An Inch at a Time: A Sermon for New Year’s Eve
Fifteen years ago, when I was the parish secretary at St. Paul’s in Ventura and just beginning to think about thinking about thinking about what it might mean to enter the ordination process I received as a Christmas gift from the rector a copy of Sister Joan Chittister’s just published book: "Wisdom Distilled from the Daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today."
While I think I mustered a polite murmur of gratitude I know I quickly set the book aside on the pile of flannel PJs and Sees Candy under the Christmas tree with the inward note to self: “Well, that will be spiritual!” And because the memory fades I can’t honestly remember when I finally picked it up to read. But I can honestly say that when I did, it changed my life.Sister Joan was my first introduction to the radical notions of personal faith connected to political action, of communities committed to challenging the status quo rather than conforming to it, of monasticism that is about embracing the world rather than escaping from it.
It is fair to say that my theological education really began in earnest with this slender, initially unappreciated, eventually devoured volume with its series of reflections on what it is to live a life of faith. And while I learned much from it – and have turned to it again and again over the years -- the words that have stuck with me the most – that have become for me sort of a mantra for my own spiritual journey -- that I have quoted over and over – are these: “We are each called to go through life reclaiming the planet an inch at a time until the Garden of Eden grows green again.”
An inch at a time. On this New Year’s Eve as we teeter on the cusp between the year-just-finished and the year-about-to-begin I find both comfort and challenge in those words. An inch at a time. It doesn’t seem so much – an inch. The comfort is that when the obstacles that surround seem overwhelming, the work ahead is daunting and the miles-to-go-before-we-rest loom exhaustingly-before-we-even-start an inch at a time seems pretty doable. That I don’t have to fix it all – solve it all – figure it all out – just the inch in front of me – can be vastly reassuring. Empowering even. An inch at a time. It doesn’t seem so much – an inch.
The challenge is that when the obstacles that surround seem overwhelming, the work ahead is daunting and the miles-to-go-before-we-rest loom exhaustingly-before-we-even-start an inch at a time seems not enough to matter – too little to bother with. Who am I – who are WE – to think we can actually make a difference – much less reclaim the planet! Sometimes, rather than empowering, the inch in front of me can be discouraging. Immobilizing even.
And yet …
Who can open the door who does not reach for the latch?
Who can travel the miles who does not put one footin front of the other,
all attentive to what presents itself continually?
It has been said that one of the core values all the great religions of the world hold in common is “paying attention” – paying attention to what presents itself continually … even when it was the last thing we either expected or asked for. I so think the words from the poem chosen for this year’s New Year’s Eve that point to what just may be the key to a making a difference “an inch at a time” are “being attentive to what presents itself.”
In looking back at the year almost-behind-us there is much to rejoice in the inches making the garden grow just a little greener – the inches reclaimed by those who refused to be immobilized but chose instead to be empowered by the inch that presented itself – even when it wasn’t an inch they either asked for or expected.
I think of the growing peace movement taking to the streets and the internet and the airwaves energized by the witness of a single grieving mother determined to get an answer to her question, “What is the noble cause my son died for?” Cindy Sheehan’s determination to claim that particular inch in front of her has become a powerful witness to the difference one voice – one person – can make: in claiming and proclaiming that “Peace on Earth” isn’t just for Christmas anymore!
I think of the amazing opportunity All Saints Church has been given in the last few months to witness to our historic core moral values as a peace and justice church as a result of the IRS inquiry into our preaching policies. It was not “an inch” anybody went looking for but there it was -- and I am convinced that All Saints willingness to speak truth to power in the case at hand has given us an extraordinary platform to witness to the moral values we should be talking about – peace, justice and God’s inclusive love -- rather than the values of judgment, vengeance and exclusion that have for too long dominated the public discourse masquerading as the Christian Gospel.
I think of the opportunity the American Episcopal Church as had to witness to the larger Anglican Communion of the work the Spirit of God has been doing in our midst as we have struggled together toward the goal of fully including all of the baptized into the Body of Christ. Here at All Saints Church that may seem to many “an inch” long ago reclaimed but I have to tell you that as I traveled around the church in 2005 – from Nottingham to Nashville and many places in between – what we take for granted here in Pasadena is as hard for many to imagine as the Garden of Eden growing green again is to us.
The icon of that reality that I carry in my heart tonight is a tableau from the three-o’clock Christmas Eve service here at All Saints last week. If you’ve never had a chance to attend this one of our four Christmas Eve services you’ve missed a real treat – imagine seven or eight hundred folks (mostly under the age of 9 and dressed in either red or green velvet) singing carols and eagerly awaiting the annual Christmas pageant – complete with shepherds, angels, kings and – most importantly – Baby Jesus himself!
This year the star of the annual extravaganza was three month old James Walker-Ziegler … whose adoring five year old sister Elizabeth shared the stage in the featured role of the littlest adorable angel, clutching the Styrofoam Star covered in gold glitter – standing by his side as the shepherds and kings paid homage.It was a Kodak moment if ever there was one.
And as I watched the pageant unfold I couldn’t help be struck by both how ordinary and how extraordinary it was to be part of this familiar tableau. Ordinary as I knew that in congregations large and small all over the world on that “O Holy Night” the very same drama was unfolding in much the very same way. Extraordinary as I knew that Baby James Walker-Ziegler just happened to be from a family with two daddies – and that here at All Saints Church the full inclusion of that particular family in this particular Body of Christ had become a matter-of-fact part of how we live our lives together as a community of faith.
And having just seen the film “Brokeback Mountain” – the poignant and heartbreaking story of two men whose love for each other was unable to overcome the internal and societal barriers to their building any kind of life together – I was filled with awe as I contemplated the number of inches that had to be reclaimed by those who went before us in order to make the journey from the fear and loneliness of that Brokeback Mountain world to the fullness and joy of this Bethlehem manger moment. The Garden of Eden growing green again, indeed.
And in that moment, I was filled with a huge swelling of gratitude that we are part of a community committed to paying attention to what presents itself continually – to not settle for the inches reclaimed in the past but for pushing forward to proclaim the Good News of a God who loved us enough to become one of us – in order to show us how to love one another.My New Year’s prayer tonight is that I can remember that in the year ahead when the obstacles that surround will seem overwhelming, when the work ahead will be daunting and the miles-to-go-before-we-rest will loom exhaustingly-before-we-even-start – and when an inch at a time will seem not enough to matter bothering with.
For as we teeter on the cusp between the year-just-finished and the year-about-to-begin we take with us into the new year much work to do, many things to accomplish, a multitude of obstacles to overcome. I pray that when those moments come – and they will – I will be given the grace to remember that an inch at a time DOES matter, CAN make a difference, WILL advance God’s dream of the human race become the human family.
And I pray that as we journey together into the new year ahead of us we might ALL be given the grace to remind ourselves – and each other:
Who can open the door who does not reach for the latch?
Who can travel the miles who does not put one footin front of the other,
all attentive to what presents itself continually?
Happy New Year.
Amen.
Fifteen years ago, when I was the parish secretary at St. Paul’s in Ventura and just beginning to think about thinking about thinking about what it might mean to enter the ordination process I received as a Christmas gift from the rector a copy of Sister Joan Chittister’s just published book: "Wisdom Distilled from the Daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today."
While I think I mustered a polite murmur of gratitude I know I quickly set the book aside on the pile of flannel PJs and Sees Candy under the Christmas tree with the inward note to self: “Well, that will be spiritual!” And because the memory fades I can’t honestly remember when I finally picked it up to read. But I can honestly say that when I did, it changed my life.Sister Joan was my first introduction to the radical notions of personal faith connected to political action, of communities committed to challenging the status quo rather than conforming to it, of monasticism that is about embracing the world rather than escaping from it.
It is fair to say that my theological education really began in earnest with this slender, initially unappreciated, eventually devoured volume with its series of reflections on what it is to live a life of faith. And while I learned much from it – and have turned to it again and again over the years -- the words that have stuck with me the most – that have become for me sort of a mantra for my own spiritual journey -- that I have quoted over and over – are these: “We are each called to go through life reclaiming the planet an inch at a time until the Garden of Eden grows green again.”
An inch at a time. On this New Year’s Eve as we teeter on the cusp between the year-just-finished and the year-about-to-begin I find both comfort and challenge in those words. An inch at a time. It doesn’t seem so much – an inch. The comfort is that when the obstacles that surround seem overwhelming, the work ahead is daunting and the miles-to-go-before-we-rest loom exhaustingly-before-we-even-start an inch at a time seems pretty doable. That I don’t have to fix it all – solve it all – figure it all out – just the inch in front of me – can be vastly reassuring. Empowering even. An inch at a time. It doesn’t seem so much – an inch.
The challenge is that when the obstacles that surround seem overwhelming, the work ahead is daunting and the miles-to-go-before-we-rest loom exhaustingly-before-we-even-start an inch at a time seems not enough to matter – too little to bother with. Who am I – who are WE – to think we can actually make a difference – much less reclaim the planet! Sometimes, rather than empowering, the inch in front of me can be discouraging. Immobilizing even.
And yet …
Who can open the door who does not reach for the latch?
Who can travel the miles who does not put one footin front of the other,
all attentive to what presents itself continually?
It has been said that one of the core values all the great religions of the world hold in common is “paying attention” – paying attention to what presents itself continually … even when it was the last thing we either expected or asked for. I so think the words from the poem chosen for this year’s New Year’s Eve that point to what just may be the key to a making a difference “an inch at a time” are “being attentive to what presents itself.”
In looking back at the year almost-behind-us there is much to rejoice in the inches making the garden grow just a little greener – the inches reclaimed by those who refused to be immobilized but chose instead to be empowered by the inch that presented itself – even when it wasn’t an inch they either asked for or expected.
I think of the growing peace movement taking to the streets and the internet and the airwaves energized by the witness of a single grieving mother determined to get an answer to her question, “What is the noble cause my son died for?” Cindy Sheehan’s determination to claim that particular inch in front of her has become a powerful witness to the difference one voice – one person – can make: in claiming and proclaiming that “Peace on Earth” isn’t just for Christmas anymore!
I think of the amazing opportunity All Saints Church has been given in the last few months to witness to our historic core moral values as a peace and justice church as a result of the IRS inquiry into our preaching policies. It was not “an inch” anybody went looking for but there it was -- and I am convinced that All Saints willingness to speak truth to power in the case at hand has given us an extraordinary platform to witness to the moral values we should be talking about – peace, justice and God’s inclusive love -- rather than the values of judgment, vengeance and exclusion that have for too long dominated the public discourse masquerading as the Christian Gospel.
I think of the opportunity the American Episcopal Church as had to witness to the larger Anglican Communion of the work the Spirit of God has been doing in our midst as we have struggled together toward the goal of fully including all of the baptized into the Body of Christ. Here at All Saints Church that may seem to many “an inch” long ago reclaimed but I have to tell you that as I traveled around the church in 2005 – from Nottingham to Nashville and many places in between – what we take for granted here in Pasadena is as hard for many to imagine as the Garden of Eden growing green again is to us.
The icon of that reality that I carry in my heart tonight is a tableau from the three-o’clock Christmas Eve service here at All Saints last week. If you’ve never had a chance to attend this one of our four Christmas Eve services you’ve missed a real treat – imagine seven or eight hundred folks (mostly under the age of 9 and dressed in either red or green velvet) singing carols and eagerly awaiting the annual Christmas pageant – complete with shepherds, angels, kings and – most importantly – Baby Jesus himself!
This year the star of the annual extravaganza was three month old James Walker-Ziegler … whose adoring five year old sister Elizabeth shared the stage in the featured role of the littlest adorable angel, clutching the Styrofoam Star covered in gold glitter – standing by his side as the shepherds and kings paid homage.It was a Kodak moment if ever there was one.
And as I watched the pageant unfold I couldn’t help be struck by both how ordinary and how extraordinary it was to be part of this familiar tableau. Ordinary as I knew that in congregations large and small all over the world on that “O Holy Night” the very same drama was unfolding in much the very same way. Extraordinary as I knew that Baby James Walker-Ziegler just happened to be from a family with two daddies – and that here at All Saints Church the full inclusion of that particular family in this particular Body of Christ had become a matter-of-fact part of how we live our lives together as a community of faith.
And having just seen the film “Brokeback Mountain” – the poignant and heartbreaking story of two men whose love for each other was unable to overcome the internal and societal barriers to their building any kind of life together – I was filled with awe as I contemplated the number of inches that had to be reclaimed by those who went before us in order to make the journey from the fear and loneliness of that Brokeback Mountain world to the fullness and joy of this Bethlehem manger moment. The Garden of Eden growing green again, indeed.
And in that moment, I was filled with a huge swelling of gratitude that we are part of a community committed to paying attention to what presents itself continually – to not settle for the inches reclaimed in the past but for pushing forward to proclaim the Good News of a God who loved us enough to become one of us – in order to show us how to love one another.My New Year’s prayer tonight is that I can remember that in the year ahead when the obstacles that surround will seem overwhelming, when the work ahead will be daunting and the miles-to-go-before-we-rest will loom exhaustingly-before-we-even-start – and when an inch at a time will seem not enough to matter bothering with.
For as we teeter on the cusp between the year-just-finished and the year-about-to-begin we take with us into the new year much work to do, many things to accomplish, a multitude of obstacles to overcome. I pray that when those moments come – and they will – I will be given the grace to remember that an inch at a time DOES matter, CAN make a difference, WILL advance God’s dream of the human race become the human family.
And I pray that as we journey together into the new year ahead of us we might ALL be given the grace to remind ourselves – and each other:
Who can open the door who does not reach for the latch?
Who can travel the miles who does not put one footin front of the other,
all attentive to what presents itself continually?
Happy New Year.
Amen.
