Words of Wendell Berry:
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Friends we gather together, now, in one strong, virtual, community.
We gather in search of courage
We gather in search of hope.
We gather, now more than ever, grounded in love.
Come, now, and let us worship together.
Homily
I want to begin by saying how good it is to be with all of you—or maybe I should say to imagine being with all of you. Maintaining a sense of community has been so important through these times. And what times they have been. It is a little hard to believe that it was just three weeks ago here in this sanctuary when Dana Buhl, who was assisting in worship on March 2, suggested as she invited us to greet our neighbors that we might try alternate methods of greeting that didn’t include shaking hands. That seems like a long time ago.
That was before many of us were paying much attention to something called the coronavirus. That was before we had heard of such a thing as social distancing (which I have to say still sounds like an oxymoron.) It was before the phrase “flattening the curve” referred to something other than a body part. It was before most of us could imagine being mostly confined to our homes for weeks on end. It was before we could imagine our health care system being overwhelmed. It was before … you fill in the blank.
And I expect we have all had moments when the reality began sinking in that this was something extraordinary.
I recall the day early in all of this—I think it was the day after that worship service, on March 3, when I heard that Costco had suspended food samples in their stores. I wasn’t quite there yet in imaging what all would be happening with this and that was one of my a-ha moments. That seemed like as concrete a sign of the end times as anything I had heard.
We have all had those moments, I suspect. And we have all learned as well that all of this is no laughing matter. In fact the reality is deadly serious. And the reality does keep sinking in day by day by day. What a journey it has been.
Last Sunday my colleague Rev. Mira offered us four points as guides during this time and I think they bear repeating now. In this unfolding situation, she asked us to:
–bring humility
–bring your full presence to this time
–look to collaborative action
–be gentle, with ourselves and with each other.
That was good advice and is still good advice. The humility part and the need to be gentle with myself and with others have particularly on my mind in the days since. And part of it is getting used to what might be coming next. Since last Sunday bars and restaurants have closed. Most businesses have closed. The number of deaths keeps rising. A good part of the country is now in lockdown.
Day by day by day the reality of all this keeps sinking in. And I think part of that sinking in for me this week has just been not knowing how long this will all go on. And I heard from many of you this week just asking some of those same questions—and figuring out how we will sustain ourselves through all this.
Bill mentioned earlier some things we’re doing here at the church. Many of you will be getting check in calls from the church. This is a time when we all need this community and the old fashioned phone tree seemed as good a way as any to do that. Community is important in these times and how we care for each other is important. And what I have seen so far has been a source of hope for me.
I have been moved this week by the expressions I have seen around me. The person from one of our small groups who said that she has a good supply of toilet paper and would be glad to drop some by the home of anyone who needs it. The food cart that pulls up in front of a hospital and offers free food to beleaguered workers there.
And I expect many of us are seeing such things. If you are like me maybe they are things that we wouldn’t have been as likely to notice. Maybe that is one of the gifts coming out of this time. People coming together.
In the words of the poet:
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
The subject of this sermon before all of this began was going to be on the courage to admit when we are wrong. Now there is still a sermon there and no shortage of examples on the subject from the last few days. There is nothing like a pandemic of such proportions to bring into focus just how important honesty and transparency are in our life together, especially when it comes to our leaders.
The call in the sermon was going to be for each of us to move out of that place of honesty and integrity. It was going to be a call for each of us to be in the world in such a way that allows each of us claim our size, our fullness. It was going to be a call to be our biggest and our best selves. And part of that is the willingness to acknowledge when we don’t do that. That is part of how the bonds among us stay strong.
These are the kinds of times when it is important for us to see ourselves as having agency, as connected to the whole and to recognize how we are on this journey together. It means seeing our lives, not in isolation but as connected to all that is around us, to something larger.
I noted this week in meetings virtually with some of you how we are making our way through this with all its uncertainty. I’ve noticed how we are moving through this in what feels like stages not unlike the stages of grief. Just like grief there is a kind of wrestling with all of this and what it means. There are so many emotions. There are so many questions. Tears are close to the surface.
I heard despair, I heard anger. I heard bargaining. But I also heard some moving to a place of looking for what positive things might be emerging out of this. Even asking if it has taken something like this to let us know just how broken so much of our world has become. This will continue. And the reality of the immensity of all this will also likely grow. And just how we sustain ourselves will take intention and practice.
So, what might that look like?
I think it begins with noticing—and seeing that noticing as a kind of spiritual practice. Something we do regularly and with intention. I think it begins by paying attention to what’s going on inside of each of us and paying attention to what is happening to those around us—those closest to us and also those in the broader community and world. It means bearing witness to the toll this is taking on so many people, be they medical professionals, be they hourly workers who are suddenly without work, be they the people in the most vulnerable categories and keeping them in mind in the choices each of us are making. It means being mindful of our privilege and the responsibility that comes with that privilege. It means coming face to face with our own fears.
It means bearing witness to all that has been lost and to all that is at risk, and it means paying attention to how some new order of things might be emerging as well. It begins by bearing witness to all that is before us.
Words again of the poet:
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
This week has been a time to settle in for what feels like a long haul. Cassandra’s story earlier in the service reminded us how this is the day we have and that this day is enough, and that in this day lives all the possibility we can imagine.
This week will likely bring more things that we may not have imagined a few weeks ago. That is as certain as just about anything else right now. So it is important to be mindful of how it is we choose to be together. None of us are alone in this.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
Will you pray with me now?
Spirit of life and of love, be with us and all the intentions we bring into this moment. There is so much to hold, sometimes more than seems bearable. Remind us, spirit, that we are not alone.
On this day we pray for all who are most vulnerable, we pray for medical professionals on the front lines, we pray for grocery workers who are stocking shelves and making it possible for us to buy food. We pray for our leaders who are faced with impossible decisions. We pray for the children. We pray for the elders. We pray for the whole world as we make our way through this time together. Amen.
Benediction
In these days of isolation, may we know the bonds of community.
In these days of despair, may we find our way to hope.
In these days of fear, may we remember the power of love.
This is the day we have been given. Let us rejoice in it and be glad.
Go in peace. Practice love. Amen.
Reading
Lockdown
Yes there is fear.
Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying.
Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.
But,
They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.
They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.
They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know
is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighbourhood
So that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary
All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting
All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality
To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters.
To Love.
So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear.
But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation.
But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying.
But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness.
But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death.
But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.
Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic
The birds are singing again
The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming,
And we are always encompassed by Love.
Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
- Fr. Richard Hendrick, OFM
March 13th 2020
Topics: Humility