We want our services to challenge the established order; to expose to us the twisted and tortured patterns of society. We also want our gatherings to challenge the established order in our lives if and when that order is the cause of suffering. It takes energy to break patterns, to shake us up and bring new life to our bodies. In order to bring about change, I find it useful to feel the energy or life force moving in me as I play, explore and try different offerings for our time together. If the words we hear or recite are great, but the energy doesn't touch that reality, then something gets lost.
In this spirit that I wish to share with you a song. I want to offer not only words and ideas, but also the energy, the feeling of what our "work" as a religious body is about.
When religious traditions work properly, they direct us to move outside the illusions that causes our suffering, and they point us toward an eternal reality that unites us and transcends our separate identities. We are religious liberals. We don't expect any one "religion" to have the literal truth. But we willing to listen into sacred texts, rituals and doctrines to find the treasures that lead to a religious or spiritual life.
I offer this song as suggesting the work of our congregation. If you feel and enjoy the energy, I would ask if instead of applause, you would try this gesture as a way to express yourself.
Song "Just a Passing Glance," written by Don Carlos (sung in church by me, accompaniment by Stephanie & Mario) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2w-fvLdXZw&feature=related
The idea of a passing glance of the eternal is reminiscent of Exodus where God tells Moses that "man may not see Me and live." In response to Moses request to see God's Presence, Moses is permitted to catch a glimpse after God passes by him.
How can we as mortals gain a full view of the face of eternity? We see things from a limited perspective, but religion can offer us some awareness and experience of the oneness of everything.
The work of a religious community is to direct us toward an experience of the peace, wonder and excitement of approaching the sacred. Our work is to direct toward something that is beyond word but has been referred to in many ways; as the sacred, the ground of our being, life force or energy.
If this is the work of a religious community, what is the work of any human? What is our understanding and attitude about work in general? I hope this sermon will encourage us to examine our attitudes on work, that we may remember and reclaiming our freedom and our power to live abundantly.
As my contribution to our exploration of our attitudes about work, I offer some reflections on biblical traditions. The first thing the bible does is describe creation, the work of God. The writers of Genesis tell us God created the heavens and the Earth in six days, and that on the seventh day God "ceased from this work he had been doing" and called this day holy. Later in Exodus Israel is commanded: "Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work" (Exodus 20:9-10). Whatever else this does, it certainly establishes the value of following a period of work with a day of rest and reflection.
Then scriptures quickly gives us a summary of the events of creation, including the creation of the Garden of Eden. That story and the dominant interpretations of it have had a profound effect upon our attitudes about work. As a consequence of Adam and Eve eating from the tree of life, (the tree of conscience that informs of good and evil), God kicks them out of the Garden of Eden. God then tells them what it will be like for humans from then on; that giving birth will be painful, that sustaining ourselves will involve pain and effort.
(Genesis 3: 17-19):Ê "Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread"
Most of us probably come away from this story with the idea that humans were forced to work as a punishment from God. There seems a contrast between God's work (creation) which is beautiful and perfect, and the work of humans which is something unpleasant. How do we explain this discrepancy? I suspect that it has something to do with the idea that God is eternal and creates as an expression of her completeness. However, we work in order to sustain ourselves. And despite our efforts, we can sustain ourselves upon this Earth only for a short time. In Jewish tradition, it is the obligation of a parent to equip their children with a trade or way of sustaining themselves. But an individual's work is also expected to contribute to the sustenance of the community. In the Sanhedrin, the court of law of the holy temple in Jerusalem, one could only be a witness if their work contributed to society. So work is done to sustain individual and community.
There is a popular little story that expresses this Jewish value of work:
The saint saw an old man planting trees. "Why do you plant the trees since you will never enjoy the fruit?" the saint asked. The old man replied "I found trees planted by my ancestors from which I enjoyed the fruit. Surely, it is my duty to plant trees that those who come after me might enjoy their fruit."
Attitudes toward work have great impact upon our understanding of our relationship to life, and to the Creator or source of life. For me, the story of the garden of Eden raises some questions about how much we can trust God. How much we can trust the source of life?
This portrayal of the relationship of God, Israel and work is balanced by the biblical account of the covenant between God and his people Israel. In this unusual contract, God makes the Jews partners in his work to heal and repair society. What's amazing about the covenant or contract is that God promises to love and support Israel regardless of how well they do in the work of the partnership. Israel was chosen and given instructions how to live so that they could become a light unto the nations. The rest of the bible is the story of God remaining faithful no matter how many times the Jews fail to follow God's directions. Frankly I haven't seen this create such a great light unto the nations, but some say it's a long term project.
I have a problem with the idea that the Jews are the chosen people. This belief leads to an attitude that some "deserve" better than the others. The attitude of divine selection was carried into Christianity and our American culture. It's the root of much violence.
Anyway, when we reflect upon history, Jews are tempted to ask: "God, couldn't you have chosen some one else?!" I do appreciate the idea of the plan for the healing and repair of society. Ê It's a mission I wish that everyone would accept.
Christianity kept some Jewish ideas but made significant changes in its concept of work. According to the Catholic Church, grace is not earned but a free offering from God. BTW, grace is not just fortune or kindness. According to Catholic doctrine, when god bestows grace upon us it means that he provides us with the living energy of the Creator. Receiving grace enables a person to continue and participate in the work of Jesus.. In Catholicism "good works" are done as a way to receive grace into our vessel. By good works a person grows in his ability to be influenced or receive help from the holy spirit.
The idea of work changed significantly with the Protestant Reformation. Calvinists believed that God predetermined who would go to heaven and who to hell. The Calvinist, or Puritan did good works hoping that he was in with the select few. Work became something you did to demonstrate that you were blessed with a sign of grace. This became part of the protestant work ethic, and it has had a profound effect upon our American society.
Another reason that Americans came to value work as highly as we do, is the great effort it took to stay alive in the new world. To be part of society, you were expected to work hard.
Today, we still expect one another to work long hours. We expect people to make careers the most important or one of the most important priorities. We expect people to prioritize jobs over spending time with friends, family or community. Art, fitness and recreation are valued but secondary to bringing in income. Perhaps Americans value work as we do because our land responded to our effort and has provided such abundance. To this day we expect that hard work will be rewarded. We expect people to work hard, but we really revere achievers. Most of our movies tell the stories of the people in the top 10% of achievement, especially celebrities. Viewing a lot of movies probably instills some expectation that each of us should be able to reach an exceptional level of achievement, economic success and fame.
It's a continuation of Calvinist, Puritan and Protestant work ethic. Only now instead of focusing on heaven, hell and god's grace we are focused on individual income, material accumulations and personal accomplishments. Instead of assuming that the successful are superior in relationship with God, we now assume the wealthy and famous to be superior in skill and worth. We tend to equate worth with how much money someone earns.
Our materialism is to some extent an extension of Puritan work ethic. Materialism combined with an obsession with achievement, makes a great formula for spiritual poverty. Our culture rewards fame and wealth, no matter how you get there. Just look at our cultural and media obsession with celebrities gone wild!
A spiritually rich or conscious nation would make its important decisions based on what would best contribute to the quality of life for citizens. As a society, our most important decisions are determined by what will create the greatest profits for the most powerful. This is an outgrowth of our emphasis on material prosperity and an overemphasis on achievement.
Is there anything we can do about this? Absolutely. I raise issues of cultural attitudes so that we can become more aware of their influence upon us. If we are not aware of what is expected of us, we are more likely to internalize the cultural messages and believe them about ourselves. Despite the influence of history and culture, we always have a choice. Most of the time we simply rebroadcast messages given to us by our parents, the media or our friends, but this doesn't change the fact that we are choosing our beliefs and attitudes about work.
Challenging our attitude about work may be one of the best things we could do to improve the quality of our lives. We don't come into this world with negative attitudes about work. We don't naturally equate work with loss of freedom. These are acquired cultural attitudes.
With consciousness and effort, we can dramatically improve our attitude and relationship to work. Does work have to be a curse? While nothing we do will change the fact that we will die, does the effort we give to sustain ourselves have to be the cause of suffering? Experience tells us that work is often the source of great joy in our lives. It can be what binds us together. In can give our lives meaning.
The fight to regain freedom in our attitudes toward work is personal jihad. In every moment is our choice what attitude we will take about our work. In every moment it is up to us to choose how we will engage the energies of life. We don't have to continue to equate work with a loss of freedom.
The work of sustaining ourselves brings major challenges. That is what life is all about. Look at your favorite sport, game or interest in life. Do you imagine that it would be fun or hold your interest, if there were no challenge in it? The question becomes "Can we appreciate and enjoy the challenge?" Can we learn to see work as a blessing and not a curse?
To do this I have found two things useful. #1 is to become clear of my mission and purpose. To the extent we understand what is our job and what it isn't, we am more likely to have peace and fun. #2 (what I often forget) Stop taking yourself and your work too seriously. In other words, each of us has a part to play, but there is a much bigger drama. Or maybe its a comedy. In any event, can we do what we do and let go of the rest? Can we let go of the work from yesterday and show up for the work for today?
We may find it useful to change our concept of work. Whatever our job is, we can learn to play with it. We can celebrate work. If work is the way that we engage the energies of life in order to increase the chances of survival, then we can learn to love that engagement. We can choose to engage life with a full embrace. We can trust that we were made for the challenges of life. We can do our work and play our part, and let that be enough.
May it be so for each of us.