One day last week I was on my way to meet a new patient when I drove by the Habitat for Humanity store in Greenfield. Their big blue and green sign out front says, "ReStore" (capital R, capital S), and it struck me what a clever name that was. I was curious about what they offer and so I looked it up. They are home improvement shops, owned independently by local Habitat for Humanity groups, and they accept all kind of household items—large and small (they'll even pick up the big ones)—and then resell them to raise funds for the building teams putting up houses for local citizens. A lovely effort, all the way around. In this way, re-storing items of value brings good to everyone involved—the shoppers looking for lower-cost furnishings and appliances, as well as the people benefiting from the non-profit's services of providing good and stable housing for those who need it.
Friends National Committee on Legislation (FCNL) is a Quaker non-profit organization that keeps the idea of restoration at the heart of their vision. FCNL began in 1943 during World War II, lobbying against the draft and in support of aid for Europe, where so many were suffering the ravages of war. FWCC is still going strong today as a nonpartisan organization that lobbies Congress and the administration on issues related to peace, justice, and environmental stewardship. Their organizational vision is posted on their website; it's the first item on their About menu. They call their vision, The World We Seek:
We seek a world free of war and the threat of war.
We seek a society with equity and justice for all.
We seek a community where every person's potential may be fulfilled.
We seek an earth restored.
What a beautiful vision that is! A world free of war and the threat of war. An entire society built on equity and justice; a community—a safe community—where every single beloved child of God has the chance to grow into his or her own God-given potential. And an earth restored—respected, loved, fresh and clean, abundant in beauty and resources, flourishing, whole, and complete. Wow. We seek that too, don't we? What could we want—for ourselves, for each other, for people all over the globe—that would be better than that?
FWCC's vision—and it's important to emphasize in this day of political polarization that it is truly a nonpartisan group—is built on the foundation of the Quaker testimonies we know so well. We talk from time to time about these testimonies, which we refer to by the acronym, SPICES. We see our testimonies not as rules and have-tos, or creeds, but values we aspire to, qualities we hope show up regularly in our lives as we do our best to live according to the light we have. The testimonies are Simplicity, Peace, Integrity, Community, Equality, and Stewardship, and taken together they encourage us to live honest and simple lives in which we care about goodness and opportunity for all, and we value, nurture, and protect the earth as the good stewards we are trusted to be. If we truly believe in "that of God in everyone," these testimonies are a natural blossoming of that belief in us. We will work for equality. We will care about those who are silenced and oppressed. We will naturally want peace for all and look for opportunities to make situations better for all God's children, whoever they might be, whatever they might believe. This is how Quakers became so involved in important reforms in our world—trying to improve the prison systems, the mental hospitals, helping slaves escape to freedom, working for women's right to vote, resisting war, working for peace, advocating for the environment. Our hearts nudge us to do what we can to make a difference in the areas we care about because the vision we Friends hold so central to our faith is one of restoration. It is possible. We are moving that way. And each one of us is called and needed to be a part of the ocean of Light George Fox saw so long ago.
The quote I'm referring to comes from George Fox's Journal. It occurs not long after he had his encounter with the living Christ on the hillside in England. His heart leapt for joy that afternoon and he knew his struggling prayers had been answered. But the days that followed were not all happiness and sunshine; rather Spirit showed Fox all the hurt and blindness in the world, how people exploit each other and take advantage of the weak; how self-indulgence and pride led humankind to lose its humanity; how the many faces of deceit and greed opened the door to a growing darkness in our world. About this experience, Fox wrote,
"I cried to the Lord, saying, 'Why should I be thus, seeing I was never addicted to commit those evils?' And the Lord answered that it was needful I should have a sense of all conditions, how else should I speak to all conditions; and in this I saw the infinite love of God. I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness. And in that also I saw the infinite love of God; and I had great openings."
An infinite ocean of light and love. It flows over the ocean of darkness. And it does, Friends, every single day, in our very own lives. You won't see that on the news. You won't hear about it in a gossip session. But it's there. It's flowing. That's the vision and the promise. That's where we're headed, together.
In our Old Testament reading we can hear that the psalmist understands something important about what's needed if what we seek is a peaceful, harmonious world:
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
The psalmist recognizes that our hearts need to be pure—meaning good, humble, open, and receptive—in order for us to see the world in a way that makes peace possible, that restores our joy. If we carry grudges or harbor resentment or never give others a second chance, our hearts aren't pure—they are full of anger and judgment and prejudices that keep us from seeing others as they truly are. If we ask God to wash away all those outdated, hurtful ideas—and we're willing to let go of them--God will, and we will feel a new and hopeful sense within us.
This dissolves the inward walls we've built against those we don't know—those who look, sound, believe, or live differently than we do—as well as those we do know, but perhaps have formed judgments about: Oh, she's hardheaded; Oh, he'll never change. When we are willing for our hearts to be made clean, all those old mistaken judgments get washed away. We are set free of them, from the inside out, and soon we'll discover we're no longer interested in thinking of others that way. A pure heart cares about the freedom and flourishing of every soul. That's the natural state of "that of God" in us—free, creative, loving, and growing. We'll feel that good energy at work within us, if we're open to it.
English Quaker Caroline Stephen wrote about what this type of experience felt like to her:
"My whole soul was filled with the unutterable peace of the undisturbed opportunity for communion with God, with the sense that at last I had found a place where I might, without the faintest suspicion of insincerity, join with others in simply seeking His presence. To sit down in silence could at the least pledge me to nothing; it might open to me (as it did that morning) the very gate of heaven. And, since that day, now more than seventeen years ago, Friends' meetings have indeed been to me the greatest of outward helps to a fuller and fuller entrance into the spirit from which they have sprung; the place of the most soul-subduing, faith-restoring, strengthening, and peaceful communion, in feeding upon the bread of life, that I have ever known."
Faith-restoring, she said. A quiet community of like souls all seeking God together. Peace comes. Truth arises. Trust builds. We begin to see and feel and know each other again. That's what restoration is all about, the washing clean of hearts gathered together in the common cause of goodness.
Lately I've been reading an interesting book written by Dr. Jaime Pineda, a professor of cognitive science at the University of California San Diego. It's called, Controlling Mental Chaos: Harnessing the Power of the Creative Mind. After decades of research and his own exploration of mindfulness, Dr. Pineda suggests that there are two minds at work within us—one he calls Original Mind, which is the peace-filled state of harmony and ease we, like Caroline Stephen, may experience in silent worship or in times of quiet meditation. The other mind is our worried, fearful, anxious mind that analyzes and judges, dividing the world into right and wrong, in and out, us and them. He has outlined a way we can be more intentional about finding that Original Mind within us and then from that point, calming the anxious, upset, always worried sides of our nature. It's an interesting idea. And something we don't have to look far to find, if we believe there is "that of God in everyone." That of God in us is Original Mind, that part of us that grasps the vision, sees the ocean of Light, and knows an earth restored is possible.
As I pondered this approach this week it occurred to me that once upon a time, each of us experienced a sense of unity with all of creation. Chances are we don't remember it because it occurred before we were six months old. Child development experts say that in the earliest months of life, infants don't realize that they are separate from those around them. Things work as a seamless whole: when they are fed and safe, they are content; when they are hungry or uncomfortable, they fuss, and the organized wholeness of life—with the sweet faces of loving parents—provides what they need and they become content once again. At first, there are no separate people who can leave a room and maybe not come back—that kind of realization comes later in that first year, as the baby begins to develop a sense of self. That—for us all—is the beginning of our self-consciousness and our fear. People can leave the room and not come back. We worry that we're separate and alone, that our needs won't be met. We fear we won't be loved, fed, protected, and cared for. None of those fears existed in the first few months of our lives. What if rediscovering that place of wholeness and connection—the place deeper than the fear, where we knew we were part of the vast, unfolding goodness of life—what is that is the true restoration?
We have that experience within us still, even if its outside our conscious memory, telling us that life can be trusted, we will have what we need, and there truly is no "us and them" to wage war against.
That was on my mind Thursday morning as I was making butternut squash soup for Thanksgiving dinner. I turned on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the opening song was by a young artist named Jon Batiste. I'm not up on the latest music anymore and so I didn't recognize him, but I was struck by the words of his song, Worship. He sang,
We are born the same
Return to that place
Return to that place
Return to that place
And then a later verse,
I'm so alive…it makes me say
It's only you who makes me all I am
Worship
Return to the place where we are all the same. That's restoration. Peace. Harmony. Oneness. The spirit of God's goodness is the ocean of light in which we all live and move and have our being.
What a hopeful thing it is that the producers of the Thanksgiving Day Parade, watched live by 28.5 million people this year—which is a new record, up 6 million people from last year—felt that this message of unity and restoration was the appropriate way to begin the most-watched show of the entire year. We are born the same. Return to that place.
Peter is pointing in that same direction in the New Testament reading we heard today. He's writing to the young church in Asia Minor, reminding them how important it is to have right order in their community so that Christ's love will continue to flourish and flow among them. He tells the leaders to be good shepherds, to be examples of God's love and care and not abuse their power or chase after dishonest gain. He tells the young to trust and follow those good leaders, and encourages everyone to be kind and humble, interested in the best for one another, because "God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble."
Humility makes our hearts tender and opens us to the leadings of God. We admit we don't have it all figured out, that our singular vision is limited and often sees a world of separation and threat. But when we stop, again and again, and listen for the truth God offers us, we begin to realize that truth is always there. When we catch ourselves judging someone and ask Spirit to help us see a different way, the Light guides us toward understanding and connection and away from of division and distrust.
It all begins with a desire for a pure heart, a heart washed clean of the misjudgments and confusions and divisions our frightened minds create. When we are humble and willing, the Light pours in. We see that we are born the same. And suddenly we know it's possible to return to that place of light and peace. That's the vision. A world restored.
May it be so. Amen.
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