Welcome back, settle in and be at home – you people of Life, stardust creatures, infused with infinite and pervasive divine presence. This undeniable life force, that which keeps a heart beating beyond all odds, the energy that compels a seedling to grow against the harshest of environments, is the dominant feature of your being. This humming, thrumming vital force, the God of your understandings, is everywhere within us as purpose, self-worth and sufficiency…it is between us in relating, loving, resolving conflict, meting out justice near and far, it is beyond us in past, present and future – in mystery and memory, in nature and new awareness.

You are the ancient of days and as new as your latest breath. Even now, your cells, atoms, anatomy are changing, growing, becoming. We are remembering, reflecting on the now and anticipating the future unfolding before us. Might we now commit to learning from the past, seeing it with new eyes, patience and understanding; might we see it with new clarity, perspective and insight. Without dwelling there or blaming what and who has been and what has been done, let us be healed by our history and past. Let us then bring new resolve, maturity and conviction into our present encounters and commitments.

Let us include and transcend all that has been, for we are partially and particularly formed by the countless encounters and events over the years. We have been named, encouraged, esteemed, demeaned, instilled with wonder and wounded; we have wept and wallowed, we have been graced and gifted by those before us. Now we accept it all, claim it and own our present courses as best we can. It is up to us now-and we continue interdependently in relationship with others who join us on the human journey of re-discovery and renewal. Whether it be individuals, partnerships, families or communities – we are on an ever new way – forging ahead on new paths and un-trodden ground. It is daunting and dynamic, stimulating and stress-filled….and yet vital to the core.

Let the art of remembering be real and honest; let it be transformative as well…for there are hurts to be healed, wounds to be wrapped with forgiveness and patience; pain to be acknowledged and let go. The past is a treasure-trove of learning and insight and yet it is not our ultimate destination. Rather let it be a source of renewal and inspiration; let it be the foundation upon which we fly and become free into new being and relating. The past is part of us, within our very cells and sinew – yet it need not hold us hostage or keep us from all that can be.

In remembering our unique history and stories, the ongoing narratives of our lives, we humbly and intentionally surround all those who are discouraged, deprived and demeaned; all those in the aftermath of oil spills, plane crashes, volcano ashes, violence and terror. Those close, those near – such as our neighbors in need, those in transition with relationships, jobs and homes. The Mishras, the homeless, those living out the last weeks and months of their lives in dignity, tears and great fortitude. Let us remember, let us exchange, initiate and act; let us love as we seek to be more impassioned, compassioned people.

We offer these words to each other and to the very fabric of this world. Together we share this planetary pilgrimage and enjoy an inclusive community. We breathe in peace; we breathe out love. We honor life itself, all our fellow journey-mates and the possibilities that line our future. So be it.

I made some New Year’s resolutions this year-

1. Find inner peace
2. Tidy my home office
3. Finish my book

I arranged them in that order of importance, but it seemed like I couldn’t find any inner peace until my office was tidy. I definitely couldn’t get much writing done until my office was tidy.

Actually, I couldn’t even find the chair underneath the papers. So I set to work on the office first. You wouldn’t believe what I uncovered. Tidying up the office opened up a whole new world of lists-

1. Return borrowed books
2. Pay overdue bills
3. Organize notes for book in progress

Then I realized that I should read the borrowed books before returning them. And I had to change the credit card to pay the bills. So the list got longer again. Meanwhile, none of the book got written and inner peace got moved off list.

Finally I realized that I was going to need to get creative. So I made a new list with just one item-

1. Find somewhere else in the house to write a book about inner peace

It worked like a charm. Amazingly, as soon as I stopped trying to find inner peace, I immediately tidied my office and the book flowed like water out of a tap. It seems odd when you think about it – trying so hard to find something that is all about not trying so hard. It seems bass-ackwards to struggle for peace, doesn’t it? We go to war in ourselves trying to find peace. It’s like Lilly Tomlin says, “The problem with being in a rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.”

A New Way- Stop Striving

One of my favorite stories, and this story really means so much to me, is the story of the Mexican fisherman. An American investment banker was on vacation in Mexico. He met a Mexican fisherman who was cleaning up a couple of fish he had just caught. The American businessman asked him how long it took him to catch the fish. He said, “Not long.”

So the American asked him, “Why don’t you stay out longer. You could catch more.”

The Mexican replied, “This is enough to support my family. Now I have time to play with my children, take siestas with my wife, and drink wine and play guitar with my amigos in the evening.”

The American said, “You should consider spending more time fishing. You could buy a whole fleet of boats, and open your own cannery. Eventually you could move to America and list your company on the Stock Exchange.”

The Mexican said, “How long will this all take?”

The American replied, “15 – 20 years.”

“What then?” asked the Mexican.

The American laughed and said, “That’s the best part.  You will become so wealthy you can stop working. You can move to a coastal fishing village, sleep late, play with the grandkids, take siestas with your wife, and drink wine and play guitar with your amigos in the evening.”

Do you see the point? Everything you need, you already have. The best way to find peace is to stop looking for it. This is one of religion’s most oppressive traps. You think you have to do so much to get to heaven. You have been told that heaven is the gold watch for a job well done, the retirement to beat all retirements. Give up the struggle, and discover the peace that was there all along. You think that you can only find peace through the sacrifice of a man 2000 years ago. The truth is you have peace already. You’ve just forgotten. It’s a whole new way of thinking that takes place when you liberate yourself from the old religious way of thinking. As soon as you let go of the striving for peace, peace is yours.

One of my favorite texts in the Bible comes from Isaiah 43;18. It says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing!”

Isaiah had a vision for a completely new reality, one marked by effortless peace, self responsibility and social harmony. Because the Hebrew people expected to find their peace in a temple, via priests, the way it used to be, Isaiah had to make clear that this was going to be a new way of experiencing peace. There was no temple and no sacrifices were necessary. The new way involved an inner path of acceptance and self awareness. Everything that religion had previously held at arm’s length from them, they now had immediate and direct access to – forgiveness, peace, enlightenment, heaven…

It’s a beautiful vision because, even though the new way is unfamiliar, it’s completely free and easy. It has no punishment or exacting standards. It’s about being completely authentic and human. Once the Hebrew people could see that there was more to be gained by following the new path than staying with the familiar old path, they would catch the vision.

A New Thing at C3 Exchange

The incredible truth about the new thing that Isaiah describes is that it’s there whether you perceive it or not. It’s the nature of God to do new things. Because the nature of life is constant change, all things are new all the time, therefore God is all there is. Or else you could think about it this way – every time you perceive the new thing that is happening, you experience God. The easiest way to experience newness is to drop your nostalgia and assumptions that the old way is all there is.

Like scales falling from your eyes, your beginner’s mind will open up crystal clear perception of the new thing.

Paul Tillich was one of the pioneering theologians of the 20th century. This is his interpretation of Isaiah 43-

“Nothing is more surprising than the rise of the new within ourselves. We do not foresee or observe its growth. We do not try to produce it by the strength of our will, by the power of our emotion, or by the clarity of our intellect. On the contrary, we feel that by trying to produce it we prevent its coming. By trying, we would produce the old in the power of the old, but not the new in the power of the new. The new being is born in us, just when we least believe in it. It appears in remote corners of our souls which we have neglected for a long time. It opens up deep levels of our personality which had been shut out by old decisions and old exclusions. It shows a way where there was no way before. It liberates us from the tragedy of having to decide and having to exclude, because it is given before any decision. Suddenly we notice it within us! The new which we sought and longed for comes to us in the moment in which we lose hope of ever finding it. That is the first thing we must say about the new: it appears when and where it chooses. We cannot force it, and we cannot calculate it. Readiness is the only condition for it…”

Pause and reflect on the new thing that is happening in the world. You are no longer ruled by the old religious principles. You don’t have to pacify an angry God to get to heaven. You don’t have to look outside of yourself to some future time for peace. It’s all right here and right now, right within you. I am not directing you to heaven in the sky, in some unknown future, but to the heaven that you create every time you find peace with the new thing that is happening.

Like Isaiah’s vision, it is a whole new way of being community. Each person is valued because of who you are – your spiritual value and not your economic or utilitarian value. It’s a radical new vision for global community based in celebration of diversity. It’s even a radical new way of being activists in the world. You don’t have to solve all the problems of the world, or suffer for joy. Just do what you love and that will make all the difference. Do what sends shivers down your spine and your joy will send a shiver up the spines of other people. You will transform the world with a single shiver.

Regaining Perspective

This is important. It’s easy to replace the old salvation system with a new guilt trip. No guilt is necessary. The new guilt trip might be pressure to live in the moment, or pressure to make a difference in the world. If you find yourself feeling guilty that you don’t have enough inner peace or you aren’t getting arrested for fighting injustice, then remember that there is no guilt. There is only authenticity. You find your peace and do your justice when you realize that the cost of living the old way is far greater than the rewards of living the new way.

The only requirement is your participation in the moment. There is a well known image in the Bible about putting your hand to the plow and not looking back. It backs up the idea from Isaiah 43. This isn’t a new commandment, as if you will be punished for looking back. It’s just that if you want to see the new thing, look right where you are. And believe me you don’t want to miss the new thing.

There is an important word in the verse that completely changes the meaning. We usually read the verse as, “Anyone who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not FIT for the kingdom of God.” [Luke 9:62]. You could be forgiven for hearing this as a new guilt trip. “Not fit” sounds like not worthy, or not good enough. Actually the word “fit” is more accurately translated as WELL PLACED. In other words, the best place to see God, manifest heaven, or experience inner peace is with your hands to the plow, eyes forward.

A perfect illustration of this point is the arrival of the Pilgrims in America. They nearly starved, even though they had arrived in an abundant land, because they expected to find the same food they were accustomed to in England. They looked around for a good English pub and some bangers and mash, and when they didn’t find it they didn’t know what to do. They almost missed the beauty and the bounty that was right in front of their eyes. The Native Americans taught them about corn, and before long the Pilgrims had their hands to the plow. The rest is history.

Keep your hands to the plow. It will keep you well placed to see the beauty that surrounds you. Don’t let anyone or anything distract you from a direct engagement with the present newness and all its opportunities for self awareness and inner peace. Don’t look back, where the past lures you into ancient beliefs about not being good enough or needing a savior from outside of you. Don’t stand on tippy toes looking forward as if the future holds heaven. Stay here now, and all treasures will be revealed to you.

Just in case you feel anxious that you won’t see the fulfillment of the great vision in your life, remember the words of Reinhold Neibuhr who said, “Nothing worth doing is completed in your lifetime”, and keep your hands on the plow. Just do what you love, and your joy will be its own reward because you will be well placed to experience God.

Nothing is ever truly completed in any case. All is new and evolving at all times.

Do you remember the chant from the early years of the women’s movement?

Sisters, there is no path. 
We make the way by walking. 
Move, sisters, move.

They seem like fitting words for us today, women and men on a new journey. There is no road, either more taken or less taken. There is no path. There is no template for being a new community of self empowerment and spiritual diversity. We are making the way as we walk forward, hands on plows, eyes ready for the new thing that we are co-creating. If we wait for someone else, some other group, some other sky God, to forge the path, the moment will be lost. Now is the time, and we are the people.

You and I have an exciting vision. We will make mistakes, and get lost from time to time. We will misstep and miscommunicate. But we will pick up and move on. The rewards of staying present to the new moment far outweigh the costs of looking back. Move people move.

The spirit of newness in me honors the new thing that is emerging in you, and in the world. Namaste.

For Further Reflection-

In what ways do you find yourself struggling for peace?

When and how do you experience newness in life?

How do you stop yourself from looking back and dwelling on the past?

We join together in the Spirit of fire and freedom, a crucible’s chaos: for creativity and possibility are bubbling, brewing, about to burst forth again in beauty and bold design. In springtime newness and with all things and animals birthing and abounding, we move toward what counts, what matters in the grander scheme of things: Living toward profound transformation of minds, bodies…of relationships, families, and communities we share and enjoy; continually creating an inclusive community of good company so that questing and questioning happen in safety and with daring and acceptance.

With God of all understandings and identities and none – known and experienced within, between and beyond – we join in an ongoing exodus to essential things. We join in the dance of beginnings and endings and continuance, affirming the names we have been given and chosen. Each of us, named and known, welcomed and engaged. And these things we celebrate and continue:

Bread shared, bodies healed, minds liberated, songs sung and justice done. Love through all seasons, all persons welcomed along on this fallible, honest human journey. Putting flesh of action on bare-boned intentions; lighting fires against any midnight of indifference, creating bridges of care and compassion across canyons of loneliness.

In confidence and perhaps with wobbly knees, we are perched on the edge of new beginnings, new names, new language – on the threshold of marvelous continuances and fresh tracks in the land of the new and untried. We both challenge and affirm our attachments, that which comfort and ground us; that which limit and keep us from adding anything fresh and vital. Let us choose this day to be open, elastic, new wineskins able to hold the wildest of wines. Let us live as to be unflinchingly alive, to experience every fragile, miraculous, bloody, juicy, aching, beautiful ounce of being a human being in the context of other like minded and like hearted folk. And as we consider the uncertainties and possibilities of tomorrow, let us not miss today and all that might be felt, done, seen and known.

As we commit to being neighborly and justice minded, en-fleshers of peace and care, may our envy, small-mindedness and crabbiness be dulled and diminished. For we seek to reduce the ways we complain and criticize life into a thousand ugly bits. As we commit to the new, let us affirm that which continues….each of us becoming more known with and for each other in an emerging community of care that would create something fresh, something true, something transformative, something amazing; that we would all be artists of daring ways, speakers of provocative truths, lovers of what joins us together in this amazing life. So let it be.

Naming someone or something is a powerful experience. We go to great trouble to select names for babies, hoping to choose something that a child can feel proud of throughout their life. There are other reasons too, such as a parent’s personal preference. It’s one of the first and last things a parent gets to decide for their kids without any kick-back.

There is a great episode in Seinfeld about naming a baby. It involves George Costanza who wants to name his future baby “7” because Mickey Mantle wore the number 7.

He shares it with some friends who steal the name for their baby who is about to be born.

George is devastated. Even as he drives them to the hospital, he’s still trying to convince them not to use his name. In the middle of a contraction, as they wheel the poor woman along the corridors of the hospital, George harasses the woman begging her not to use the name “7”. Eventually the husband gets fed up and says, “George! She’s in labor!” George shouts back as only George can do, “So am I!”

Whether it’s a baby or a business, an invention or an idea, choosing a name is important. It’s a stamp of recognition. It’s the precursor to letting a new creation loose in the world. It’s like one of those parties from last century when a butler presents each arriving guest as they walk downstairs, with all eyes on them. May I present to you… my new baby, my new idea, my new thought, my new identity.

I remember choosing a name for the first youth group I ran. We discussed it as a group and came up with the name “Nostrils”. I don’t remember why, but that was the name. It was my task to report back to the leadership the theological reason for the name. That was easy. The Hebrew creation story says that God created the first people from dust of the earth and breathed life into them through their nostrils. I always thought that was a great detail to include. Presumably a force powerful enough to create the earth could do it with a simple thought, but instead chose to do it through the one of the oddest looking parts of the human anatomy. So the name “Nostrils” indicates new life and a breath of fresh air.

Next in the story Adam was given the power to name all the animals. This was an important detail. Presumably God could have zapped names straight into human heads, but instead the story says that people had the responsibility of naming other species. There are a couple of reasons why I think this is significant.

1. Names are an important part of the creative act. They aren’t the same as the creative act, but they follow soon after. A name is not the person or thing itself. It’s just the best attempt of humans to portray the unique identity of a person or thing that is ultimately beyond words or description.

2. When you name something, you feel your connection to it. You grow to understand its complexities and character. With this connection, you feel some ownership and responsibility for its health and future.

3. Names don’t last forever. They often change to match an evolving identity. The Bible is full of name changes. I like to think that this is an ancient intuitive understanding of evolution. Everything and everyone is always changing, and our names change to reflect the natural evolution of things.

Names Are Intentional

What has been your experience of naming people or things? Do you feel the privilege and responsibility? Do you feel the connection? How did the names arise for you? Did it happen in sudden moments of clarity or after a long period of discernment?

Some names seem to be plucked out of thin air. Pringles potato chips were named by a marketing team who, in desperation, opened up the telephone book and pointed a finger. Steve Jobs told his small start up staff that if they didn’t come up with a name by 5 pm that day, he would name the company Apple. Apparently, they failed.

Most names emerge with more planning and precision. Whether a name arises out of a long process or a spontaneous moment, there is often a convergence of ideas.

Here at C3, we have been in a naming discernment process for close to a year. The first step was to collect the feedback from a wide variety of sources that said we need a new name. Then we put a team of marketers in place to collect and collate the community’s suggestions. This team worked hard to find the common themes and synergy in the suggestions. The incredible thing about our new name process is that at one point, over the course of a week, close to a dozen people came forward with variations on a theme that ended up being our proposed name. I’m a great believer in convergence. Ideas come together in a context of openness and creativity.

Like Adam in the Hebrew story, we are about to let our new creation loose in the world. It’s as if we are standing at the bottom of a grand spiral staircase, and presenting our community to the world. The excitement and good energy are palpable. But I will make you wait a little longer to reveal the new name.

When Names are Misleading

First, a thought about name changes. Sometimes names have to be changed because they no longer accurately convey the essence of what they are naming. There are some famous examples of names that are lost in translation.

The Electrolux Vacuum was manufactured in Sweden. They created a slogan that didn’t translate so well in America. The slogan was, “Nothing sucks like an Electrolux.” We’ve all heard of truth in advertising, but that’s going too far. Then there’s Pepsi. In Taiwan, the translation of the Pepsi slogan “Come alive with the Pepsi Generation” came out as “Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the dead.” That’s a bold claim. The baby food, Gerber, translates in French as vomit. They withdrew from France. The German makers of backpacks called them “Body Bags.” This is only slightly less confusing than the use of the American term “Fanny Pack” to an Australian. The telecom company Orange had to change its ads in Northern Ireland. “The future’s bright … the future’s Orange” was lost in translation in Northern Ireland where the term Orange indicates protestant. The implied message that the future is bright, the future is Protestant, didn’t sit well with the Catholic Irish population.

Lastly, when Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with the beautiful Caucasian baby on the label. Later they learned that in Africa, companies routinely put pictures on the label of what’s inside, since so many people can’t read. The picture of the chubby baby didn’t look so cute to the African market.

Christ Community Church is a name that served this community well for over 30 years, but in recent years has been lost in translation. This has happened in two almost opposite ways.

1. It has prevented people from finding us who would otherwise LOVE what this community does and stands for. People have reported that it took many years to come through the doors because the name made them think it would be a traditional church.

2. It misled some who did come through the doors. Some thought they would be attending a traditional church and felt deceived by the name.

Either way it has become clear that the name Christ Community Church has become an impediment to this community evolving into what it needs to become. The time has come for a name change.

From Particular to Inclusive

After discerning that a name change was in order, the next question we had to ask was what to call the community.

Most of the community submissions expressed the need to move from a narrow Christian name to something more universal and inclusive.

In recent years, the community has become spiritual home to people of all spiritual paths.

Interestingly, so many of the name changes in the Bible reflect the same movement from particular to universal. Abram, which means ‘father’, was changed to Abraham, which means ‘father of multitudes.’ Jacob was changed to Israel to signify the change from a man with twelve sons (and a daughter) to a nation consisting of twelve tribes. The twelve tribes eventually came to signify all the earth in the New Testament.

The distinctively Jewish name Saul was changed to Paul to indicate the shift in focus to include gentiles. The phrase Jew and Gentile indicates all people. So many names in the Bible were changed to indicate this movement from one person, one tribe, one religion, to all humanity.

So let me break the tension and tell you the new name. After collecting the community’s responses and taking the advice of the marketing committee, the board of trustees selected a name that both honors the history of the community and points us forward to a more inclusive future. The new name celebrates diversity and the open exchange of ideas that arises from a diverse group of people. The new name honors the grounding in the Christian tradition but says that this community is part of a universal movement that is so much larger than Christianity.

Is the community still a Christian church? The community includes Christianity but is now intentionally an inclusive spiritual community. The community welcomes people of all backgrounds and spiritual perspective.

Here it is – drum roll please… The new name is C3 Exchange, an inclusive spiritual community.

What do the 3 “C”s stand for? Here is what we want to ask you to do. The 3 Cs don’t stand for anything official and unchanging. They are a connection to the past, and also an opportunity to create many resonant words. So the board would like to receive your submissions for C words that resonate with your experience of this community, and they will all be used in various contexts. We will collect all the C3 responses and use them in many different ways.

Beyond Names

There is an old saying that a person has three names: the name he inherits, the name his parents give him, and the name he makes for himself. C3 Exchange, An Inclusive Spiritual Community is our new name. C3 is the name we inherit. C3 Exchange is the name the current parents of the community give it. However, it’s what we do as a community that will create the lasting name.

As we join with others in building a global community marked by one love, we will make a name for ourselves that we can be proud of. As we do our part to create a global consciousness that we are all related and that the way we treat each other matters more than what we believe, we will make a name for ourselves. As we live in harmony with the earth, we will make a name for ourselves. As we pursue wellness that is not the absence of disease but the presence of all that makes life whole, we will make a name for ourselves. As we cultivate a spirit of mindfulness and unity, we will make a name for ourselves.

Where Are You Going on Sunday?

Let me reference one last name change. Istanbul has a long history of name changes. When the Greeks settled there, it was named Byzantium after the Greek King of the time. When Constantine took Byzantium on behalf of the Romans in the third century, it became Constantinople. In 1930 it was changed to Istanbul which means “in the city”. Istanbul is truly a cosmopolitan city, a centre for people of all religions to mix and exchange ideas.


The story of Istanbul and her name changes is inspirational for us. As we move beyond the type of religious approach that divides and conquers, we branch out as a cosmopolitan community where people of all spiritual paths mix and exchange ideas.

The Indie Rock band, They Might Be Giants revived the classic song Istanbul-

Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Now it’s Turkish delight on a moonlit night

Every gal in Constantinople
Lives in Istanbul, not Constantinople
So if you’ve a date in Constantinople
She’ll be waiting in Istanbul

You’ve got a date here on Sunday mornings. If you want a date with like-minded and diverse people, they’ll be waiting here at C3 Exchange, YOUR inclusive spiritual community.

As a fellow spiritual seeker on the journey of life, I welcome and honor you. I celebrate your unique spiritual path, and the open exchange of ideas and spirit, the coming of unity in diversity. Namaste.

We are people on the way, not yet arrived – and we gather in determined diversity and undeniable unity, with distinctions and commonality both in this emerging inclusive community. For the same blood runs through our veins; our lungs process the same air, universal values hold, combine and guide. We are water and carbon beings masquerading around as more than what we are…yet more precious than to diminish even in the slightest of ways.

Humans, humus, of the earth…and returning to the earth – united in love, inspired toward compassion, creating good company, welcoming everyone on myriad and beautiful human pathways.

In spring’s repeat performance, we pause to regard mothers. From water and womb we came into life, breathing our first gasping breaths. While we know we are children of the cosmos, sourced from stardust through and through, we wonder of and celebrate our earthly beginning and the feminine life-force that runs pervasively through all things, all people. How can we not behold our mothers with awe and respect and the incomparable birthing that has taken place? Whether with us or departed, whether close or estranged, we pause to remember our mothers; we lift up their wisdom and mis-judgments; we remember their gifts to us; we think of the pain they endured, the sustenance they gave and give; we celebrate their sacrifice and love. We remember their patience and anger and their full humanity. Moms, mommy, madre, mumsy, mother….Here’s to you. Thank you for all you have been and done. We extend our respect to you and our great thanks for all you have birthed into motion. In silence now, we join with ancient and divine wisdom known so beautifully and intimately in women here and everywhere…

And now we reside in these moments: restless, content, distracted and dozing. There are those here who live hidden lives; others in silent desperation or on the verge of tears; still others enlivened and uplifted. Those enduring the agony, loss and hopes chemo brings on; those abiding in dignity under Hospice Care; those grieving the loss of a friend or family member. Relationships are changing, children are being adopted, a man or woman comes out of the closet, many in significant transitions with life, work, health. Some hear looking to be touched or hugged because it does not happen anywhere else.

We live out and invite peace. Indeed we would do and say, define boundaries, open up, let go in order to experience peace and an indwelling contentment – even in the midst of upheaval, difficult times and stress. As fog trails and mist creeps, may peace move into the crevasses of our consciousness adding new vitality, hope, perspective and growth to our tired days. Like a curving, swaying willow, may we taste the sustenance, essence and river of realities, relationships, events, encounters…to be fed, inspired, set free. Liberated to enjoy and serve the world -to face it open-eyed, open-hearted, open-minded, open-armed.

Let us not leave this place without really looking at someone eye to eye, mind to mind, body to body in embrace. Life is too short for the un-noticing. May this community move through times of joy and challenge with and for each other this day and as this spring pulls us into a fuller and fresher humanity. Here’s to spring! Here’s to Life! Here’s to Mothers everywhere! Amen.

It was a simple human interest story in the back pages of a New York newspaper, but it really captured my imagination. A train pulls up at a subway platform at New York’s Grand Central Station. A well dressed woman exits the train. She realizes that she only has one glove, and the other is on the train. She can see it on the seat where she was sitting. But the doors of the train are closing.


In the quickest of flashes she realizes that she won’t be able to get back on the train in time, so she shrugs her shoulders and throws the remaining glove through the doors just before they close. The train pulls out of the station and the woman shuffles on with the crowds towards the escalators.

The article didn’t say any more than that. I don’t know what she was thinking. Maybe she thought that whoever finds her glove might as well have both of them. Maybe it was an act of resignation. I don’t know. The reason I like the image is because it’s a great metaphor for letting go. After spending so much energy trying not to lose things, gloves and relationships and beliefs, there come certain times when you just have to stretch your arm out and toss your remaining ideals onto a moving train. And I love that it’s a glove. Once you have removed both gloves your hands are free to let go of all sorts of things.

It doesn’t come naturally, does it? We are clingers, not Maxwell Klinger from M*A*S*H with cross-dressing flair but clingers with a “c”. We cling to our gloves as if our lives depended on them. We cling to our children as if our children couldn’t possibly survive without us. We cling to our beliefs as if we are nothing without them.

The challenge is that the train’s about to leave, the doors are closing and you have to decide. Clutch on to the last vestige of the way things were, or release your grip, take a risk and live in the moment. Sometimes you have to toss a glove onto a departing train just to feel the exhilaration of being alive, to remind yourself to loosen up and take a risk. Live a little. It’s all changing anyway. You might as well enjoy the ride.

The freedom of letting go is that you feel lighter, you move more easily, you have less baggage and you discover that most of what you let go comes back to you in some other form anyway if you are open. Why would I be talking about this on Mother’s Day?

Because mothers learn the ultimate lesson in letting go, usually after some struggle. Imagine having to let go of a human life that you carried in your body and still carry in your heart! It must be terrifying. Your five year old son wants to use the men’s restroom by himself for the first time. He’s getting embarrassed about going into the women’s room with you. You are torn between his desire for independence and the dangers that lurk inside. So you stand at the door and talk to him the whole time through the door. It doesn’t matter that everyone in the restaurant thinks you’re crazy. Your protective instinct is stronger than vanity. Your thirteen year old daughter wants to go on her first date, alone with a boy. She’s getting embarrassed about being seen in public with her parents. You are torn between her desire for independence and your understanding of sixteen year old boys. So you send her off with a cell phone GPS tracker and wait by the front door in a rocking chair. Your eighteen year old son wants to join the military. Your twenty year old daughter wants to get married. Your adult children want to move across the other side of the world, taking your grandchildren with them. Now you see why you need to practice on easy things like gloves and beliefs. You have to prepare yourself for life’s big surrenders.

Mothers and Gods

Here is an idea to think about. Gods and goddesses through the centuries have been created in the image of mothers. Mothers have had their creative and protective instincts in all cultures, so religions created goddesses to match.

Do you know the three proofs that Jesus was Jewish?

1. He lived at home until he was 33.
2. He was sure his Mother was a virgin.
3. His Mother was sure he was God.

A group of second graders were asked some questions about mothers.

What ingredients are mothers made of? 
1. God makes mothers out of clouds and angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean. 
2. They had to get their start from men’s bones.  Then they mostly use string, I think.

It seems to me that it’s no accident that religions have always described gods and goddesses with parent imagery. Gods and Goddesses model the same balance between holding on and letting go that parents learn.

In The Hebrew Prophets, God is described as being like a mother bear protecting the cubs she has just fed. “Like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will attack them and rip them open.”- Hosea 13;8

No matter how calm and forgiving you think you are, when you see your child getting hurt, you will be become a warrior on the warpath taking no prisoners. Comedian Dave Barry once said, “If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant’s life, she will choose to save the infant’s life without even considering if there are men on base.” A parent’s passionate opposition to war and drink driving will multiply after having children. The protective instinct is so strong.

My Mum was always my most loyal supporter on the sports field. She was known to pace the sidelines while I played football, calling out “reminders” to referees and shall we say “suggestions” to opponents. When I was knocked unconscious one day, she had to be restrained from running onto the field. One of my teammates was Julian McMahon who is now famous as the Nip/Tuck Doctor. His father was the Prime Minister of Australia in the 1970’s. My Mum almost came to blows with the former Prime Minister because he was in her way on the sideline. My Mum was cut in the mold of the God of the Hebrew Prophets. Don’t be fooled by her size and gentle demeanor. She is incredibly nurturing, and also a mother bear protecting her cubs.

In the 8th century BCE Israel was at a crossroads. The northern and southern kingdoms had split. There was political unrest and scandal. Jon and Kate plus 8 is a walk in the park compared to Israel at this time. Israel had six kings in twenty years and four of them assassinated their predecessors. Israel was like a rebellious teenager, experimenting with a lot of different religions and lifestyles desperate for peace in the midst of so much change.

Hosea himself, at the command of God, married a pagan temple prostitute who eventually left him for another man. Life was confusing. God is described as being like a mother who uses all her guile to keep her teen on the straight and narrow. Hosea puts some words in God’s mouth that sound like a speech you would hear from any parent. “After all I’ve done for you! I named you and fed you, and then you go and do this! Don’t you forget that I brought you into the world and I can take you out of the world!”

What is your image of God? Many of us have left behind the wrathful, war like God. That doesn’t mean you need to leave behind a God who has passion and feels the pain of the world as if it was her own. Many of us have left behind the interventionist God. That doesn’t mean it’s easy for God to see us at the brink of independence and NOT intervene. It’s no accident that God is described with mother imagery. It’s the nature of creative living and loving to seek the balance between holding on and letting go.

The ultimate risk of all time is captured in the Hebrew creation story. Imagine creating the world and then giving people free will. Imagine raising children to the brink of independence, then setting them loose to make their own mistakes and find their way in the world.

Spiritual Risk Taking

Mothers learn about risk taking the hard way. But it’s a lesson we all learn one way or another. It ultimately comes down to your expectations. Do you expect guarantees or are you in this for the adventure of being alive? Is spirituality an exercise in risk assessment or a fearless freefall into the rabbit hole of what is? One of my favorite American philosophers, William James, said “It is only by risking that we really ever live at all.”

Without risk, you would never escape from the prison of who you think you have to be to satisfy the critics into the fullness of your true self that always was. The irony is that you need to take risks in order to move beyond the small self that keeps itself alive by believing there is too much at stake. There isn’t. There is more of substance in a single glove than in the ego’s delusions of permanence. At your essence you know that it is worth the risk because on the other side of the risk lies freedom.

In your quietest moments you know that it is no contest. As Anais Nin said, “The risk to remain tight in a bud is more painful than the risk to blossom.”

As you blossom, you realize that there are no risks because there are no mistakes. When you are grounded in inner peace, whatever you do is appropriate and if you have to adjust your course, you do that and move on without self blame or judgment.

Risk Taking and Mother Earth

Now relate this issue of risk taking to the massive oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico? Was that a mistake? Did BP fail in their risk assessment? Has offshore drilling finally been shown to be too costly? Is this another illustration that mindless human consumption is the greatest mistake of all time, and to continue unabated would be to risk our very survival as a species?

A spiritual perspective on the oil spill cuts to the heart of the issue – which is misplaced human desire. As long as we pad our lives with rapidly disintegrating and elusive comforts, we will create an over eager oil industry which will in turn be forced to take risks to meet demand and make profit. Whether it is Chernobyl in 1986 or Chandeleur Island off Louisiana’s coast in 2010, industry will take risks to meet insatiable human demand. Let’s not be naïve. Why would we expect BP to tell us to stop being so needy? The oil spill is a greasy indictment on human greediness. Every one of us should hang our heads in shame at the devastation WE are a part of. The deaths of eleven people, the threat to the fishing industry and the devastation to wildlife and beaches all rest squarely on our heads just as much as BP’s.

We need an inner and an outer resolution. The outer resolution will include a risk assessment that matches human desires. We can’t have the lifestyle without the risk. Whether its nuclear plants or drilling sites, there will be risks. Our risk assessments need to include damage to habitats and cultures as well as workers and markets. It’s all related. We are all related.

The inner resolution has its own risk assessment. When we learn to skate on the perfect imperfection of the present moment, then human desire will slide into the ice grooves of what is. We will bend our desires until nothing but reality will satisfy them. The oil slick will be cleaned up from the inside out – our insides. We will drill deep into our inner resources and realize that nothing of any significance is lacking in our lives, and then the BP’s of the world will follow suit and adjust their obsessive drilling into earth’s resources.
Once we realize that nothing of any significance is lacking, then we will realize that there is nothing of any significance to lose and risk will find its rightful place once again.

Taking Action

Let me tie this all together – mothers, risks, and eco activism.

Another image that is used of God in the Bible is that of a parent who wipes the tears from their children’s faces. You will remember that Jesus had an encounter with a woman who bathed his feet with her tears and wiped them dry with her hair. Relate this to the suffering of the earth.

As well as inner and outer awareness, we should DO something practical about the oil spill as well – something that only a mother or a god would think of, something that involves our bodies. If the oil on the gulf is the tears of the earth, then use your hair to mop up her tears. You can actually send hair to help clean up the oil. Check out this organization-

http://matteroftrust.org/

What a great way to be the change. Make an inner resolve to stay open to the adventure of life. Put the desires of your small self in their rightful place. Adjust your lifestyle according to your new consciousness. Put your body where your heart is the way a mother does, Respond to the desecration of the earth by all of us like a mother bear protecting her cubs.

All of life is a delicate balance between holding on and letting go. Toss a glove in a train this week just as practice so you are ready for big things like sending your kids off to college and surrendering the limited beliefs of your ego. It will be worth the risk.

Glove tossing warrior in me greets glove tossing warrior in you. Namaste.


For Further Reflection-
How do you find the balance between holding on and letting go?
Do you agree that people create Gods and Goddesses in the image of people/ mothers?
How do you find inner peace in the midst of chaos and change?

Do you think our consumption and lifestyles bears any responsibility for the gulf oil spill?