Olympic Spirit: Is your cup overflowing or does it runneth over?

Watching the Olympics these last couple of weeks I have been deeply moved by the power of the love expressed; I’ve been deeply moved by how this power has lifted up so many of the competitors to a higher level. The power of thousands of people and millions throughout the country backing them to hilt has lifted the level of performance of so many British competitors, especially those from Yorkshire it seems.

This is not a unique or modern phenomena, home advantage is common place in sport. What has been different over the last couple of weeks has been that this has been expressed in a purely loving sense. It’s not that the atmosphere has been intimidating for the non-home based competitors, there has been no semblance of jingoism despite Morrisey's accusations. No it’s more that the British competitors seem to have been lifted to a greater level by the power of love expressed by their own supporters. This abundance of love has not merely filled their spirit but it has been overflowing. Just beautiful!

I have also noticed how many of the competitors go through their own personal routines to prepare themselves before they compete. Many pray or offer praise and many centre down. This seems central to their ability to focus on what is in front of them. As a result many have been able to connect to this abundant love that somehow seems to be able to lift them to a greater level of performance. The reductionists tell us that we are nothing more than flesh, nothing more than chemicals, but is this really so? I have observed an immense power at work these last two weeks; a power open to us all; a power that can lift us up beyond the confines of what we may think we can be. I have witnessed love overflowing; I have witnessed abundant love.

There is a story of a university professor who visited a Japanese master to inquire about Zen. The professor began to ask questions while the master just sat quietly, listening. After a while the master began to pour tea into the professor’s cup. The cup soon filled up, but the master did not stop pouring. The tea soon began to spill over on to the table. Initially the professor just sat there in stunned silence, he did not know what to do. Eventually he could take no more and shouted out “It’s overfull. No more will go in!” The master stopped pouring and simply said “Like this cup you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

As I have watched the competitors preparing themselves for their events this image of the empty cup has come into my mind. They have emptied their minds of all distractions as they have prepared themselves. It would appear that a full cup an overflowing cup is not such a great thing. 

But is this so? Well maybe, maybe not.

 The image of an overflowing brings something else to my mind; it brings the 23rd Psalm, "The Lord is my Shepherd" to my conciousness. In the 23^rd Psalm David sings of God as a shepherd who will see him safely through the Valley of Death. “Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.” In the psalm the overflowing cup is an excess of goodness, a symbol of abundance, a source of joy. Can we ever be too full of love?

Here we have two images of cups overflowing: One depicting a mind that is too full and therefore unable to focus or learn something new; the other depicting a cup overflowing with love that will enable us to live full lives despite the presence of fear. 

But is this a dilemma? Well only if you get lost in the metaphor, the curse of the literalist. The two images are of course depicting different aspects of our humanity.

The Zen story is describing the mind; where as the Psalm is depicting the heart, it is talking of God’s infinite love. So yes we can be full abundantly with love and yet still have a mind that is clear. I suspect that it is the full heart that enables us to clear our minds, or perhaps it’s the clear mind that enables us to have our hearts filled.

Maybe, maybe not!

Looking at my own life it was only when love began to take over my heart that my mind began to clear. My head use to be full of so much that there was no space for anything else. My thoughts would just swirl round and round and round and go pretty much nowhere. These days my head is pretty much empty most of the time. My head is clear. This is good thing as my mind can be used for its true purpose. It is no longer held back by the regret of the past or the fear of the future. As a result I have peace of mind these days, even in the most difficult of times. The cup (my mind) is no longer overflowing and yet at the same time I experience the cup that runneth over, I know that everlasting and eternal love of God. As a result I can experience this abundant love present in life.

The last two weeks as I have been absorbed by the Olympics I have watched love in abundance. I have seen this power truly manifest in the lives of those competing. As many British athletes have said their performances have been raised up by the love bestowed upon them by those supporting them. These last two weeks we have witnessed competitors lifted to their greatest potential by the love that has been poured all over them.

I believe that we can all live fully aware of the abundance that is open to us in life. We can live as though our cups were overflowing with abundant love. We can give our love freely. We can truly throw caution to the wind and live with true gracious abandon.

Now some folk may accuse me of being a dreamer, a Pollyanna. Well they can think what they like. I do not believe that I am the only dreamer I am sure we have all felt this at times. We have all felt full up with the abundance of life, if only for brief moments.

We can trigger this abundance in others too. It can begin with a smile at a stranger in the street. I have written many times about my belief in the chaos theory of compassion, the source of which is this abundant love. We can pour it out of ourselves and on to others and they can do likewise. I have seen proof of the power of this abundant love these last two weeks as so many British competitors have been lifted up beyond what they thought was their potential.

The wonderful thing about this abundance is that unlike any other resource it is not finite it truly is infinite. The more we express it, the more we give it away, the more our cups are filled. The key is to share it extravagantly to pour it out onto one another.

The image of abundant love brings to my mind a passage from Matthew’s Gospel (Ch 26 vv 6-13). It is a much debated passage primarily because it has been used by some as a justification for tolerating poverty. I believe that to focus on this is to fail to recognise the central message of Matthews Gospel, the abundant blessing of love.

The passage reads: “Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, “Why this waste? For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor. But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”

This is a story of abundant love. The woman loves and cares for Jesus. She anoints him with oil because she loves him dearly. It truly is an act of loving, nay gracious abandonment. This is in complete contrast to the grumpy disciples who want to preserve and conserve love as if it were a finite commodity.

So what am I trying to say, you may well ask? I am saying that yes we all need a clear mind, a cup that is not overly full in order to focus on what life is offering us. That said in order to do this we need an open heart, we need this to allow this abundant love to fill us up and to flow from us.

Let the love pour on, in and through us. Let's pour it out into our lives. We were all born to love.

Let's sing, rejoice and abandon ourselves to love and anoint one another regardless of the troubles that may come our way.

It's been a wonderful and wonder filled couple of weeks I hope and pray that we can carry this loving spirit into our lives as the Olympic dust settles and normality returns

Mothers: The True Olympians

Today is Mothering Sunday or Mother’s day. For most of us it is a day of joy; a day set a-side to celebrate the gift of motherhood. That said this is not the case for everyone. For some it will be a day tinged with sadness as they remember the mum’s they have lost, who are no longer here. For some mothers it is a time to remember lost children, either through un-reconcilable differences or deaths dark shadow. This day I will be remembering those mothers.

I will also be remembering those mothers’s whose children are away at war and who worry daily about them. I will also think of those of us who have never born children who have never experienced that gift, due to a variety of circumstances. I will also remember those, who for whatever reason, find their relationships with their own mothers or their own children difficult, for who today may bring up painful and difficult emotions...I will pause this morning and hold those for whom today will be a difficult and painful day. I will then celebrate motherhood, perhaps life's greatest gift.

A new member of the congregations I serve recently gave me the following piece...It is beautiful...

The young mother set her foot on the path of life. "Is this the long way?" she asked.

The guide said, "Yes, and the way is hard. You will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning."


But the young mother was happy, and she could not believe that anything could be better than these years.

So she played with her children, gathered flowers for them along the way, and bathed them in the clear streams. As the sun shone on them, the young mother cried, "Nothing could ever be lovelier than this."


Then the night came ... and the storm ... and the path became dark. The children shook with fear and cold. The mother drew them close to her and covered them with her mantle.


The children said, "Mother, we are not afraid, for you are near. No harm can come to us."

Then morning came. There was a hill ahead, and the mother and her children climbed it and grew weary. She would frequently tell the children, "Keep your patience because we are almost there."


So the children continued to climb. When they reached the top, they said, "Mother, we would not have done it without you."


When the mother laid down at night, she looked up at the stars and thought, "This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude in the face of hardness. Yesterday I gave them courage. Today I have given them strength."

The next day, strange clouds appeared which darkened the earth ... clouds of war, hate, and evil. As the children groped and stumbled, the mother said, "Look up! Lift your eyes to the light!"

The children looked. They saw above the clouds, an everlasting glory, and it guided them beyond the darkness.

That night, the mother said, " This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God."

The days went on, and the weeks, and the months, and the years. The mother grew old and she was little and bent over. But her children were tall and strong, and walked with courage.

When the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was as light as a feather. At last they came to the top of a hill. They could see a shining road with a golden gate that opened wide.

The mother said, "I have reached the end of my journey. I now know that the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk alone, and their children after them."

The children said, "You will always walk with us, Mother, even when you have gone through the gates.

They stood and watched her as she went on alone. The gates closed after her. The children said, "We cannot see her, but she is still with us. A mother like ours is more than a memory. She is a living presence."

Our mother is always with us. She's the whisper of the leaves as we walk down the street. She's the smell of bleach in our freshly laundered socks. She's the cool hand on our brow when we're not feeling well.

Our Mother lives inside our laughter. She's crystallized in every tear drop we shed.

She's the place we came from ... our first home. She's the map we follow with every step we take.

She's our first love and our first heartbreak, and nothing on earth can separate us from her ...Not time ... not space ... not even death!

"A Mother's Walk" by Temple Bailey written for Good Housekeeping Magazine in 1933

2012 is Olympic year. To be an Olympic champion takes courage and discipline and sacrifice. The Olympian gives up so much in order to achieve glory, to become the champion. For this the champion is rewarded, they are given the “Gold Medal”. It is also worth noting that they do all that they do for themselves. They do not sacrifice for another. They do not give for loves sake. Yes we honour them with hero status, but should we?

Do we have heroes or maybe heroines closer to home? Maybe there are true Olympians nearby. Do we really need to seek them out? There are those around us who give and sacrifice in courageous and disciplined ways not for themselves but for others. They give purely in love. They give of themselves for others, in so many unimaginable ways. Do they receive medals for their heroic deeds? No I do not believe that they do.

Anyone who gives of themselves in motherhood, male or female is a true Olympian. Today we celebrate the gift of motherhood in this the middle Sunday of Lent. This seems entirely appropriate to me. Lent is after all about courage, it is about discipline and above all it is about self giving love. Motherhood seems to be the perfect example of this.

So today I am celebrating universal motherhood and the love that it so perfectly embodies. Let’s celebrate the mothers we have known and the love that they have naturally shown.

I will end this blog in celebration of motherhood with this prayer I recently found...

A mother's love

“We feel the happiness of true creation when we give birth to a child. The beat of a mother’s heart is wonderful music: bearing the reassurance of dawn, the warmth of noon, the purple sunset. It is in one word, wholeness.”

We come to give thanks for the mothers who bore us and nurtured us; to celebrate the love and kindness we received from them.

We come to give thanks for the children entrusted to us for a little while.

Holy One, Be with us in both joy and the grief they bring.

We come to give thanks for this wonderful creation, for our mother the Earth, and for the glory of life in which we share.

Amen

by Kinga-Reka Szekely, a Unitarian minister and mother in Transylvania


P.S. Can anyone argue with Mr T?