SERMON: Spiritual Awakenings

Our scriptures for today focus on the themes of spiritual awakening, wisdom & awareness. 

Have you ever had a spiritual experience?  A deep moment of spiritual awareness, or awakening?  What was it like?    How did it impact your life?  Did it change you?  If so, how? 

Deep questions for so early in the morning, I know.    But isn’t this one reason why we are here?  And why we come to church?  To grow spiritually?

Let’s take a look at some first hand spiritual experiences and awakenings as told by the people who experienced them:

One person shares this story:   “I was never really very religious, but one day I visited a beautiful old church in Montreal, and it felt like God literally picked me up and told me he loved me.    I sat in the back of the church, and cried and cried.  It was very emotional.”

And then there is this story:  “I was going thru a really difficult part of life.  I told God to kill me because I hated my life.  Two days later I was hit by a car and nearly died.  Since then, I love life and appreciate everything that I did not ever recognize before.”

And another:   “My mom had cancer, and we all felt so helpless.  In spite of the unknown, I felt God’s presence, leading us thru this…”

And one more:  “I was in a rollover car accident with my two boys.  I had hit a truck.  I felt someone, something was with us as we were rolling over….Although traumatic, we all survived.”   

All of these are amazing stories and experiences.  I am sure many of us have our own spiritual awakening / experience stories.  

Notice these experiences all describe a feeling of a Holy presence.  For some, the experience is triggered by a very intense  or traumatic experience, a car accident, major depression, illness, the death of a loved one, facing death, and so forth.

Visions…  Dreams….  Intuition….a sudden insight….a deep and intense feeling...knowing.    Moments of spiritual awakening can be bizarre and difficult to describe or share with others.   We may think, 'Other people may not understand if I tell them.  Will they think… I’m crazy?' 

What Jesus is saying in this parable of the bridesmaids is that the main task of the spiritual life is to wake up! 

We may read a lot of books on spirituality and religion, study the Bible…but in midst of all this reading & or travel, are we are still distracting ourselves from truly experiencing the Holy?   And growing spiritually? 

Now, this next Saturday many of us are going on a trip to visit the Greek Orthodox monastery in Florence.  Have you have ever stayed at a monastery for a period of time?  They are beautiful, peaceful places, aren’t they? 

What can we learn from monastics? 

The Eastern Orthodox church emphasizes experiencing the Holy, not so much intellectualizing it.  The divine mystery of God is also emphasized.  For if we could explain or understand God, then it would not be God!  

A lady who’s husband had just deserted her was distraught with grief.  She was sitting by the fire feeling its warmth.  She began to walk and a man walked with her, but they did not say a word.  The unknown man who was with her just let her cry.  She cried as they walked, and cried and cried.    As she cried, she began to feel lighter.   Presently, she heard a voice, with gentleness and tenderness that said to her, “Look up dear, look up to the heavens.  There is more to life than this.  Much more…” 

This awakening story is from Bishop Kallistos Ware’s book, The Orthodox Way.   

Prayer, stillness, quiet and inward silence is also emphasized.  Eventually, prayers with words gives way to just being silent…and listening.  Listening.  No longer talking about God or to God, but listening.   

As the Psalm says, “Be still, and know that I am God”. (Ps. 46)

One way to this inner silence is thru contemplative prayer, such as the Jesus Prayer, (also known as Breath Prayer).  It is said repetitively and meditatively, many times with beads or prayer ropes.   It goes like this;  inhale and say "Lord Jesus Christ Son of God".  Then exhale and say, "...have mercy upon me, a sinner".

A shortened version would be (inhale) Lord Jesus Christ...(exhale) have mercy on me. 

Or simply, (said with your breath) Lord have mercy.  Christ have mercy. 

It starts with the prayer of the lips.  As it is repeated it goes deeper and inward, becoming a mental prayer.  Finally, the intellect descends into the heart.  The prayer is something no longer said, but becomes who we are...in every breathe we take.  Christ within.  

This is captured in the famous Russian Orthodox book, The Way of  Pilgrim, about a man in the 19^th century who hears in a sermon about unceasing prayer.   Stumped by this, the man seeks personal instruction on this and finds himself a staretz, which is Russian for “Spiritual Director”.    

The staretz teaches him the Jesus Prayer, which he says to himself as he walks across Russia!  Of course this takes many, many years.  But as he walks and travels there is spiritual transformation. Eventually, the man no longer verbally says or even has to think the prayer, for it has become him. 

We can see much of the influence of the Orthodox Way right here in the Anglican – Episcopal tradition.    Ora et labora, prayer and work, is the Bendictine motto.    

Bendict of Nursia, being the “father” of Western monasticism, and taking much of his rule for monks from the Eastern Church.   

We get the “Daily Office”, daily prayer from the Benedictines; Morning Prayer, Noontime Prayer, Evening Prayer or Evensong, and Compline.  And for those of you fairly new to the Episcopal Church, all these daily prayer services are right here in the Book of Common Prayer! 

What does all this have to do with you, or all of us, regular people who are not monks and do not live in a monastery?   

Actually, it has everything to do with us!    

For spiritual growth, true and authentic spiritual growth certainly takes more than just coming to church services one hour per week!   

As we head toward Advent, which is by the way beginning in just three short weeks, let us be ever mindful of our inner life.  Opportunities for awakenings are always before us…but are we listening?  

I challenge you to take our your Book of Common Prayer, and pray the Daily Office during the four weeks of Advent.  Pray Morning Prayer when you wake up.  Pray Compline before bed.   See what benefits you may experience in your spiritual life from this practice. 

In the Gospel story, the wise bridesmaids trimmed the wicks of their lamps.  What is the spiritual equivalent of filling our lamps with oil and trimming our wicks? 

Lamps and candles burn slower when the wick is trimmed.    It is similar with plants…fruit trees, and roses – they produce more fruit, or roses when pruned.

What do we need to perhaps prune in our lives, for new spiritual growth to occur? 

The paradox is, that doing less can also help us to awaken to the presence of the Spirit in every breath we take!     

For in the world of spiritual growth, less is more!

Knowledge speaks...wisdom listens...

What is Jesus calling us to do?   To wake up!   And stay awake!

Amen. 

[Sermon given at St Peter's by the Rev. Laura Adelia, NOV 9, 2014]