Sermon Preached at Northbrae Community Church, October 1, 2006 By Ron Sebring

There is a story about the Mulla Nasrudin, from Sufi wisdom, the mystical gifts associated with Islam.  [Paraphrased from a collection in Idries Shah’s book, The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin, p. 98]

Mulla Nasrudin slept, and was dreaming.

He dreamt that the Ruler of the Universe was counting out silver coins in his hand.

Seven, eight, nine … and then the Ruler of the Universe stopped.

"I want an even ten!" protested the Mulla. "Give me another coin."

The Mulla protested so loudly that he woke himself up.

He sat up in his bed and looked at his hand. It was empty.

So he laid back down and tried to go back to sleep, muttering to himself, "Nine will be OK, give me back my nine."

        Parables and teaching stories are generally left uninterrupted.

They become spiritual exercises, as we let them soak in.

They tease insight out of our consciousness.

As I thought about this one, it struck me how so, we prefer our dream worlds.

Hinduism uses the word "Maya" to refer to the dream-world in which people live.

This Sanskrit word is made up of two parts: "ma" which means "not," and "ya" which means "this." "Not this." What ever we think we see, it is "not this."

The idea is that while we think we are living in an objective world, we create our world by our perception of it.

Chuang Tzu, the Taoist Chinese philosopher tells the story about dreaming that he was a butterfly.

Upon awakening, he said: "Now, I don’t know if I’m Chuang Tzu, having dreamt that I was a butterfly, …"

"Or a butterfly now dreaming that I am Chuang Tzu."

A delightful story talking about the this same idea. Maya. Illusion.

We have a question that comes up in our Bible Study from time to time.

"Why do I not use the word ‘sin’ in my sermons."

And the observation is correct. I think this is the first time in the six years I’ve stood in this pulpit, here at Northbrae, that I’ve ever uttered that word.

My more light answer is that: "We’re not into ‘sin’ here at Northbrae."

More seriously, I do not like the way the word ‘sin’ is used in Christianity, today.

The word has come to mean things that we do that are wrong.

Biblically, Greek words for the weakened human condition are metaphors.

One of them means "Missing the Mark." It is from archery. The arrow of our intent simply misses our target.

One of them means "Falling by the Wayside." We’re on a journey, and we get distracted.

One of them means "Coming short of the Goal." We get a picture of a race. The runners go around the track. And one of them just runs out of energy before getting to the finish line.

Two biblical metaphors for ‘sin’ -- the human predicament that calls out for spiritual atonement -- are "sleep" and "death."

These are spiritual conditions, like living in a trance, unaware of anything larger than ourselves. We need to wake up. We need "mindfulness."

Hence the biblical teachings, the five maidens, take enough oil for your lamps.

The whole idea is that people can be so wrapped up in a trance world that we become insensitive to the real world.

In another story about the Mulla Nasrudin, he has two daughters.

[Paraphrased from a collection in Idries Shah’s book, The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mulla Nasrudin, p. 175]

One was married to a bricklayer, and one was married to a farmer.

One day, Mulla Nasrudin had his two daughters over for supper.

As they bowed their heads to pray, the Mulla asked his daughters for what did they wish to pray.

"I want to pray for rain," said the wife of the farmer.

"My husband has his crops planted, and if we get some more rain, we’ll have a good crop this year."

"If we get a good crop, my husband said he would buy me a new dress."

"I want to pray that it does NOT rain," said the wife of the bricklayer.

"My husband has just completed a building project, and if the weather will stay dry, the mortar will set and we will be paid richly."

"If we are paid richly, my husband said he would buy me a new dress.

How does a Mulla, as a loving father, pray?

The Mulla said, let us bow our heads and pray silently.

People live, each in their own worlds. And that effects how each person prays.

When we pray, we tend to see things only from our own perspective. From our own little bubbles of awareness.

In such a world, what sense does it make to pray, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer, "Thy Will Be Done," if we are making God’s will into our own.

Two problems result when people live too much in their own worlds, and become insensitive to a larger picture.

(1) People want to make others like themselves.

This results in a "melting pot" community.

Everyone adjusts to every one else.

Better a "tossed salad," where the richness of taste depends on the crispness of differences.

If a tossed salad tries to melt together, everything gets all mushy. Tastes badly.

In a "tossed salad" community, distinctiveness is what makes it good.

(2) The second problem is that people fall asleep; they live in Maya, and such worlds can become so convoluted that they harm others.

Yesterday, people in Bailey, Colorado remembered the tragic death of Emily Keyes.

A gunman invaded her high school.

He kidnapped six girls and molested them … and shot Emily Keyes as she tried to escape. And then he shot himself.

Merely 16 years old, robbed of so much of life, because of the fantasies of a deranged old man.

The people of this small mountain town, as are people around the nation, are wondering why.

It doesn’t make sense.

The suicide letter of the gunman pondered ending his own life, but gave precious few clues as to what was going on in his mind.

He was living in a private world of illusion that only he understood.

And such private worlds are always insensitive to larger contexts.

        Spiritual growth is like a pebble that a child throws into a pond.

The ripples start out small. Just tiny circles.

And so is the consciousness of narrow people, concerned only with themselves. The Greek word for this is ‘Eros.’ It never appears in the bible.

The rings grow bigger, and this "I" centeredness becomes a "we" centeredness.

It’s "us" against "them." One family against another. One side in a church conflict against the other. One nation against another.

At its best, it is "philia," the Greek word for "friend." This is the love we share with those closest to us.

At its worst, such love always needs an enemy, and it becomes terrorism.

The rings in the pond eventually grow to embrace the whole pond.

This is "agape" love, the kind Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians 13.

This love is never limited. It’s embrace includes every frog, fish, and lily pad. Every tree, person, and nation.

Only Agape can say, "love your neighbor as yourself."

        The scripture lesson for this morning is most interesting.

Moses calls forth 70 elders to be spiritual advisors for the people.

He places them in the holy tent and prays for them, and the spirit of God falls on them. They prophesy.

But there are two individuals outside the tend who also prophesy. They are not authorized to do so.

Joshua gets jealous, and runs to Moses. "Tell them to stop!"

Moses refuses, saying, "I wish everyone had this ability."

Can you sense Joshua wanting to protect his circle? And Moses’ larger embrace?

John approaches Jesus and says, "People over there are casting out demons in your name. Tell them to stop!"

Jesus refuses, saying that if they are not against him, they are for him.

And he goes on to say, even if this means giving a cup of water to someone who is thirsty.

Can you feel Jesus’ larger embrace?

        When I served a church in Kansas City, I came to know Ralph.

Ralph was a member of the church who loved maintenance. He could fix anything.

He kept the church running.

The church was heated by an old, outdated water boiler in the basement.

Ralph was the only one who understood it and kept it in repair.

However, people in the congregation troubled him.

During worship, some would feel cold, and go over and turn up the thermostat. Way up.

Others would feel too warm, and go over and turn it down.

This happened throughout the worship service. They would even argue with each other about the proper setting.

This frustrated Ralph, for he felt it taxed the water heater too much.

So he disconnected the wires in the thermostat and hid the controls elsewhere.

People continued to adjust the thermostat, thinking they were controlling the temperature.

And they continued to fuss with each other about the proper setting.

And old Ralph would just stand there in the back of the sanctuary, with that broad smile on his face. He had it all under control.

Sometimes I think God lets us fuss with each other, in the same way.

And all the while, smiling and controlling things from the background.

        Today is Worldwide Communion Sunday.

Churches, all over the world, are celebrating communion.

The idea is captured in the word itself, "communion," "common-union."

The root word, "common" is the same as for the words "community," and "communication."

These things work by virtue of a union we hold in "common."

To embrace the world in this way means that our thinking moves from "melting pot" to "tossed salad."

This truth is at the very heart of communion.

The larger and more diverse our circle, the greater our capacity for prayer and communion.