Palm Sunday: A Very Human Tail
Let us join together in worship physically separate, in our own homes, but connected deeply in heart, mind, spirit and soul, held by our intertwined roots. Let us hold those in need of our love in this time, those suffering in this time of fear and uncertainty, may they find the courage that they need to keep on in faith, hope and love.
In this spirit of Love I invite us to join together in a time of silent preparation. Let’s be still and silent, let’s invite a loving presence to be here amongst us and to awaken within us.
Chalice Lighting (Light Individual tealight at home)
We light our chalice with a memorial flame, for today we remember Jesus: his fateful ride into Jerusalem, the suffering and death that awaited him.
The flame burns too for all who have taken the same road. Those who have found the courage to be. May our worship do them justice and strengthen us to follow them.
Hymn 172 “All are welcome here” Words Peter Galbraith Music WESTMINSTER C. M. James Turle, 1802-1882
Now open wide your hearts, my friends,
And I will open mine,
And let us share all that is fair,
All that is true and fine.
We gather in this meeting house-
People of many kinds:
Let us, below the surface, seek
A meeting of true minds.
For in our company shall be
Great witnesses of light:
The Buddha, Krishna, Jesus - those
Gifted with clearest sight.
Like them, we seek to know ourselves,
To seek, in spite of fear;
To open wide, to all, our hearts-
For all are welcome here.
Prayer
I invite us to join together in a time of prayer…Let us pray…
Thou who are the heart and soul of life, save us from fear, the fear of days and nights yet to be, the idea of the known and the unknown, the fear that builds high walls around our spirits and our lives, the fear that nibbles at the edge of every satisfaction. Free us from fear that closes in and envelope us, the fear that nibbles at the edge of every satisfaction. Free us from the fear of failure and success, of shame and pain, of death and fear of life as well. Open our eyes that we may see Thy glory in humbleness and simplicity, commonness strewn generously across our path all our days. May we recognise Thee riding upon a simple beast of burden, down the crooked streets of Jerusalem. May he not require the palms of victory and praise, the accolades and shouts of the multitudes to see Thy glory in gentleness, patience, loving kindness and, yes, pain and sometimes death. Thy way of peace, of faith, hope, and love still is our path, our joy, our way.
Amen
Lord’s Prayer (Version most comfortable with)
Story
“Turning Wine into Water”
After many years in exile the king was returning to his home. Everyone was very excited, because the king had always ruled with fairness and generosity to all. It was decided that the whole kingdom would come out to greet him with a huge feast worthy of such a personage.
The treasury was nearly exhausted, but the advisors managed to provide an ox to roast, herbs and spices from the decaying gardens of the palace, and ripe fruits from the orchards. Everything was nearly in readiness, when the Grand Vizier made a startling discovery. He had forgotten the wine! As it would be impossible to greet the king properly without the elixir of the vineyards, there was only one thing to do. Everyone must bring a large measure of wine from their own household vats.
Tobin the farmer sighed at this news. His own grapes had not yielded well the previous season, and his household had little to spare. He would be delighted as anyone to see the king once again on his throne, but wine was so costly!
On the day of the feast, people began arriving in hordes. The head of each household stood in a long queue, and one by one emptied large vessels from their homes into a great common vat, The guards of the Grand Vizier stood sternly by until each householder had complied.
Tobin quickly poured the contents of his vessel into the vat, feeling a sense of satisfaction. With such quantities being donated, no one would be able to tell that his own contribution was nothing but plain water from his well, He took his place at one of the long tables. When the king appeared, ushered in great pomp to the high table on the dais, serving girls poured the wine into each person’s cup. The Grand Vizier pronounced a long-winded toast, and the king, as was customary, raised his golden goblet to his lips. Taking a single sip, his smile disappeared, and he spat it onto the table.
Tobin didn’t even taste his cup, realising, as did everyone, that they had found a way to turn wine into water.
Reading
“Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better ,Wise Advice for Leaning into the Unknown” by Pema Chodron
Life advice from Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in conversation with Pema Chordron on dealing with the waves that knock you down.
"So I thought I would tell you this little story about Naropa University's founder, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and my very first one-on-one interview with him. This interview occurred during the time when my life was completely falling apart, and I went there because I wanted to talk about the fact that I was feeling like such a failure and so raw.
"But when I sat down in front of him, he said, 'How is your meditation?'
"I said, 'Fine.'
"And then we just started talking, superficial chatter, until he stood up and said, 'It was very nice to meet you,' and started walking me to the door. In other words, the interview was over.
"And so at that point, realizing the interview was over, I just blurted out my whole story:
"My life is over.
I have hit the bottom.
I don't know what to do.
Please help me.
"And here is the advice Trungpa Rinpoche gave me. He said, 'Well, it's a lot like walking into the ocean, and a big wave comes and knocks you over. And you find yourself lying on the bottom with sand in your nose and in your mouth. And you are lying there, and you have a choice. You can either lie there, or you can stand up and start to keep walking out to sea.'
"So, basically, you stand up, because the 'lying there' choice equals dying.
"Metaphorically lying there is what a lot of us choose to do at that point. But you can choose to stand up and start walking, and after a while another big wave comes and knocks you down.
"You find yourself at the bottom of the ocean with sand in your nose and sand in your mouth, and again you have the choice to lie there or to stand up and start walking forward.
" 'So the waves keep coming,' he said. 'And you keep cultivating your courage and bravery and sense of humor to relate to this situation of the waves, and you keep getting up and going forward.'
"This was his advice to me.
"Trungpa then said, 'After a while, it will begin to seem to you that the waves are getting smaller and smaller. And they won't knock you over anymore.'
"That is good life advice.
"It isn't that the waves stop coming. It's that because you train in holding the rawness of vulnerability in your heart, the waves just appear to be getting smaller and smaller, and they don't knock you over anymore."
Hymn 102 “Hossanna in the Highest” by John Howland Lathrop Tune Cruger 76 76 D by William Henry Monk
Hosanna in the highest!
Our eager hearts acclaim
The prophet of the kingdom,
Who bears Messiah’s name.
O bold, O foolish peasants,
To deem that he should reign!
The temple and the palace
Look down in high disdain.
Long ages dim the message,
And custom has sufficed
For merchants and for princes
To bow, and own him Christ.
But when a kindred spirit
Arises from the plain,
The seats of power tremble
And crucify again.
O first of many prophets
Who come of simple folk
To free us from our bondage,
To break oppressions yoke,
Restore our eyes from blindness,
Make clear the life, the way
That leads through love and justice
Unto the peace-crowned day.
Readings
Gospel of Luke chapter 9 vv 28-38
28 After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30saying, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” just say this: “The Lord needs it.” ’ 32So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ 34They said, ‘The Lord needs it.’ 35Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen,38saying,
‘Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!’
“The Ecstasy of Love” by Kabir
The Guest is inside you, and also inside me;
you know the sprout is hidden inside the seed.
We are all struggling; none of us has gone far.
Let your arrogance go, and look around inside.
The blue sky opens out farther and farther,
the daily sense of failure goes away,
the damage I have done to myself fades,
a million suns come forward with light,
when I sit firmly in that world.
I hear bells ringing that no one has shaken,
inside "love" there is more joy than we know of,
rain pours down, although the sky is clear of clouds,
there are whole rivers of light.
The universe is shot through in all parts by a single sort of love.
How hard it is to feel that joy in all our four bodies!
Those who hope to be reasonable about it fail.
The arrogance of reason has separated us from that love.
With the word "reason" you already feel miles away.
How lucky Kabir is, that surrounded by all this joy
he sings inside his own little boat.
His poems amount to one soul meeting another.
These songs are about forgetting dying and loss.
They rise above both coming in and going out.
Meditation
I invite us to join together in a time of quiet reflection, meditation and contemplation. Following some words of settlement I invite us to join together in about five minutes of silence. Please play a favourite piece of music to end the silence.
I invite us now to be still and silent together. We are physically separate but joined in the spirt of love, held by the one eternal Love. I invite us to still ourselves, to quiet minds, still our thoughts, connect to our bodies, to our breathing, to the one breath of all life. Let us be still and silent together
Silence
Music (Your Own Choice)
Hymn
I invite us to join together in a time of prayer…Let us pray…
Thou who are the heart and soul of life, save us from fear, the fear of days and nights yet to be, the idea of the known and the unknown, the fear that builds high walls around our spirits and our lives, the fear that nibbles at the edge of every satisfaction. Free us from fear that closes in and envelope us, the fear that nibbles at the edge of every satisfaction. Free us from the fear of failure and success, of shame and pain, of death and fear of life as well. Open our eyes that we may see Thy glory in humbleness and simplicity, commonness strewn generously across our path all our days. May we recognise Thee riding upon a simple beast of burden, down the crooked streets of Jerusalem. May he not require the palms of victory and praise, the accolades and shouts of the multitudes to see Thy glory in gentleness, patience, loving kindness and, yes, pain and sometimes death. Thy way of peace, of faith, hope, and love still is our path, our joy, our way.
Amen
Lord’s Prayer (Version most comfortable with)
Story
“Turning Wine into Water”
After many years in exile the king was returning to his home. Everyone was very excited, because the king had always ruled with fairness and generosity to all. It was decided that the whole kingdom would come out to greet him with a huge feast worthy of such a personage.
The treasury was nearly exhausted, but the advisors managed to provide an ox to roast, herbs and spices from the decaying gardens of the palace, and ripe fruits from the orchards. Everything was nearly in readiness, when the Grand Vizier made a startling discovery. He had forgotten the wine! As it would be impossible to greet the king properly without the elixir of the vineyards, there was only one thing to do. Everyone must bring a large measure of wine from their own household vats.
Tobin the farmer sighed at this news. His own grapes had not yielded well the previous season, and his household had little to spare. He would be delighted as anyone to see the king once again on his throne, but wine was so costly!
On the day of the feast, people began arriving in hordes. The head of each household stood in a long queue, and one by one emptied large vessels from their homes into a great common vat, The guards of the Grand Vizier stood sternly by until each householder had complied.
Tobin quickly poured the contents of his vessel into the vat, feeling a sense of satisfaction. With such quantities being donated, no one would be able to tell that his own contribution was nothing but plain water from his well, He took his place at one of the long tables. When the king appeared, ushered in great pomp to the high table on the dais, serving girls poured the wine into each person’s cup. The Grand Vizier pronounced a long-winded toast, and the king, as was customary, raised his golden goblet to his lips. Taking a single sip, his smile disappeared, and he spat it onto the table.
Tobin didn’t even taste his cup, realising, as did everyone, that they had found a way to turn wine into water.
Reading
“Fail, Fail Again, Fail Better ,Wise Advice for Leaning into the Unknown” by Pema Chodron
Life advice from Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche in conversation with Pema Chordron on dealing with the waves that knock you down.
"So I thought I would tell you this little story about Naropa University's founder, Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche, and my very first one-on-one interview with him. This interview occurred during the time when my life was completely falling apart, and I went there because I wanted to talk about the fact that I was feeling like such a failure and so raw.
"But when I sat down in front of him, he said, 'How is your meditation?'
"I said, 'Fine.'
"And then we just started talking, superficial chatter, until he stood up and said, 'It was very nice to meet you,' and started walking me to the door. In other words, the interview was over.
"And so at that point, realizing the interview was over, I just blurted out my whole story:
"My life is over.
I have hit the bottom.
I don't know what to do.
Please help me.
"And here is the advice Trungpa Rinpoche gave me. He said, 'Well, it's a lot like walking into the ocean, and a big wave comes and knocks you over. And you find yourself lying on the bottom with sand in your nose and in your mouth. And you are lying there, and you have a choice. You can either lie there, or you can stand up and start to keep walking out to sea.'
"So, basically, you stand up, because the 'lying there' choice equals dying.
"Metaphorically lying there is what a lot of us choose to do at that point. But you can choose to stand up and start walking, and after a while another big wave comes and knocks you down.
"You find yourself at the bottom of the ocean with sand in your nose and sand in your mouth, and again you have the choice to lie there or to stand up and start walking forward.
" 'So the waves keep coming,' he said. 'And you keep cultivating your courage and bravery and sense of humor to relate to this situation of the waves, and you keep getting up and going forward.'
"This was his advice to me.
"Trungpa then said, 'After a while, it will begin to seem to you that the waves are getting smaller and smaller. And they won't knock you over anymore.'
"That is good life advice.
"It isn't that the waves stop coming. It's that because you train in holding the rawness of vulnerability in your heart, the waves just appear to be getting smaller and smaller, and they don't knock you over anymore."
Hymn 102 “Hossanna in the Highest” by John Howland Lathrop Tune Cruger 76 76 D by William Henry Monk
Hosanna in the highest!
Our eager hearts acclaim
The prophet of the kingdom,
Who bears Messiah’s name.
O bold, O foolish peasants,
To deem that he should reign!
The temple and the palace
Look down in high disdain.
Long ages dim the message,
And custom has sufficed
For merchants and for princes
To bow, and own him Christ.
But when a kindred spirit
Arises from the plain,
The seats of power tremble
And crucify again.
O first of many prophets
Who come of simple folk
To free us from our bondage,
To break oppressions yoke,
Restore our eyes from blindness,
Make clear the life, the way
That leads through love and justice
Unto the peace-crowned day.
Readings
Gospel of Luke chapter 9 vv 28-38
28 After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
29 When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, 30saying, ‘Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 31If anyone asks you, “Why are you untying it?” just say this: “The Lord needs it.” ’ 32So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. 33As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, ‘Why are you untying the colt?’ 34They said, ‘The Lord needs it.’ 35Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. 37As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen,38saying,
‘Blessed is the king
who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven,
and glory in the highest heaven!’
“The Ecstasy of Love” by Kabir
The Guest is inside you, and also inside me;
you know the sprout is hidden inside the seed.
We are all struggling; none of us has gone far.
Let your arrogance go, and look around inside.
The blue sky opens out farther and farther,
the daily sense of failure goes away,
the damage I have done to myself fades,
a million suns come forward with light,
when I sit firmly in that world.
I hear bells ringing that no one has shaken,
inside "love" there is more joy than we know of,
rain pours down, although the sky is clear of clouds,
there are whole rivers of light.
The universe is shot through in all parts by a single sort of love.
How hard it is to feel that joy in all our four bodies!
Those who hope to be reasonable about it fail.
The arrogance of reason has separated us from that love.
With the word "reason" you already feel miles away.
How lucky Kabir is, that surrounded by all this joy
he sings inside his own little boat.
His poems amount to one soul meeting another.
These songs are about forgetting dying and loss.
They rise above both coming in and going out.
Meditation
I invite us to join together in a time of quiet reflection, meditation and contemplation. Following some words of settlement I invite us to join together in about five minutes of silence. Please play a favourite piece of music to end the silence.
I invite us now to be still and silent together. We are physically separate but joined in the spirt of love, held by the one eternal Love. I invite us to still ourselves, to quiet minds, still our thoughts, connect to our bodies, to our breathing, to the one breath of all life. Let us be still and silent together
Silence
Music (Your Own Choice)
Hymn
59 “Prayer for Strength” Words Love Maria Wallis. Tune Marching 87. 87. By Martin Fallas Shaw
1 Hear O God the prayer we offer:
not for ease that prayer shall be,
but for strength that we may ever
live our lives courageously.
2 Not for ever in green pastures
do we ask our way to be;
but the steep and rugged pathway
may we tread rejoicingly.
3 Not for ever by still waters
would we idly rest and stay;
but would smite the living fountains
from the rocks along our way.
4 Be our strength in hours of weakness,
in our wanderings be our guide;
through endeavour, failure, danger,
Father, be thou at our side.
Address
One of blessings of my work is that people tell you things, they really tell you things; things that they perhaps cannot tell other people. They open their hearts to you and somehow find the ability to expose their all too real and vulnerable humanity. I’m not just talking about you the people I serve, but people I meet in general. Now I say it is a blessing of my work but actually this has happened all my life. People, for whatever reason, open up to me.
Now there was a time in my life when this bothered me somewhat, I did not see it as a blessing. I would take on board and absorb the pain of others and it would weigh me down. There was a time when I wished above all things to be freed from this sensitivity, it was too much. I saw it as a serious handicap and one I wished I didn’t have.
Thankfully this is no longer the case. I am as sensitive as I have always been if not more so. I feel more today than I ever done. The difference is that I no longer carry the burden of the suffering of others around with me, or at least not as much. This for me is one of the great gifts of faith and living openly. Life passes through me as I believe it is meant to; or perhaps more accurately I become more integrated with it and thus it does not weigh me down as I am not carrying what is not mine to carry. It is this, I have come to believe, which allows me to truly be of service to others, to present with thme, without becoming consumed by their suffering.
People speak to me, they open up to me and they tell me things. Most of us carry much pain around with us, many disappointments, so many experiences of betrayal. Yes we all know joy and love and acceptance, but we also know betrayal both by others and of course by ourselves. Perhaps we are being revisited by some of these feelings, during this time of physical isolation. You are not alone several people have shared such feelings with me. I was revisited by a couple of spectres myself as everything seemed to wrong last Monday. Thankfully I was also helped out by a several angels in human form who helped me out when I needed it.
People have been sharing much with me these last few days, I hope they always feel that they can. What I love about the conversations, as hard as they can be at times, is that what I witness in so many people is true courage, as they continue on living and loving despite the many struggles, worries and disappointments. Something we don’t always recognise in ourselves. I have seen much courage and love these last couple of weeks, so much that has inspired me.
What I see in the people I am connected to in this mutual web of love is something I fully recognise in myself. I recognise our full and complex humanity. That we are all made up of many things, we have all fallen short and fallen down many times but still we rise oh still we rise.
Brings to mind this beautiful poem by the late great Maya Angelou
“Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Now of course I am not an African American woman, I have not walked in her shoes but I identify, as so many of us can I am sure, we all continue to rise.
Today “Palm Sunday” marks the beginning of “Holy Week”, regarded as the most important in the whole Christian calendar. It begins with Jesus entering Jerusalem riding on the back of a humble donkey or Colt. He is received by the crowds waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna, hosanna in the highest heaven” The crowds welcome Jesus who they believe will save them. This though does not happen and just a few days later he is betrayed, rejected, brutalised and killed. The body is killed, the figure dies, but the love that is left behind lives on. It is this love that I believe is true Easter mythos. A love that can live on and once again incarnate in the lives of all people. I have witness so much of this love coming alive in the lives of ordinary folk these last couple of weeks. Not so longer all we heard was talk of division and now what hear mainly is people coming together in Love.
There is though more to the Holy week narrative than the concept of universal love. It is not just a mythos about Jesus, it is also about the crowd and all the people around him. People just like you and me. Just like them we can all get caught up in the crowd mentality can we not? We can all identify with the crowd despite the world in which we live being very different today. We share a common humanity with them. We are all formed from the same breath of life, we all have the Divine spark within us; well at least I believe that we do. We are not God’s though, although we can become the light of the world if and when we live in love. We are fully human just like those folk on the side of the street waving their palms grateful for any reason to celebrate. People looking for joy, looking for meaning, looking for love. People who just like us are prone to disappointment, who fail to live up to the very ideals they would like to strive for. People who fall short, get ill, and become bogged down in little and bigger things, finite human beings. People who are looking for hope, to lift them out of their suffering. People looking for someone or something to lead them to better things, to give them another chance to live better lives. There has also been much talk of this these last few weeks, especially as we have had to stay locked down at home. No doubt we have all fallen short at times. I certainly have.
How many times have we fallen short, messed up and wished we could live up to our ideals? Well we can. Just think of those wonderful words in the poem, “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou. Here is some other wisdom from her, words that strike deep into my soul, on forgiveness:
“I don’t know if I continue, even today, always liking myself. But what I learned to do many years ago was to forgive myself. It is very important for every human being to forgive herself or himself because if you live, you will make mistakes – it is inevitable. But once you do and you see the mistake, then you forgive yourself and say, ‘well, if I’d known better I’d have done better,’ that’s all. So you say to people who you think you may have injured, ‘I’m sorry,’ and then you say to yourself, ‘I’m sorry.’ If we all hold on to the mistake, we can’t see our own glory in the mirror because we have the mistake between our faces and the mirror; we can’t see what we’re capable of being. You can ask forgiveness of others, but in the end the real forgiveness is in one’s own self. I think that young men and women are so caught by the way they see themselves. Now mind you, when a larger society sees them as unattractive, as threats, as too black or too white, or too poor, or too fat or too thin, or too sexual or too asexual, that’s rough. But you can overcome that. The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself. If we don’t have that we never grow, we never learn, and sure as hell we should never teach.”
This is so key I believe, this sense of forgiveness and wholeness this sense that we are ok, they are so essential if we wish to keep on rising. We all fall down at times, we all give in at times what need is a sense of true forgiveness to come if we want to start over again.
What I sense so often when I listen to people is that they are not just wanting to unburden themselves but are looking for a reals sense of forgiveness to be able to start again, to be redeemed from all those things that hold them back from being the loving people we are all capable of being. May that is something to think about in this time of physical isolation. What are the regrets we are carrying with us, the things that need healing, the forgiveness that need to sought and offered, the reconciliation that needs to made. Maybe this is something we can commit to in the coming weeks. It would be a wonderful use of our time.
Here lays the essence of the story of Palm Sunday and the week that follows that leads to the new beginning that is Easter. Sadly we are going to have to wait a little longer for Easter this year, or maybe we can make it a virtual Easter. We can begin again we can start anew, we can forgive and be forgiven for our very human mistakes and shortcomings, for our betrayals of love however it manifests in this our imperfect world. It means that we will get things wrong sometimes, lots of times, but that, if we pay attention, maybe next time, we’ll do better. If we work at it, we can see our own glory in the mirror; we can begin to see what we’re capable of being; we can begin to recognise that we truly are children of love; we can begin again in love. No matter how many times we fall we can rise again.
This week begins in glory and celebration, before moving onto to betrayal, denial, torture and brutal death. Love and compassion is destroyed by the end of it, only to rise again and far more powerfully than ever before.
For love will always rise again.
Amen
Hymn 188 “Let Love Continue Long” Traditional American Words Music Love Unknown 66. 66. 88. By John Ireland
1 Hear O God the prayer we offer:
not for ease that prayer shall be,
but for strength that we may ever
live our lives courageously.
2 Not for ever in green pastures
do we ask our way to be;
but the steep and rugged pathway
may we tread rejoicingly.
3 Not for ever by still waters
would we idly rest and stay;
but would smite the living fountains
from the rocks along our way.
4 Be our strength in hours of weakness,
in our wanderings be our guide;
through endeavour, failure, danger,
Father, be thou at our side.
Address
One of blessings of my work is that people tell you things, they really tell you things; things that they perhaps cannot tell other people. They open their hearts to you and somehow find the ability to expose their all too real and vulnerable humanity. I’m not just talking about you the people I serve, but people I meet in general. Now I say it is a blessing of my work but actually this has happened all my life. People, for whatever reason, open up to me.
Now there was a time in my life when this bothered me somewhat, I did not see it as a blessing. I would take on board and absorb the pain of others and it would weigh me down. There was a time when I wished above all things to be freed from this sensitivity, it was too much. I saw it as a serious handicap and one I wished I didn’t have.
Thankfully this is no longer the case. I am as sensitive as I have always been if not more so. I feel more today than I ever done. The difference is that I no longer carry the burden of the suffering of others around with me, or at least not as much. This for me is one of the great gifts of faith and living openly. Life passes through me as I believe it is meant to; or perhaps more accurately I become more integrated with it and thus it does not weigh me down as I am not carrying what is not mine to carry. It is this, I have come to believe, which allows me to truly be of service to others, to present with thme, without becoming consumed by their suffering.
People speak to me, they open up to me and they tell me things. Most of us carry much pain around with us, many disappointments, so many experiences of betrayal. Yes we all know joy and love and acceptance, but we also know betrayal both by others and of course by ourselves. Perhaps we are being revisited by some of these feelings, during this time of physical isolation. You are not alone several people have shared such feelings with me. I was revisited by a couple of spectres myself as everything seemed to wrong last Monday. Thankfully I was also helped out by a several angels in human form who helped me out when I needed it.
People have been sharing much with me these last few days, I hope they always feel that they can. What I love about the conversations, as hard as they can be at times, is that what I witness in so many people is true courage, as they continue on living and loving despite the many struggles, worries and disappointments. Something we don’t always recognise in ourselves. I have seen much courage and love these last couple of weeks, so much that has inspired me.
What I see in the people I am connected to in this mutual web of love is something I fully recognise in myself. I recognise our full and complex humanity. That we are all made up of many things, we have all fallen short and fallen down many times but still we rise oh still we rise.
Brings to mind this beautiful poem by the late great Maya Angelou
“Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history’s shame
I rise
Up from a past that’s rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Now of course I am not an African American woman, I have not walked in her shoes but I identify, as so many of us can I am sure, we all continue to rise.
Today “Palm Sunday” marks the beginning of “Holy Week”, regarded as the most important in the whole Christian calendar. It begins with Jesus entering Jerusalem riding on the back of a humble donkey or Colt. He is received by the crowds waving palm branches and shouting “Hosanna, hosanna in the highest heaven” The crowds welcome Jesus who they believe will save them. This though does not happen and just a few days later he is betrayed, rejected, brutalised and killed. The body is killed, the figure dies, but the love that is left behind lives on. It is this love that I believe is true Easter mythos. A love that can live on and once again incarnate in the lives of all people. I have witness so much of this love coming alive in the lives of ordinary folk these last couple of weeks. Not so longer all we heard was talk of division and now what hear mainly is people coming together in Love.
There is though more to the Holy week narrative than the concept of universal love. It is not just a mythos about Jesus, it is also about the crowd and all the people around him. People just like you and me. Just like them we can all get caught up in the crowd mentality can we not? We can all identify with the crowd despite the world in which we live being very different today. We share a common humanity with them. We are all formed from the same breath of life, we all have the Divine spark within us; well at least I believe that we do. We are not God’s though, although we can become the light of the world if and when we live in love. We are fully human just like those folk on the side of the street waving their palms grateful for any reason to celebrate. People looking for joy, looking for meaning, looking for love. People who just like us are prone to disappointment, who fail to live up to the very ideals they would like to strive for. People who fall short, get ill, and become bogged down in little and bigger things, finite human beings. People who are looking for hope, to lift them out of their suffering. People looking for someone or something to lead them to better things, to give them another chance to live better lives. There has also been much talk of this these last few weeks, especially as we have had to stay locked down at home. No doubt we have all fallen short at times. I certainly have.
How many times have we fallen short, messed up and wished we could live up to our ideals? Well we can. Just think of those wonderful words in the poem, “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou. Here is some other wisdom from her, words that strike deep into my soul, on forgiveness:
“I don’t know if I continue, even today, always liking myself. But what I learned to do many years ago was to forgive myself. It is very important for every human being to forgive herself or himself because if you live, you will make mistakes – it is inevitable. But once you do and you see the mistake, then you forgive yourself and say, ‘well, if I’d known better I’d have done better,’ that’s all. So you say to people who you think you may have injured, ‘I’m sorry,’ and then you say to yourself, ‘I’m sorry.’ If we all hold on to the mistake, we can’t see our own glory in the mirror because we have the mistake between our faces and the mirror; we can’t see what we’re capable of being. You can ask forgiveness of others, but in the end the real forgiveness is in one’s own self. I think that young men and women are so caught by the way they see themselves. Now mind you, when a larger society sees them as unattractive, as threats, as too black or too white, or too poor, or too fat or too thin, or too sexual or too asexual, that’s rough. But you can overcome that. The real difficulty is to overcome how you think about yourself. If we don’t have that we never grow, we never learn, and sure as hell we should never teach.”
This is so key I believe, this sense of forgiveness and wholeness this sense that we are ok, they are so essential if we wish to keep on rising. We all fall down at times, we all give in at times what need is a sense of true forgiveness to come if we want to start over again.
What I sense so often when I listen to people is that they are not just wanting to unburden themselves but are looking for a reals sense of forgiveness to be able to start again, to be redeemed from all those things that hold them back from being the loving people we are all capable of being. May that is something to think about in this time of physical isolation. What are the regrets we are carrying with us, the things that need healing, the forgiveness that need to sought and offered, the reconciliation that needs to made. Maybe this is something we can commit to in the coming weeks. It would be a wonderful use of our time.
Here lays the essence of the story of Palm Sunday and the week that follows that leads to the new beginning that is Easter. Sadly we are going to have to wait a little longer for Easter this year, or maybe we can make it a virtual Easter. We can begin again we can start anew, we can forgive and be forgiven for our very human mistakes and shortcomings, for our betrayals of love however it manifests in this our imperfect world. It means that we will get things wrong sometimes, lots of times, but that, if we pay attention, maybe next time, we’ll do better. If we work at it, we can see our own glory in the mirror; we can begin to see what we’re capable of being; we can begin to recognise that we truly are children of love; we can begin again in love. No matter how many times we fall we can rise again.
This week begins in glory and celebration, before moving onto to betrayal, denial, torture and brutal death. Love and compassion is destroyed by the end of it, only to rise again and far more powerfully than ever before.
For love will always rise again.
Amen
Hymn 188 “Let Love Continue Long” Traditional American Words Music Love Unknown 66. 66. 88. By John Ireland
Let love continue long,
and show to us the way,
and if that love be strong,
no hurt can have a say;
and if that love remain but strong,
no hurt can ever have a say.
If love cannot be found,
though common faith prevails,
when love does not abound,
a common faith will fail.
When human love does not abound,
a common faith will always fail.
If we in love unite,
debate can cause no strife:
for with this love in sight,
disputes enrich our life.
For with this bond of human love,
disputes can mean a richer life.
May love continue long,
and lead us on our way:
for if that love be strong,
no hurt can have a say.
For if that love remain but strong,
no hurt can ever have a say.
Blessing
O God, so touch us with the soul’s eternal springtime that no wintry hour of life shall blight our faith or freeze our hearts...
Let us carry the vision of life, the vision of love with us in all that we feel, all that we think, all that we say and all that we do
Amen
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