The Circulation of Love.3 (Zacchaeus)
Luke 19:1-10
November 3, 2013 Alan Claassen

We are all well acquainted with the phrase, “I had a mountain-top experience”
to describe an ecstatic, soul-opening moment in one’s life.

Zacchaeus’ soul-opening moment might be described as a “tree-top experience.”

This morning I am going to share with you an ecstatic, soul-opening moment
which I shared with my wife, Betsy,
as well as my father and our son, on the day when we all
went to Yosemite Valley.

As we all know, Yosemite Valley is a sacred place.
It inspires reflection, humility, joy, and gratitude.
It also gifts us with deep questions, such as the one I asked Betsy,
while were looking up at one the waterfalls,
water cascading over the cliff hundreds of feet above us.

I asked, “When does a river know that it is about to become a waterfall?”
To which Betsy quickly replied, “Too late!”

And then she took the question to another level by asking,
“When do the fish know, that their river is about to become a waterfall?”
We didn’t have an answer for that one.

Yosemite Valley is a sacred place.
That asks us:

“What do I do when my life suddenly changes
from stream to waterfall?”
Will I become a stream again,
or has life forever changed?”

So as my family and I walked through Yosemite Valley,
got baptized by the mist of the dispersed water
at the foot of Bridal Veil Falls;
watched children play with sticks and rocks
along the bank of the river,
seeing a wedding about to begin
on the beautiful grounds of the Ahwahnee Hotel

I was thinking about the river,
That becomes waterfall,
That becomes river again on a new level.
And because of a book I was reading at the time
I also began thinking about the Trinity.
Yes, I was thinking about the Trinity,
the idea that is blasphemous to some and troubling to many,
that portrays the nature of the Holy One
as the Holy three.

Traditionally expressed as Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
but also known as
Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer
God, Christ, and Spirit
Mother, Friend, and Comforter
Source of Life, Living Word, and Bond of Love

The book that inspired me to remember the Trinity while in Yosemite Valley
is entitled, The Wisdom Jesus, written by Cynthia Bourgeault.

In her book, Cynthia Bourgeault
imagines a great waterwheel of a grain mill, with three buckets,
Going round and round,
constantly spilling-over into one another.
And as they do so, the mill turns,
and the energy of love,
becomes manifest and accessible. (pg 71)

As the waterwheel turns and the buckets
filled with water empty themselves,
their water fills the bucket below them,
and the waterwheel turns.

This circulation of love reveals
God’s innermost nature
through a continuous round dance of self-emptying. (pg 72)

My bucket is filled with love and I empty it into yours,
God says to creation.
Let there be light.
And it is good.

My bucket is filled with love and I empty into yours,
Jesus says to humanity on the way to the cross,
Let there be peace.
And it is good.

My bucket is filled with love,
The Holy Spirit says to the lost disciples,
Let there be community, and it is good.

This is how I saw the Trinity in the river above,
the river below
and the waterfall in between.

Just as a waterwheel turns
And the buckets filled with water empty themselves
So that their water fills the bucket below them…

Love moves from river above
To river below,
With the self-giving release of trust, courage, and transformation.

This is how I saw God,
as I stood in one spot on the valley floor.

God, as complete unknowable mystery,
is the Yosemite Valley in its awesome entirety.
There is no way to describe Wholly Love, Holy Mystery
best to just immerse oneself in its glory and say Amen!

God, as when we name God, is the river before it becomes waterfall, high above the valley floor.
Jesus the Christ is the complete act of trust in God,
Self-emptying love; bringing love to the valley floor.

But sometimes they fall away.
Sometimes the course of my our life changes;

But sometimes they fall away.
Sometimes the course of my our life changes;

just as for a river that knows too late,
it is about to become a waterfall.

Meditating on the wisdom of the waterfall, the Trinity, the waterwheel,
I caught a glimpse of the reality that my true self is water
That can and does take many forms.

How do I ride the falls?
What do we do when our life has changes from a river to a waterfall?

Perhaps we need a trail guide,
someone who knows the Yosemite Valley very well.

Listen to this story a book by John Muir, entitled Yosemite.
“When the avalanche started I threw myself on my back
and spread my arms to try to keep from sinking.
Fortunately, though the grade of the canyon is very steep,
on no part of the rush was I buried…
and as the whole mass beneath and about me
joined in the flight there was no friction,
though I was tossed here and there
and lurched from side to side and came to rest
I found myself on top of the crumpled pile without a bruise or a scar.
This was a fine experience.
This flight
in what might have been called a milky way of snow-stars
was the most spiritual and exhilarating of all the modes of motion
I have ever experienced.”

Rather than fighting the avalanche in fear
John Muir rode it in trust
and had the time of his life.
He sounded like a little kid.

Which brings me back to Zacchaeus.
you may have been wondering how long I was going to leave Zacchaeus up in that tree.

We give ourselves to trust and love rather than fear and doubt.
We can choose to remember that God is with us
in the river above,
the river falling,
the river below.
And remember that just as John Muir had the training,
to know what to do when falling down a mountain side,
we have the training that comes from our spiritual practices
and from being in community together.

What a childlike image it is to think of

We can pray to God for guidance,
We can pray to God to open our heart to receive that guidance,
And we can pray to God for the courage to act upon that guidance.

We can empty our water bucket,
Filled with love, and regret and brokenness, fear and confusion,
Trusting that we will be filled again,
Trusting that our life,
Will once again be one that nourishes our true self
and our community.

The promise that Jesus offers, is that Wisdom will come, that guidance will come,

And will move out of that waterfall that lasted too long,
That will move from that not-knowing-what-was-next
that lasted too long,
That will move out of that feeling of helplessness
that lasted too long
and say,
The spirit of truth is coming and will
fill you up again so that you will know where the river of your life
is meant to flow next.

This is the faith of the water flowing and falling,
self-emptying love of God for you and for me.

Let the people say: Amen.

The Holy Spirit is the water become river again,
Nourishing the meadow,
And the animals,
Providing a place of joy for the children,
And place for the fish to swim.

But sometimes they fall away.
Sometimes the course of my our life changes;

The Holy Spirit is the water become river again,
Nourishing the meadow,
And the animals,
Providing a place of joy for the children,
And place for the fish to swim.

And then, I placed my life in this image:
as river above, thinking that I know where my life is going…
become waterfall, falling, losing shape, trusting, letting go,…
become river again, the next step in my journey, …
where I can find my place with a new life and a new community.

As I saw myself in the three phases of the river,
I begin to sense
a way to pray our way into an answer to the question
I asked earlier in this sermon,

“What do I do when my life suddenly changes
from stream to waterfall?”

Will I become a stream again?
or has life forever changed?”

Meditating on the wisdom of the waterfall
I caught a glimpse of the reality that my true self is not
Defined by a riverbank,
Or a job,
Or a relationship.

These aspects of life are when I am defined by my work or personal relationships.
They are important, they are good they are life giving, identity-giving.

But sometimes they fall away.
Sometimes the course of my our life changes;

just as for a river that knows too late,
it is about to become a waterfall.

Meditating on the wisdom of the waterfall, the Trinity, the waterwheel,
I caught a glimpse of the reality that my true self is water
That can and does take many forms.

How do I ride the falls?
What do we do when our life has changes from a river to a waterfall?

Perhaps we need a trail guide,
someone who knows the Yosemite Valley very well.

Listen to this story a book by John Muir, entitled Yosemite.
“When the avalanche started I threw myself on my back
and spread my arms to try to keep from sinking.
Fortunately, though the grade of the canyon is very steep,
on no part of the rush was I buried…
and as the whole mass beneath and about me
joined in the flight there was no friction,
though I was tossed here and there
and lurched from side to side and came to rest
I found myself on top of the crumpled pile without a bruise or a scar.
This was a fine experience.
This flight
in what might have been called a milky way of snow-stars
was the most spiritual and exhilarating of all the modes of motion
I have ever experienced.”

Rather than fighting the avalanche in fear
John Muir rode it in trust
and had the time of his life.
He sounded like a little kid.

Which brings me back to Zacchaeus.
you may have been wondering how long I was going to leave Zacchaeus up in that tree.

We give ourselves to trust and love rather than fear and doubt.
We can choose to remember that God is with us
in the river above,
the river falling,
the river below.
And remember that just as John Muir had the training,
to know what to do when falling down a mountain side,
we have the training that comes from our spiritual practices
and from being in community together.

What a childlike image it is to think of

We can pray to God for guidance,
We can pray to God to open our heart to receive that guidance,
And we can pray to God for the courage to act upon that guidance.

We can empty our water bucket,
Filled with love, and regret and brokenness, fear and confusion,
Trusting that we will be filled again,
Trusting that our life,
Will once again be one that nourishes our true self
and our community.

The promise that Jesus offers, is that Wisdom will come, that guidance will come,

And will move out of that waterfall that lasted too long,
That will move from that not-knowing-what-was-next
that lasted too long,
That will move out of that feeling of helplessness
that lasted too long
and say,
The spirit of truth is coming and will
fill you up again so that you will know where the river of your life
is meant to flow next.

This is the faith of the water flowing and falling,
self-emptying love of God for you and for me.

Let the people say: Amen.