pictures of events in our life, or draw a picture. In our gratitude journal, we intentionally move beyond things that can be purchased to moments and relationships.

Another spiritual practice that increases our gratitude is to end every day by saying thank you to God for one thing. You can keep a note pad, next to your bed and write it down or not. After thanking God, tell God what that one thing meant to you.

Look for the Bright side next week of a situation in your life.

Up until this point, I’ve been sharing spiritual practices that we can do alone. What about some practices that involve other people? Let’s look at the disciples in today’s gospel lesson. Their teacher, their leader, was publically humiliated and killed. Originally, they thought Jesus was the one who was going to change their world. Then he was crucified, which made them question God. Now, the risen Jesus has appeared to them a few times, in the privacy of the upper room. But apparently, the disciples are still not sure what is expected of them.

But instead of hiding in the upper room and lamenting their confusion and fear, Peter announces, “I’m going fishing.”—i.e. I’m not sitting around here doing nothing all day. I’m not sure what we are supposed to do next, but I know how to fish. You can see the others shaking their heads like, “Great idea.”

So the disciples do what they know, they go fishing. However, after spending the entire night at it, they have no fish to show for their efforts!

I don’t know about you, but if that was me, I’d be pretty frustrated by now. Someone appears on the shore. “Friends, have you caught any fish?” “No.” “Try the other side of the boat and you’ll get plenty of fish.” Sure enough, when they put their nets down on the side of the boat that Jesus recommends, they catch an abundance of fish.

Wow! Their night of frustration shifts to a moment of abundance. By putting themselves out there, doing something positive, they experience Jesus beyond the limits of the upper room. By listening to Him, their frustration turns to abundance.

The spiritual practice demonstrated in this passage is take a positive action to be in the moment. We are not our feelings. Don’t let the present moment slip by while you are stuck in feelings of anger, fear, resentment, or depression. If you aren’t sure what to do, do the next right thing. Do something positive. Lillian took control of her life. Instead of feeling guilty, she spent time with her son and let her work wait. The disciples went fishing even though they were still afraid of those who killed Jesus. In both cases, they left negative feelings behind and were present in the moment. In the present moment, they experienced God. They were Wow’d.

Maybe you are undergoing a hardship right now and you are willing to try this gratitude idea but you are really having a real difficult time coming up with anything to be grateful for. First, tell God how you feel about this hardship. Be honest with God. Then ask yourself if there is any evidence of God’s presence in the hardship. Is there anything you can be grateful for? If you cannot find God in your hardship, get your Bible out and read about Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, read the book of Job, or the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis. There’s a message in there for you.

In the meantime, maybe this will be helpful. One of the most intimate journeys I’ve taken with an author was with Kate Braestrup in her memoir, “Here If You Need Me.” Kate’s husband, Drew, a Maine state trooper was killed in a traffic accident on his way to work. Instantly, she was a widow with four small children. Her story is a transparent, uplifting account of discovering God in the small miracles that happen every day when a heart is grateful. Her experience demonstrates how life is restored.

Near the end of the book, as she reflects back on this part of her journey she writes, “Death alters the reality of our lives; the death of an intimate changes it completely. No part of my life, from my most ethereal (otherworldly) notions of God to the most mundane detail of tooth brushing, was the same after Drew died. Life consisted of one rending novelty after another…still as time went on, some of these novelties proved to be blessings. And like anyone who has survived the death of an intimate, I had to learn to live with a paradox…So while on one hard there is my darling Drew, whom I will never cease to love and never cease to long for, on the other hand, there is a wonderful life that I enjoy and am grateful for…As it happens, not as it was planned but as it turned out, this is my life.” (3)

Adele Ahlberg Calhoun writes that “thankfulness is a tread that can bind together all the patchwork squares of our lives. Difficult times, happy days, seasons of sickness, or hours of bliss.” (4) We each have the ability to interpret the facts of our lives and to take control of our attitude about life’s circumstances. We can be grateful not because everything goes perfectly but because God is present. The Spirit of God is within us. We can make it a spiritual practice to look for the gift in each day. If we will do this, we will get closer to God.

So to recap—
• Keep a gratitude journal for those WoW God moments so you can revisit them over and over again.
• Thank God at the end of each day for one thing that happened that day. Tell God why you are thankful.
• Look for the bright side in a situation.
• Hang around with positive people who want to have a deep relationship with God. Be honest and supportive of each other. Share your successes and your struggles.
• Take action to be in the moment.
• Even when life does not make sense, remember you are not alone. Others have gone through what you are going through. Pull out your Bible and other people’s stories.

To close, I encourage you to keep practicing an attitude of gratitude. If you do, you will find yourself experiencing the deep love of God. You’ll have very little trouble responding in kind.

Footnotes:

(1) Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, Adele Ahlberg Calhoun. © A. Calhoun. Publishers InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL.
(2) Nancy Ortberg, in Rev! Magazine, May/June 2009 issue.
(3) Kate Braestrup in Here If You Need Me, pg 202. © K. Braestrup. Published Little, Brown & Company, NY.
(4) See #1.

Posted by vickie at 10:00 AM