Advent 2C + beginner's mind + 12.8.13

M. Campbell-Langdell

All Santos, Oxnard

pandas seem good practicers of "beginner's mind"

(Isaiah 11:1–10; Ps. 72:1–7, 18–19; Romans 15:4–13; Mat. 3:1–12)

(Song—World Youth Day: “The Wolf Shall Lie Down with the Lamb”)

Something about innocence in this passage from Isaiah takes your breath away.  We hear about animals that are in their nature predator and prey, and their relationship shifts to playmates.  Innocence is restored. One might say this image is not realistic, that it is, in a sense, magical.  But it gives us a vision of the goodness of God and, to follow on last week’s message, the peace that Jesus’ justice brings.

Some of you will have heard one of my favorite bible quotations: we must be “wise as serpents and innocent as doves (Matt 10:16).” There is something in today’s readings that speaks to that concept.  We must be wise as serpents, knowing the difficulties of the world.  But we must not be the crafty brood of vipers with an angle in every interaction with the hard-bitten world.  We must be innocent as doves, treasuring authenticity, innocence, and guilelessness.

This past week, we watched the film “Philomena,” which has an amazing story and no, I won’t give it all away! It’s about a woman who had a son as a teenager and had him adopted out from under her, and about her search for him.  That’s the main plot, but the message of the film is what really grabs you.  It is about how you live your life.  Do you live your life open-hearted, knowing you have been hurt and may get hurt again, but that it’s better to risk love, or do you live a life that is guarded but cannot let love and forgiveness change your heart?  In the film, Philomena works with an Oxford-educated journalist who is truly of the upper crust of English society.  He is so privileged that he takes his privileges for granted and engages everyone warily.  Philomena, by contrast, is gullible, doesn’t really understand witty jokes, and calls everyone “one in a million.” 

At one point Martin tells his wife in disgust that it’s amazing what a steady diet of the Daily Mail, a low-brow British newspaper, and romance novels can do to a person.  Yet we get a sense that though Philomena may be “simple” next to Oxford scholar journalist Martin, she has a purity of heart. At a crucial moment in the story, this openness of mind and heart allows Philomena to forgive someone who has wounded her deeply.  Martin says something to the effect of “just like that?” implying that she is letting the offending party off too easily, and Philomena rejoins, “no, not just like that. It’s hard.”  And of course it is.  If you have ever had to forgive from your heart, even knowing you were meant to do so, it takes a lot of hard, grinding, internal work.
It is the work that comes from a lifetime of open-heartedness.  It is what comes from having a beginner’s mind.

“He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide by what his ears hear;” says Isaiah 11:3b.

Late theologian Walter Wink, speaking of today’s gospel passage, says that John the Baptist commands that the hearer have a “Beginner’s Mind.”[1] This is a concept often heard in Buddhist circles.  Beginner’s mind is about letting go of all expectations and pre-suppositions in any given moment, entering the moment with a completely open mind and open heart.[2]

When you read about the Pharisees and the Sadducees, they were full of pre-suppositions—the resurrection of the dead will happen or won’t, and we will get our reward later, or now.  The imperial power is evil, or it can be worked with to meet our own power ends.  These guys were the professionally religious, and one gets the feeling that they were approaching John in order to check something off of their sacramental list, or to look good politically, or both.  In fact, since they were opposing sects, it is quite obvious they were playing politics here.  There was no change in heart happening.  It wasn’t even expected.[3]

So John challenges them.  He takes a supposition that the Pharisees and the Sadducees hold sacred—their ancient link to the Lord as sons of Abraham, and turns it around. He points to the stones that are laid in the river Jordan, the stones that commemorate the parting of the Jordan that permitted the Israelites to cross.  And he says you can’t even count on the fact of resting on your Abrahamic laurels.  A reliance on an Abrahamic birthright won’t help you here—even the stones that were laid at the River Jordan, that supposedly solidify your claim, can be raised into new tribes to follow God.  God’s logic is more strange and wonderful than any foxy human calculation.[4]
John is saying don’t come just to have a ritualistic bath like any other.  Because understand, ritual washing was common in the temple and in other Jewish practices.  But he says you must be ready to repent, change your life, forgive and be forgiven. 

There were two things that made John the Baptist revolutionary—one is the inclusiveness of his baptism—Wink notes that, unlike with circumcision, even women were able to come and receive this sense of repentance, forgiveness and salvation.[5]  Secondly, John and the other Jewish scholars at the time were all interpreting Isaiah and this messianic imagery, but John sees in it a call to repentance, to renewal of life, to a change of heart.[6]  He makes it about how you approach your life. John’s baptism includes a sense of forgiveness of sins, which is huge, because in opening your heart to God in repentance, you can both receive forgiveness and be more open to forgiving others and including others.

So how do we live our lives?  Are we viper-like or wise but innocent? Philomena is one example—it isn’t about her level of education, or Martin’s education, it’s about approaching life with simplicity and open-heartedness.  Nelson Mandela was another such example—can you imagine how much openness of mind and heart it took for him to forgive his jailers after suffering the injustice of apartheid including being incarcerated for twenty-seven years?  To guide his country in a process of reconciliation rather than retaliation?

Some might say that the true call of the Christian is to be wise, yes, but to approach the world with a beginner’s mind.  Even if you might be hurt.  Even if you might be crucified.

Some of us, including me, enjoy a certain amount of religious training and professionalism. Some, not as much, but you might have pre-conceived notions of faith all the same.  What if we were to let Advent be a time of clearing our mind of suppositions, practicing a beginner’s mind?
Reading up about this concept, I learned of a Buddhist meditation of a half-smile, in which you form a slight half-smile on your lips while taking three deep breaths, and this is to give you a sense of spaciousness. Of openness to the world, without placing judgment on the moment.[7]  What would happen if you applied a concept of openness to your life this Advent?  To what Jesus was inviting you into?  To seeing where Jesus is breaking into your life?

Light your Advent candles, clear your mind, smile at Jesus. Remain open. Remain forgiving and forgiven, no matter the cost.  Because the dearest price would be a hardened heart. Practice beginner’s mind. Let us all start now on the road towards the peace of that holy mountain, that holy mountain of the Lord.

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[1] Walter Wink, “John the Baptist,” in Oxford Companion to the Bible (NY: Oxford UP, 1993), 372.

[2] To learn more: Yvonne Rand, “Cultivating Beginner’s Mind,” (http://www.tricycle.com/dharma-talk/cultivating-beginners-mind).

[3] John Riches, “Sadducees” and “Pharisees” in OCB; 667-668 and 588-589.

[4] Wink, 371-372.

[5] Wink, 372.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Yvonne Rand, “Cultivating Beginner’s Mind” (http://www.tricycle.com/dharma-talk/cultivating-beginners-mind).