In Tandem
Sermon
Sermons On The Second Readings
Series I, Cycle C
Have you ever ridden a bicycle built for two? When most of us think of something in tandem, we picture a tandem bicycle. This bicycle has two tires, two seats, and two sets of pedals -- one set in front and one in back. It also has two pairs of handlebars; however, the rear handlebars, for support only, are stationary.
In addition to establishing an attitude of trust, two bikers operating a tandem bike need to work together. They must be obedient to a common goal. If the person in front tries to pedal while the one in the rear is braking, the bike does not move. When they find a rhythm of pedaling and lean together as a single unit, their combined energy can propel the bike long distances with relative ease.
Like tandem bikers, a dog guide and its human partner are connected mechanically. The connection of the person's hand on the handle of the rigid harness allows both the dog and the person to perceive and respond to each other's smallest movement. While this constant, mutual tethering at first might seem a potential enslavement, it extends the freedom of each partner by sharing their abilities.
When a young dog guide named Roselie led her blind partner down 78 flights of stairs to safety, the team worked in tandem obedience. Considering that these were the stairwells of the World Trade Center, filled with fumes from jet fuel and packed with scared people, we understand that dog guide was tuned to an additional obedience, that of dedication.
Christ lived in tandem with God. Like Abraham before him, who was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac rather than be unfaithful to God, Christ also showed total obedience to God. He found the courage to face death rather than to let down God. God substituted a ram for Isaac, but God would not bring a lamb to stand in for his own son.
One day, when Leader Dog Dolley and her partner went to the hospital to visit a man who was nearing death, Dee witnessed her dog guide's capacity to connect soul to soul with a human being. As they left the elevator, the dog spotted the man's aged father sitting in the waiting room. Dolley led the minister over to him.
The dog must have sensed Hans' sorrow for she laid her chin on his knee. Hans took the dog's face between his hands and for several minutes accepted her loving gift without a word. Later, he said Dolley's eyes poured into his eyes the silent understanding and compassion she was so good at.
Sensitivity to a mutual awareness is part of a team's discipline. Dog guide users are taught to practice "dog-awareness." For effective dog management, no matter what else the person is doing, the partner also must stay connected emotionally with the dog.
Dog-awareness is like the parent who, while speaking on the phone, keeps track of a young child. Like children who sense when a care giver has forgotten about them, the dog, who perceives when the dog-awareness of its partner lapses, may begin to stray.
In time, Dee realized she and her dog guide shared a further refinement of this connection, that of being of the same mind. While the human partner was practicing dog-awareness, the dog guide exercised "person-awareness." They had become tethered in spirit. This obedience would bring them an even greater freedom and purpose.
Dee focused her attention on another person while working at her profession, but she also practiced careful dog-awareness. Sensing this, her dog guide soon learned to share her with the people who needed her. It was a subtle release, a "Don't be concerned about me. I'll be right here if you need me. You do your thing" permission.
Her second dog guide, Leader Dog Treasure, excelled at this dimension of their teamwork. Involved in conversation, Kathy and Dee sat in opposite chairs. Treasure lay at his partner's feet. When it was time for a prayer, Dee took Kathy's hands in hers. As they reached forward toward each other and Dee began to pray, Treasure observed the change. He nosed his way into the circle their hands made. Throughout the prayer, he sat with his rump to Kathy and his head facing his partner as if he, too, wanted to receive the prayer.
Other-awareness, respecting another's freedom, voluntary obedience, and the discipline of caring all call us toward a greater sense of being with each other. They bring us to a fuller understanding of oneness with all of creation.
Passion Sunday calls us to human compassion. Compassion is the capacity to walk in tandem with another in a rhythm of quiet listening that transmits understanding of the heart. Such a connecting of spirit can enable a shared blossoming of spiritual energy without overpowering either person.
How rare is the finding of a soul mate, one we recognize to be of the same mind of which Paul spoke to the Philippians. If you have ever been around someone whose presence invites a loosening of your tongue, you may have found yourself speaking without reservation. Abandoning self-censure, you spoke with a sense of safeness and of being heard. How grateful and how freeing it is to be one in spirit. Such obedience to the greater-than-either-one alone focuses the sense of purpose and meaning of each one.
Paul draws us toward this higher compassion in his letter to Philippian church folk. Well-named, Passion Sunday is charged with feeling. On this Sunday that begins the final week of Jesus' earthly life, Paul's words invite us to let the same mind be in us that was in Christ. We see in him a voluntary obedience. Jesus was in tandem with compassion.
Jesus exemplified a unique power. His power lay not in an escape from being ordinary. His might was in an extraordinary journey that reflected the fullness of being an ordinary person.
When someone comes into power, we expect the ego of that leader to be noisy and strong, not humble. Christ asked no one to bow to him. With powerful people, we accept overstatements of self-confidence that ward off uncertainty. We do not anticipate from those in power a voluntary emptying of the self.
We expect that at the last minute those whose lives are in jeopardy will exploit all available clout and devise all variations of the power play, not disregard them. That explains the therefore of verse 9, "Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name."
So great upon us is the impact of Christ's sacrifice that at the mention of his name, something melts within us. The knee of our soul bends in confession and affirmation. When Jesus was afraid as well as at ordinary times, he remembered God-awareness. Because of God-awareness, Jesus gained strength and courage. God and Christ were of the same mind. They lived in tandem.
Lent has been the time to school ourselves in "being of the same mind" as Christ. How can we translate this obedience into a discipline that we can tolerate, follow, and obey today? How can we become soul mates with God?
Those who stood by the side of the road that first Palm Sunday must have thought it as impossible to maintain faithfulness as one in spirit, in intention, and in goals as we do today. This is why on this day of remembering Jesus' journey into Jerusalem, we too stand by the side of the road in awe of him.
So that we can begin to comprehend the incongruity of emotions on Passion Sunday, let us leave this place today with the invitation to ask a question during the pregnancy of significant actions in our lives this week. To what higher goal am I choosing to be obedient? Perhaps then we might come an inch closer to meeting God's person-awareness of us with our God-awareness.
In addition to establishing an attitude of trust, two bikers operating a tandem bike need to work together. They must be obedient to a common goal. If the person in front tries to pedal while the one in the rear is braking, the bike does not move. When they find a rhythm of pedaling and lean together as a single unit, their combined energy can propel the bike long distances with relative ease.
Like tandem bikers, a dog guide and its human partner are connected mechanically. The connection of the person's hand on the handle of the rigid harness allows both the dog and the person to perceive and respond to each other's smallest movement. While this constant, mutual tethering at first might seem a potential enslavement, it extends the freedom of each partner by sharing their abilities.
When a young dog guide named Roselie led her blind partner down 78 flights of stairs to safety, the team worked in tandem obedience. Considering that these were the stairwells of the World Trade Center, filled with fumes from jet fuel and packed with scared people, we understand that dog guide was tuned to an additional obedience, that of dedication.
Christ lived in tandem with God. Like Abraham before him, who was willing to sacrifice his son Isaac rather than be unfaithful to God, Christ also showed total obedience to God. He found the courage to face death rather than to let down God. God substituted a ram for Isaac, but God would not bring a lamb to stand in for his own son.
One day, when Leader Dog Dolley and her partner went to the hospital to visit a man who was nearing death, Dee witnessed her dog guide's capacity to connect soul to soul with a human being. As they left the elevator, the dog spotted the man's aged father sitting in the waiting room. Dolley led the minister over to him.
The dog must have sensed Hans' sorrow for she laid her chin on his knee. Hans took the dog's face between his hands and for several minutes accepted her loving gift without a word. Later, he said Dolley's eyes poured into his eyes the silent understanding and compassion she was so good at.
Sensitivity to a mutual awareness is part of a team's discipline. Dog guide users are taught to practice "dog-awareness." For effective dog management, no matter what else the person is doing, the partner also must stay connected emotionally with the dog.
Dog-awareness is like the parent who, while speaking on the phone, keeps track of a young child. Like children who sense when a care giver has forgotten about them, the dog, who perceives when the dog-awareness of its partner lapses, may begin to stray.
In time, Dee realized she and her dog guide shared a further refinement of this connection, that of being of the same mind. While the human partner was practicing dog-awareness, the dog guide exercised "person-awareness." They had become tethered in spirit. This obedience would bring them an even greater freedom and purpose.
Dee focused her attention on another person while working at her profession, but she also practiced careful dog-awareness. Sensing this, her dog guide soon learned to share her with the people who needed her. It was a subtle release, a "Don't be concerned about me. I'll be right here if you need me. You do your thing" permission.
Her second dog guide, Leader Dog Treasure, excelled at this dimension of their teamwork. Involved in conversation, Kathy and Dee sat in opposite chairs. Treasure lay at his partner's feet. When it was time for a prayer, Dee took Kathy's hands in hers. As they reached forward toward each other and Dee began to pray, Treasure observed the change. He nosed his way into the circle their hands made. Throughout the prayer, he sat with his rump to Kathy and his head facing his partner as if he, too, wanted to receive the prayer.
Other-awareness, respecting another's freedom, voluntary obedience, and the discipline of caring all call us toward a greater sense of being with each other. They bring us to a fuller understanding of oneness with all of creation.
Passion Sunday calls us to human compassion. Compassion is the capacity to walk in tandem with another in a rhythm of quiet listening that transmits understanding of the heart. Such a connecting of spirit can enable a shared blossoming of spiritual energy without overpowering either person.
How rare is the finding of a soul mate, one we recognize to be of the same mind of which Paul spoke to the Philippians. If you have ever been around someone whose presence invites a loosening of your tongue, you may have found yourself speaking without reservation. Abandoning self-censure, you spoke with a sense of safeness and of being heard. How grateful and how freeing it is to be one in spirit. Such obedience to the greater-than-either-one alone focuses the sense of purpose and meaning of each one.
Paul draws us toward this higher compassion in his letter to Philippian church folk. Well-named, Passion Sunday is charged with feeling. On this Sunday that begins the final week of Jesus' earthly life, Paul's words invite us to let the same mind be in us that was in Christ. We see in him a voluntary obedience. Jesus was in tandem with compassion.
Jesus exemplified a unique power. His power lay not in an escape from being ordinary. His might was in an extraordinary journey that reflected the fullness of being an ordinary person.
When someone comes into power, we expect the ego of that leader to be noisy and strong, not humble. Christ asked no one to bow to him. With powerful people, we accept overstatements of self-confidence that ward off uncertainty. We do not anticipate from those in power a voluntary emptying of the self.
We expect that at the last minute those whose lives are in jeopardy will exploit all available clout and devise all variations of the power play, not disregard them. That explains the therefore of verse 9, "Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name."
So great upon us is the impact of Christ's sacrifice that at the mention of his name, something melts within us. The knee of our soul bends in confession and affirmation. When Jesus was afraid as well as at ordinary times, he remembered God-awareness. Because of God-awareness, Jesus gained strength and courage. God and Christ were of the same mind. They lived in tandem.
Lent has been the time to school ourselves in "being of the same mind" as Christ. How can we translate this obedience into a discipline that we can tolerate, follow, and obey today? How can we become soul mates with God?
Those who stood by the side of the road that first Palm Sunday must have thought it as impossible to maintain faithfulness as one in spirit, in intention, and in goals as we do today. This is why on this day of remembering Jesus' journey into Jerusalem, we too stand by the side of the road in awe of him.
So that we can begin to comprehend the incongruity of emotions on Passion Sunday, let us leave this place today with the invitation to ask a question during the pregnancy of significant actions in our lives this week. To what higher goal am I choosing to be obedient? Perhaps then we might come an inch closer to meeting God's person-awareness of us with our God-awareness.
