Playing Harmonica with Jesus

I played harmonica with Jesus today.  Actually, I was playing guitar, and he was playing harmonica.  We were standing outside of his car as he and his caregiver were attending our drive-thru Gathering Place.  

The Gathering Place is a monthly time of respite, entertainment, and hospitality for people who are living with Alzheimer's / dementia and their caregivers.  We had been holding these monthly gatherings for years indoors at our church, then with Coronavirus, that changed.  After months, we were able to have a drive-thru Gathering place in which our guests drove to locations in our parking lot with our church ministers there to provide the activities.

I was serving as a "roving musician," playing my guitar and singing songs for folks as they drove through.  The first guest was also a musician. 

They had arrived early, so I walked up to their car and asked if they wanted a song.  They did, and the elderly gentleman in the passenger seat had his harmonica with him, so I asked if he wanted to play with me.  He was very glad to do so and began getting out of the car to play.   His daughter/caregiver said of his playing, "It's just noise," not as an insult to him, it seemed, but to let me know out playing together might not be a rock solid jam session.  I smiled and said, "No, it's music," as I went around to the other side of the car to play.

Getting his harmonica out of its case took a few moments as his elderly, shaking fingers weren't as adept as they used to be.  The Alzheimer's had taken its toll, slurring his speech and slowing his movements.  I asked about his playing, and he said he used to play in a country band.  Then, taking note of the pitch of his harmonica, a blues D harp, I chose a couple of songs in the key of D.

We began playing together, he on his harmonica and I singing with my guitar.  It was beautiful.  His playing was mostly on one note, changing with the blow to the draw.  His disease and age had taken away his former skill, but it hadn't taken away the music.  We played together, savoring every note, enjoying the gift of song, of story, of the divine dance and whispered love that is music. 

After finishing a second song together, it was time for them to drive on up and through the rest of The Gathering Place.  I don't even know the gentleman's name, but I know who he was.  He was Jesus.  He was God with us.  He was who he was, a man born decades ago, beloved of God and of countless others, family and friends, all fellow children of the Divine One.

In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus says, "Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done to me."  Whether sharing food with one who is hungry, water with one who is thirsty, visiting one in hospital or prison, or sharing music with one whose mind has been ravaged by Alzheimer's, Jesus said these things we have done to him, we have done to God.

Every single one of us is a beloved child of God, and God lives within each of us.  Making music together with this beloved man, playing harmonica with Jesus, I was blessed, and for a few moments, God revealed the world beyond the veil.  A couple of things stuck with me.  

One:  Jesus plays a mean harp.  

Two: moments of blessing and union are all around us, the world alight with the Divine One who is in and through all of creation, every moment, every speck bursting with opportunity for life and love.  

The Deeper Music

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
September 27, 2020
Proper 21, A
Philippians 2:1-13
Matthew 21:23-32

The Deeper Music

I had a great online dialogue with a friend and fellow singer-songwriter last week about our similar and different beliefs on God and being.  She grew up Christian, has since left the church, and still believes “in prayer, God, and living a good life.”  She said she has friends who are atheists and friends who are Christian, and she respects and loves them all.  She said, “Love is the key. And we need more [love] in the world!”

I then shared a bit about how and why I believe in Jesus.  She was appreciative to read that, and then I wrote, “Thank you…for your words, your music, and getting to share in the deep[er] music, even via [text chatting].”  That deeper music is the inkling of God that runs through the world.  That deeper music is the desire for justice, peace, and love at the core of all of us. 

Looking at our gospel story today, we saw some conflict arise between the chief priest and elders, and Jesus.  Anytime Jesus has conflict with political or religious leaders, I tend not to read those stories as being about love, but rather as either/or, in or out, one side over another kinds of stories.  I believe, however, that that is an incorrect and harmful reading of these texts.  Looking at our Gospel story for today, the chief priests and the elders were questioning Jesus about his authority to reform the Temple worship and sacrifice.  He’d recently overturned the tables of the money changers and driven the animals out of the temple, and in doing so, he’d disrupted the system of animal sacrifice which had been in place in the religious practice of Israel since before the Temple was built.  This system of animal sacrifice was intended to help people give thanks to God and to repent and ask for God’s forgiveness when they went against God’s ways.  Jesus was seeking to reform that system of sacrifice.    

So, there is conflict in this story, no question, but if we look at this story as either/or, in or out, one side over another, then we end up with Jesus as the good guy and the chief priest and elders as the bad guys…or the other way around.  What if we don’t look at the story as good guys vs. bad guys?  What if we look to the deeper music being played in the story?  

“Who gave you [the] authority,” to reform the sacrificial system of Israel?  They asked, and Jesus responded with a question about who was doing the will of God, those who say they would and then don’t, or those who say they won’t and then do.  He was referring to people’s responses to John the Baptist.  

The sacrificial system of Israel at the time seems not to have been working for a lot of people.  The tax collectors and prostitutes whom Jesus mentioned seem not to have been transformed or healed by the system of temple sacrifice.  The sacrifices weren’t leading to repentance for them.  The temple sacrifices weren’t leading them to the deeper music, to walking with God in justice, peace, and love.  John’s baptism, on the other hand, seems to have done so. 

Now, the point is not that baptism is better than animal sacrifice.  The point is not, “are you doing your religion correctly?”  The particular religion or religious practice isn’t really relevant.  The point is, “are you doing the will of God?”  Are you listening to and following the deeper music of justice, peace, and love?  

So we see this story is not about an either/or, in-group/out-group, one side over another conflict in which we get to declare “Jesus good" and “chief priest and elders bad.”  Both sides in this conflict brought some to follow more closely the will of God.  The deeper music was not whose religious practices were best.  The deeper music was the seeking of God, the seeking of justice, peace, and love that pervaded both religious practices.  

Back to my conversation with my friend, the deeper music is about us, humanity, coming together in following God’s will and God’s way of justice, peace, and love.  I would say, if that happens through Christianity, great.  If coming together and following God’s way of justice, peace, and love, happens through Judaism, great.  If coming together and following God’s way of justice, peace, and love happens through Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, or any other religion, great.  If coming together and following God’s way of justice, peace, and love happens through no religion or belief in God of any kind, great.  

See, I believe that when we are walking the way of justice, peace, and love, when we’re living the deeper music, then we’re walking in the way of God whether we believe in God or not.  

Who’s in and who’s out is not the point.  The point is following God’s will and God’s way of justice, peace, and love.  In our society, when we have lived with a “who’s in and who’s out” mindset, then we have tended to end up with women and minorities being treated as less than:  less wages, less opportunities, less protections under the law.    

Many have been mourning over the last week, the loss of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  She championed the rights of women and minorities not to be treated as less than.  She was unwilling to accept that women weren’t supposed to do, well much of anything outside of the home.  That was the view of things when she was growing up.  Women were supposed to find a husband, and men were supposed to do everything else in the world.  

Justice Ginsburg didn’t buy that worldview, and she worked throughout her life to uphold laws for equality and to overturn unjust laws that upheld inequality.  In all that she stood for and worked for throughout her life, she was a champion of justice, peace, and love.  Ruth Bader Ginsburg listened to and followed the deeper music.  Even in her dissents, she didn’t view the other justices as being part of the out group.  She was good friends with Justice Antonin Scalia with whom she often disagreed strongly, strongly but not unkindly.  Rather than shout and belittle and shame, Justice Ginsburg would disagree in a way so as to bring others along with her.  Rather than simply declare a right in group and a wrong out group, she sang the deeper music and worked to bring the other side along with her, seeking not to take justice and equality from those who had it, but to bring justice and equality to all.  See, RBG lived not for an either/or, in or out, one side over another kind of society.  RBG lived for the deeper music of justice, peace, and love.  

Now that she has died, many of us feel a hole in the world, as though the deeper music has been quieted and lessened.  Remember, however, that although Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died, she is also alive with God, and the deeper music plays on as strongly as ever.  Her work is ours to continue; her music is ours to make.  Justice, peace, and love didn’t end with Jesus’ death, and justice, peace, and love does not end with RBG’s death.  Justice, peace, and love is the will of God, the deeper music throughout our lives, and this deeper music is not a solo act.  The deeper music of justice, peace, and love is made by all of us together, every voice important:  yours, mine, those we love, those we struggle to love.  The deeper music is God’s presence, God’s way, and God’s will of justice, peace, and love which runs through all of us, every person a part of each others’ song.

The Cloak of Forgiveness, Healing, and Love

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Emmanuel Episcopal Church
September 13, 2020
Proper 19, A

Matthew 18:21-35

The Cloak of Forgiveness, Healing, and Love

So, how many times do we have to forgive?  Not just seven times, but seventy times seven…times.  I actually did the math, and seven times seventy is 490.  Now, 490 forgivenesses would be kinda hard for me to keep track of, so I did some more math, using this prayer bracelet.  It has 14 knots, so if I pray to forgive a person on each knot, every day, then I’ll reach that 490 number in 35 days.  So, with this prayer bracelet, I need to pray to forgive someone once a day for one month and an additional four days or five days, depending on the month.

Ok, I don’t think that’s quite what Jesus had in mind, although praying to forgive someone 14 times a day for 35 days just might go a long way to help me actually forgive someone and release that burden.  We’ll get back to that idea, but first I want to take a look at this seventy times seven number that Jesus gives.  

The number of times Jesus says we should forgive someone is not arbitrary.  The number comes from Genesis chapter 4.  Cain killed his brother Abel and then was told that if anyone killed him, he would be avenged sevenfold.  See, Cain was afraid that the whole world would be against him for killing his brother, so being avenged sevenfold was a form of protection.  If you are killed, you’ll be avenged sevenfold.  Ok, so murder bad, and lots of vengeance is brought into the world.  Then, Cain’s great-great-great grandson, Lamech killed a man, and he was presumably afraid that someone might seek retaliation against him.  So he said,  “If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold.” (Genesis 4:24). That’s a lot of vengeance.  

So when Jesus told Peter that he was to forgive as many as seventy-sevenfold times, Jesus was saying, as much vengeance as there is in the world, that is how much you are to forgive.  

A total reversal of vengeance upon vengeance.  A total reversal of keeping a record of wrongs and demanding punishment or repayment of the debt of those wrongs.  A letting go of vengeance and restitution and seeking instead healing and restoration.  

Love is the idea that Jesus gives, not keeping a record of wrongs.  Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 13:5 that love keeps no record of wrongs.  Now, in the New Revised Standard Version, it reads love is not resentful.  That’s a nice summation of “keeps no record of wrongs.”  Resentment is just that, keeping a record of wrongs.   

Resentment says, “I will not let this go; I will not forgive the wrong done to me until it has been avenged seventy-sevenfold.”  Then, after waiting for a seventy-sevenfold vengeance, our hearts have been turned dark, and we find we are no longer able to forgive.  All we can really do at that point is to continue in anger and resentment, the burden having grown more than we can bear, but the burden also having wrapped itself around us like a cloak so tight that we cannot escape its grasp.  

Instead of vengeance seventy-sevenfold, Jesus tells us to forgive seventy-sevenfold.  As much vengeance as there is in the world, that is how much we are to forgive.  In doing so, we unburden ourselves.  The cloak of anger and resentment loosens its grip, until we can eventually let that heavy cloak fall to the ground and be clothed instead with the cloak of light, the cloak forgiveness, healing, and love.   

Forgiving others is not about what is owed or what is deserved.  Forgiving others is about unburdening ourselves and unburdening them.

  

I should note that unburdening is not the same as continuing to go back for abuse.  “I keep going back and they keep on hurting me.”  Stop going back.  Forgiveness does not mean keep going back.  Forgiveness is release, letting go of the debt, erasing the record of wrongs.  Forgiveness is letting go of the hurt, knowing it can’t be fully restored, and out of love (for self and for the other), releasing the debt, erasing the record of wrongs.  You can also stop lending to that person so to speak.  With forgiveness, you may need to say, “I can’t be around you anymore,” or “here are the boundaries I need to be able to be around you.”  That’s ok.  I doubt the king in Jesus’ story continued to lend to the servant from whom he had forgiven all that debt.  

Forgiveness is letting go of the hurt and the desires for vengeance.  Remember that love is the idea, love of self and love of the other, and love as forgiveness releases us and each other from the dark, heavy cloak of vengeance.  Then love lets us be clothed instead with the cloak of light, the cloak of forgiveness, healing, and love.   

  

Love keeps no record of wrongs, but our brains do, don’t they?  Our brains keep a record of wrongs; our emotions keep a record of wrongs.  They keep these records in our bodies, in our neural pathways, in our senses of sight, touch, smell, hearing, sound.  The record of wrongs is written all over, in, and through our bodies, and so it takes work to erase that record.  It takes work to unburden ourselves and to truly forgive.  

Now, back to the idea of forgiving someone 490 times, back to the idea of using a prayer bracelet to pray forgiveness over someone 14 times a day for 35 days.  Doing so would go a long way to help me actually forgive someone and release the burden of anger and resentment.  As I pray to forgive someone over and over, I start to rewire those neural pathways so that they are no longer focused on vengeance and resentment.  They become focused instead on love.  As I pray to forgive someone over and over, I begin to see that person as a broken and sick individual who needs love and healing just as I do.  So, forgiving someone 490 times, or 14 times a day for 35 days is probably a good start toward actually being able to forgive that person.  We pray over and over to forgive the person who has wronged us, and then we pray, “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me.”  We pray this day after day, month after month, year after year, until our bodies no longer hold the records of wrongs done to us, for love keeps no record of wrongs.  

How often are we to forgive?  We are to forgive seventy-sevenfold.  As much vengeance as there is in the world, that is how much we are to forgive.  We work daily at forgiveness, over and over again, and as we work at forgiveness the grip of the cloak of resentment begins to loosen and eventually falls off, and then, unburdened, we can be clothed instead with the cloak of light, the cloak of forgiveness, healing, and love.