Henrietta United Church of Christ

You might have seen the “Toddler’s Creed” that was in the Oct. 27 reading of Our Daily Bread.

If I want it, it’s mine.

If I give it to you and change my mind later, it’s mine.

If I can take it away from you, it’s mine....

If it looks just like mine, it is mine.

If it’s mine, it will never belong to anyone else, no matter what.

Isn’t it funny how attached a toddler can get to a block, a blanket or a toy? If somebody takes it away from them, it’s like their whole identity falls apart.

You don’t suppose there’s a toddler like that hiding in you and me, do you?

In his book A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle talks about helping a woman in her mid-forties deal with her advanced cancer. He had been helping her find an inner calm she had never known in her busy life as a school teacher. But one day when he got to her house, she was angry and upset. Her precious diamond ring had disappeared. Not only was it a valuable ring, but it had been her grandmother’s ring. She had worn it all the time until her fingers had gotten too swollen from her illness. She strongly suspected the woman who came to look after her for a few hours every day. “How can anybody be so callous and heartless as to do this to me?” she demanded. She wondered if she should confront the woman directly or call the police.

Eckhart invited her to quietly listen inside herself as he asked her a few questions. He asked: “Do you realize that you will have to let go of the ring at some point, perhaps quite soon? How much more time do you need before you will be ready to let go of it? Will you become less when you let go of it? Has who you are become diminished by the loss?” There were a few minutes of silence after the last question.

When she started speaking again, there was a smile on her face, and she seemed at peace. She said, “The last question made me realize something important. First I went to my mind for an answer and my mind said, ‘Yes, of course you have been diminished.’ Then I asked myself the question again, ‘Has who I am become diminished?’ This time I tried to feel rather than think the answer. And suddenly I could feel my I Am-ness. I have never felt that before. If I can feel the I Am so strongly, then who I am hasn’t been diminished at all. I can still feel it now, something peaceful but very alive.”

She had discovered the joy of Being that had always been available to her, but that she had lost touch with because she had attached her sense of herself to things like the ring, and to thoughts about who she was and what she needed to be happy.

She said, “Now I understand something Jesus said that never made much sense to me before: ‘If someone takes your shirt, let him have your coat as well.’

Ekhart told her, “That’s right. It doesn’t mean you should never lock your door. All it means is that sometimes letting things go is an act of far greater power than defending or hanging on.”

Ekhart writes,

In the last few weeks of her life as her body became weaker, she became more and more radiant, as if light were shining through her. She gave many of her possessions away, some to the woman she thought had stolen the ring, and with each thing she gave away, her joy deepened. When her mother called me to let me know she had passed away, she also mentioned that after her death they found her ring in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom. . . .¹

This woman had discovered one of the most important secrets about life–just before it was too late: Who we are has nothing to do with what we claim, “It’s mine!” about–whether it’s a ring, a house, a salary, a role in life, or an achievement we’re proud of. It’s so easy to attach our identities to those things, much like a toddler does. But that’s not who we are. And the joy of living has nothing to do with holding onto those things and making them secure. That’s not what we’re here for. We and Creation itself were designed for life, growth, and a lavish flow of giving and receiving.

This truth is captured by the 14^th Century Persian mystic Hafiz:

There are so many gifts

Still unopened from your birthday,

There are so many hand-crafted presents

That have been sent to you by God.

[Our] Beloved [God] does not mind repeating,

“Everything I have is also yours.”

Please forgive Hafiz and [our Divine] Friend

If we break into a sweet laughter

When your heart complains of being thirsty

When ages ago

Every cell in your soul

Capsized forever

Into this infinite golden sea. . . .

A lover’s pain is this sleeping,

This sleeping,

When God just rolled over and gave you

Such a big good-morning kiss!

There are so many gifts, my dear,

Still unopened from your birthday.

O, there are so many hand-crafted presents

That have been sent to your life

From God.²

Think about your own life. Is this not true? So why would we take these gifts and dig a hole in the ground like the fearful servant in Jesus’ story, afraid of losing them, refusing to invest them in the flow of life? As the end of Jesus’ story reminds us, this only leaves us banished to the darkness of emptiness and loneliness in the end.

But if we have the faith to invest life’s gifts, release them to God, and share them with others, these gifts have a way of multiplying and enriching our lives.

As Jesus said, “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be poured into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back” (Luke 6:38).

This week we’ll be filling out our pledge forms so we can dedicate them together next Sunday. Do we have a Christian duty to do our share to support the church through our time, talent and treasure? That’s certainly one way to look at it. But I hope you claim something eminently more gratifying and joy-filled than meeting an obligation. Our pledges give us an opportunity to enter into God’s mysterious process of renewing life, of fostering growth, of inspiring faith, of expanding peace, of awakening hope.

By investing our gifts in God’s work right here at HUCC, we are creating a spiritual home where every soul is welcomed and helped to remember who they really are and why they’re really here. We are creating a place where souls that are stretched and frayed and worn down by life are restored and renewed through the music and words and fellowship of worship. We are creating a place where people are spiritually built up and guided on their life’s journey through Bible studies and spiritual growth groups. We are creating a place where children, the leaders of tomorrow, are steeped in the love and wisdom and values of Jesus, their eternal friend and the friend of all. We are creating a place where the sick, the troubled, the bereaved, and the overwhelmed receive compassionate pastoral care from myself and loving support from you other ministers in our midst. We are creating a place where ordinary people are empowered to be Christ’s ministers and light-bearers in our homes and workplaces, and in our community through the food cupboard and FISH and Cameron Community Ministries. We are “being the change we wish to see in the world” by our efforts to recycle and buy environmentally friendly products and conserve energy. Next week we’re going to start using Fair Trade Coffee for our coffee hour, which gives coffee pickers a living wage and hope for their families. Today several of us are meeting to set up a fund to help people in our church when they go through financial crisis. And our benevolence giving extends Christ’s hope to people we will never know, like victims of hurricanes and earthquakes and tsunamis, people in prison, battered women, and people struggling to escape from poverty. And look! The more we invest in doing this work, that is really Christ’s work, the more Christ blesses us with his own spirit of love, hope and joy, which is contagious and attracts others to become a part of what Christ is creating and doing here.

When I think about the way the world is going, I am so deeply, deeply grateful for this church and the spirit of the living Christ that is among us here. This is where I find hope–that it is possible for us ordinary human beings to create a dynamic, living alternative to the kingdom of greed and divisiveness and violence and exploitation and cynicism and alienation that is all around us. We are planting and cultivating right here the seeds of the kingdom of God, a kingdom based on radical love, compassion, justice, forgiveness, faith, truth, integrity, and joy. It is this way of living, much more than technology or economics or politics, that will ultimately tip the balance towards a hopeful future in our world.

William Frey said, “Hope is the melody of the future. Faith is the courage to dance it today.” At HUCC, we are dancing it together today. I hope–I know–you will join me in investing your time, talents and treasure more fully and more faithfully to this wonderful work of creating a hopeful future today. And for that I deeply and humbly thank you.

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