{"id":2369,"date":"2010-09-12T15:03:20","date_gmt":"2010-09-12T22:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegatheringcincinnati.org\/?p=659"},"modified":"2010-09-12T15:03:20","modified_gmt":"2010-09-12T22:03:20","slug":"september-12-2010-the-times-of-our-lives-spiritual-transformation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/2010\/09\/12\/september-12-2010-the-times-of-our-lives-spiritual-transformation\/","title":{"rendered":"September 12, 2010, The Times of Our Lives: Spiritual Transformation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Message 33, \u201cThe Times of Our Lives: Spiritual Transformation\u201d, 9-12-10\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering UCC, All Rights Reserved<\/p>\n

Service-Program-9-12-10<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Lily Tomlin, one of the great comedians of our time, once said that, \u201cI always knew I wanted to become somebody when I grew up. Now I realize I should have been more specific!\u201d<\/p>\n

And so she has pointed out, with the irony only comics can offer, the issue many of us face.\u00a0 We have lives that are filled with lots of events and family members and friends.\u00a0 But we still ask ourselves what is the meaning of life?\u00a0 We build careers and we pursue great acts of service for our communities, but we often find no cohesive purpose to what we do beyond personal fulfillment.\u00a0 Too often, people find themselves near the very end of their lives and they struggle to understand the significance of their long journey.\u00a0 Many of us live and die without knowing where we have been and where we are going.\u00a0 Who are we besides a superficial set of descriptions about what we have done and what we do?<\/p>\n

One anonymous commentator on life said that, \u201cBirth is God\u2019s way of saying you matter.<\/strong>\u201d\u00a0 But why is that so and how do we arrive at a place where we not only intellectually understand that we matter, but we also feel it<\/em><\/strong>?\u00a0 To ask a more relevant question for this morning, why are we here at this time and place \u2013 is it to just hear the Greenhill\u2019s Strings play some great music?\u00a0 Is it to spend time with good friends or to feel good about ourselves?\u00a0 Or is it something deeper and more meaningful?<\/p>\n

In our message series this month entitled \u201cThe Times of Our Lives: Spiritual Awakening, Transformation and Wisdom\u201d, my hope is that we arrive at a few conclusions about purpose and meaning \u2013 for ourselves, for life, for this church and even for the time we spend here today (or waste \u2013 depending on your viewpoint!).\u00a0 Last week we looked at the first spiritual period of our lives \u2013 a moment or process I believe each person experiences – when we are awakened and arrive at the conclusion that life is not about us.\u00a0 How is it that we die to former selves and, in the awakening process, find that we don\u2019t die at all?\u00a0 I believe in our awakening we find that life is full of feeling, compassion, love and empathy NOT<\/span><\/strong> for our own sake but for the sake of serving others.\u00a0 Each person awakens to that realization at some point in their lives and, as some of you pointed out last week, we often must re-awaken to that ideal each and every day.<\/p>\n

In the spiritual evolution of our lives, therefore, we arrive at a point where we are indeed awakened to our potential and our purpose to live for others.\u00a0 And the next step then involves actually changing.\u00a0 We begin to live out what Lily Tomlin opined in her life observation \u2013 we make specific<\/span><\/strong> who and what we were created to be.\u00a0 That doesn\u2019t solely involve becoming a teacher or a lawyer or a social worker or whatever life work we choose.\u00a0 Those are things we do.\u00a0 It is, I believe, a total transformation \u2013 a maturing or growing up, if you will, in becoming not just a person who does<\/span><\/strong> certain things but a person who IS<\/span><\/em><\/strong> certain things.\u00a0 In other words, are we defined by the tasks we perform in life or are we defined by the ideals we manifest in life \u2013 like compassion, selflessness, empathy, sacrifice, love and forgiveness?\u00a0 Becoming defined by those ideals is what I mean by spiritual transformation.<\/p>\n

Please join me now in welcoming up front one of the members here at the Gathering who will to share her spiritual life journey \u2013 Lisa Blankenship.<\/p>\n

In the Bible, Paul told the Christian community in Rome,\u00a0 \u201c<\/strong>And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed<\/span><\/em> by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, acceptable and perfect will of the Divine.\u201d<\/strong> In this quote, we find a nugget of wisdom within a divine text pointing the way toward greater spiritual enlightenment.\u00a0 Transformation involves discovering our god-selves and then offering our powerful skills to family, neighbors and the world.<\/p>\n

If, as I often say, God is not some mystical force out there but she or he is in here, in us, then spiritual transformation is about becoming that little god \u2013 a force for good and positive change.\u00a0 In our pre-awakened lives, we too often think of ourselves as god-like, but only in the sense that we are powerful creatures operating within a mini-universe of one, to love and serve the \u201cme\u201d.\u00a0 By renewing our minds, as the Bible says, we transform ourselves into human versions of god who are powerful creatures capable of creating a universal heaven on earth.\u00a0 Such is, I believe, our true purpose and the reason for our existence.\u00a0 Eons of evolution have not brought us to a place of power and capability merely for us to use it for the selfish ends of our own species and our individual selves.\u00a0\u00a0 Indeed, if we believe that life is ever-changing and ever-evolving, we are called to be a part of that process of change for the better.\u00a0 To spiritually transform ourselves we must become manifestations of the Divine \u2013 earth bound gods who love, serve and sacrifice for others and for the ultimate good of the entire universe.<\/p>\n

In this regard, the famous psycho-analyst Carl Jung had it right.\u00a0 After studying Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism, Jung concluded that personal transformation constitutes the mysterious heart of all religions.\u00a0 Through transformation, we see and meet the Divine and thereby discover our true selves.\u00a0 Unlike Freudian analysis which is often accused of an obsessive focus on the self, Jung turned psychoanalysis on its head in proposing that the spiritual experiences of awakening and of transformation are absolutely essential<\/span><\/strong> to our emotional well-being.<\/p>\n

And, if this is so, just what is it that we transform ourselves into? If we are to become little versions of god, what does god look like?\u00a0 As I look to the prophets throughout history who have pointed to the heart of god, I find two common characteristics in describing that ideal.\u00a0 We must become peacemakers at one with all creation through forgiveness<\/span><\/strong> \u2013 and then we must sublimate ourselves to the will of all creation and all humanity through personal sacrifice<\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0 With these two \u2013 forgiveness and sacrifice – we manifest the Divine.<\/p>\n

If we truly wish to transform and renew ourselves, than we must be people of forgiveness. \u00a0And only then are we people of true peace and love.\u00a0 As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, \u201c<\/strong>He who is devoid of the power to forgive, is devoid of the power to love.<\/a><\/strong>\u201d<\/strong> And, if I can add an addendum to King\u2019s words, such a person is unable to be spiritually transformed and thus incapable of bringing genuine goodness to the world.\u00a0 Forgiveness involves letting go of past hurts and resentments.\u00a0 It means, once again, letting go of the self and our own need for justification and merit.\u00a0 If we hold on to the feeling of victimhood, we live only within the self and the universe of \u201cme\u201d.\u00a0 If, on the other hand, we are forgiving people, we can find understanding, empathy, and compassion for others \u2013 and perhaps even for the one who has hurt us.<\/p>\n

In forgiving others we are to reach out to our past, present or future oppressors.\u00a0 We do not absolve or excuse their actions against us but we refuse to allow them to prevent us from extending peace and love.\u00a0 Bassam Aramin, the Palestinian founder of Combatants for Peace, often talks about his own journey of spiritual transformation into a god-like man of forgiveness.\u00a0 As a teenager he was sent to prison for seven years for attacking a convoy of Israeli soldiers.\u00a0 And, once in prison he relates how one day he and all of the other Palestinian prisoners were severely beaten as a part of an Israeli training exercise.\u00a0 During his beating, he suddenly remembered a movie about the holocaust that he had previously seen.\u00a0 And he remembered how he had cried as he saw Jews led off to the gas chambers.\u00a0 In that moment, as he was bloodied and bruised by Israeli guards, he suddenly felt himself no longer a victim but instead one who empathizes with and understands the fear and anger of Jews who had suffered so much under their oppressors.\u00a0 His pain was their pain and theirs became his.<\/p>\n

In his awakening moment, when he could have been filled with hatred and thoughts of revenge, he vowed instead to become a force for peace and forgiveness.\u00a0 On his release from the Israeli prison, he founded the Palestinian and Jewish organization of Combatants for Peace which works for reconciliation in the middle-east and in conflicts around the world.\u00a0 Several years ago, Bassam was again confronted with the choice to hate or forgive.\u00a0 His ten year old daughter, standing outside her school and not involved in any act of conflict or protest, was shot and killed by an Israeli soldier.\u00a0 Despite an investigation by Israeli authorities, no punishment was ever meted out for the killing of an unarmed child and the soldier in question was allowed to remain unidentified.\u00a0 In the spirit of his peace movement, however, soon after justice was denied, over a hundred Israelis arrived at his daughter\u2019s Palestinian school and built a playground and garden in her name.<\/p>\n

In prison, Bassam Aramin awakened to the idea that life was not about him and his victimhood.\u00a0 He cried the tears of one who could identify with others who hurt and are oppressed.\u00a0 And he found spiritual transformation in his work to forgive, as one who brings together historic enemies.\u00a0 Finally, in a father\u2019s worst nightmare, he offered proof of his transformation by refusing to seek vengeance for his daughter\u2019s death.\u00a0 As Mohatmas Gandhi once said, \u201c<\/strong>The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.<\/a><\/strong>\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Such change in a person does not come without cost.\u00a0 We cannot love and we cannot forgive unless we not only die to ourselves but also sacrifice our needs and our desires for those of other people.\u00a0 A change of attitude into a sacrificial mindset is the ultimate evidence of spiritual awakening and transformation.\u00a0 Sacrifice \u2013 like forgiveness \u2013 involves denying the needs of the self and working for the needs of others.\u00a0 Sacrifice means doing for another without any expectation of a return in kind.\u00a0 It is the truest form of love \u2013 to love another unconditionally and to love beyond the need for its return.<\/p>\n

As we discussed last Sunday, acts of genuine altruism are never easy nor do we ever become perfect in forgiving and sacrificing for others.\u00a0 If you recall my earlier quoted words from the Bible that transformation comes from renewing our minds, such change is not something that just happens to us.\u00a0 We must consciously choose to change.\u00a0 We must embark on a journey of transformation involving a regular choice to alter the way we think.\u00a0 By learning to test our previously unquestioned thoughts, we can transform our cognitive thinking.\u00a0 Instead of reacting with anger, bitterness and hatred when I am wronged, transformation for me must include asking myself why I react with hate, why did the other hurt me, what ways did I contribute to the conflict, what can I do to create peace and reconciliation in the situation?<\/p>\n

To be proactive in my newly transformed approach to life, I might no longer ask myself what is in it for me whenever I do something for another.\u00a0 I will change the premise upon which I base all of my actions.\u00a0 No longer will I think of the potential rewards coming from my actions.\u00a0 Instead, I will learn to act sacrificially.\u00a0 My motivations will not always be so pure, but I will have begun to change and alter my outlook on life.\u00a0 Indeed, I can even begin to see my actions as affecting the big picture of all human relationships and all creation.\u00a0 My acts of forgiveness and sacrifice are not merely done for another person, but they help to advance unity and peace in our world.\u00a0 To again quote Martin Luther King, Jr., he said, \u201c<\/strong>Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable… Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice,<\/span><\/em> suffering, and struggle.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

My friends, I hope you might begin to see and understand these spiritual times of our lives. \u00a0I believe we will each confront the ultimate question we all face.\u00a0 Why am I here, what purpose do I serve and what is the meaning of my life?\u00a0 Shall we wait until our lives are nearly over, only to understand and be awakened to how selfish and self-focused we have been?\u00a0 In our last moments before we pass into eternity will we remember those we hurt, those we refused to forgive, those we could have helped or listened to or sublimated ourselves before?\u00a0 Or <\/span><\/strong>can we now be transformed to think with our hearts and feel with our heads \u2013 understanding we are here to build an earthly heaven of peaceful coexistence and well-being for all?\u00a0 Can we not die to the big \u201cme\u201d in all of us and find our true god-selves, the person we were created to be who gives, who cares, who nurtures, who walks humbly, who forgives and sacrifices and loves with abandon?<\/p>\n

This is mystical stuff of which I speak.\u00a0 As I said earlier, we are not a mere evolutionary amalgam of atoms that now dominates our world.\u00a0 Whatever creative force brought us to this point, we exist for a purpose<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 All of creation is a beautiful and fantastic gift \u2013 the product of billions of years of refinement.\u00a0 If we are to preserve our universe and advance the cause of human dignity and well-being, we must begin with ourselves.\u00a0 Peace and sacrifice and forgiveness will never happen between Muslims and Christians or between Palestinians and Jews or between any two of us in this congregation unless they first begin individually.\u00a0 Mohatmas Gandhi said that we must be<\/span><\/em><\/strong> the change we want to see<\/span><\/em><\/strong> in the world.\u00a0 For myself, may that change begin with me<\/span>\u2026<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Message 33, \u201cThe Times of Our Lives: Spiritual Transformation\u201d, 9-12-10 \u00a9 Doug Slagle, Pastor at the Gathering UCC, All Rights Reserved Service-Program-9-12-10 Lily Tomlin, one of the great comedians of our time, once said that, \u201cI always knew I wanted to become somebody when I grew up. Now I realize I should have been more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gnhuu.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}