By The Rev. Bernard W. Poppe, RectorA couple weeks ago we read the story of Jacob's birth, how he grew to young manhood and cheated his brother out of both his birthright and inheritance. In today's lesson we see Jacob a bit older and having run away from home in fear of his brother's anger. It's not without a little bit of delicious irony that while he may have run away from his brother, he could not outrun his karma (to mix faith based metaphors.) The cheater found himself cheated in the matter of his marriage. And cheated by a relative whom he trusted. Well, Jacob, what goes around, comes around.
What connects this story to the parables we read in the Gospel is Jacob's desire to do whatever he needed to do to get what was important to him. He ended up working 14 years to marry Rachel because he loved her so much.
The Gospel gives us several parables and each is rich and worthy of a lot of time. But summarizing, they point to God's abundance and the role of the seeker in taking extraordinary means to attain it.
The parable I'd like to focus on is the one about the fine pearl. Short and sweet it simply says that the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
The pearl, being in the shape of a sphere and orb, recalls symbols used in royal vestments to signify a totality of the kingdom, or a figure of eternity, or an archetype of wisdom. The book of Wisdom in the Hebrew Bible personifies wisdom as a woman and some iconographers depict her holding an orb.
The parable becomes an invitation to enter a spiritual journey that takes us deeper and deeper into the mystery of God and into the mystery of ourselves. A booming business for the past generation has been the rise of self-help books, talk shows, and now reality shows. I believe they are all attempts to help us to understand how we "tick". However, I can read all the books in the world, but unless I put into practice what I read, I gain nothing. The merchant who sold all he had made a total commitment to his discovery. Jacob spent years of hard work to attain his goal. It's not enough to "know," we have to invest the time and effort to do the work.
Beginning this past week and extending two more weeks there is a major event happening in the worldwide Anglican Communion. The Lambeth Conference meets every ten years and is hosted by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Its original intent over the last century has been to gather Bishops of Anglican heritage from around the world who have no legal jurisdiction over each other, but a common heritage in the Church of England. It's to be a sign of unity and cooperation in a religious world of often competing and even more often critical and hostile criticism. As a communion we have long had differences of opinions, but have prided ourselves on the ability to weather storms of disagreement by conversation and common ground.
This sign of unity is threatened over the controversy begun several years ago when the American Episcopal Church consecrated Gene Robinson, an openly gay and partnered man to be a Bishop. The American Church is well within its legal rights, and a majority still contends its moral right, to move in this direction. Other Bishops around the world have decided to draw a line in the sand around this issue. Many conservative Bishops have stayed away in protest of the American church's actions. Gene Robinson himself was not invited.
The pearl of great value in our witness to God's love still seems to be on the bargaining table. The Bishops have wisely, I think, put off the conversations of this topic for the latter part of their time together and while it's still certainly the elephant in the chapel, there are other topics which they should be pursuing- like peace, hunger, the abuse of women, illiteracy, indeed all the UN Millennium Development goals. In fact, the Bishops did march through the streets of London in witness to the against global poverty.
The impact they could have as witnesses of communication and modeling how to resolve issues as Christ would have called us to do is immense. The issues of sexuality, important as they are, are still only smoke screens for the real struggle of how to read the Bible and glean its teaching. Fundamental intolerance is creeping into a group once hailed as open to new thought and able to discuss and debate core issues in a civil manner.
More work has yet to be done as the conference continues and it certainly deserves our continued prayer. A common vision for a witness to God's love that extends to all people is indeed a pearl of great value. I hope they buy it and take all the time they need and pool their resources to work together to do so.
But while they are doing their work, we also have work to do. Yearning for God and finding the treasure of God's love is work for each of us. The parable and other stories are simply backdrops for our own work and struggles as we weigh the determination with which to pursue our own goals.
I wrestled with whether or not to tell this next story since it's very personal, but I think it relates to the point of working to achieve important spiritual goals. Parts of the story are intentionally vague however, listening to a restlessness in my spirit some months ago I decided to get in touch with a spiritual director known for his rigorous methods of spiritual inquiry. He doesn't take many directees anymore and I felt fortunate to be among them.
There are many methods of spiritual direction, but his involves an examination of the past, warts and all -- confessions of my deepest and darkest secrets and also asking probing questions of things I'd prefer to forget. All of this in the quest of finding the root of the inner restlessness I felt. At one point he grinned and said, "We're going to shake the tree and see what falls out."
Among the things that did fall out were perplexing and disturbing memories from my childhood. Painful, dangerous and frightening I again saw after many years what a child should not have seen. As an adult I have a better understanding, but the child's pain has been unresolved. It's easier to talk of these things in a detached way here, but I assure you under the guidance of the skilled director it has been painfully cleansing. For me, some memories are clear, others vague, but my commitment to the healing which I believe is only possible in the love and grace of God, keeps me going despite the pain.
Some friends have advised that I not do this work and let sleeping dogs lie. But I won't put a band aid on a deep wound and once begun I cannot stop. I will take this as far as I can come what may. And I will do whatever I have to do. For me the pearl of great value is a resolution to a very old wound, and I intend to get it.
Spiritual work is just that -- work. In all the parables the characters involved make decisions and take actions. As a wise person once said, "Nothing difficult was ever easy."
The world around us has business coaches, life coaches, sponsors and mentors. In our faith tradition we have spiritual directors. Our tools are prayer, sacraments, meditation, community of faithful lay and clergy, scriptures, reason and our traditions. Use me as a resource, or Chris Carroll or Chris McCloud either as a person to help you or as one to recommend another person who can.
Few, if any, of us take these journeys alone and the good news is that we don't have to. To reach our spiritual goals there are many obstacles -- painful experiences, fears, anger and resentments, confusion, are just a few. The goals of inner peace, stability, balance and hope are some of the pearls of great value available to us. They aren't cheap, but well worth the price and effort to find and buy. And the currency to buy it is simply the desire to do so and the willingness to stop at nothing to get them.
In respect to the Lambeth Conference I'll close with a verse from the English poet John Byrom writing in the early 18th century.
"My spirit longeth for thee;
Within my troubled breast;
Although I be unworthy of so divine a guest...
No rest is to be found, but in thy blessed love;
O, let my wish be crowned, and send it from above."
(John Byrom, d. 1763)
Amen.
© 2008 St. George's Episcopal Church, Maplewood, NJ
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