Terry Paul Choyce
Sept 2, 2007, Brunswick Street United Church
Ah, the beginning of September. School starts again. Remember when you were a kid and you faced the first day of classes every year with a mixture of fear and dread and anticipation and excitement? I could never sleep the night before school began. What would my teacher be like? Who would be in my class? Could I do the new work? Did I own the "right" clothes. Would everyone notice the zit on my face? So many worries, and at that time they were all so important.
I still associate September with new beginnings and new challenges. I get a surge of energy to do something different. This year it will be to start taking classes at AST. I took last year off to take courses that were offered through Presbytery, and to direct some of my time and energy to the Mission board. As I start class now I am not worried about my wardrobe or my complexion, but there is always the nagging fear that I won't like my classes or there will be too much work. I want to do it, and I don't want to do it. Most of us feel like this whenever we start something new, whether it is a job, a new relationship, or a new home.
Leaving the known is always a bit scary. Our Old Testament lesson today was about Moses. (Exodus 3:1-8) God speaks to Moses through a burning bush. He says he will help Moses free his people. Now, having a burning bush talking to him was not enough for Moses. This is what Exodus 4 says:
1 Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The LORD did not appear to you'?"
2 Then the LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" "A staff," he replied.
3 The LORD said, "Throw it on the ground." Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. 4 Then the LORD said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. 5 "This," said the LORD, "is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathersÑÑthe God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of JacobÑÑhas appeared to you."
6 Then the LORD said, "Put your hand inside your cloak." So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was leprous, [a] like snow.
7 "Now put it back into your cloak," he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.
8 Then the LORD said, "If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first miraculous sign, they may believe the second. 9 But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground."
10 Moses said to the LORD, "O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue."
11 The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD ? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."
13 But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."
14 Then the LORD's anger burned against Moses and he said, "What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and his heart will be glad when he sees you."
Moses had the nerve to challenge God's choice of him for a leader, even after the stick turns into a snake, and his hand getting leprosy. He is still giving God a hard time, and says he is not a good speaker, and he can't do this job God has demanded of him.
He does not trust that God will give him the words, or the confidence. So God brings in Aaron, Moses's blood brother. Aaron is an eloquent speaker, and apparently a lot easier to convince that God will help them free the Hebrews from the Egyptians, than Moses. Moses is afraid of making the changes God is asking of him. But, as we all know, he accepts the challenge and successfully leads his people out of Egypt. Later he is given the Ten Commandments, and he is regarded as one of the most famous leaders in the history of the world. Moses overcame his fear and followed the will of God.
I don't think any of us will get a calling direct from a burning bush. But all of us are born with God given talents and skills to do wonderful things with our lives. All of us have the capacity to be passionate about one or more of our interests, and one or more people. Last week's sermon was about living our joys, and how that is not always easy, but it is essential to our happiness to enjoy what we are doing and who we are with. Sometimes that joy does not come automatically, but we have to have perseverance, faith, and a positive attitude to learn to love our lives. Like Moses, we are often in fear and doubt. But like Moses, we have to try to be the best we can be.
This week I read a great book called A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle. There is so much profound information in this book, but here I want to concentrate on how it ends. Tolle says we have to learn about and experience Awakened Doing. This is the alignment of our outer purpose with our inner purpose - like Moses did when he accepted the challenge of freeing the Israelites. As I said before, we all have gifts and talents and to be truly happy and fulfilled, we have to do things which enhance these abilities. When we do what we are best at, we feel free and we feel connected to the power that is God. We are "awake" to who we really are. This is a glorious feeling.
Mr. Tolle says there are three modalities to align your life with the creative power of the universe - God. They are acceptance, enjoyment, and enthusiasm. Without one of these you will create suffering in yourself and others. If you hate what you do, you will be miserable, and radiate negativity. God does not want you to be miserable.
Most of us have a degree of acceptance about all that we do. It may not be exciting, but it is tolerable and has a few good points. We are at least content. But it is better if we can enjoy what we do. This makes us feel alive and creative and successful. Our life has more meaning and more pleasure. Eckhart Tolle says when we enjoy something we are living in the present, in the power of Now.
The ultimate is when we can live with enthusiasm. This is when we love what we are doing, plus we have a vision to work towards. We are working towards a goal, we have a purpose to motivate us. This can be a long-term goal, or a goal for the day. Time flys by when we have enthusiasm. Problems are less daunting. And things seem to flow more smoothly than usual.
One of the things I have done that generated much enthusiasm in myself and others was when I started Your Women's Creative Art Gallery at the YWCA. On the days I hung a show, I worked nonstop for 8 hours or more, and I barely felt the need to even eat. I was so excited about the art that came in, and my interactions with the artists, and the placing of the art in just the right place to make the whole show a fluid, beautiful creation. At the end of the day I would walk around the gallery and feel tremendous satisfaction at being able to facilitate this sharing of beauty and talent. It was Awakened Doing.
I know Zandi feels this way about her writing. I know Shazza has felt this way about some of the social action work she has done. What have you done in your life that has made you feel enthused and connected to the energy of God? What can you do now? Are you following a calling or a passion? What can you do to be more fulfilled and happy? Is there a new beginning for you this September?
©Terry Paul Choyce. Used with permission from the author.
