Soulfulness: "Entering"
Mark 1: 9-15; 1 Peter 3: 18-22 and Psalm 25; 1-12
March 5, 2006 Lent

God, rainbows are a sign of Your covenant with us always. If only I could hang onto the rainbow and put it in my pocket as a reminder You are with me! Instead, I hang on to things I shouldn’t….things that give me a false hope instead of real assurance. But I am scared to let go of comforts and riches and habits and routines and prejudices and cliques and things that make life easier for me…even if they are false, short-lived and even hollow. These things are familiar…like overstuffed chairs and bright lights. It is so hard to start doing things in new ways…to hang onto rainbows…to enter my own soul…even with all it may promise.

Like Noah, I want to be able leave behind all the things that hold me back from the new life God offers. And that means I need help to stand up against those who sneer and would call me foolish for believing in anything beyond what can already be seen. Lord, there is not much support for me to think new thoughts or care in new ways. So, let me be washed with a flood of renewed spirit so I know I am alive. Send me a sure sign…a dove or rainbow of my own….a friend.

Lord, help me know when I get soulful, you are with me…you are my soul. Lord, I ask it.

The early church embraced the ancient rite of cleansing and renewal in baptism and sees it as an extension of God’s covenant with Noah long ago. The God who saved Noah through the waters, offers the same saving grace/salvation to them…to us through the waters…now baptism waters.

Paul reveals that through Jesus’ baptism, in his living and dying, Jesus goes back throughout all time to bring salvation to all those who did not know to obey and so have been imprisoned in their own hearts. Everyone has the opportunity to be saved.

The early church began to understand the coming of Jesus was to further the covenant established by God long ago. He is a new sign, a personified rainbow. The covenant in Jesus did not negate the covenants made with Noah, Abraham, and Moses but brings a new, radical, personal revelation of God’s intention for all people. God made a commitment long ago and now God is getting personal.

What is a covenant?
It is a promise made between two hearts…yours and God’s. We literally marked that promise on our foreheads last Tuesday night….marked it with the waters of baptism and the ashes that bring new life…even if we do not intend to keep it, God does….and will. The covenant is no longer dependent on it.

Paul says the way to live the covenant through our baptisms is to make "an appeal to God for a good conscience." Today we usually use that word, conscience, as a way to challenge our morals, ethics, and behavior.

But Jesus wasn’t about teaching good morals…not even good judgment. Jesus was about showing us that if we live each day in conscious relationship with God, then we stand in a powerful stream of forgiveness and grace and renewal that will help us through the day to a fuller more joyful life….soulfulness.

We appeal then to God for a holy consciousness that frees us from….sin, yes…but most probably as the psalmist knew long ago, frees us from guilt…in that freedom…if we could only find it…would be an amazing entrance into new life, our own souls
~We can’t begin to deal with current sin, we are so engulfed in old guilt!
~Guilt first, sin next, souls always!

I like Lent because it calls me into a holy consciousness, a deeper soulfulness. It moves me away from the superficial. It moves me to a more spiritual focus for my life. I get to turn toward what has meaning (loving God’s people…and myself!) and let drop away those things that don’t (perceived financial security/power struggles/tight relationships)! I get to be more intentional. Less guilt!

I intentionally open my thoughts and find within me my teachable heart. Teachable heart. It may be a battered, bruised, warn out, full, over-joyed, tenderly held…but a teachable heart that leads me…my head in my heart standing before my God who loves me…the day looks bright…my soul is deep!

~And just like Jesus, I travel this life learning as I go.
~And just like Jesus, I start out from my own baptism renewed and cleansed and made able to stand up against what is not right/just in life.
~And just like Jesus, I can choose an alternative way to think and feel and act…not alone but in relationship with God and other disciples.

~And just like Jesus, my journey starts with a wilderness experience where I am tempted to give into the ways of this world because it would be initially easier or make me look good.

I guess every teachable heart has a choice to make….to go into the wilderness or not…to go deep or not. The journey…especially the beginning of the journey…is hard. But we can go, because just like Jesus, our teachable hearts are companioned by the wisdom and strength of the Holy Spirit….consciousness.

~What was the last bold choice you made because of the nudge and guidance of your Holy Consciousness and teachable heart?
~What resistance did you meet in taking it? That resistance was a temptation to take a short cut or go on a different journey.

~How were you able to resist giving in even when it meant you might be judged or isolated or sabotaged if you moved ahead? It had something to do with your soul...entering your soul.

I’m really asking you to think of a time you….
*Spoke up about the war?
*Sat next to a child who needed a friend or a tutor or a hug?
*Wrote a letter to a congress person?
*Stepped away from gossip at work?
*Said no to an off color joke?
*Recommitted yourself to your partner?
*Put down the cigarette or the drink?
*Began a counseling relationship to understand yourself better?
*Defied the threat of economic doom and doubled your giving….to Tippe?
*Said yes to joining/re-joining Tippe when the world would make church going a joke

…re-joining not because it does Tippe good because it does you good?

The last time? That was a wilderness experience and you entered into your soul and hand in hand with God and you made it!

Every journey worth taking begins in the wilderness…entering our souls….a bewildering process to begin. We know the wilderness of losing children….family members, losing partners, losing jobs, losing pride or self-respect, we lose our youth.

We live in guilt. We’re stuck in guilt.

In these wilderness experiences, do you sense a loving companion with you? God is there….are you?

Find your teachable heart.

Anxiety and fear can make us ineffective and block our path to God. Find your teachable heart.

Relax. You are not alone. Breathe.

Close your eyes.

Get beyond the anxiety and go through your fear.

See your covenant partner…your God…Abba…reaching out to you through the wilderness of everyday choices. Enter your own soul with God.

If you relax, the entrance opens. Vague. Yes. Blurry and unclear. Yes. There is an anxiousness to find a way inside out quickly. Slow. Stay in the Soulfulness.

Your very life/soul is the sign of the newest covenant…you are a living rainbow. You are God’s sign of love in this world.

We go now with Jesus toward Jerusalem with teachable hearts longing to know God intimately.

Noticing our own signs of new life, we learn from these stories…we learn about our own souls…we go with God.