May The Circle Remain Unbroken
Bill Barney
First United Metho=
dist
Church, Schenectady
March 1, 2009 Lent=
I
At once, this same=
Spirit
pushed Jesus out into the wild. For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by Evil. Wild ani=
mals
were his companions, and angels took care of him. Mark 1: 12 & 13 The Message [adapted]
“When the commitment is made by many to face = one another, clasp hands, and focus on one intention, their circle emanates rip= ples of energy that can change the world.” [DailyOM] Almost every time hum= an beings get that close – close enough to join hands in a circle –= ; a good outcome prevails in a discussion or a debate.
When people sit in rows as in most church meetings = or as we do in church pews – a discussion or debate can easily come apart a= nd easily end up in a divided outcome. The empowerment for good that can come from people in a circle is al= most mystical, but it is true.
Since Jesus was baptized and was reported to have g= one into the desert to consider if he was up to the leadership he was being cal= led to provide, an unbroken spiritual circle has been trying to change the world with the message that “Love is reason for living – Love = is more powerful than hate.”
When he came out of the desert, the scriptures say =
that Jesus
began to speak in the words and live in the spirit that would become the
hallmark of his eternal presence: “Change=
your
life and believe the Message."
The accou=
nt of
that wilderness journey read for us today is the shortest version in the th=
ree
Gospels, which include it. The details of this story are not important. We =
can
be pretty sure that this is a mythological account that the writers of
Jesus’ life story felt must be included. They were writing about a ma=
jor
figure, or one whom they wanted to become a major figure in religious histo=
ry.
You see, nearly every major religious figure, king or guru, written or told
about before Jesus went on some kind wilderness journey, where they were
challenged to turn back evil. Like being born of a virgin, a wilderness jou=
rney
became one of the credentials necessary to be accepted as a Divine-like lea=
der
of a movement.
That is just a little insight into the placement of=
this
story in the Jesus story and why it became the basis for the Church Season =
of
Lent, which lasts for forty days, not including Sundays. There are many arguments as to whe=
ther
we should divide the church year into seasons or not. In the early years of=
we
who are older; Lent, or Advent or Epiphany were never mentioned, unless you
came from the Roman Catholic tradition. That’s a lesson for another time. This message isn̵=
7;t
about Lent.
What I wa=
nt us to
think about today is that from its beginnings – the birth, the baptis=
m,
the wilderness journey, the calling of disciples – the movement led by
Jesus that came to be called Christianity, has running through it an unbrok=
en
circle of Love, powered by his message and lived out by people of faith.
Of course,
throughout the last 2000 years there have been thousands of diversions and
distractions, divisions and disturbing actions that have attempted to break=
the
circle of Love. From those who
first created the creeds, dogmas and doctrines to those who have constantly
amended or have rigidly insisted on their necessity, none has successfully
smothered the basic message, “change your life and live the Message&#=
8217;
– “love the other as I have love you!”
The thous=
ands of
denominational divisions, the frightful support of war and violence against=
so
called unbelievers, the support of slavery, and endless isms, too many to n=
ame,
were actions by a perverted leadership, who thought they could improve on
“the message”, especially to shut out the uninitiated or those
labeled as “different.”
Well, it
hasn’t worked. In every=
age,
when many of those on the journey were off on their own version of it, some
rebellious, or resistant or revolutionary band of brothers and sisters have
preserved the original message, maintaining an unbroken circle of connection
with Jesus and his followers who have kept it simple – “love th=
e other
as I have loved you.”
Today, as=
you
start your Lenten journey or whatever journey you may be on – I invite
you to envision being a member of that circle – hand to hand with
millions who have stayed on message.
Among the followers of Jesus, the m=
ost basic
circle of gathering is that which forms around a table. A table where we jo=
in with
people whom we know and people we don’t know to share together from t=
he
bounty of the earth. The bread and the fruit of the vine, is that which we
believe Jesus used to help us remember him – whose life embodied the
message which we are called to live – “love the other as I have
loved you.”
The debates, the differences, the claims of certainty and charges of
heresy, between those who make up the many divisions of Christendom, includ=
ing
those of us in the Wesleyan stream called Methodists, will never break the =
eternal
circle of love that has thankfully survived all of the attacks on it. May we all accept the privilege to=
live
at least some of our days as a part of that circle – those days when =
we do
let Jesus’ message of love actually live in us. Come now, the table is
spread and ALL in the band of brothers and sisters present are invited, for
perhaps the billionth time in history. Amen.
1