“Abundant Life: Compassion”

Mark 10:17-31

Sermon by Rev. Caela Simmons Wood

October 13, 2024

Jesus is repeating himself. 

“It’s really hard for rich people to enter God’s realm.” 

Blank stares all around. 

“It’s really hard for rich people to enter God’s realm.” 

Maybe some more blank stares. 

“It would actually be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.” 

Horrified faces. 

I guess he finally hammered it home with the visual of a camel going through the eye of a needle. It is, in fact, a memorable object lesson. 

Despite Jesus’s clear repetitions and careful explications, we Jesus-followers have still managed to mangle this passage over the centuries. 

The problem, I think, comes down to a couple of key phrases. Phrases that - let’s be real - we need to get our heads around. Because they don’t just come up in this story - they come up over and over again in Jesus’s teachings. 

First: eternal life. In Greek “aionios zoe.” When I say “eternal life” what do you think most people think of first? ________ We usually think of this as being about what happens after we die. Namely, that we go on in some way after our bodies die. And it’s not that this would be wrong - it’s just that it’s not a complete definition. Zoe means life. That’s clear. But the Greek aionios doesn’t have a parallel in English. Yes, it can be about a quantity of time, going on forever. But it’s just as much about the quality of time. It’s not only about life after death, it’s also about the quality of our lives here and now. 

Second: the kingdom of God. I usually call this the Realm of God. Again, I think a lot of people think about the afterlife, specifically heaven; the good place in the sky where we’re finally united with God. But there’s little evidence to suggest this is about the afterlife at all. Instead, Jesus teaches about God’s Realm as if it’s something we could reach here and now. A way of being fully aware of God’s presence with us - and our presence in God. He gives the sense that it’s here among us, if we could all get on the same page and grasp it together. 

Misunderstanding these two small phrases has huge implications. Because this text becomes something it’s not. Biblical scholar N.T. Wright explains that Jesus’s contemporaries would have had an understanding of two ages - the here and now and the age to come. This conversation is about the age to come - aionios zoe - meaning the “new world that God is going to usher in, the new era of justice, peace and freedom God has promised.” [1] The rich man is asking how he can ensure he gets to be a part of this new world. Wright says:

Among the various results of this misreading has been the earnest attempt to make all the material in Jesus’s public career refer somehow to a supposed invitation to “go to heaven” rather than to the present challenge of the kingdom coming on earth as in heaven. [1] 

All that heavy emphasis that some parts of Christianity place on getting into heaven? It turns out Jesus didn’t talk about that much at all. He was much more concerned with what’s happening here on earth. 

There’s a beautiful tiny phase in this passage that’s often overlooked. When the rich man asks Jesus what he must do to ensure he’s a part of God’s new era of justice, peace, and liberation, it’s clear he’s been on a good path. He’s been keeping all the major commandments. But Jesus wants to clarify that living fully into God’s vision of abundant life is about more than just checking off boxes. Living in God’s Realm is about a total transformation - a willingness to make ourselves vulnerable and live in ways that are supremely counter-cultural. I think Jesus knows this is impossible before he even says it. But his delivery doesn’t feel snarky or even like a challenge. Instead, the text says that before he tells the man to sell all he owns and give it to the poor, Jesus looks at him and loves him. 

It’s such a beautiful moment of compassion. Jesus looks at the guy and loves him. 

In that loving gaze - I see so clearly how Jesus stands between the here and now and the age to come. He has one foot firmly planted in the human experience. Jesus knows before the words leave his mouth that this rich man isn’t planning to sell everything he owns and give it all to the poor. He knows that we humans struggle to live faithfully, to trust in God’s abundance, to stay focused on the ways we are bound together. He has one foot in there here and now. 

And at the same time, he’s got his other foot firmly planted in God’s Realm. He can see God’s vision of justice, peace, and liberation. He can envision a world where the first are last and the last are first. He can even see how we get there. Jesus is between both worlds and the immensity of that is right there on his face for everyone to see. 

From that vantage point between worlds, Jesus could see the tensions we feel. How much we want to do the right thing and how hard it is. How deeply we feel compassion for others and how we often aren’t sure how to help. How hard it is to trust in abundance when possibilities feel limited. How we want to hide from our own vulnerabilities and, in doing so, miss out on the fullness of life that comes with knowing God is with the last, least, and lost. 

When we try to sit down and make a plan like the man in this story, we often find ourselves tangled up in knots. But Jesus reminds us that living in God’s Realm isn’t something we can just make happen all on our own. It’s something we co-create with the Spirit. God casts a vision and we make choices each and every day to step into it. The path isn’t linear - in fact, so much of what we’re asked to do as we fumble our way toward God’s Realm seems impossible and scary. 

When we start to feel off-kilter and unsure, I think we can plant ourselves in the compassionate gaze of Christ. He looks at us in all our confusion and wanting-to-do-rightness and loves us. If we can allow ourselves to stay in his sights, we have a much better chance of seeing glimpses of God’s Realm in the here and now. 

Speaking of glimpsing God’s Realm in the here and now: I want to end with a story I heard last weekend at the Kansas-Oklahoma Conference annual gathering. The Rev. Dr. Courtney Stange-Treager from the UCC Cornerstone Fund was one of the guest speakers who shared about generosity. Courtney shared with us that one of her favorite phrases when discussing generosity is “God Math.” Things that don’t seem like they would add up suddenly do. Fears about scarcity are banished and God’s abundance becomes clear. It all adds up, even though we didn’t think it would. 

Courtney told a powerful story about God Math in action. Back in 2017, nine people got stuck in a riptide at Panama City Beach in Florida.[2] It all started when two young boys got pushed too far out into the water. Their parents went in after them but also got sucked out. Other family members joined in the attempt to rescue them. Eventually, people started forming a rescue chain and a total of 70 or so people made one giant human chain reaching out into the ocean to save these strangers. 

The people that jumped into action didn’t have time to make a plan. There were no committee meetings or careful calculations. No mission statement or benchmarks. They were simply moved by compassion for these strangers in need and jumped into the fray. Together, they did what none of them could have done alone. It took all of them, working together to each do their small part to save this family. That’s why Courtney called this an example of God Math: people moved to jump up, jump in, hold hands, and all work together for good. We may not always have a plan. In fact, if we did sit down and make a plan, we might talk ourselves out of it. But we trust in a vision of something larger than ourselves, and we are moved by a sense of deep compassion for those in need, and we do together what we couldn’t do ourselves. 

It’s a little like what Jesus says in this story, “With God, all things are possible.” 

Held tight in Christ’s compassionate gaze, may we all live with one foot in the world as it is and another as it could be, trusting in God’s vision of a more just world for all. 

NOTES

[1] Wright, N.T. How God Became King: The Forgotten Story of the Gospels. 44-45. 

[2] https://www.cnn.com/2017/07/11/us/human-chain-florida-beach-trnd/index.html 

“Be Curious: Wonder”

Sermon by Rev. Caela Simmons Wood

October 6, 2024

Earlier this week, I was making chicken pot pie for dinner and discovered I had a bit too much filling for my pie but not quite enough to make a whole second pie. So I looked at all this creamy, brothy goodness and decided I could use it to make some chicken noodle soup. I cracked an egg, threw in a dash of milk, salt and pepper, then flour. Stirred with a fork until it looked about right, squished it out onto a floured cutting board and used a pizza cutter to quickly slice it into noodles. 

Anytime I make noodles or pasta from scratch, I have the same thought: how can something with only two or three ingredients create something so delicious? It feels like an absolute miracle. Just a few basic ingredients - flour, eggs, some liquid - suddenly you’ve got thick noodles or fettuccine, ravioli or dumplings. Throw them in soup or serve with some quality olive oil. Dump on a can of tomatoes or toss in a handful of spinach and some chickpeas. An absolute wonder, right? 

There are so many parts of our daily lives that are absolutely wondrous. And we rarely pause to notice. Last week in adult Sunday School, Dan and Courtney came to talk with us about the Jewish high holy days. One of the things Dan mentioned is how the Jewish tradition has dailly blessings for all kinds of everyday things. Blessings for waking up, blessings for changing a diaper, blessings before eating your veggies. Maybe there’s even a blessing for making noodles? If there isn’t, there should be. Some strains of Christianity have this, too. There’s a 19th century collection of Celtic Christian blessings called the Carmina Gaedelica and it’s useful if you ever want to bless the kindling of fire, milking a cow, shearing sheep, or beginning an ocean voyage. 

These blessings, passed down through the generations, help us remember to pause and notice the holy in our everyday lives. Children memorize them and see their parents recite them - and, in this way, they are taught to value the practice of wonder. 

It turns out that practicing wonder is one of the most important things a child needs for their spiritual development. More than memorizing Bible verses, more than being lectured about right and wrong, even (dare I say it?) more than going to church on Sunday. What children need if they’re to grow into adults with a strong spiritual foundation is space and encouragement to cultivate a sense of wonder. Incidentally, this is one of the reasons we created the Sacred Space for elementary-aged kids in our balcony. There’s space up there for the kids to sit in a pew and listen to the service if they’d like. But there are also quiet toys to fidget with, paper for drawing and coloring, quiet nooks where they can read books, and comfy pillows where they can simply rest and let their minds wander. In a world where we are all often overscheduled, it’s important to have spaces where we can slow down, lean into stillness (and even boredom!), ponder, daydream, and just BE. Worship can be that for children (and adults, too) if we create a space that encourages this type of holy wonder. 

Children, of course, are wired for holy wonder. And they don’t even need adults to begin their spiritual development. I grew up in a family that was not religious and we did not go to church until I was a teenager. Nevertheless, I can remember having long talks with God and an active spiritual life as a young child. The world was full of wonder and I had a strong sense that God accompanied me each day. I didn’t need an adult to teach me - I just needed space to allow the Holy to do her work. 

As we get older, we sometimes lose the gift of wonder. We might rush around and forget to make space for it. And when we find ourselves bored, we grumble instead of welcoming an opportunity for curiosity.

The rituals and traditions of the church can be a great place for wonder to grab and surprise us - if we allow it. For example, when we sing together: even if you don’t sing, you have an opportunity to listen with curiosity, or to thumb throught the hymnal and look for other songs that catch your eye. I’ll never be offended if your mind wanders during the sermon - perhaps the Spirit is planning to speak to you directly and you need tune in. And when we gather for communion - goodness, there’s so much time when you may be impatiently waiting to get on to the next thing. OR you could approach the sacrament with a sense of wonder, inviting holy curiosity, and making space for the Spirit to surprise you. 

The elements we use for communion are filled in wonder, in fact. Like the egg noodles I made earlier this week, the communion elements feel like everyday miracles to me. Bread: it’s just grain, liquid, and some yeast. Juice is, of course, simply grapes and water. And the wine Jesus used it his time would have been created by allowing the invisible world work it’s magic. 

It turns out that both bread and wine are fermented. And although we are mostly used to buying our bread and wine, the ancient practices would have been quite different, of course. One of the amazing things about fermentation is that it can happen even without adding yeast or another kind of starter. This process is called wild fermentation and it works for bread, veggies, yogurt, beer, and wine. Naturally-ocurring bacteria and yeast can be given space to do their thing and the results can be delightful. Each batch of food or beverage created will have its own unique flavors and depth. 

We have no way of knowing how humans began fermenting our foods because it happened so very long ago. Historians suspect that mead might have been discovered when someone saw a bit of honey and water bubbling inside a tree stump. Yogurt may have been a happy accident when travelers packed up milk in an animal bladder of some kind and - surprise! - it wasn’t milk anymore when they got to their destination. No one’s quite sure if bread or beer came first - maybe we were soaking grains to make bread and left them too long and beer was brewed. Or perhaps we needed a use for our leftover bread and threw it into some water and the microbes surprised us. [1] 

However it all happened, fermentation is a beautiful dance of creativity and relationship. It honors the relationship between humans and the planet: fermentation helps us reduce waste, conserve resources, and co-exist safety with the invisible world of microbes all around us. We know it also helps us keep the microbes in our bodies healthy and flourishing. Fermentation helps preserve food because it crowds out the bad germs and makes room for the good guys to grow.

Fermentation is also a beautiful testament to the relationships we share with one another. For millennia we’ve taught these methods of preservation to our children and our neighbors. Humans have gotten together to experiment, create, and ferment big batches for parties and celebrations. And we’ve gathered over tables heaping with wine and, beer, kim chi and miso, sauerkraut and pickles, injirah and labneh to laugh with friends and family. 

Over the millennia, we’ve improved our skills. Artisans know that sometimes the best way to ferment is by using a hybrid method - catching those wild microbes AND carefully introducing a curated starter to finish the job. If you grab a bunch of grapes, they will eventually ferment on their own because the fruit already has microbes on it. That’s the wild fermentation. But it turns out that this process will only develop a wine with a very low alcohol content. If you want to make it into a stronger wine, you can finish the job by introducing a starter later in the process. This is called sequential fermentation and it’s a marriage of both methods. A vintner who uses sequential fermentation will get the local flavor, surprising complexity, and variety from the wild method. But they’ll also create consistency and depth by finishing with a starter. [2] 

Maybe humans are a bit like this, too. Even if we never stepped foot in a church as a child - the wild Spirit would still find her way to us on the breeze. She would work slowly and relentlessly in our lives - breathing new awareness, possibility, and wonder into each of us. We would all have our own local flavor - our own faith stories, our own carefully fermented wisdom and wonder. 

But when we come together in a community to wonder together - well, that may take the alchemy to another level. In church, we introduce the starters in our faith - scripture, shared prayers, practices and rituals. We allow the hymns and ancient stories and practices to take hold and move in our lives. Our faith may acquire a new depth and grow stronger over time.

Whether we are the product of wild fermentation or an ancient starter or some combination of the two - we are all invited into the wonder of a fermented faith. As we eat this bread and drink this cup, may we remain ever mindful of the wonders of the world around us and our place within the miracle of creation. 

May it be so. 

NOTES

[1] I learned the theories in this paragraph from Our Fermented Lives: A History by Julia Skinner

[2] https://winemakermag.com/article/758-wild-yeast-the-pros-and-cons-of-spontaneous-fermentation 

“Be Curious: Learning and Knowledge”

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 

Sermon by Rev. Caela Simmons Wood

September 29, 2024

How many decisions do we make in a day? I asked Google but couldn’t find a definitive answer. Apparently, “somebody, somewhere” decided that 35,000 seems like a good number, but my guess is it could be much higher than that depending on your day and on how we define decisions. All I know for sure is that decision-making sometimes feels exhausting. 

I mean, just think. How many decisions have we made this morning? Existential-life-altering decisions aside, even if we just think about deciding whether to jump right out of bed or hit snooze, whether to shower before or after breakfast, whether to have coffee or tea, whether to sit in the living room or at the table while eating breakfast, whether or not to go to church…..to say nothing of tiny split-second decisions like “do I turn left or right at this intersection?” and “do I say ‘hello’ or ‘good morning’ to the person sitting next to me in the pew?” Many of the decisions we make happen effortlessly - thank God - but others keep us awake at night. 

This is one of the reasons I like to shop at Aldi, incidentally, where there is ONE kind of peanut butter and ONE kind of tortilla and ONE type of ketchup. Fewer decisions to make. Whew. 

Once upon a time, there was a young man who found himself, quite suddenly and quite unexpectedly, king of a nation. He was the son of the king, but a younger son, so he had no reason to think he would ever ascend to the throne. As his father aged, he became unable to rule and there were behind-the-scenes machinations which resulted in the young man becoming king. Shortly after ascending to the throne, the young man went on a religious pilgrimage and was visited by God in a dream. 

God asked the young king, “What would you like from me?” And the young king responded that he desired an understanding mind so that he could govern well, and the ability to discern carefully between good and evil.

Overwhelmed with the massive amount of decisions a leader has to make, this young king was wise enough to know that if he asked for wisdom, everything else would follow. [1] 

The young man was King Solomon, son of Bathsheba and King David; poster boy for Biblical Wisdom. Several books in the Bible have historically been attributed to Solomon. A rabbinic teaching asserts that Solomon wrote the Song of Songs when he was a young man, the book of Proverbs when he was in middle age, and Ecclesiastes when he was an elder. [2] The Wisdom of Solomon, which is an apocryphal text, was also traditionally attributed to Solomon, though it’s been common knowledge for centuries that he likely didn’t really write it. 

Together, these books plus Job, portions of the Psalms, and the apocryphal book Sirach are designated by Biblical scholars as “Wisdom Literature” - books of scripture that help us grapple with the idea of Wisdom. 

So….what is wisdom anyway? It depends on who you ask. Psychologists would probably tell you that wisdom has something to do with the way knowledge and experience combine to help a person make good decisions. It’s definitely something more than innate intelligence or book-knowledge and it seems pretty clear that wisdom is intimately related with decision-making. Wisdom is the ability to carefully discern right paths. Wisdom is the ability to adapt and understand things at a deep level. 

In the Bible, Wisdom is personified as a woman. In Greek she is called Sophia. Sometimes in the Hebrew Bible she is simply called Woman Wisdom. The personification of Wisdom is not unique to Judaism or Christianity. In Greek mythology we have the titan Metis and goddess Athena. In Roman mythology, it’s Minerva, whose symbol, the owl, is one we still associate with wisdom. Wisdom isn’t always a woman, though. In Norse mythology, Mimir and Odin are both associated with wisdom. And in Ifá (from the Yoruba peoples in what is now Nigeria), wisdom comes to humans as Orunmila - one who connects people to the divine. [3] 

Across many religions, there is broad agreement that wisdom - however we define it - is immensely important, connected to God, and accessible to us through some kind of mediator. Speaking of mediators, I would be remiss, of course, if I failed to mention that in the Christian tradition, Jesus has been strongly linked to Wisdom. Early Christians looked to the Hebrew Scriptures for precursors to Christ - trying to understand exactly how Jesus came to be. This is why, at Christmastime, we sing so many songs with texts from Isaiah! And one of the figures from the Hebrew Bible that early Christians believed pointed the way to Christ was Woman Wisdom. [4] 

Woman Wisdom in the Hebrew Bible is present with God at the beginning of creation. In fact, you may have noticed in today’s text that “in the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,” the author of Proverbs claims that Woman Wisdom was the first thing created by God...even before the light and the dark, the sea and the earth. 

Present with God from the beginning of time, Woman Wisdom is a constant presence in the lives of God’s children. She stands in the town square and at busy intersections calling out to us loudly. Her only desire is for us to listen to her and walk in her ways. The vision of Wisdom painted by the authors of the Hebrew Bible goes far beyond book-smarts + good judgment. Wisdom in the Hebrew Bible is a force to be reckoned with: holy, all-encompassing. Wisdom originates in the Divine but is always reaching out to humanity and cannot be contained. Wisdom is a free gift from God, given to us again and again and again. If we find a way to tap into Wisdom we will be connected to a force that represents all that is good, all that is faithful, all that is loving, all that is just. 

She’s kind of a big deal. 

Now, I could do a whole ”five things you can do to seek wisdom” thing here and that would probably make for a cool sermon. I could talk about the spiritual practices that can engage our spirits and help us turn toward Wisdom. 

But, instead, what I want to do is call our attention back to the contemporary reading we heard a few moments ago. UU Minister Robert Fulghum tells a story about kids in his neighborhood playing hide and seek. Fulghum is looking out his window one day and notices a kid who has been hiding in a pile of leaves right under the window for a long time. Too long. The other kids are about to give up searching for him – he’s hidden too well. Unsure of how to be helpful, but desperately wanting this kid to understand that the game just doesn’t work if everyone hides too well, Fulghum yells out, “GET FOUND, KID!” And the kid scurries off. [5]

Woman Wisdom is like that. She stands in the busy market square, at the biggest intersection in town yelling at us “GET FOUND, KIDS!” 

In this season where we’re exploring curiosity together, it is right and good to think about how we can seek Wisdom….but it is equally important to notice that Wisdom is seeking us. When we are frustrated, exhausted, anxious, unsure about the thousands of decisions that we make each day, we are not alone. It’s not just us and our intelligence and knowledge and lived experience guiding the way.

Woman Wisdom stands there day after day after day after day trying to remind us that God is seeking us. God reaches out to us with heavy and high hopes that we humans can walk in right paths; do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly; love our neighbors as ourselves. 

God is the force that never stops reaching out to us, encouraging us and helping us as we carefully discern right actions. (God is also the one who picks us up off the floor and dusts of off when we’ve made catastrophic mistakes.)

Wisdom comes to us in the still small voice we hear in our hearts. Wisdom comes to us when community comes together to listen and learn and discern wise paths together. Wisdom comes to us when we are distracted with other things - shouting and cajoling and begging us to pay attention to what she has to say. 

Wisdom is God’s gift to us. We are not left to our own devices. We don’t have to rely solely upon ourselves. We are supported, inspired, uplifted, and guided by Wisdom, who is always seeking us. 

Thanks be to God. 

[1] see 1 Kings 3 for a full account

[2] http://mplsjewishartistslab.weebly.com/uploads/2/4/2/5/24253472/solomon_the_wise_-many_views.pdf

[3] https://www.howard.edu/library/reference/cybercamps/camp2002/YorubaFaith.htm and http://www.religioustolerance.org/ifa.htm 

[4] https://www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Projects/Reln91/Gender/Gnosticism.htm 

[5] from All I Really Need to Know I learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum 

“Be Curious: Flexibility”

Exodus 32:7-14

Sermon by Rev. Caela Simmons Wood

Sep. 22, 2024

A song from my childhood. Sing along if you know it: 

“There’s a tree out in the back yard

That never has been broken by the wind.

And the reason it’s still standing:

It was strong enough to bend.”

I can remember riding along in my dad’s pickup truck as a kid, listening to Tanya Tucker sing these words. It was such a vibrant image in my child’s mind. As a kid in the Midwest, trees swaying in the wind until the storm passed was something I knew first-hand. I had spent plenty of time looking out rainy windows watching trees do just that. And I knew that the words she sang were true: rigid trees don’t have what it takes to withstand heavy storms - they just crack and fall down. But flexible trees were strong. They could bend and sway and change, but their flexibility meant they weren’t easy to break. 

Trees know the same truth that our contemporary reading spoke of: flexibility equals strength. Engineers who create buildings and bridges understand that flexibility is needed. Maybe they learned this from watching the trees. 

Physical flexibility is strong. Psychologists also know that emotionally, intellectual, spiritual, flexibility makes us strong. Studies have shown that when we’re exposed to ambiguous stimuli, we exhibit greater cognitive flexibility. Which makes us more creative and resilient. Psychologist Tara Wall writes, “Ambiguity forces the brain to process information in a non-linear way, encouraging divergent thinking—a thought process used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible solutions….Ambiguity encourages individuals to accept that not all situations have clear-cut answers, promoting a mindset of adaptability and openness. This acceptance reduces anxiety and fosters a more resilient approach to life's challenges, as individuals become more comfortable navigating the unknown.” [2] 

We see this type of flexibility modeled every week in our church’s faith formation activities. Adults gather to discuss the Bible and theological books, grappling with shades of gray and various interpretations of ancient stories. Children come forward during worship and ask insightful questions about our sacred texts. And we are all blessed to have Brandy as a model for what it looks like to encourage this comfort with ambiguity. She is never rattled by any questions presented and she doesn’t impose any rigid interpretations as she teaches. Instead, she invites the kids to wonder alongside her - to turn things over and see them in a new light - to get comfortable with multiple meanings and curiosities. To find strength in flexibility. 

It turns out that flexibility is not only good for trees and bridges, it’s a key to a life of faith. Although we’ve all known religious people who are very rigid in their thinking, faith, by it’s very nature, craves flexibility. After all, a faith that is certain about everything - that has no questions or doubts - that is unwilling to bend and shift and change - well, that’s not really faith at all, is it? It’s just certainty. Faith presupposes flexibility and a willingness to be wrong, change, ask questions, bend in the breeze. 

Today’s Biblical text highlights this natural connection between faith and flexibility. The people have been rescued from slavery in Egypt. And now they’ve been wandering in the desert for a long time. Moses has gone up on the mountain to talk with God. The people have gotten quite good at flexibility - they’ve left their homes and everything they knew, they’ve traveled without a destination for eons. But they can only bend so far. Moses has been gone too long and they become anxious. Before long they’ve made a golden calf to worship. 

God is - shall we say - not the most flexible in this situation. At least initially. God blows up in frustration. They are doing the exact opposite of what they’ve been told to do. This little interchange between Moses and God on the mountain is almost comical. It sounds like a couple arguing over the misbehavior of their children. God says, “Moses! Go down there to YOUR people the ones YOU brought out of Egypt (see whose people they are now? Wink wink.) Tell them to get it together.” 

But Moses doesn’t go. Instead, he does something quite interesting. He argues on behalf of the people and convinces God to change course. God relents and doesn’t punish the people. 

There are some warm, fuzzy parts of this story. What’s not to love about Moses arguing with God and changing God’s mind? Talk about flexibility in action, right? But there are also parts of this story that make us deeply uncomfortable. We who speak of God as all-loving, all-welcoming, all-merciful, all-patient-and-kind may find it difficult to reconcile this God who flies off the handle and who wants to be left along to pout and kindle wrath against the people. Yikes. 

But maybe that’s part of the point of this story. The discomfort, I mean. This is a story about people trying to stay curious about who God is and what their relationship with God is supposed to look like. They are asking questions and making assumptions. They are swaying between comfort and anxiety. They are trying to understand and then telling stories about what they’ve experience. And in that way, they’re a lot like us, aren’t they? 

This off-kilteredness that we feel when God doesn’t look the way we’re expecting - I think that’s important. Because once we’ve put God into a tidy little box and we think we have all the answers? Well, that’s a pretty sure sign that we’ve become too rigid in our thinking. These ancient stories that don’t quite sit right with us can turn us off, yes. But they can also be an invitation to wonder together about where the truth lies. As a people who take the Bible seriously, but not literally, scripture becomes a portal to a richer, fuller exploration of who God might be. And who we might be in relationship with God. 

There are parts of Christianity that are deeply uncomfortable with the idea of God changing his mind. Some see God as unchanging. And, in one way, in this story Moses is simply reminding God of the promises that have already been made - that God will bless the people, love them, and stand by them through thick and thin. In this way, Moses isn’t changing God’s mind as much as he is helping God remember the covenant and get back on track. 

Regardless of whether God changes his mind or not, the richness of this story, I think, lies in the dynamic relationship between God and Moses and the people. I am indebted to Jewish scholar Amy Robertson for pointing this out and I think she is so right. [3] This is a story about the love between God and humanity. A story about the complexities of that relationship. A story about the flexibility necessary to stay in relationship with one another. 

After all, without flexibility, is it really a relationship at all? We have to carry within us a spirit of openness, the possibility of change and growth - in order to truly be in relationship with someone else. Without that, it’s not much of a relationship at all, is it? It’s just a stubborn, rigid tree that looks strong but might break the moment the winds rise. Flexibility - that capacity to bend and sway and dance and change together - that’s what truly makes relationships work. 

“There’s a tree out in the back yard

That never has been broken by the wind.

Our love will last forever

If it’s strong enough to bend.”

NOTES

[1] Strong Enough to Bend, written by Beth Nielsen Chapman and Don Schlitz

[2] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-clarity/202406/the-power-of-ambiguity#:~:text=Ambiguity%20and%20Cognitive%20Flexibility&text=A%20study%20by%20De%20Dreu,creativity%20and%20problem%2Dsolving%20skills. 

[3] Bible Worm podcast.

“Be Curious”

Romans 12:1-21

Sermon by Rev. Caela Simmons Wood

Sep. 15, 2024

“The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans is both a countercultural and counter-political document.” [1] 

So says Biblical scholar and theologian Israel Kamudzandu. 

A countercultural and counter-political document. 

Kamudzandu says Paul’s Epistle to the Romans “points to the global renaissance of a human family” whose story is always and forever wrapped up in God’s relentless, loving desire for our growth and healing. [2]

Many would consider it to be Paul’s masterpiece. And although I’ve certainly never written a letter that was a full-blown explication of my theology, that’s pretty much what Paul did here. He writes to the churches in Rome, introducing himself, thanking them for their faith, and then launching right into ten chapters of complex theological explications - mostly focused on the concept of salvation. 

Over and over again, Paul makes it clear that those who are a part of the global Christian family are called to live countercultural lives - choosing with great intention to be shaped primarily by the workings of the Holy Spirit instead of the environments in which they live. And they are reminded again and again that while they may be physically living in the Roman Empire they are - instead - citizens of God’s Realm. And they can live free lives, assured that God has been, is now, and always will be working for their health and wholeness. Paul’s proclamation is that God’s gift of salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is unparalleled and gives strength for living this countercultural, counter-political life while here on earth. 

After going wayyyyyy in-depth on all of this, Paul makes a turn here in chapter 12. No longer focused solely on what God is doing, Paul outlines how life in God’s Realm is transformative. It’s not enough to simply receive the Gospel, he admonishes. You have to be changed by it. And those changes must be evident in your living, loving, working, playing, being. You might know that lovely Catholic hymn written in our own countercultural 1960s: “They’ll know we are Christians by our love”? That’s it. That’s what Paul is arguing for in this lengthy letter.  

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This transformation is at the heart of our fall series here at First Congregational. We are going to be exploring CURIOSITY as a spiritual practice. How might our curiosity about other people lead to empathy, strengthened communities, and a more just world? Can our curiosity about God lead to spiritual growth by enlivening our prayer lives? And how might curiosity about ourselves create space for better mental health and our own healing? 

Romans 12:2 is our theme verse for this journey: “Don’t be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds…” It turns out that cultivating this spirit of curiosity in our lives is a surefire way to renew our minds and, in the process, allow God to transform our lives. 

On our journey, we will be accompanied by ancient words like Paul’s letter to the Romans. And we will also have contemporary companions each week. Today I want to introduce you to a curiosity expert, speaker, and author named Scott Shigeoka. [3] Shigeoka talks about the differences between shallow and deep curiosity. Shallow curiosity is when we ask questions that keep us on the surface level. We wonder about something so we do Google search and find a quick and easy answer. “What will the weather be like this weekend?” Boom. I’ve got the answer. Shallow curiosity. Shigeoka says that this type of curiosity is primarily head-centered. 

But if we can bring curiosity down into our hearts, it starts to take on a different quality. This type of curiosity moves beyond the intellect and into the realm of transformation. This is what Shigeoka calls deep curiosity. And it’s a curiosity that uses our desire to understand the world, others, and ourselves as a force for connection and community. So, for example, you meet someone at a party and ask them, “What’s your name? How do you spend your days?” Those are shallow-curiosity-level questions. Nothing wrong with that, of course, just a different kind of curiosity. And not likely to change anyone’s lives!

But to shift that conversation to the realm of deep curiosity might look like, “Where did your name come from?” or “How did you go into that line of work?” or “What’s inspiring you these days?” 

Deep curiosity doesn’t have to involve small talk at a party (thank heavens). It can even be done with no talking at all. You could go on a walk around the block or sit down in a cafe. Might be a place you’ve frequented for years. But if you approach this mundane task with a spirit of deep curiosity, things change. Suddenly you notice the birds in the tree and they remind you of a book you used to read as a child. You notice that the family that’s just moved into the house on the corner has several bicycles in their yard and you wonder about the kinds of places they ride together. You read the coffee menu and discover that your coffee beans came from Peru and Ethiopia and you get curious about how beans from two different continents find their way into the same cup. 

It’s important to note that one of the hallmarks of healthy deep curiosity is that it doesn’t seek to change anyone (well, except maybe ourselves). Shigeoka has a name for asking questions or gathering information to try and change another person: predatory curiosity. If there’s an agenda other than learning, growth, and self-transformation, it’s not deep curiosity. 

The Apostle Paul writes about how individuals are all a part of one body. We all have different gifts, different functions, and different ways of being in the world. And we will all have slightly different ways of being curious. Isn’t that lovely? Just as Paul uses that embodied metaphor about the early church, Shigeoka reminds us that curiosity is an embodied practice. It’s like a muscle that we can build up over time. And he gives us a fun little acronym for focusing our energy as we work to build our curiosity muscle. 

To get below the shallow surface, we have to dive deep, right? And so Shigeoka teaches that we can DIVE to strengthen our curiosity. 

DIVE: Detach, Intend, Value, Embrace. 

To practice deep curiosity, the first step is to detach. We need to let go of our “ABCs” - our “assumptions, biases, and certainty.” In other words: we need to lean into humility. MAYBE we don’t know everything there is to know. MAYBE there are surprises ahead. MAYBE we are even WRONG about something. Admitting our ignorance is not something particularly prized in our culture - so here we are being countercultural again. 

Next, we intend to enter a posture of curiosity. And I’m using the word posture quite purposefully. Curiosity is an embodied practice and we can often strengthen this muscle by paying attention to our bodies. Slowing down, eyes open, deep breaths, literally leaning in to show our interest. Shigeoka says this intentionality is like being trapped in quicksand. If you fall into quicksand, your body is likely to have an involuntary, frantic reaction. You’ll probably start to flail as you panic. But if you can slow down for a minute, calm your body and mind, and stop flailing all over the place, you’re more likely to survive. Curiosity is like that. We’re caught off guard, we might feel our defenses rising. Blood rushing to our cheeks, bluster puffing up our chest, ears shutting down. But if we can pause and move with more intention, we might be able to stay curious. 

Detach, intend, value. This one isn’t rocket science for those of us who are trying to follow Jesus. We need to seek the value of everyone we encounter. Every. Single. Other. Just as Paul reminds us we are all members of one body, we have to remember that though we may all look different and have different skills and purposes in this life, we are all a part of one body. Or as Martin Luther King, Jr. said so beautifully, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.” [4] 

Finally: embrace. This one sounds cozy but might not end up being your favorite. Shigeoka says that this work of deep curiosity is not always easy. Some of our best opportunities to practice it come during challenging moments in life. It can be tempting to give up and numb out when things get hard. But by embracing challenges, we can remember that growth often comes from the more difficult periods of life. Just as we grow our muscles at the gym when we stretch and challenge ourselves, our curiosity muscles grow in those places at the edge, too. Shigeoka cautions that it’s also important to have strong self-awareness about our boundaries and capabilities. This practice is not about pushing ourselves to the point of extreme pain and there are times when it’s healthy to step away from our curiosity practices. As one of my yoga teachers used to say, we get stronger when we experience discomfort, not pain. 

This DIVING is a great, action-oriented model for us as we begin this exploration of curiosity together. Do you remember the components? Detach, Intend, Value, Embrace. 

Let’s go back to the invitation to curiosity from the beginning of the service: Who is someone who is difficult for you to be curious about? Difficult for you to have compassion for? Let God speak to you about what you could notice about that person if you looked more closely.

I want to give you just a minute or two to consider that invitation now that you’ve heard a bit more about how to flex your curiosity muscles. Is there a place this week where you can practice curiosity? How can you detach, intend, value, and embrace in that place? 

(silence for reflection)

May we continue to be transformed by the Spirit - our minds renewed as we seek to walk in the ways of Christ. Amen. 

NOTES:

[1] https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-21/commentary-on-romans-121-8 

[2] Ibid. 

[3] Scott Shigeoka’s book is called SEEK: How Curiosity Can Transform Your Life and Change the World. I learned about his work here (https://www.templeton.org/news/how-deep-curiosity-can-change-the-world) and here (https://lynnborton.com/2023/11/16/how-curiosity-can-transform-your-life-change-the-world-with-scott-shigeoka/) 

[4] MLK, Jr. Why We Can’t Wait.