Pentecost 6 - Dancing through life
Where is God in the chaos of life? What is Jesus talking about children not dancing or not crying? Children in Palestine then, as now, play games that mimic the adult world. For instance, they might play-act a wedding party procession as the groom is escorted through the village streets to the home of the bride. Or they might play act a funeral procession, with dirges and weeping. They call other children to play, but the others want to weep, not play weddings, or want to dance in the middle of the funeral cortege.
And that contrary behaviour is also something adult do too, says Jesus. They look at John the Baptist who fasts in the desert and say he is mad with a demon They look at Jesus dining with sinners and call him a drunkard and glutton.
That is, they don’t see the reality of what is in front of them. They respond in the opposite way of how they should respond; they don’t dance in harmony to the reality of life. Perhaps the children think it is hysterically funny to disrupt the other children’s games. And sometimes we consciously go against other people. But often there is an unconscious opposition that we enact, because we simply don’t see the other person’s reality
Of course, I think I see reality clearly. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with my realty. I think it is blindingly obvious that all people should have access to medical care. But some see me as mad: they consider that only those who can afford to pay should have medical help. Their reality, their view of life, does not include compassionate treatment of all, and see some people as undeserving.
Whose reality is right? It is clear in the chaotic and angry world we live in, where a plethora of echo chambers of extreme views proliferate, that humans are not going to come to a common agreement about who is right and who is wrong,
And that is the big problem. Our human view of who is right and who is wrong is the core reason of our suffering.
And that is why God came to interfere in our world because we get life wrong, because we don’t see reality, we see our view of things only.
That is what Paul is talking about in his letter- he is struggling to do the right thing because his human self tells him that the wrong thing is the right thing. That is the voice of temptation. And Paul is not talking about sex. He is a very self-aware and he knows how much his mind and his emotions try to persuade him to do things his knowledge of the reality of God forbids.
He gets impatient with the flawed, selfish people who misconstrue his teaching for their own gains. Paul has a temper and temper doesn’t want to see the other side of things, doesn’t have as its goal the intention to find a way forward for mutual flourishing. Temper wants self to win.
Anger is not always bad. Anger at injustice and wrongness can prompt healthy responses to change bad situations into something that brings good for all and that produces some harmony in life. But anger unleashed leads to more destruction.
Paul notices that he can be caught listening to this other, not-of-God voice that calls him to do things that do not produce a bit of God’s kingdom here on earth. Paul recognises he sins, but he doesn’t cut himself off from God by condemning himself as a bad person. He says quite clearly that ‘sin is in his flesh’. But he is not sinful, his identity is still intact. He is still a son of God, but at that moment out of sync, or un-whole because he is wanting to do his will and not God’s will.
And that is something we all struggle with. Our will is not God’s will, but what we will seems like a jolly good thing at the time. We wouldn’t be tempted if it didn’t attract us. If we didn’t want to do something.
Internationally, there are many self-focussed leaders who are happy to see tens of thousands of women children dead because they think it is good They do not see the reality of the suffering of others.
In our own lives we, too, can find what we do ‘good’ when we don’t see the reality of others.
Christians are supposed to help others. But sometimes we think we are helping someone when we are really only imposing our own will and ideas on the other to try and make them act in the way we do.
We need to reflect whether what we are trying to do is actually helping that person to flourish, or just telling them what we think is right. We do this in thousands of different ways. From telling a daughter in law, that is not how you make gravy, this is the way to do it. Or telling a child that there have always been lawyers in this family, and you will be really happy when you become a lawyer, ignoring the child’s obvious gift at ballet or science.
And there is the office worker who insists that the kitchen be organised in a particular way so that everyone is happy, and frustrates everyone else when she is frustrated because the spoons are not in the right drawer.
We want life to reflect what we want. But that is not reality. Reality includes every other person on this planet. And God.
God calls us to peace and grace, but we hear instead the sin of our flesh which says, when we are exhausted from caring for someone, or overwhelmed by the complexity of life, that we simply need to be stronger, better, more selfless, in order to get the situation right. In other words, we become the source of power, not God.
And sometimes that sin in the flesh is that inner voice which calls us to ignore the cries of another. Ignore them, you have more than enough to do. Our culture is one of individualism and me-first. And there are people for whom church and prayer time has to fit in with their other important things in life, rather than taking first place in life. Is our list of jobs more important that working to God’s plan?
The trouble with not dancing with reality, but trying to make reality dance to our tune, means that we get incredibly frustrated, tired, and worn out. But Jesus says, Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.
Jesus says. Life is too utterly complex and difficult for you to be able to fix it alone.
The first reading was about Abraham’s servant sent on what seems an impossible mission. God to a land you don’t know, to a people you have not met, to find the perfect wife for Abraham’s son. No pressure there!
But the servant accepts that God is in this journey, talks to God, listens to God, and the whole thing works out.
Jesus also says to us when we are overwhelmed: come to me, seek my love. Just that.
I think in times of trouble we can end up praying to God to fix things in a certain way, or to ask for a perfectly clear path. Both requests turn back to what we want to see.
So I suggest another, simpler way of prayer that immediately connects us into God’s will, and so allows the true power of God to be released. Ask for his love for you and give your own love to him, as a child climbs for comfort into a beloved adult’s lap, and feels the peace and safety flow through her.
And then, pray for all those involved in the situation. Don’t pray necessarily about how you want to see the situation resolved. Don’t pray to feel differently. Just pray that they may know the compassion, grace and peace of God’s love. That’s all. And that is the doorway into the Kingdom of heaven and the peace that passes all understanding.
This prayer of mutual compassion is the heart of the Trinity, the creator, and so is the will of God and his will brings us into harmony with reality. When we pray God’s will we are dancing with life. We rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep, we weep for ourselves when there is deep sadness. We don’t have to change the circumstances, because that is often beyond us, but we can work with God in the middle of whatever is going on.
This week, pray to do his will and may the peace that passes all understanding flood your being with his grace. Amen.