by The Rev. Dr. Max Lynn
SCRIPTURE READINGS Genesis 1, Psalm 104:1-13, John 3 :1-8
Transcribed from the sermon preached on MARCH 5, 2023
Join me if you will, take a deep breath, raise your head and hands; and say good morning, morning!
For Lent this year we are focusing on mysticism. We will hear from mystics in our liturgy, and we will have opportunities to discuss the subject after worship. For today’s sermon time I invite you to take a journey with me this morning to check in, to open your awareness to where and who you are right now, this morning. This trip is inspired by surfing and Yoga, borrowed from Hawaiians and Hindus. I have taken this trip with myself multiple times, but I have never brought anyone else along with me before.
One of the first times I took it was many years ago when I was in seminary, and I had paddled out to go surfing at Ocean Beach. The surf turned out to be much bigger than I expected, and it was on the rise. I had a very narrow focus of effort trying to get out past the surf line. Then after much effort I made it out and sat to catch my breath. Then an ominous giant set rose up, dark on the horizon, much bigger and further out than I expected. I panicked and swam like a mad dog to the side to escape the breaking wave only to get blasted and dragged for what seemed like forever in the dark, chaotic water. I took four waves on the head each wave bigger than the previous.
After the set I paddled way out to sea. I was quite rattled and a bit panicky. My breath was rapid and narrow; I had a narrow focus filled with fear and my own effort. But something said to me, breathe, and focus. Where are you? Look around. Breathe. Expand your vision. Establish where you are. I was able to gather and center myself and go onto have a great day of surfing. Several times when I have been with someone who becomes frightened and panicked in water, I have had to shake them and ask them to breathe and look up, to get them out of their fight or flight mode. This narrow panic vision can happen to us in our regular life. We don’t have to be in the water. Over the years, through experience and education, my vision has come to include more and more. And today I am throwing in a few things I haven’t before.
Now you can take this journey with me with full exuberance, enthusiasm, movement and expression or you can take the trip only in your mind. You can close your eyes when I ask or you can leave them open, but I think it is easier to do with your eyes closed. You can move your body big or move your body small, but I hope that at least in your mind you go big. If something comes into your mind to distract you from the journey, some of your own junk or something I say is weird or funny, just let it go and come back to your breath, then come back to the journey. Always come back to your breath.
Sit upright with your feet firmly planted on the ground. Begin to breathe deep full yet easy breaths. Carry this full breath the whole time. Begin your in-breath by filling your lower chest or stomach, then fill your upper chest. When you breathe out you expel or compress your stomach last. Breathe full, almost maximum but not quite. Slow, full, deep, easy sustained breaths.
Close your eyes. Breathe, inhale, exhale. Now we are going to locate ourselves in the universe, in God’s Creation. So, let’s sail on the wind outward, way out into space, all the way to the edge of the universe. As far out as you can imagine. So far out you meet God. Imagine the universe is contained in God’s womb. And you are a baby elbowing the side of the universe to get out and be born. It is dark out there, but God is there too, warming, protecting, nourishing you.
Breathe. Now we start to come back in. Come back down into our solar system, past Pluto, and Saturn, come back close to the moon looking down at earth, where you hear Neil Armstrong: “It suddenly struck me that that tiny, pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.”
Breathe. Now we can see the continents and oceans. Now imagine you have a view of the whole North Pacific Ocean. Big storms spinning around off the Gulf of Alaska, their spinning wrapping arms sending out rings of swell like a big stone dropped in a pond. The storms stack across the Pacific, lined up like airplanes coming into land, and then spread across North America, bringing wind, rain, and snow.
Breathe. We come down to the West Coast of North America, coming down with an eagle’s view of Northern California. Now we take a trip around, to take it all in and locate ourselves. Out to the Sierra Nevada, Tahoe, and Yosemite, covered in snow. Across the valley, through the apricot and walnut trees, rolling green hills. The coastal hills of Santa Cruz and Marin, the great city of San Francisco and Oakland. The coastline, the whole coastline, from Big Sur to Pt. Reyes, from San Jose to Stockton, the marshes and bays, the rocky cliffs, and the Golden Gate.
Breathe. Now imagine your body is the land surrounding the Bay. Picture the whole San Francisco Bay. The water from San Jose up past the Bay Bridge, past the Richmond bridge, around the corner and all the way to Stockton. Now imagine your breath is the tide. Your mouth is the Golden Gate. Inhale the tide rises. Exhale the tide lowers. Inhale high tide, exhale low tide. Two long slow breaths is a day.
Breathe. Now we step on and shrink down to the city on the edge of the water known as Berkeley and Oakland. We come up College Avenue to the Church grounds. The great redwood trees and redwood sanctuary, stone pillars, then come on inside.
Breathe. Now open your eyes. Look around you and take it all in. Notice where you are. Notice the light, the temperature, the smells, the sounds, the stained glass, the beams, the spider webs, the plants out the glass window, the organ, communion table, the cross.
Breathe. Notice the community. Notice particular people. Notice how beautiful everyone is. Now stand as you are able and without speaking, put your hands together in a prayer posture, look your neighbors in the eyes and bow. Send love out to each other.
Sit back down. Breathe. We have come down from outer space, from the edge of creation. Now we come to you. Using your own name, say hello to yourself. Hello Max. Now close your eyes again and let us take five breaths in silence. Feel and breathe who you are.
Now we will take a detour and say hello to our distractions, those things that might tempt us to fear or anxiety. Most of us at any given time have three or four things that weigh on our mind and soul. They could be big historical relational issues or small annoying things: That issue with your mother or spouse or child, that thing at work, the fact that you forgot to get toilet paper last night, your gas bill. Perhaps it is a health issue or health insurance. Maybe it is the turmoil in the world, politics. Notice the feelings that issue brings up in you. Say hello to it. Hello fear. Hello guilt. Hello person who is annoying me. Hello my frustrating habits.
Breathe. Now let them go. Dispense with them for a moment. Maybe you can fly up and lay them down at the cross. Don’t worry, you can have them back if you want later. But for now, say goodbye. Goodbye problems.
Breathe. Now say hello to your body. Hello Body. Feel your body. Notice the aches and pains. The right side of your neck that is stiff, the grumpy hip, your stomach whether full or hungry, the amazing fact that you have a brain sitting on your shoulders connected to nerves that do all sorts of things to all sorts of body parts. Notice all you get to do: smell, taste, feel, see, hear, think, and reason.
Breathe, sit up straight. Now squeeze and release your toes. Breath. Wiggle your toes. Now roll and stretch your ankles. Breathe. Lift your shoulders and roll them around. Breathe. Roll your head in circles. Three times to the left, the three times to the right. Clinch your hands into fists, release. Roll out your wrists. Take three big breaths.
Now let’s go inside. Locate yourself. Place your right hand on your heart and your left hand on your stomach. Say, hello self. Hello, still small voice that is my soul. Take a few breaths to get there. Hello soul. Imagine way down there in the core of your being you find a treasure chest. It is a gracious gift from God. You open it and pull each gift out one at a time: Freedom, Faith, Hope, Courage, Love.
Say Hello God within me. Thank you for letting me be a part of you. Thank you for being a part of me. Breathe.
Now open your eyes. Stand as you are able or feel moved. Give yourself a hug. Breath. Shake your legs, stretch, and twist a little. Now, altogether, raise your head and arms to the sky and say Good Morning, Morning. Good morning God. Good morning mystery of all things. Thank you for my life. Breathe.
Amen.