Rev. Betsy Aldrich Garland
November 8, 2009 – Confirmation Sunday
Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17

As Your Life Unfolds

When I came here last December, the Deacons asked me about confirmation. There were several young people who had been waiting for this day. Well, it’s here – finally.

You are older than most confirmation classes. I know that your mothers have been your mentors for the last several years, schooling you in the meaning of worship, the importance of service. You have attended a play on hunger in Rhode Island, walked in the Good Friday Walk, pulled weeds in the parking lot.

Since September we have been meeting. I would email and text you a question each week, and we have discussed the great questions of the Christian faith, such as: Who or what is God for you? How does Jesus fit into the scheme of things? How do we understand the Holy Spirit? What is the nature of evil? Is there life after death? And, Is Jesus really the only way to God, as the bill board on route 295 declares? Or just the way for us . . ..

I told you that these aren’t questions that we necessarily solve in a few weeks of confirmation class. These are questions we struggle with all our lives – all of us, whether we admit it or not. In the United Church of Christ, there is no one “right” answer – only more helpful or less helpful answers. We are not expected to check our heads at the door, along with our coats. Ogden Nash once wrote,

There are too many people who think that
just because they have parishes and dioceses
it imparts infallibility to all their biases. 1

Well, we don’t claim to be infallible. And our Statement of Faith is not a creed or a test of one’s faith. It is a testimony of how the denomination has experienced God through the life of Jesus.

So, the first lesson I would like to leave with you this morning is this: Don’t be afraid to raise questions as your life unfolds, and to develop a faith that suits you, a faith that allows you to use your mind as well as your heart, a faith that has room for reason as well as for mystery

The second lesson is that life is always just beginning. Our lectionary text for today continues the story of Ruth who has traveled with her mother-in-law Naomi to a new country, to a new people with a strange new God. She has risked everything, and, in fact, she expects she will die there. Ruth’s husband has died; she has left her birth family; she is childless. Her life is over – or so one might believe. And then in the midst of tragedy, through the support of others, she finds new love and a new life, and, in fact, becomes the ancestor of Jesus of Nazareth, a very great grandmother of the Christian faith.

So, know this: Life is full of periods of loneliness as well as companionship, failures as well as successes, regrets as well as achievements, heartbreak as well as happiness. We never know when the person we count on to be there for us will find someone else, or the job we love is moved out of state, or the car we’re riding in will be hit head on by a drunk driver. Don’t be afraid to live your life. Don’t let fear cripple you. Trust yourself and the gifts that God has given you. Believe that good things will happen – and they will, and in my experience, they do!

And remember, as your life unfolds, there is nothing that can separate you from the love of God, regardless of how you understand the concept of God – whether God has personality for you as a loving father, or represents the connections between people, or the energy of life itself. God cannot be defined and contained by the limited language or immature imaginations of mere humans like us! Even if you come not to believe in God, that’s okay, because God believes in you, surrounds you, and lives in you!

St. Patrick of Ireland, born in the year 385, said it this way:

Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me.

The next time you find yourself afraid, or in trouble, or in danger, or guilty, or angry, or resentful, or sad – reach out to the love that is there for you. Just when you think you have no future – your life may just be beginning. God has a plan for you – whether you know it or not – and it is unfolding all the while.

Okay, so God loves you. But do you love yourself? That’s the big question! The truth is that you can’t love others unless and until you first love yourself. I’m not talking about selfishness, or self-indulgence, or narcissism. I’m talking about your capacity to be in relationship with others, your capacity to understand and feel their pain, your willingness to walk in their shoes.

Jesus gives us this advice, steeped as he was in the Hebrew scriptures: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your mind and all your strength. This is the first commandment.” And then Jesus says there is a second commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” These two are the heart of the Gospel.

Well, we expect to be reminded to love our neighbor – but love ourselves? The truth is that each of us only can love another to the extent that we can love ourselves. Note that I didn’t say, love others more than we love ourselves – only that we love them as much. Our regard for others rises at the same rate as our regard for ourselves – always in balance. You can’t have one without the other.

So my third lesson for this morning is to love yourself, honor yourself, be good to yourself, take care of yourself. The apostle Paul reminds us that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Remember this when you are pressured to experiment with drugs and alcohol, or have unprotected sex before you are ready for that kind of intimacy. There are too many bad choices out there these days, too many ways to get into trouble, too many opportunities to get your life off track.

When disaster is racing hell-bent in your direction, remember the words of Patrick. Say them with me:

Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me.

Remember when you are defending your doctoral dissertation, or hanging your art exhibit, or pulling out of a dive in your Air Force jet, or treating a child in a medical clinic, or cleaning up after a disaster. “Christ within me, Christ beside me . . ..”

And now, to be sure you have everything you need installed on this confirmation day, we are going to install love in your operating system.2 [Betsy opens up her laptop on the pulpit.] Hmmm. Since I’m not so computer savvy, I need to call Technical Support. [Betsy dials cell phone for Technical Assistance, and Alan Birch in the congregation answers, then come to the lectern.]

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Tech Support: Yes, how can I help you?

Customer: Well, after much consideration, I've decided to install Love. Can you guide me through the process?

Tech Support: Yes. I can help you. Are you ready to proceed?

Customer: Well, I'm not very technical, but I think I'm ready. What do I do first?

Tech Support: The first step is to open your Heart. Have you located your Heart?

Customer: Yes, but there are several other programs running now. Is it okay to install Love while they are running?

Tech Support: What programs are running?

Customer: Let's see, I have Past Hurt, Low Self-Esteem, Grudge and Resentment running right now.

Tech Support: No problem. Love will gradually erase Past Hurt from your current operating system. It may remain in your permanent memory but it will no longer disrupt other programs. Love will eventually override Low Self-Esteem with a module of its own called High Self-Esteem. However, you have to completely turn off Grudge and Resentment. Those programs prevent Love from being properly installed. Can you turn those off?

Customer: I don't know how to turn them off. Can you tell me how?

Tech Support: With pleasure. Go to your start menu and invoke Forgiveness. Do this as many times as necessary until Grudge and Resentment have been completely erased.

Customer: Okay, done! Love has started installing itself. Is that normal?

Tech Support: Yes, but remember that you have only the base program. You need to begin connecting to other Hearts in order to get the upgrades.

Customer: Oops! I have an error message already. It says, "Error – Program not run on external components." What should I do?

Tech Support: Don't worry. It means that the Love program is set up to run on Internal Hearts, but has not yet been run on your Heart. In non-technical terms, it simply means you have to Love yourself before you can Love others.

Customer: So, what should I do?

Tech Support: Pull down Self-Acceptance; then click on the following files: Forgive-Self; Realize Your Worth; and Acknowledge your Limitations.

Customer: Okay, done.
Tech Support: Now, copy them to the "My Heart" directory. The system will overwrite any conflicting files and begin patching faulty programming. Also, you need to delete Verbose Self-Criticism from all directories and empty your Recycle Bin to make sure it is completely gone and never comes back.

Customer: Got it. Hey! My heart is filling up with new files. Smile is playing on my monitor and Peace and Contentment are copying themselves all over My Heart. Is this normal?

Tech Support: Sometimes. For others it takes awhile, but eventually everything gets it at the proper time. So Love is installed and running. One more thing before we hang up. Love is Freeware. Be sure to give it and its various modules to everyone you meet. They will in turn share it with others and return some cool modules back to you.

Customer: Thank you, God. I’m going to send this to every one I know. If they delete it, that’s okay, God's love is not based on my emails.

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And so, my young friends, never forget, you are precious children of God. Be all you can be. Use the gifts God has given you. Step forward, with your mind and your heart together, as your life unfolds.

In the words of poet Mary Oliver,

Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

The whole world – and especially this congregation – is standing on tiptoes to see how your life unfolds.

Amen.


1. Roger L. Shinn, Confessing Our Faith: An interpretation of the Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ (Cleveland: United Church Press, 1990) p. 7.

2. Based on “Installing Love” circulating on the internet. Original source unknown.