"A Wholehearted Intention To Grow In Christ"

A Sermon Preached by Bruce Sanguin
April 18th, 2010

Genesis 12:1-5; John 21:1-18

 

How do we belong together? How do those who make the claim that they share a common spiritual tradition and identity treat each other? If I was visiting alien from another planet, come to earth to make a report on how Christians behave in community, what would our alien friend tell her alien friends? What does it mean to belong to Christ and to each other in terms of our shared norms, values and behavior? We might agree with Dr. Barbara King that the evolutionary foundation of the religious impulse is the feeling of belonging, but in the human species, in the 21st century, what is our belongingness for?

 

In response to these questions, this morning I begin a sermon series on principles of evolutionary Christian culture. I’ve taken these principles directly from Craig Hamilton, who is a leader in the worldwide movement of evolutionary spirituality. My task is to bring to his principles the lens of Christian spirituality. So, I first want to thank Craig for the great work he is doing and to acknowledge his groundbreaking leadership in the field. Craig himself was a student of Andrew Cohen’s for years, whose wisdom has also supported my own journey. I owe Andrew a debt of gratitude as well.

 

I want to be clear about what I mean by “principles of evolutionary culture”. By “culture” I am referring narrowly in this series to congregational culture. I am raising the question of what it means to be in community with one another as Christians. What are our shared norms? How do we treat each other? Listen to each other? Engage each other? How do we care for each other, support each other, and hold each other accountable? What are the spiritual practices and our ways of being in relationship that make us distinctively Canadian Memorial and not the congregation down the road? In particular, what does it mean to be with one another within an evolutionary Christian culture?

 

Notice my language. When we are talking about culture, we are in the realm of “we”. There is a realm of “I”, the individual spiritual journey that is legitimate and valid. But there is a sense in which to be Christian, (or to be a member of any faith tradition, is to be a “we”). Our larger culture typically interprets the world through the “I” perspective. When we think about “success”, for example, our first impulse is to imagine scenarios in which we have individually achieved something worthwhile, accumulated enough money to take care of ourselves in retirement, or have been recognized for our accomplishments. There is nothing wrong with imagining success in personal terms. But I wonder how many of us truly extend our definition of success into the realm of “we”? How many of us, for example, define success as being in a loving, secure relationship, or having many friends, or living in a sustainable relationship with our ecosystem? How many of us define success as being a contributing member of a vital community?

 

I remember when I first went to seminary, I was surprised by the extent to which everybody talked about “the community” – by which they meant the community of students and faculty. I was there to learn some things about the meaning of life. I was there to explore theology, read some books, and earn a degree. For me, it was all about my personal spiritual journey, but everybody kept talking about “community”. One evening I played my guitar for a gathering at the seminary. A woman approached me and told me how very important it was for me to be sharing my gifts with the community. Honestly, I didn’t know what she was talking about. I was playing my guitar because I played the guitar and somebody asked me to play it on that particular evening, and I did.

 

Now, it’s entirely possible that my narcissism was particularly acute. I actually think it was fairly advanced. But I suspect somehow that I was a product as well of an individualistic culture, what Christopher Lasch called The Culture of Narcissism in his book by the same title. Philosopher Ken Wilber calls this cultural disease “boomeritis” – particularly afflicting those members of my particular demographic, who have grown up expecting society to adjust to our distinctive needs as we age.

 

The fastest way to get over narcissism is to make a decision to shift from “me” to “we” – to commit to showing up fully in a community dedicated to living from within a higher spiritual calling and consciousness. Actually, technically, it’s not shift from me to we; it’s a co-evolution of our “me” within a “we”, and of our sense of “we” within a “me”. As our sense of self evolves and deepens, so does our fitness for community. And as our capacity and fitness for community evolves, so does our unique identity and capacity for autonomous decision-making evolve. It’s not so much a shift as it is an inclusion of “weness” as a central aspect of what it means to be human.

 

When the field of psychology began to break out of its individualistic bias, psychologists and therapists noticed something very interesting. They might have been working with an individual for years, and thought they knew everything there was to know about that person – after all, they had their entire case history, they knew the intimate details of this person’s life, and they had worked through all the issues of transference and counter-transference. Then they would bring their patient’s spouse into the session, and suddenly dimensions of their client’s personality they hadn’t seen before began to show up. Eventually, therapists began to realize that there weren’t simply two individuals in a marriage – there was this mysterious third presence born of the union of two individuals. There was a “we” that had to be taken into account. This “weness” is the culture of committed relationships.

 

When we are talking about culture we are referring to this “we”. And when we are talking about evolutionary Christian culture, we are speaking about the “we” that emerges as a result of our doing life deeply together with a shared intention to evolve in Christ – a “we” that is greater than the sum of its individual members. This is also the deepest meaning of fellowship in the church. Fellowship is actually more than having potluck dinners together – a revelation to many United Church folk! As fine a tradition as potlucks are, fellowship is sharing a common mind and heart. That common mind and heart is our intention to grow in the heart and mind of Christ.

 

New Testament theologian, Walter Wink, referred to this corporate “we”, this soul of a community, as the angel of a congregation. He mythologized the “we” culture of a congregation. The “angel” is the over-soul of the congregation. Dr. Wink noticed that the author of the book of Revelation addressed his letter, not to the congregation itself, or to the leader of the congregation, but rather to the overseeing angel. Each angel would have its distinctive personality that would be formed by the congregation’s culture – its norms, its common intention, its practices, its way of relating to one another, and its sense of mission. Sensitive or intuitive types can walk into a church building and pick up the vibe, or the personality of the congregation’s angel. I wonder how you would describe our angel?

 

So, when we are talking about CMUC’s angel we need to be in conversation about an evolutionary angel, given that our core purpose is to teach and practice evolutionary Christian spirituality. Our core sense of what it means to belong to each other, how we show up with each, how we are “for” each other, and the divine voice we are particularly attuned to is this one inviting us to explore what it means to be on the journey of conscious sacred evolution in Christ.

 

The first principle of evolutionary culture is a wholehearted intention to transform – or to evolve in Christ.

 

I chose the pivotal story of Abraham’s call because at the core of this intention is the yearning for a greater life, a holy life. The only reason given in the Bible for Abraham deciding to leave behind the security of his old life was because he heard the call of God. God called Abraham to a new future that couldn’t be fulfilled by him staying put. He had to hit the road. One of the fascinating features of this story is that the implication that the future is not merely a repetition of the past, but rather holds the promise of something new, different, and better.

 

This is a distinctive feature of the Judeo-Christian tradition. Before this intuition that life was a journey in time on its way toward a new future, most religion was about inhabiting more deeply the unending wheel of life or trying to get off the wheel. But with Judaism, the wheel started rolling. It began to dawn on humans that the wheel was going somewhere. And if you happened to be a Jew, that was good news. In the words of revered folk singer, Harry Chapin, “anywhere (else) was a better place to be”. Usually you were treated as an outsider and so the sense that there was a better life for you in the future was the source of much hope.

 

The metaphor of the spiritual journey – Abraham’s setting out – with nothing but a divine promise – is the religious intuition of what later came to know as evolution. The universe enjoys directionality. It is pulled forward by a promise of a better future. The one we call God is in that pull. With Abraham, there is no future in staying put. It’s time to hit the road. 

 

Philosophically this is called telos – the sense that there is a goal or a purpose toward which all of creation is headed. And it seems to be moving in a non-linear trajectory toward increased unification, diversity, consciousness, and compassion. We may look back at the Abraham and Sarah story with a scientific lens and conclude that this evolutionary trajectory caught them up. They were animated by a promise of something More, and nothing could dissuade them from setting out. In traditional religious language, we would say that Abraham and Sarah “obeyed” the call of God. In the language of evolutionary Christian spirituality, we could say that they said, “yes” to the sacred evolutionary impulse* to be a part of shaping a new future. They knew, not only that God wasn’t finished with creation yet, but that God has just begun – and that they were key players in the new thing God was doing. They are early exemplars of this first principle – a wholehearted intention to be a part of the divine, emergent future.

 

Now, I know that some of our elders sit out there week after week and wonder what all this evolutionary talk has to do with people who have many more years behind them than ahead of them. But a key feature of this story of Abraham and Sarah is God’s promise that they will give birth to a child who will himself become a father of great nation. You biblical scholars will remember that this promise wasn’t realized until Sarah was 91 years old! So, you’re not off the hook! Metaphorically speaking we’re all part of birthing this evolutionary culture, and how you show up in community and for community doesn’t have an age limit attached to it.

 

To be part of an evolutionary culture is, in the first place, not about “doing” anything. It’s about “being” deeply in this intention to never stop growing until you take your last breath.

 

I want to talk about the word “intention” in this principle. Nothing of significance happens in life without clear and focused intention. We know if our intention is clear because if it is clear then nine times out the focus of our intention will materialize. If we are ambivalent, then ambivalence will manifest. This could be the subject of a whole series in itself, because this is the spiritual law behind The Secret, and it’s easily misunderstood. To give an example from my own life, I have a clear intention that I will remain fit and healthy, through exercise and good nutrition. I know that this is an unwavering intention in my life, because I’ve organized my life to make it happen. I’m in the middle of taking a week off of exercise, because I felt my body needed a rest. But I know I will return to my regular fitness schedule because this is a lifelong intention that I’ve set. I no longer need to make a decision about this. My intention around physical fitness is deep and abiding. I will remain participate in the project of being as fit, strong, and healthy as I can be, and I will do this for a lifetime. Now, extend this kind of intention to our spiritual life in the context of community. What is my intention, what is your intention, around growing in Christ and keeping ourselves fit for relationship in the context of community?

 

When we bring our focus to our spiritual life, intention is, in a sense, an updating of the traditional idea of faith – the belief that God is will act to create a better future, to make it all good, and that God is always “coming through” for us. Intention is what faith looks like when we realize that God is doing this from within each one of us. Add to the traditional belief that God is always coming through for us, the experience that God is always “coming through us” and you begin to realize the importance of intention; if God is showing up through us as and as us our intentions had better be holy. God is yearning for a better world to manifest in and through our deepest desires. God is always more than us, yes. But God is never less than us in our fullest and deepest longings. So when we set a holy intention, we are faithing God’s dream for the future into being.

 

By making a wholehearted intention to evolve in Christ we make what our evangelical friends call a “commitment to Christ”. Except in this culture of Canadian Memorial it’s a commitment to grow in Christ. We have a name for this in Christian doctrine you’ll be happy to know – it’s called “sanctification”. Sanctification begins by making and renewing our intention to grow – to grow in love, to grow in compassion, to grow as moral beings, and widen and deepen our circles of belonging, to grow in our capacity to listen to others, to grow in our capacity to learn from others, to grow in our capacity for curiosity and wonder, and to grow in our willingness to serve a higher purpose. That higher purpose can be understood as existing to sanctify – through who are becoming as individuals and as a community – the entire cosmos. When we show up in our full radiance and glory, as manifestations of the heart and mind of Christ, we actually Christify or sanctify all of creation. As we are lifted up into the heart and mind of Christ, we lift all of creation up. Our fullness of being, and our spiritual freedom to transcend our small selves, becomes a triumph of the entire universe.

 

When this becomes our heart’s desire – to be centers of sanctification in Christ – an interesting thing starts to happen: the culture of the congregation – our sense of “weness” begins to reflect this higher sacred consciousness. We are pulled into Christ consciousness. Life in community is less about getting my needs met. It becomes less about me and more about us. We begin to ask ourselves how can I serve this community in such a way that I contribute to the sanctification of the whole community, so that together we can be the sacred evolutionary impulse of the risen Christ for the beautiful world. And when that starts to happen, the world will rush to your doorstep, because this is what the world is waiting for, my friends.

 

My experience of most United Church congregations is that collectively we are dragged down by the dramas of the ego. Who did what to whom? Who hurt whose feelings? Who was left out? Who is getting more attention and why? Who is flirting with whom? Why wasn’t I asked? Nobody called me. You raised your left eyebrow when I walked by you, so clearly you are judging me. Rumours abound in a congregation held hostage by a culture of the small self. You know that a congregation has their wheels stuck in the land of ego because everybody starts sounding like a victim of everybody else’s pernicious plots to destroy them in one way or another. When the culture of a congregation is infested by runaway egos, there can be no focus on the future because all the juicy action is focused the exquisite wound that requires vast amounts of attention and energy.

 

I am delighted to report that CMUC is less fascinated by the dramas of personality. I believe this is so because you have been intentional – there’s that word again – you have shared a common intention to be and to evolve in Christ.

 

In the reading from John’s gospel this morning, did you notice how the risen Christ draws Peter up into a higher field of consciousness? Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me? Peter, do you love me? Three times he requires Peter to reflect on what it means to love. Essentially it comes down to “Peter, get over yourself”, as our friend Mark Tweedy likes to put it. It’s about being pulled into the mind and heart of Christ by making it a spiritual practice to transcend our small self and connect with our soul. And when we do, it becomes about serving a higher purpose than just “me”.

 

Developing an evolutionary culture means setting a clear intention to grow in and toward the heart and mind of the One who comes to us in every interaction, every encounter, and every opportunity with the question, “Do you love me?” Do you love me, in and through how you are showing up in this moment with this person, in this group, and in this community? Do you love me? Of course, we respond with Peter, we love you. No, says the risen Christ, do you love me? Are you really intent on loving me? Of course, we say, I’m Christian after all. And the risen One asks a third infuriating, but clarifying, time. Do you love me? Are you loving me? And then we get it. Then we are raised up into heart of Christ, and we set out to discover the country of the soul, and we desire above all to be the sanctifying presence of Christ for all the world. Our small self ceases and desists. It stands down. Over time we simply lose interest in its games. We are lifted up by the one who is forever and always breaking into our fear-based survival self with the question, “Do you love me? Are you loving me?”

 

The Christ is asking us if we are willing to be in service of taking this relationship to a deeper, more authentic level. Are we really showing up right now with our most vulnerable self? Do we have something to learn from this conversation? Or is it simply an opportunity to show how much we know? Are we actually intending to listen for what is new and emerging? Or in our minds do we believe that we’ve heard it all? We have this person pegged. Are we open to the possibility that something unexpected, something fresh might well emerge if I bring my loving attention to this interaction? Are we asking ourselves the question, every time we are in a difficult conversation, “what does it mean to love Christ” in this moment? What does it mean to be the love of the risen Christ in this moment?

 

Now soul becomes the context for ego and personality. We become servants to raising the spiritual consciousness of the culture to such a level that the world feels drawn to us, because the world and all of creation is drawn to Reality.

 

But it begins, friends with intention. Have you set an intention to be for each other and for the whole of creation the sanctifying, evolving, heart and mind of Christ? Have you decided, with Abraham and Sarah, to simply set out on this journey with little more than a promise that this will be the journey of your life – that is what you are here for? Do you hear the voice of the Christ asking you if you are intent on being the presence of love to his beloved? Is your heart set on making that journey? If so, you are not alone. You have a whole community of souls to support you, and you have a God who is always coming through for you and through you. The heart sings.

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