Liturgies

The Gospel writers have Jesus continually talking about the KINGDOM OF GOD.

These writers were writing in Greek and the Greek word that translates as “Kingdom” is BASILEIA. Many biblical scholars today believe it is better translated as REIGN or PREVAILING PRESENCE. Because the word Kingdom can lead to the conclusion that this is a specific place, whereas this spiritual reality for Jesus was less a thing than an activity, more a verb than a noun.

The overwhelming sense of it was that it was close at hand, very near, always present. One only had to open one’s eyes and see it, embrace it. Once glimpsed it is like the seed thrown into the ground, it grows of its own accord. You see this presence everywhere it grows from a very tiny seed, such as a mustard seed, into the biggest of all the trees.

The amazing thing is that it has been there all along and all the searching one does has all been in vain. St Augustine in the 4^th Century captures this so beautifully in his Confessions

“Late have I loved you, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved you! You were with in me, but I was outside, and it was there that I searched for you. In my unloveliness I plunged into the lovely things which you created. You were with me, but I was not with you… You called, you shouted, and you broke through my deafness. You flashed, you shone, and you dispelled my blindness.”

In the 12^th Century Persian poet Rumi writes,

“I have lived on the lip of insanity, wanting to know reasons,

Knocking on a door. It opens.

I’ve been knocking from the inside.”

The week before last we went to the Brookfield Spirituality Centre. Amidst the beauty of this place an exceptional man and woman and their 4 wonderful children spoke to us about this reality that Jesus spoke so much about. They were Matthew and Diane Ames and their four children Luke, Benjamin, William and Emily. Matthew lost all four limbs when a simple bacterial infection (streptococcal A) went undiagnosed, cannibalising into toxic shock syndrome. Within 24 hours of being admitted to the Mater Hospital Matthew ( 39 yrs. at the time) was in an induced coma, as his limbs blackened from blood toxicity, his kidneys failed, and his blood pressure dipped dangerously low. His body was producing toxins that ended up killing his extremities. He would have died from the tips up if doctors had not gotten rid of the dead tissue.

Matthew’s wife Diane was given a heart-wrenching choice; let her husband die, or fight for a one per cent chance of survival by agreeing to the amputation of his arms and legs. For Diane, it was a simple choice. She and their four children could not bear to see him go, even if it meant he would wake up profoundly disabled.

Matthew reflects on waking up,

“When you are lying there, in a hospital bed with no arms and no legs, you can’t lift your head and you have a breathing tube down your throat, and you’ve got a feeding tube down your nose, and you are on dialysis in an intensive care bed, and you can’t talk to anyone you begin to think a lot and I realized it was the first time in my life I actually truly stopped. I really valued that time to slow down, and to become aware.”

And then to truly appreciate: it is a precious thing, life. I didn’t realise just how precious until I went through this experience.”

And that “This experience has forced me to transition from defining myself by what I did, to who I am.”

Matthew told us a simple story to illustrate the most important thing he had learnt thus far from his testing ordeal. He related the story of how the family went to Currimundi, just north of Caloundra, last Christmas holidays for some time at the beach. Eager for Matthew to join the family on the beach they hired one of those special beach wheel chairs, which Diane managed to manoeuvre over the long stretch of beach before being near the water. At Currumundi there is a lake which drains into the sea with the quick flowing receding tide. Matthew found himself alone in the wheelchair while the family were in the lake enjoying the water and the mirthful exuberance of being caressed by a playful ocean.

At this time of being alone he was visited by the gloating melancholic presence of an overwhelming sadness and grief. A dispiriting presence he had been visited by before while in hospital, and a few times at home on his return. This time he was ready.

1. He moved into an attitude of ACCEPTANCE. Acceptance, he said, is not thinking everything is wonderful and good, but understanding what is around you, being aware of it, and not JUDGING IT. Finding ways to accept, and not judge, is something that has really helped him to be at peace, both within himself and others.
2. Making ROOM was Matthews’s second strategy to deal with these unfriendly guests. Making room for whatever feeling you are experiencing, acknowledging it, seeing it, feeling it, but not letting it consume you, find a deep place inside you, more letting it wash over you, seeing it, feeling it, realizing it is normal, that this is to be expected, and to let it go, let it flow on passed you. Like the grief and sadness he was feeling in not being able to be in the water with his children. To let them flow on by.
3. In the MOMENT. (ARM. Acceptance, Room. Moment is a good way to remember this valuable life skill from Matthew) When Matthew had done the clearing with his acceptance and making room, he could now enter into the moment as it was NOW presenting itself to him. He could sit in his wheelchair and feel the sun on his face and the wind in his hair, the smell of the salty sea air in his nostrils, the gritty sand under his chin and the sound of the waves caressing the beach. He could enter the present moment and truly begin to ENJOY IT. Whereas before when consumed by grief and sadness this was not possible. He found himself being truly GRATEFUL for the life that he had, with all its limitations. This simple gratitude brought with it a profound JOY.

I imagine it is the same joy St Augustine and Rumi experienced when they discovered what they had been searching so diligently for most of their lives.

This Reign, this prevailing presence Jesus spoke of is always there, always available. Ready for us to open our hearts and eyes to every moment of our lives. It is what Matthew discovered and shared so beautifully with us.

I would like to finish with a short DVD presentation by Brother Davis Steindl-Rast called A GOOD DAY where he invites us in his words

“Let the gratefulness overflow into blessing all around you, and then it will really be A GOOD DAY.”