1/19/14 Sermon

1/19/14

Basements and Beacons

I was thinking the other day about basements.

Basements can be places where fun or frolic happens. My Grandpa and Grandma Wine had one of these types of basements. I fondly remember many hours spent playing in the basement with my siblings and cousins.  We could draw with chalk on the cement walls, play with countless toys, and cause trouble with the pool table. We invented a very wild game with that table that involved slamming the balls around.  It was a place where we could be ourselves.

Basements can also be places of peril. Growing up, we had a large basement and part of it was unfinished. My brother and I would sometimes wander around, doing who knows what, and usually barefoot.  One day, my brother stepped on a nail while we were down there.  I was horrified and shocked that this could happen in what I deemed to be a safe, fun place.

Basements can be places of safety, especially here in Kansas.  This is where we go to seek refuge from tornadoes.  When I was in elementary school, we spent time during a tornado warning in our school’s basement. It happened to be a teacher’s birthday and we sang happy birthday down there to her, and it made the experience less stressful.

Today, I want to focus on basements as places of safety or perceived safety.

We all have our own basements inside of ourselves. This is the place where you store things you just don't want to deal with, either emotionally, mentally or spiritually.  It could include past hurts, regrets, or guilt.  These are the things we have to yield to God. We believe that we have to appear strong, to fit into the norm of society. Yet, in those dark basements inside ourselves are where God can be most present. These are the places where we can lay down our load and cry out, "God, I can't carry it one more step." We often think God has bigger problems, but we are important to him too. We matter. While living in a pressure-filled world that tells us we are insignificant, and meaningless, God gives us significance and meaning.

If we aren’t careful, we can become hoarders of our past hurts, regrets and guilt. We believe these are the things that define us. We cushion ourselves in these layers, and enjoy having thick walls between ourselves and the elements. We feel safe. Yet when the storm is over we need to come out. If we stay in that safe place, we risk becoming stuck. Stuck in complacency, fear, and sorrow. We might not let others in because we fear they will hurt us or we will hurt them. We can feel caught in the darkness and hopelessness. One of my favorite quotes from George Fox reads, “I saw also that there was an ocean of darkness and death, but an infinite ocean of light and love, which flowed over the ocean of darkness.  And in that also I saw the infinite love of God.”  God’s love and light can overcome the darkness in our basements, if we leave room for that light to come in.

We live in a technological age where we are connected to so many other people through wires, yet we can feel so all alone inside the basement walls that we’ve built. Social media platforms such as Facebook or Twitter, and chatting with other players on video games are no match for the human contact our souls need to survive and thrive. Our culture values independence and climbing the corporate ladder when we were created to be connected to a community. And our societal problems grow. We no longer have time for one another. I see this in the young clients at my therapy practice. Sometimes I feel that while the interventions that I do are important, the one on one positive time with an adult may be a rare occurrence for many of these kids. In play therapy, which is my most common intervention, positive acceptance for the client is paramount.  There have been several times where I have found myself really enjoying time with a student, but others in their life may not always see them in a positive light. These children are the treasures that are undervalued in our basement.

Also, I want to talk to you a little bit today about something I rarely talk about to anyone.  Yet, I felt God place it on my heart that I needed to share this. I knew something was missing while I was writing this, and it was this piece. I’m not sure why God wants me to share this, but I’m trying to be obedient. 

When I came back from Rwanda, I was struggling.  It had been a year of ups and downs while I was over there (luckily more ups than downs), and I was still trying to regain my composure after a medical situation, that affected me more internally than I anticipated. I was also having a bit of culture shock coming back into the US.

I jumped way too quickly into a new job, that was not a good fit for my personality and for the gifts God has given me.  I lost myself in the basement of myself for a while. There were days, I struggled to breathe, the panic had set in so immensely. 

Luckily, I had good support from family and friends, medical attention and a way out of that basement I found myself in.  I even met with a few friends from the Meeting, who had in the past helped me discern whether to go to Africa, to help me discern if it was right to leave this job.  I did end up feeling at peace to leave that job, and some wonderful doors opened for me after that time, including my part-time position here at the church. 

When I think about this aid that I received, I am reminded of a scene from “The Return of the King” which is the 3^rd movie in the Lord of the Rings series. If you haven’t seen the movie, I urge you to look for Lighting of the Beacons on Youtube. (I have it up on the church’s Facebook, and you can also email me for the link).  In this part of the movie, there is trouble and the person in trouble doesn’t want aid, so someone is a little sneaky and signals for aid for that person.  Imagine, you live in a mountain village that is remote and isolated. When you need aid you light a beacon, which is a great bonfires.  A flame sparks, burning brightly, and seen easily across a great distance. These beacons are held vigil over non-stop.  If the next village will come to your aid, they light their beacon and on and on it goes across mountaintops. This is the scene in the movie.

  In this place in the movie, aid is called for by these beacons being lit with flames. If the next place is willing to help, they light their beacon in response to the place calling for aid, as well as signaling to the next place that help is needed. As the scene unfolds in the movie, we see beacons being lit in beautiful scenery over mountain tops, with music that always stirs my soul.  Each time another flame answers, I almost want to punch my fist in the air in excitement. Someone called for help, and it was answered.  As one of the beacons is lit in response, a main character utters “Hope is kindled.”

I felt that way in my situation.  I was in a place I couldn’t get out of alone, and I had to be willing to accept that by myself I am inadequate to face this world. I needed help, and I need beacons lit on my behalf from time to time. Yet, God and my community sent me aid and helped me to step out of my basement and into the light.  God and community can help you do the same in whatever basement you find yourself in today.

I found out there is actually a song called ‘You can’t be a beacon if your light don’t shine', which was a song I had not heard before. It was written by Marty Cooper and sung by Donna Fargo in 1974, so it was about 8 years before my time. Here is a snippet of the lyrics:   

You can't be a beacon if your light don't shine.

You can't be a beacon if your light don't shine.

There's a little light in all of us by God's design,

And you can't be a beacon if your light don't shine

May God's love surround you, may you find a brighter day.

May He grant you the peace you seek in every way.

God's light burns in every life, yours and mine,

And you can be a beacon if you let it shine.

I want to leave you with some queries today to consider during our time of open worship.  Queries are a tool, which can be helpful to meditate on and go deeper during open worship. Sometimes, we may struggle to center and need a focus point to hear God. Or these queries may not speak to you, and that is ok.

How can we view each other with more positive acceptance, seeking the light in each other, instead of the darkness?

Are you or someone you know needing help to get out of a basement? Who can you light your beacon towards, to signal that you need aid?  Or, how can you be responsive to the beacon signals from the other person?