St. Paul’s United Church Sunday, September 20, 2009

Daring to Draw Near – Rev. David Mundy

James 3:13-4:3,7-8a Mark 9:30-37

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This coming Tuesday is the first official day of Fall, which usually evokes comments such as “where has the summer gone?” One of the activities of the season, at least for some, is enjoying what is known as the corn maze. I must confess here that I have never been in a maze of any kind and I can’t remember that corn mazes existed when I was a child, but then again when I was a kid they may not yet have invented corn!

You probably already know what a corn maze is, even if you are like me and haven’t experienced one. A trail, sometimes a very elaborate pathway, is cut into a field of corn. It twists and winds and has different options, so that it is easy to get lost, especially since the corn stands tall enough to make seeing the horizon impossible. Supposedly part of the fun of entering a maze is that you can get confused and misled, but with enough “trial and error” the exit will eventually be found. I say supposedly because there are hedge mazes in Great Britain that people have been known to get lost in overnight, which doesn’t sound all that enjoyable to me.

Sometimes people speak of mazes and labyrinths in the same breath, as though the words are interchangeable, but they are actually not the same. Just as mazes have become popular, so have labyrinths, but they are very different in their design and their purpose. The labyrinth is one of those old traditions that has become new again.

As with a maze, there is an entry point for a labyrinth and it has its twists and turns. If you have walked a labyrinth, you will know that sometimes it seems that you are being led away from where you want to go. But if you are trusting the pathway will always lead to the centre, and, of course, back out again.

While labyrinths predate Christianity from the earliest centuries of the faith, they were a good “fit” for spiritual practice. Often the centre would be marked with a Christian symbol such as a cross or a fish or a candle as a reminder that our desire is to draw closer to Christ, step by step.

It’s hard to describe the experience of walking a labyrinth, and it isn’t for everyone, but as labyrinths have become popular over the past decade or more, many who walk them find this a very meaningful and even emotional experience. Many congregations have created them to use through the year as an opportunity for spiritual focus and contemplation.

Let’s be honest, we often find life to be incredibly confusing and demanding and at times it feels as though we are lost without much of a sense of direction. In that respect we are in the maze and it can be frightening. When we walk the labyrinth there can be the reassuring sense that “we are not alone, we live in God’s world” as the creed says. Not only is Christ our destination, Christ is our companion on the journey.

There are no mazes or labyrinths in the bible but this morning we read again from the book of James and a passage which reminds us that while the pathway with and toward God is not always straightforward, with God’s help and presence we can get where we want to go.

James speaks about wisdom, an important biblical theme, and he reminds his readers that wisdom is not something we make up as we go along. When we are not wise as individuals, when we are foolish, our lives end up in a morass of envy and selfish ambition and deception. When we are foolish as a community, we end up in conflicts and disputes that are destructive.

When we do open ourselves to God’s wisdom, we will be “peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.” (James 3:17-18) This choice, to be peaceful, to compromise when necessary, to be honest without being harsh and unkind, is an important goal for every Christian and every Christian community.

At the end of this passage there is an important phrase: “Draw near to God, and God will draw near to you.” There is a sense of intimacy in these words which we need to hear.

But will we “dare to draw near” as one writer, John White, has put it? James tells us that it is essential to draw near to God, but that doesn’t mean the journey will be without cost or commitment. We are probably aware that there are some Christian “brands” that would argue, with energy, that the spiritual journey is neither a maze, nor a labyrinth. It is a “beeline” line from lil’ old us to Jesus, and as long as we repent of our sins and give our hearts to Jesus we can move from point A to point B in a straight trajectory. They will even tell us the steps to achieve this. It is a rather simple and perhaps even simplistic outlook that is often very appealing to those who feel lost and confused or want what feels like clear direction.

Now, I have a strong conviction that we are sinners who have fallen short of the glory of God, although my starting point is that I am loved rather than condemned. And I have chosen Christ, as he has first chosen me. But my experience in ministry and life in general is that there is seldom a straight line and as we meander we can become discouraged and confused.

Life does feel like a maze at times and the experience can be far from fun. We find ourselves between “a rock and a hard place” as we wonder what step comes next. For a lot of us it feels as though it is two o’clock in the morning and we are desperately trying to find our way out and back to the parking lot.

A number of our members have been contending with serious health challenges this year and I don’t need to tell you how humbling and unsettling that can be. I spoke with someone last Sunday morning who have been bravely battling a serious illness. When I asked how the summer has been he admitted that while he hasn’t been getting worse, he wishes there were signs of improvement. Others have been making tough choices about courses of treatment or whether to make the decision to go into a nursing home. At times like this the question “are you walking with me Jesus?” is very real.

Some of you are trying to decide whether you are in the maze or the labyrinth in terms of personal choices. You may be sorting through issues of a vocation, whether you continue doing the work you are doing or how you will do that work in a way that allows you to live a balanced and meaningful and Godly life.

Our pursuit of religion can be the source of confusion in itself. There are an unprecedented number of choices for spiritual expression these days, including no religion at all. A few years ago Alberta sociologist Reg Bibb coined the term “religion a la carte” to describe the phenomenon of picking and choosing the portions of religion which suit our purposes, much the way we choose items off a menu in a restaurant. While this can be liberating in some respects, it can also leave us doing pirouettes until we are dizzy when it comes to what we believe and what sort of God we will follow. Little wonder that a fair number of people decide not to be part of a faith community, or are dubious about God’s existence. Some of you who are older may feel that Christianity has become much more complicated through the years and those who are younger aren’t sure where to start.

The Good News is that God does not leave us to our devices. I will bring you back to the phrase which concluded our reading today “Draw near to God, and God will draw near to you.” Is this a religious platitude? Is it being offered as a threat, an ominous “don’t make me come down there?!” Or is this a promise that when we choose to move toward God, God will already be coming out to meet us in love, and acceptance and renewal? You can appreciate that I feel it is a promise, that when we take the risk of drawing closer to God, to seeking Christ at the centre our lives will be enriched. When we walk with Christ and toward Christ in a figurative sense, we have the desire and confidence for and goal of a deeper and ultimately meaningful Christian life.

To bring this back to the experience of walking a labyrinth, I’ll point out that it is difficult to walk in a hurry, at least not if there is to be much benefit. Walking in a purposeful measured way, step by step, breath by breath, creates the room for God’s presence.

As we start back into congregational life this Fall we can all ask what we can do to allow this to happen. We come to worship on Sunday’s so that we start each week in a way that acknowledges God and turns us toward praise and worship. The Christian life is more than Sunday mornings. In each day we can make room for prayer, perhaps for study and conversation about what it means to be people who are seeking and finding Christ in our everyday lives. We don’t have to stumble around, no matter how complicated or frightening life becomes along the way.

One more thought today. In our gospel reading today Jesus goes to the Capernaum which was the hometown of the disciple Peter. We’re told that they are in a house, which may have been Peter’s mother-in-law’s place. Remember that they had been there before and after Jesus healed the mother-in-law the poor woman had to feed them all. The disciples had been squabbling over who was the most important amongst them, which is rather childish. Jesus invites a child to join him and it sounds as though the child trusts Jesus enough to be swept up in his arms. Jesus tells the disciples that that they need be like this young one, and that they need to reverse the values which the world teaches, so that those who think they are first will be last.

We often make this into a sentimental story about loving children, but we can also see it as an invitation to become childlike rather than childish, to be vulnerable and open and ready for the message and person of Christ.

Our invitation today is to dare to be vulnerable and intimate in our spiritual journey, to dare to draw near to Christ.