Becoming The Easter Movement: “Ways Of Courageous Love” 

Mark 1: 9-15; 1 Peter 3: 18-22 and Psalm 25: 1, 4-5, 8-10 March 1, 2009 Lent
Insights shared by/with Rev. Carol Wichersham:

If you are a part of one then you know they can’t do anything unless….you do it!  But then again, they help you do it! As we join movements, we often become aware of our own power.  Usually….our power frightens us…usually because when we allow ourselves to be aware of our power and use it, we have to face the fact that we are more responsible for our lives being the way they are than we would like to believe.  Movements aren’t official, if they were within the auspices of an official organization, they’d/you’d have to go through channels and that stifles creativity and energy and a forward movement...timing is everything…much better to partner with an institution than be in one, or become one. A movement has no staff but has strong leaders; its fundraising is organic if at all.  If it’s right, people will want to give.  Accountability is key…makes or breaks movements for a movement’s priorities are visible and how they are lived is witnessed widely. Movements catch people off guard and keep people guessing…by their actions and choices of collaboration.  There are no honoraria given…everyone works pro bono.  If it’s right, people will want to give.  The world…it’s peoples…..want the church to speak…want it to be that movement, want the church to give voice to issues calling out at us….all that we are lacking…so often….all that we are awaiting is a leader…with some passion, some courage, self-definition and clarity.  Where are our leaders? Everyone speaks for themselves in a movement.  You can only speak what you know, in your own language…literally and experientially.  So, everyone in a movement is important.  Movements are intentional and take no one for granted. Movements limit thier focus.  They address a few, specific needs and form around a basic common understanding.  For example, focusing on torture rather than expanding to embrace the notion that war is always wrong; or, how do we provide a wonder ful Mardi Gras rather than a whole year’s worth of programming. A good movement…a good leader…addresses the angels of our better nature.  A good leader in a movement is like a spiritual director holding up for the group what is in the common good, calling us to a higher power…..to ways and places where God may be moving. Movements expect the best and draw the best out of people.  Remembering always, the worst is often not far behind…  When traditional ways which have worked in the past become blocked, there is opportunity.  Tradition is part of the movement, a springboard for movement….eastern thought says:  Learn the form, find the freedom. Fear stops/blocks movement.  Our lack of passion, motion, action feeds the beast.  And, our national narrative is fear driven…is that not also often true of the church?  Fear driven?  …true of our very selves?  Movements help us form a new narrative.  See ourselves differently. In the church, that narrative is basic:  Jesus loves us…loves you…and as you are born, God gives you everything you need for the journey.  Everything is perfect for you…to be who you are.  Peace and justice form joy within us…and hope it creates cretes the very thing which it contemplates….which it longs for….

 A movement of one is a good movement.  It can be everything!  You are the one!! The earliest church was a movement.  We can reclaim church as movement.  Jesus was the first one. You are the next one.  You are the one you’ve been waiting for…. The early church began for us our tradition and our springboard.  It embraced the ancient rite of cleansing and renewal in baptism seeing 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?  Is it so unlike a movement? A covenant is…and I wonder if a movement begins with…..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 our promises, or find we simply can’t, God does….and will.  The covenant is no longer dependent on it.  We are moved whether we want to be or not! Paul, an early leader in the movement, says the way to live the covenant, to give the movement motion 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.    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, a movement even more successful than President O’bama’s! ~We can’t begin to deal with current sin, cause we are so engulfed in old guilt!  ~Guilt first, sin next, souls always! What a movement that would be! I like Lent because it calls me into a holy consciousness, to remember my passion and realize deeply the movement toward new life begins with…me!  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-er…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….part of a movement indeed! ~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.  It has something to do with the power of the hope you hold and the passion you found…and your willingness to take a stand, take a step, begin a new movement within yourself confident that it would begin a ripple affect of change that would tumble the dominoes of resistance all around you…and make it possible for others to join in the change, the movement, the momentum…toward new life…hope made really real.