Episodes
Sunday Jul 27, 2014
The Great Romance
Sunday Jul 27, 2014
Sunday Jul 27, 2014
A sermon preached by
Rev. Ginger Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC, July 27, 2014, the seventh Sunday
after Pentecost.
Text: Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52
What do you desire?
“Desire” is a word that is alive with energy. It points to a reality that dances in and among us as a powerful source of passion and motivation. And while some may instinctively imagine desire as always a temptation to something a bit naughty, that is an unfortunate slander of a God-given gift. It is true that our desires can become disordered and destructive when they are denied and banished to the “shadow” as Carl Jung suggests. But that isn’t the fault of desire itself. Desire is a good gift from God. The Rev. Dr. Serene Jones, my friend, former professor, and now president of Union Theological Seminary in New York, reminds us that desire is connected to things like delight, pleasure, vision, and beauty—all things that are positive elements of our God-given human experience. She shares that “in classical Christian language, the soul desires, in its most profound and ultimate sense, the beatific vision, which is the vision of God and God’s beauty.”[1]
In contrast, I found a Huffington Post article from last November that makes this claim: “Everybody wants what feels good. Everyone wants to live a care-free, happy and easy life, to fall in love and have amazing sex and relationships, to look perfect and make money and be popular and well-respected and admired and [for] people [to] part like the Red Sea when you walk into the room.”[2]
Perhaps the author is correct in his claim that these are things that “everybody wants.” In general, the things mentioned aren’t bad things. And the article goes on to suggest that attaining the object of our desire will only happen through hard work and sacrifice. Not bad advice, on the whole. The thing that struck me is that if it is true that this article truly describes what everybody wants, then we are a pretty self-focused bunch. Is it really true that “what everyone wants” has nothing to do with anything beyond our capacity to look perfect, make money, and be popular? The Rev. Dr. Jones would suggest that this kind of rhetoric is simply a symptom of our capitalist culture in which we are “constructed to want in a particular way.”[3] Desire becomes connected to possession and consumption instead of a life that is mutual, relational, generous, and shared. Erotic desire begins to be understood in instrumental terms instead of as a deep unfolding mystery that requires attentive care in order to build or maintain trust in relationship. In the culture in which we live, folks are trained to always look for a better object of desire. So often the desire is simply for more.
In this context, the challenge for those who follow Jesus is to want in a different way—to be motivated by desires that are less a part of the capitalist machine and more truly human. Jesus offers a guideline, teaching his disciples to “seek first the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness.” (Mt. 6.33) Jesus teaches that when we focus on our truest and deepest desire which is the love and beauty of God then all the other things that we need will be cared for. This isn’t magic or wishful thinking. It’s the same principle as setting a priority to exercise and then realizing that so many other things get addressed as a result, things like good sleep, better mood, and having more energy. Wanting the kin-dom of God above all other things—that is, ordering our desires according to our true, God-imaged, human nature—does not insure that there won’t be challenges in our lives, and it doesn’t promise that we will have ease or wealth. Rather, the promise inherent in Jesus’ teaching is that when we seek first the kin-dom of God our lives will be drawn up into the life of God, our lives will become infused with God’s beauty, our lives will be soaked with God’s love and will become so meaningful that we wouldn’t trade that new life for anything—not even all the material things in the world.
In other words, God in Christ calls us out of our life-limiting, anxiety-producing, self-focused haze and invites us to seek something larger than ourselves, to desire participation in a vision that is not always easy but that is worth living and dying for. Richard Rohr, Franciscan priest and spiritual teacher, suggests that “the risk and the adventure—the tremendous sense of daring and gift—that comes into one’s life when one is seeking something larger than oneself” is what “romance” is all about.[4]
Ah…romance. Whether the romance we experience is in the context of our love and desire for another person or our passionate commitment to a cause or vision, romantic energy pulls us out of ourselves and places our focus on someone or something else. And this kind of romantic, passionate desire leads us to go a little crazy sometimes, to make crazy promises and to risk making a fool of ourselves or getting ourselves hurt. Romance is Atticus Finch taking the case; it is Jackie Robinson stepping on the field; romance is Juliet’s potion and Romeo’s dagger; it is hundreds of people camping on a city block for months on end to protest unjust economic realities. Romance is Lloyd Dobler standing in his trenchcoat, boombox overhead, with Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” blaring; it is Harvey Milk stepping up and speaking out. Romance is anyone who has ever been crazy enough to give themselves to another person in committed, covenant relationship. Romance is a person who joyfully sells everything she has and makes a slightly shady business deal in order to gain the treasure found in a field. Romance is a merchant who sells the whole store—giving up the security of regular income—to possess just one pearl whose value is great. Romance—the desire for deeper love, connection, justice, freedom, meaning, and purpose—causes us to do all sorts of crazy, risky things. And that desire for something beyond ourselves, for a purpose that is bigger than one life, is what is at the heart of the kin-dom of God. It is high romance.
It is what Jesus came to show us and teach us: that the freedom and courage, joy and purpose that we seek are found in and through a great love affair with God. The revelation of God’s passionate and steadfast love for us and for the whole creation is the gift we hold as the people of God, Christ’s church.
I remember Serene Jones once saying that Christians may be facing a “crisis of desire.” She noted that delight, passion, vision, beauty, joy, and justice may not be the first things that spring to mind when many people hear the word “church.” And yet, ostensibly, we as the church are those who have discovered the treasure of God’s grace, we are those among whom the invaluable love of God is made real, where kin-dom living is practiced and shared. So why is it that so many people run the other way when they hear the word “church?” Sadly, we know well enough that some communities preach a message that is judgmental and narrow and even hateful. But, perhaps an even more pervasive reality driving folks away from the church has to do with the fact that so many expressions of “church” have, in the words of The Righteous Brothers, “lost that lovin’ feeling.” That is, the communities lack passion, have become complacent about their relationship with God, and as a result, their vision gets turned in on themselves, the vision growing ever smaller as it keeps pace with their dwindling membership. If what people desire is to be part of something that is big and meaningful and passionate in which they can give themselves and become more of themselves for the sake of making a difference, then this kind of passionless community (even when it is well-meaning and sweet) just isn’t going to cut it and it certainly won’t convince anyone that they need to crawl out of bed early on a Sunday morning or give up a happy hour to participate. What kind of church is so desirable that if someone happened upon it, it would be for them such an amazing treasure that they would joyfully sacrifice everything else just to be a part of it?
I believe that the church people desire is a church that desires God, that seeks first the kin-dom of God and that does so with joy, deep commitment, and the right kind of drama. A church that is caught up in the great romance—“the risk and the adventure, the tremendous sense of daring and gift”—that is life in God will be alive with love and beauty and purpose and passion. And it is this kind of church that is attractive. This church knows and concretely shows that the source of its life is Christ and the purpose for its being is love of God and love of neighbor. This church meets and embraces people right where they are AND challenges each person to grow, becoming an ever fuller expression of who God has created them to be. This church teaches its children to desire the God who desires them—and does so in a healthy, full-bodied way. This church takes relationships seriously, makes real commitments, keeps forgiveness at the center of its life, speaks truth to power, takes seriously Jesus’ call to serve the poor, dreams big and prays without ceasing. This church knows that there are consequences for human choices and that suffering results (even, perhaps, weeping and gnashing of teeth) when the opportunity to live in right relationship among God’s diverse “catch of fish” is rejected. Every member of this church knows that she or he is a minister of the Gospel—an agent of God’s saving love—not just on Sunday but in every part of their lives. This church has the energy of a movement—like the original zeal of the Methodist movement that spread like wildfire, calling people to greater accountability and a passionate and loving relationship with God. Beauty and art and creativity are highly valued as are practices that encourage the integration and wholeness of the human person. The church people will desire does not try to make things easy, but instead tries to make things matter. Most likely, this church has many more persons attending worship than it has members, because to be a member requires a high level of accountability and responsibility within the life of the congregation. But hundreds of newcomers are drawn to this place—even if they are uncertain whether they can make the commitment and knowing they are welcome even if they never do—because the kind of commitment and joy they witness is inspiring and it is a sign that there must be something pretty compelling going on for people to do such a crazy, risky thing as to commit to and live in a Christian community in such a radical way.
What is so compelling? Well…it’s hard to describe, but you might say it’s like a mustard seed, some yeast, a treasure buried in a field, a pearl of great price… What is so compelling? Why don’t we find out together?
[1] “Desiring God: An Interview with Serene Jones,” http://www.trinitywallstreet.org/content/desiring-god-interview-serene-jones#sthash.wqdOzBlj.dpuf
[2] Mark Manson, “The Most Important Question You Can Ask Yourself Today,” posted 11/13/2013, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-manson/the-most-important-question_b_4269161.html
[3] Serene Jones, from lecture given at the Pastor-Theologian Conference in June 2006.
[4] Richard Rohr, Radical Grace: Daily Meditations, Franciscan Media: Cincinnati, 1995, p. 233.
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