Transcript for April 5, 2009 by Ian Lawton

It was Palm Sunday but because of a sore throat, 5-year-old Johnny stayed home from church with a sitter. When the family returned home, they were carrying several palm fronds. Johnny asked them what they were for.
     

“People held them over Jesus’ head as he walked by,” his father told him.
     
“Wouldn’t you know it,” Johnny fumed, “the one Sunday I miss church and Jesus shows up.”

Well it’s Palm Sunday, and I’m curious to know how you are showing up today? How are you feeling? Where are you on your journey through life? Where have you come from? Where are you heading? How significant is your past in defining who you are today?

There is a Chinese Proverb that says, “To forget one’s ancestors is to be a brook without a source, 
a tree without a root.” Reflect for a moment on your ancestors and how the past sources your life. Your ancestors are like an octopus, whose tentacles you never fully escape. If you have mixed feelings about your ancestors, remember the advice of Homer Simpson, “As far as anyone knows, we’re a nice normal family.” Of course, every family tree has some sap in it and a few dead branches.

Retracing Your Ancestor’s Steps

Do you have any urge to retrace your family’s steps? There is a 65 yr old man who is currently doing a walk from Pennsylvania to Ontario Canada. He is following in the footsteps of his great-great-grandfather, who in 1826 walked, and possibly rode horses, with his wife and six children, from Pennsylvania to Ontario where the family settled. He is avoiding highways as much as possible so as to recreate as closely as possible the walk his ancestors took. The nice twist to this story is that last year the man had such a serious heart condition that he could barely walk to his car. So the walk is both a reconnection with his past and also a major step towards better health.

I can only imagine the thrill of walking the same ground your ancestors walked. It would put your life into such a broad perspective. Do you have a desire to reconnect with your ancestors? Maybe it’s a walk. Maybe it’s a family tree study. Maybe its something you’re writing. Or maybe it’s just you alone with your thoughts and dreams.

Maybe it’s because my parents are in town, but I’ve been thinking a lot about my past. By the way, do you remember Mark Twain’s advice- “Why waste your money looking up your family tree? 
Just go into politics and your opponents will do it for you!”

My family has many stories about the small country town I was born in. My Dad was the bush vicar, pastor to a massive rural area. When he wanted to visit someone in the parish, he would have to drive for a day to get there, stay overnight, then drive a day back home. If the car broke down on one of these desert roads, all he could do was lay under the car to stay cool and wait for someone to drive by, hope that someone would drive by. Legend has it that when I was due to be born, he was a day away from home and had to drive through the desert to arrive in time. Anxious times. So one of my life ambitions is to drive the desert roads in Australia and reconnect with my beginnings. I think I might pack a cell phone just to be safe.

Sometimes, this journey goes the other way around. You find yourself retracing your children or grandchildren’s steps to better understand them and how you connect to them. These days, parents travel the world to keep up with their children. And you know the advice- be kind to your children. They will choose your nursing home.

I had a very profound experience when I was the Pastor of an Inner city church. A homeless man died and we decided to put on a proper burial for him. We advertised in some national papers to see if any family came forward, but no one did. So we gave Brad a fitting send off. Six months later my phone rang, and I was stunned to hear Brad’s mother on the line. She had somehow heard about Brad’s death. She was heart broken, and not knowing that he had died created a huge hole in her life. She and her family came and stayed with us in Sydney, and we set about recreating the last days of Brad’s life. We walked around the streets where he slept, met his friends, and recreated the burial ceremony as closely as we could. It was an amazing and emotional time. I found out that Brad had a 3 yr old daughter. He was living on the streets to escape from a bikey gang that wanted him dead. He lived in Sydney to keep the trouble away from his family. Brad’s family filled in pieces for me, and I was able to fill in pieces for them. There was some amazing healing that happened for all of us as we joined the dots of his life.

This all relates to the Palm Sunday story, but first I want you to be in touch with your own life connections.

Palm Sunday- Connections and Perspective

There are all sorts of theories about why the story of Palm Sunday is written the way it is. Some say it was to connect Jesus with King Solomon as the great messiah who would drive out the hated Romans and restore Israel to its former glory. Some say it was to fulfill ancient prophecies about the arrival of a great leader. I wonder if it was to show Jesus retracing his own mother’s steps, as she anxiously rode on a donkey to Bethlehem to give birth. The story goes to lengths to suggest that Jesus knew his death was imminent. He found the courage he needed to face death in his family’s story. He found the meaning he needed amidst all the madness by connecting with his beginning. Maybe today shouldn’t be called Palm Sunday. Maybe it should be called Branch Sunday, as the story is all about connections to Jesus’ family tree.

So what does the story say to you today? Our human needs are not that different from those who created the Palm Sunday story. We long to be grounded in something greater than ourselves. We yearn for a heroic journey, something magical in the midst of the strife that fills our days. Don’t you ache for a sense of mystery? Don’t you crave memories that connect you to the past? And don’t you seek rituals and life practices that remind you of these connections?

Put your life in perspective. Your life is a cell fiber at the tip of a leaf on the end of a branch hanging proudly from the top of a tree that is blowing in the wind; so small and yet made large by the connections. Like the parts of a tree, all lives are sourced from the same seed. Like a man riding to his death on a donkey, your life is meaningful in its ordinary courage. You find the seed of the sacred in your life, usually when riding a donkey stripped of pretence and pride.

Palm Sunday was an attempt, through story, to remind first century people that they were not alone, that meaning is found in connections and that there is a seed within that sources all things.

Life in Perspective- To Whom Are You Related?

The image of the family tree reminds you that your connections run much deeper than your human ancestors. You are a part of a wondrous, evolving universe. What rituals like Palm Sunday might keep this connection at the front of your mind?

There was a fascinating piece of legislation in America last week. It was overshadowed by the AIG scandals but it was very good news. It was The Omnibus Public Land Management Act. It was the most comprehensive conservation measure in years, with millions of acres of wilderness areas designated for protection. The bill also expands a 600 mile Ice Age Flood Trail that tracks the incredible course of the Ice Age floods 18,000 years ago.

Like the story of Jesus trail into Jerusalem, the Ice Age trail is a reminder of the chances and changes of life. You can put your present struggles into a wider perspective and realize that all things change. They ebb and flow. You are part of a massive evolutionary process.
 
The other significant thing the bill allowed for was the creation of conservation corridors that would ensure the survival of many native plants and animals and lessen the affect of global warming.
 
Wilderness trails and corridors offer a visual reminder of the path out of despair; relationship, broad perspectives and foresight. Maybe a serious commitment to these three qualities could have prevented the AIG mess. Maybe a personal commitment to these three qualities would lessen the suffering in your life. Maybe these three qualities are part of the archetypal message in the Palm Sunday story.

Many Paths- One Source

Confucius said: “In the world, there are many different roads, but the destination is the same.” The roads are different, but the destination is the same. Have you ever walked a corn maze? We go once a year down to Fennville to an apple farm that is run by Dutch reformed folk. Its great fun, and I always enjoy the Bible questions they put together to guide guests around the maze. They offer multiple choice answers that give you clues whether to turn left or right. They put together fascinating questions. There are the Calvinist leaning questions, like “Name five abominations to the Lord in order of abominableness.” And “how many horns will the beast have at the end times?” Then there are the Bible trivia questions, like “Who was Noah’s wife?” And no, the answer is not Joan of Ark. I’m sorry that was very CORNY.

The corn maze is the family equivalent of the far more mystical labyrinth maze. The design of the maze resonates with diverse experience of life; the cycles, the changing nature of the seasons, evolution, and the ever changing sense of being part of a wider universe. The Labyrynth is a truly aMAZEing experience.

It’s all about journeys; beginning journeys, ending journeys and the many journeys in between.

Let me finish with a story that I’ve stored away for a few years now. It seems to fit well now. I find it very profound. It’s a modern day Easter passion story. A cab driver was called to a building at 2.30 in the morning. The driver walked to the door and knocked. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80’s stood before him. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters.   In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

She took his arm and they walked slowly to the cab. When they got in the cab, she gave him an address, and then asked, “Could you drive through downtown?”

“It’s not the shortest way,” he answered quickly.

“Oh, I don’t mind,” she said. “I’m in no hurry. I’m on my way to a hospice.”

Her eyes were glistening.

“I don’t have any family left,” she continued. “The doctor says I don t have very long.”  

The driver reached over and shut off the meter.

For the next four hours, they drove through the city. She showed him the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. They drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they were newlyweds. She had him pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she’d ask him to slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun, she suddenly said, I’m tired. Let’s go now.”

They drove in silence to the hospice.

Orderlies helped the woman out of the cab. The cab door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life.

The driver didn’t pick up any more passengers that shift. He drove aimlessly, lost in thought.

He didn’t think that he could have done anything more important in his life than drive the old woman to hospice.

You have your own unique journey, but the destination for all of us is the same. May you walk gently and mindfully today, aware that you are related to all else at every step; never alone and part of something enormous and infinite.

If you have opportunity to make another person’s life gentler, even in one moment, then that is the most important thing you will ever do.

Namaste. The seed of life in me greets the seed of life in you. One life. One human family.One Source. Many paths.