Sunday, April 13, 2025, reading followed by the sermon.
Reading
In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world. . . .
This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud. . . . I have the immense joy of being man (human), a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now that I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.
― Thomas Merton, Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
Sermon: Rise Up Into Love Consciousness!
Good morning! Though many of you are familiar with Merton, for those of you who aren’t, he was a bright international kid from Colombia who loved to chase women and party. He was well connected to the literary world, converted to Catholicism on the suggestion of a Hindu monk, and decided to enter the most severe Catholic Order who took on vows of silence. At the monastery he wrote volumes of poetry, and his famous autobiography, Seven Storied Mountain. He died of a horrible accident in Thailand, or was perhaps murdered. He expressed an articulate mysticism, that can help any see a deeper radiance in the ordinary. He thought that there was much Zen and Hinduism could offer the Catholic world.
Why did I choose this writing, this author? Well for one reason- Merton is a part of my tribe. He’s not the most important member, but one who’s influence grows as I get older. But really it was to provide a keel to our collective schooner as it negotiates these stormy seas. And also of course, our stewardship campaign concludes today and the theme was about how love rises up- and we with it.
Rise up love consciousness!
This week I continued to be troubled by the direction of our nation. The thing on top of a long list of concerns was how Mr. Abrego Garcia was rounded up by ICE, charged without due process, sent to an El Salvadoran prison on an administrative error. So far this administration has refused a judge’s order to send him back, even after the supreme court backed the judges decision. I really hope this gets resolved on Monday. If it does not- well then! I must say no. I must say this is not how our nation is cast, this is not how it works. I must rise up.
But who am I to say this? No one’s going to put me on a podcast listened to by millions. Those who do have our ear are themselves in the minority. They do read our letters. They do care. They are just not winning right now. Truth be told it takes time to win a game like this. But right now it sleep does not come easy. I have spoken with some of you. I know I am not alone.
But fortunately for us, we are part of something as powerful and beyond our control, actually as the tide. It is the force of love consciousness. For those of you I might have met as a young person at a Bread and Puppet Festival, Grateful Gead concert or a Reggae event- you know what I am talking about.
But love consciousness is there in the Christian world. Today is Palm Sunday, Pontius Pilate comes in to Jerusalem on a war horse as the representative the emperor, who according to John Dominic Crossan, was the sun of God- Jupiter[1]. Jesus comes in on a donkey on the other side of the city to hosannas declaring himself the son of man. Love consciousness wins over domination consciousness.
Love consciousness is there in the Jewish world. It is also passover, the story of how the Hebrew people enslaved by Egyptians found a deeper force.
But for the hard nosed among you, look at love consciousness this way- the way Cosmologist Brian Swimm might offer. Let’s say it’s true that life is no more than complicated rust on a mostly iron planet on the outer edge of a minor galaxy one of billions in the Universe- isn’t it strange that that in a millisecond of cosmic time it grew an eye in the form of the James Webb Telescope and looks back the toddlerhood of its origins? To see oneself in a mirror and know… Is that not the true nature of consciousness[2]? And what does it see this complicated rust of itself, in a small blue spaceship earth, infinitely fragile and beautiful in its perfect balance of air and water and earth and fire and ice?
So in groovy, Christian, Jewish or even scientific understandings of love consciousness, of what significance is a small minded man keeping us up at night with his ridiculous executive orders, with illusions of grandeur and the willingness to hurt others to achieve it? Not much… People like this, walk around like puppets on a string to the demands of an illusory self, and a greed machine. They are like robots. How they rage and spray their spittle.
We are not like them. No we are connected to a different order, we are part of that eye that looks back and sees. We are the kinds of people that allow scientists to build telescopes, and interact with each other freely across the boundaries of warring nations. We are the people that believe in the boundaries of this nation, that all people are created equal, that all should have rights of property, and yes education, and yes vote, and yes be considered for employment or admission to colleges, regardless of the color of their skin or their sexual orientation, or their gender preference- because that would be a true meritocracy! It is time for us to say that DEI is the very essence of democracy and that to deny institutions or work places from wanting diversity, equity or inclusion is decidedly un-american! We are the eye of the universe that looks back and sees itself in its growth, and the knowledge that even it will one day die, and that it has but limited time to actualize and thrive and enjoy being alive! How could this consciousness be anything other than love?
Another hero of mine, another in the Thomas Merton League, Franciscan monk Richard Rohr, helped establish the center for action and contemplation reminds us that when we stay centered, we can do great things- and in a way we really shouldn’t worry.
I’m convinced that if we stick with it, if we practice contemplation regularly, then we will come to an inner place of compassion—for ourselves and for others. In this place, we notice how much the suffering of the world is our suffering. We become committed to this world, not cerebrally, but from the much deeper perspective of our soul. At this point, we’re indestructible, because in that place we find the peace that the world cannot give. We don’t need to win anymore; we just need to do what we have to do, as naive and simplistic as that might sound. That’s why Augustine could make such an outrageous statement as “Love and do what you will”! (Augustine, Ten Homilies on the First Epistle of John to the Parthians, tractate 7.8)[3]
Centered as you are in your spiritual practice or service to this local and international community, believe in yourself. Believe in yourself when you hold a sign. When you write a letter to your representatives at city or county or state, or nation, or even in the international bodies committed to love and justice. Believe in yourself when you share who you are, when you share your dream with another, and they share with you theirs.
Believe in yourself. Believe in yourself even in the smallest things, the going to the store to buy milk, the telling your partner you love them, in reading you child a story or grand child or great grandchild. Believe in yourself as you go to work in a difficult job, believe in yourself when you go for a walk or share a beverage with a friend. Believe in yourself when you go to the gym, or the meditation mat, or the yoga studio. Believe in yourself when you decide to come to a place like this: To see, be seen, to listen and to share. Believe in yourself when you pledge to this church, something anything, so that we can build a budget and keep the lights on.
Believe and relax. Breathe deep. This life is for you. You are an expression of love. My mom sent me this the other day- it came from a Rumi/ Coleman Barks calendar marked March 27- my Birthday.
You are song, a wished for song
Go through the ear to the center
Where sky is, where wind,
Where silent knowing.
Put seeds and cover them,
Blades will sprout
Where you do your work[4].
This from my mom is shared with you. Darkness has no power to kill your light as long as it is fueled and lit. It is the good purpose of this community to try to keep our lamps filled. It is good that we are frustrated, that we care, that we long for something better- for that is our love consciousness. And I think this consciousness doesn’t just belong to us either, but is everywhere; it is in every healthy ecosystem, in the perfect imbalance of matter and anti matter, in the dulcet song of the big bang still reverberating through the universe. All we have to do is lift up this love consciousness just a little every day, and this eye who sees, will do, and reassure us along the way. That is all. That is all we can do. It is enough. It is enough to rise. Rise up love consciousness- you are the tide.
[1] See John Dominic Crossan’s and Marcus Borg’s, The Last Week.
[2] Buddha at the Gas Pump Interview with Brian Swimm. https://batgap.com/brian-thomas-swimme-transcript/
[3] Richard Rohr, CAC.org
[4] -The Collected Works of Rumi, by Coleman Barks.
