I Believe  (Please listen after reading)

And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him. ~ John 20:13

We are each and every one of us the universe itself! You and I are exactly the same in that we are each of us everything…individual fields of pure potentiality!  We are the brightest day as we are the darkest night. This is how the same body of man can either be the retired Marine & Air Force Sr. Master Sergeant who organize an army of singer-songwriters to train their weapons on a target that no bullet could ever pierce, or the leader of a nation who motivates through envy, fear and anger…to train these weapons on each other.

We are all three “voices” in the garden of John 20:13. We are the voice of Mary crying out for our Lord. We are the responding whisper of divine spirit…and we are the very serpent of darkness and death that Christ overcame. To me John 20:13 is the perfect metaphor for this very moment in time. Think about it…think about Mary and the level of her fear and alarm here. She has been through everything with Jesus up to and including his unimaginable torture and crucifixion…but now he’s “gone”! Are we not all Mary…here and now looking out wondering, frightened…desperate even. Where have they taken our Lord?

We are all, each and every one of us…everything! And we are all connected to source…to God. Think of source as a giant aquifer of pure sparkling spring water under our feet. Some of us intuit the water closer and chose relationship with it, while others allow miles of earth and sediment to come between. This is how we manifest ourselves! We cannot be in relationship with God and be a divider at the same time…it is impossible. We cannot be in relationship with God and prey on the innocent vulnerability of a ten-year old child…it is impossible. And yet, the heart of man is eclipsed by some dark shadow on the land. Where have they taken our Lord?

The goodness of a room is dependent on the qualities of those who fill it. If you and I were to walk into a room filled predominantly with benevolent, generous and caring people, we would actually feel physically and emotionally lifted by the quality of and in the room. And conversely, we would feel ourselves sink in a room filled with liars, thieves and politicians…but I’m being redundant. The question we must ask ourselves is this. What is the quality of the room my family and I are dwelling in? And…WHY?

There’s a great song by the band Madison Rising called In the Days that Reagan Ruled…which you can discover right here http://www.bigdawgmusicmafia.com/ (When you’re there, check out Fire in My Soul by the BigDawg himself!)…that kind of makes my point. It is a point of fact that In the Days that Reagan Ruled, there was more goodness in the room! And somehow, slowly, steadily and incrementally we’ve allowed the goodness to escape…like air from a slow leaking tire.  

In the audience of readers alongside of you every Sunday are approximately two dozen members of local clergy. Some of them are the very manifestation of God’s love and will. Their community is a shining reflection of that love and will…the very heart of grace. And there are those in this group who put the face on every Sunday, who’ve lost the answers to the question because they’ve forgotten the question…as their communities are sinking. But the Great News from John 20:13 for us all is that he was and is right here beside us all along! It is only for us to believe…and open our minds and hearts to the infinite well of joy right under our very feet!

Dear God let the Penn State Horror be our line in the sand. Let this be the splash of cold water from your spring that awakens the good who have fallen asleep and forgotten. Let it be the miracle that turns us away from the snake-charmers to the glowing power within, where we can believe again…and fill this room with Love.