Palm Sunday-2013
Meditation: “On Walking”
Prayer: In the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all of our hearts, may we hear your Voice of Love and Challenge today.
Walking.
Walking: as a verb, it means “ 1. to move at a regular and fairly slow pace by lifting and setting down each foot in turn, never having both feet off the ground at once. or 2. Use similiar movements but of a different part of one’s body or a support: “she could walk on her hands.”
Walking.
How much of a part of your life is walking?
Walking, as is moving, journey-ing, going from one place to another...with or without assistance.
I walk dogs everyday. They threaten to leave me if I don’t.
Some of us hurt when we walk--our knees hurt, our feet hurt with plantar faciatis or bunyons; some of us need assistance to walk, some of us can’t walk, so we have assistance...
Moving through the world, our lives, is walk.
Sometimes it’s a cakewalk (as in easy-peasy)
Sometimes it’s a sleepwalk (as in unconscious)
Sometimes we rush to and fro, sometimes we amble, sometimes we just plod along, sometimes we stumble and fall.
Walking, in the time of transcendentalists, was almost a holy endeavor, a way to get back to your soul, to discover God or meaning.
I remember the first time I attended a Buddhist Sangha for meditation. I didn’t know much about what to expect, but I knew that there would be a time for walking meditation. So, when the gong rang, I stood up, and followed the person in front of me, who walked out the door.
I thought, cool, it’s beautiful outside! Then I realized that the person in front of me was going to use the lavatory, and that there was no one in behind me. There I was, stranded, and clueless. Apparently, walking meditation meant walking around the room, softly, following and leading at the same time. Who would have known?
No one told me.
After a time, I slipped back into the meditation room, where everyone, by that time, were back on their meditation cushions. I didn’t return.
I enjoy walking, for the most part. I am grateful that I can walk.
Some people hate it.
If someone invites you to take a walk, or sit and have a cup of tea, which would you choose? (Note--it’s not bad to choose the tea. It’s just a questions.)
In spite of enjoying walking, I have to say, I am a stumbler. I stumble, I fall often, I pick myself back up. Twice I have broken a foot this way, because of my lack of balance, and being lost in thought and not truly paying attention to my body walking.
Walking, however one walks, takes consciousness. Attentiveness. We should journey attentively, even if it means walking around in circles.
We began our worship with a parade walk. It was fun, right? Sometimes all we need is a parade, to be joyful and happy for once. Hosanna! Hosanna!
But now, oops, look at where we have ended up. In Jerusalem. It’s the beginning of Holy Week...the beginning of Passover. Jerusalem, in the first century, had an ambiguous status for Jews. It was the center of their world, and devotion; while at the same time it was a center of religious collaboration with Imperial Power. And at the same time we have been parading with Jesus into the city from the east; at the same time a Roman Garrison, led by Pontius Pilate was marching into the city from the west, to shore up military force in case the Jews celebrating Passover got out of control. It was one of Jesus’ greatest political actions! (Marcus Borg, Holy Week, Two Different Meanings, @ http://www.marcusjborg.com/2011/05/07/holy-week-two-different-meanings/
And then, as we stand here, at the end of our Parade, on the cusp of Holy week, we have a choice on how we choose to “walk”, to “journey” through this week, as Disciples. There is the fracas in the Temple, when Jesus chases out the moneychangers; there is the betrayal by Judas, there is the last Supper, the denial of Peter, the walk to Golgotha, and yes, the crucifixion. How do we go through this week? How do we walk with intention, through a narrative that is so hard to make sense of. Some of may choose to skip the journey.
Yet, before we back away from Jerusalem, and show up next Sunday at the empty tomb, what if we, as 21st century Christians in a post-Christian world, reclaim the Holy Week narrative as one of passion and transformation?
Many of learned that the reason for the crucifixion and the events leading up to it was about Jesus dying for our sins, as if that was his and God’s purpose for his life. I argue, with our brother Marcus Borg, that the purpose of Jesus life was about the kingdom of God now, not life after death, but life on earth as the Lord’s Prayer affirms. It is about this world being transformed into a world of justice and peace--this is God’s dream for the world, and it was Jesus’ passion for the kindgom of God that “led to his passion of his suffering and death.” (Borg) So as we walk through Holy Week, we are faced with the juxtaposions of imperial power and love; greed, betrayal and humility; broken-ness and wholeness. We are asked to consider God’s passion and Jesus’ passion for the world, and we are faced with the journey of our own personal transformation.
So back to walking. How will you walk, journey through Holy Week?
Will you stumble through it, grasping at finding meaning for your own dying and resurrection? Will you tread lightly, wondering how to make sense of the domination of Power in your life that is not life-giving? Will you plod through, recognizing how you have betrayed yourself, others?
Will you walk with someone, with God, with a friend? Maybe you will crawl through it alone, although you are never alone, beloved.
Sisters and brothers. We have entered Jerusalem, a Holy City within us, and the world around us. A place of contradiction, of suffering, of passion, and transformation. We are invited to wander through its streets and stories, to journey with intention.
We began today with a parade...with palms and hosanna’s and song.....and when we leave, we will leave with crosses, in silence. Crosses--once a symbol of execution, but now a symbol of our faith, a symbol that reaches in all directions, encompassing the world with passionate, justice, peace-filled love.
How will you walk with the cross this week?
Amen.
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