“We can be mystics too!”

Karen Sloan 31/01/201

Readings - Mark 1:4-11, 14-20

So, we start again from last week, with the third reflection, which I delayed until today. I picked these readings, of Jesus baptism and his call to the disciples to follow him, from the few weeks when we were closed, to point us to him. For if we are talking about God as an ineffable mystery but presence within all of creation, sometimes it’s hard to fathom that.  Even if we wish to.  Sometimes we need some flesh on that spirit. 

I use these passages because they show Jesus made a choice to follow what was in his heart. Captivated by John’s vision of newness, Jesus responded by joining others in being baptised. Baptised. What did it mean for Jesus. Maybe it confirmed his life and vocation as a spirit person. Mark depicts this as a deeply personal experience for Jesus.  Of his unique vocation not merely to proclaim this new vision, but to embody it and to bring it into reality.

I think what we have to understand is that Jesus was human, and his life was not pre-programmed like some plan set in stone. Rather this was a profound moment for him.

But then a couple of things happened to me yesterday, actually last night, that made me tear up the sermon I was going to give.  Yep at 930pm I started again. Why, well, I was going to talk about Jesus, but the flesh on that spirit also comes from the here and now, in our lives and the people we know and the people who are living in our world. Well it did for me.

Let me first talk about my friend Nazar, who you know, a refugee who has been here in Australia for over 5 years, but without any real prospect of getting a permanent visa.  I mentioned him in Advent when we were talking about love.  He has lost many family members to Covid in Pakistan while he has been here.  I mentioned that his sister, who has subsequently died, was helping to feed the poorer members of his village.  His niece wanted to continue this work and so I asked for some donations that Nazar could send to her.  I got quite a lot, and this is the product of your kindness and generosity. He sent me these videos last night.

 (videos of the village and people being feed)

Many people would not see the spirit of God at work in all of this, but the outflowing of this mystery for me is in those that show compassion and love for the other, regardless of where they are or who they are. They are here and over there….

Then Matt and I went to the movies, again last night, and saw Penguin Bloom.  A beautiful true story of Sam, a young mother of 3 boys who has an accident that leaves her a paraplegic.  We watch her journey and the journey of her family and friends, the pain and anger, the heartache, but then the love and forgiveness, and the resilience of someone to start a different life. To find joy again out of the pain.   

The name of the film comes form a magpie who is rescued as a chick by her older boy, Noah, and who becomes instrumental in Sam regaining a feel and a connection with life, and with those who love her. In many ways it is the magpie who brings everyone together, puts the broken pieces back together

For me, it was like watching God appearing as a bird, for God is in all things working in the world in mysterious ways to bring light and healing.  Even in magpies. But In the movie the spirit also appears in the ordinary everyday people who were there for Sam during the dark times. And in Sam herself.

An incredible movie, and I highly recommend it.

As I said in the beginning, today’s gospel passage takes us back to the baptism of Jesus and we are vividly reminded that his mission was undergirded by his experience of the sacred.   

Jesus was a spirit person, a person who sensed the ineffable divine presence underneath the surface of things and responded to its calling by living and embodying it. Committing to the hidden call of the father, his heart was as open as a heart can ever be to wonder and mystery, to compassion and empathy, to justice and to social as well as personal transformation. 

But so can we.

We can live within that truth.  Both the truth that Jesus gives us and the truth we find in our own lives. Jesus calls us just as much as he called the first disciples to follow him. To follow his path.

For he says,  we too can be spirit people, we can be mystics. Because the presence of God in our lives does make a difference, every single day. If we are open to its calling. We have just heard and seen two examples of it. Two incredible examples. The spirit is everywhere, we just have to see it.

Remember the Thomas Merton quote from last week….

Life is this simple. We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent, and God is shining through it all the time. This is not just a fable or a nice story. It is true. If we abandon ourselves to God and forget ourselves, we see it sometimes, and we see it maybe frequently. God shows Himself everywhere, in everything – in people and in things and in nature and in events. It becomes very obvious that God is everywhere and in everything and we cannot be without God. That’s impossible. The only thing is we don’t see it.

Let’s see it and work with it to better the world and those in it. 

Amen