Henrietta United Church of Christ February 17, 2007

Rev. David Inglis Psalms 130; Luke 18:9-14

Doorways into the Realm of God: 1. “Filled with Emptiness”

How can we experience more of God working in our lives–lifting us when we’re down, empowering us when we’re weak, freeing us when we’re stuck, guiding us when we’re lost? How can we experience more of God in our relationships–transforming antagonism into understanding, failures into forgiveness, jealousy into generosity, prejudice into partnership? How can we experience more of God in our world–creating a society built on God’s principles of justice, compassion and shalom for everyone?

Jesus envisioned all of this happening for us when he talked about the reign of God breaking into our world. How can this happen? He shows us how in his beatitudes. And here’s how he starts: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

The who??? This is how God’s kingdom comes? Not through eloquent evangelists, great visionaries or the highly gifted, but through and to the poor in spirit? In fact, the word Jesus used for poor here doesn’t just mean ordinary scraping along kind of poor. Oprah said, “There’s poor and there’s po’.” The Greek word here means po’–destitute, flat broke, emptied out.

Now this may not sound like good news to you. Who wants to be “po’”–in spirit or otherwise? But don’t give up on this beatitude yet. You don’t have to deny your good points or put yourself down or wallow in shame to qualify for God’s kingdom. The beatitudes are usually translated in a way that makes it sound like, If I achieve enough poverty of spirit or if I make myself meek enough or make my heart pure enough, then I’ll get the payoff. But that’s not how they’re written at all. In the Greek, this word that’s translated “blessed” wasn’t an especially religious word, like you’ll be blessed by God if you do this. It was a word meaning joy that bubbles up from within ourselves. And the word “are” isn’t in there, as in “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” The Greek sentence here reads like this: “O the joy of the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” It means, When you get in touch with your poverty of spirit, Eureka! You’ve found the joyful secret to opening a doorway to the kingdom of God!

This is a little confusing, because Matthew uses the phrase “kingdom of heaven” here, as he uses it everywhere that Mark and Luke report that Jesus said “kingdom of God.” So it still sounds like he’s talking about an eternal reward in the sky by and by. But Matthew was brought up as a devout Jew and was reluctant to overuse the name of God, so he usually substituted “kingdom of heaven” where Jesus said “kingdom of God.” There is an eternal dimension to the kingdom of God, but Jesus taught us to pray that God’s kingdom would “come on earth as it is in heaven”–and he pointed out that this kingdom is within us and among us and in the midst of us.

So how do we find this blessed, joyful power of God working in our lives and in our world? I want to suggest a few ways that are much closer to your experience than you might think.

How many of you felt lifted and filled as you sung “How Great Thou Art” this morning, or get that feeling singing “Shine, Jesus, Shine,” “Here I Am, Lord,” or whatever your favorite hymn is? Praising God has a way of lifting our awareness above our everyday concerns, preoccupations and agendas and opening us to a Power bigger than ourselves. When we open our spirits to God, it’s easier to let go of our smaller selves. We can become humble, we can empty ourselves of ourselves, because we find ourselves becoming filled by Something bigger. We are empty and yet filled at the same time. Our ego moves off the throne for a time and lets God reign. O the joy of those who allow themselves to become empty of self so they can become full of God. The kingdom of God finds a home inside of them.

Gratitude is another way to experience God’s reign. True gratitude is a life-changing attitude. Most of our time and energy is spent working and achieving and shopping and pursuing to try to fill our lives with what we want and need to live, to feel secure, to enjoy the world’s pleasures, to feel satisfied, competent, accomplished, worthy, or whatever. But then there are times when something puts a catch in our breath and a tear in our eye. We realize that we are gifted beyond our deserving. We are blessed beyond our striving. We are filled beyond what we’ve crammed into our lives–not just with things, but with the love that flows to us and through us, or with beauty that awes us, or with purpose that makes sense of us, or with the miracle of life that courses through us. Our gratefulness wells up into a great fullness. And yet that fullness comes from our allowing ourselves to be small, humble and blessed beyond all earning of it. O the joy of those who recognize how blessed they are, beyond all deserving. It is that place of humble emptiness that is able to receive the richness of God’s gifts.

Another way we are sometimes “filled with emptiness” is when we find ourselves being used by God. Think of a time when you did something for someone that you knew they really needed, or when you were really there for someone in a way that showed them unconditional love, or when you went deeper than your fears and found the courage to stand up for what was right. When it dawns on you that God is working through you and using you as a channel of God’s love or God’s truth, it’s so fulfilling, isn’t it? And yet that fullness isn’t based on pride, it’s based on humility. As Paul said, “I, yet not I, but Christ who is within me.” The I disappears, and Christ’s Spirit appears. O the joy of those who give themselves away to God, for they are Christ’s hands and feet and voice in the world.

Now there is another kind of poverty of spirit that’s harder to get to because we do everything in our power to keep from getting to it. We all have aspects of our lives where our egos are strapped into the driver’s seat, our hands are firmly gripping the wheel, and our foot is pushing hard on the gas. “This is my life and I’m going to live it my way.”

For reasons beyond our fathoming, God didn’t create the world to continuously gratify the desires of all of our individual egos. And so when our egos are stomping on the gas and steering our lives their way, they keep bumping into the reality that God created–not to mention other egos who are careening around in their own way. Sometimes these bumps can be hard: a marriage breaks up because “my spouse just couldn’t meet my needs.” Family members become painfully estranged from each other because of stubborn resentments. Unhealthy habits or addictions create health problems or interfere with our functioning. Deception corrodes people’s trust in us and eats away at our own conscience like acid.

These run-ins with reality can wipe us out. They can make us feel flat broke. And when that happens, Jesus starts whispering in our ear very strange words: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Blessed are you when you hit rock bottom and recognize your spiritual bankruptcy. The crumbled wall of your ego opens the way for new Life to emerge in you.

The more of ourselves that we release to God, the more we will receive. In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote,

Christ says, "Give me all. I don’t want so much of your time and so much of your money and so much of your work: I want you.... Hand over the whole natural self, all the desires which you think innocent as well as the ones you think wicked—the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead. In fact, I will give you Myself: my own will shall become yours."

This is how we enter the reign of God with our whole self, and we become equipped to help God create the reign of God around us through our lives in the world.

There’s a crucial difference between being spiritually bankrupt, and declaring bankruptcy and asking for help .

That difference is what Jesus’ parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector is about. The Pharisee was so full of himself, there was no room for God to work in him. So he was spiritually impoverished, and stayed that way. The tax collector declared his bankruptcy as he poured out his prayer for mercy. And so his emptiness was an invitation to be filled with God’s forgiving grace.

I think of this story when I look at our culture. Our collective egos have been driving this big bus, petal to the metal, and we’re in danger of crashing our way of life into the harsh reality of unsustainability. What would it look like for our society, even with all its military and political power, to recognize the spiritual bankruptcy of world influence built on the threat of destruction, economics based on the destruction of the environment, and values based on the mindless indulgence of every conceivable need and want?

An alternative vision might look a little like what we heard about at our Living in Harmony in God’s World group on Tuesday. We heard how hundreds of people in the Town of Brighton have organized themselves and taken steps to make Brighton green–from the town buildings and vehicles to building codes to land use to local businesses to schools to individual families.

Usually organizations don’t describe changes like this as due to a spiritual awakening. They might call it common sense, enlightened self interest, or concern for our own environment. But every time our self-centered egos recognize their limitations and open to a higher order, we give God room to work with our imaginations and creativity and abilities to begin converting the kingdom of greed into the kingdom of God. O the bright promise of a society that recognizes the bankruptcy of greed, consumption, profit, and power as its driving goals, and devotes its resources to the common good of its citizens, its children to come, and the creation that sustains them.

So how do we bring more of the love, power, guidance, and hope of God into our lives, our relationships, and our world? We don’t have to be spiritually gifted or theologically astute or even have it together in our lives. As a matter of fact, these things just tend to get in the way. The reign of God is as close to us as opening our spirits in God-centered praise, receiving God’s gifts in humble gratitude, offering ourselves as instruments of God’s purpose, admitting we’re on a dead end street, or confessing our bankruptcy and admitting our need for help. That’s all it takes for the reign of our ego to dissolve into the reign of God.

Is there a place in your life where you’re ready to become empty of yourself so you can be filled with God?.... Find that place, and let’s prayerfully sing together “Spirit of the Living God, Fall Afresh on Me.”