Running on Empty

from my message on Sept. 28, 2014, from Phil. 2:1-13

Here's something we rarely say to each other, "Have an empty day!"  When we see our children off to school, we don't usually say, "Go and be empty!"  We don't leave our friends with the words, "I wish for you emptiness!"

No, we are about filling up.  We want full bellies....full bank accounts.....especially we want full calendars.

We are a little bit scared of emptiness.

A pastor friend of mine recently came back from a silent retreat at Lebh Shomea.  This is a Catholic house of quiet and prayer near Sarita, Tx.  You don't talk there.  Even at meals, it is quiet.  The only time you may talk is at morning communion service, where you exchange the peace of Christ and participate in the liturgy.  My friend said he really needed to be there.  He needed a time to vacate, to know emptiness.

We go on vacations, but we rarely experience them as emptiness.  We often try to fill them.  "We have just enough time to make it to the Battleship Texas.  Let's go.  If we hurry, we can make it."

We may fell like Jackson Browne in his song, Running on Empty.  I never really listened to the words before.  It seems like the faster he went, the more he tried to do, the more he felt empty.  All of the trivial stuff didn't satisfy.

I heard from one of our members about a friend of his who went to a retreat house on a Greek island.  It too was a house of quiet and prayer.  The only one who spoke was the retreat master.  This retreat master showed the man to his tiny room, with simple bed, desk, lamp.  He wished him good night, saying he would see him for breakfast  in the morning.  It was so quiet, that the many slept hard.  He woke up hungry.  He went to the dining hall, late for breakfast.  He asked the retreat master if he could still get something to eat.  "Yes," the retreat master replied.  "We were starting to get worried about you.  You have slept for 3 days."  Running on empty is our theme.

Before I get to Paul's counsel to the Philippians, I have one more encounter from this past week.  I visited with Tina Carter, pastor at Parker Lane UMC.  We have done several things with this sister congregation over the years. They are only 8 miles away, but a world away from us here in Westlake Hills.  In East Austin, they have much more diversity according to race, languages, socio-economic levels, education levels.  Tina says, "We do one thing really well."  "What's that?" I asked.  "We hang out really well.  We do relationships really well."  This is making room, clearing space, cultivating emptiness.

That's what Paul offers to the Philipppians.  They were filled up with pettiness.  I know we never get caught up in pettiness today!  We never major in the minors!  We never fill up on selfish trivialities!  Paul's cure for their community was clever.  He sang them a song, a song they knew.  He didn't preach to them.  He didn't offer a bunch of theology.  He didn't give them a lot of rules.  He sang a song from their hymn book. That's what verses 6-11 are, a song.  The song says, "Have this mind among yourselves that was in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God did not count equality with God as a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, freely accepting death, even death on the cross."

His counsel to them is emptiness.  He says, "Learn your part in the song.  Join in the harmony with others. Follow the example of Christ."  I ask you, can you sing all the parts of a song.  We had one person at the early service who said that they had that kind of range.  But I asked, "Can you sing them all at the same time?"  No, we are to empty ourselves, find our part, and do it well, for the sake of the community.  There are many voices.  Each is important.

I remind you about the nature of music. The notes are important, but so are the rests!  The emptiness is part of the music.

I have  a way for you to practice this song of faith; it is ReThink Church Plus 1 on Oct. 19.  We are going to call off worship services here to be in service out in the world. We are going to invite a guest alongside of us, our Plus One.

You see the bulletin insert with its list of projects.  New ones are being created each week. This past week Matt asked me if the youth basketball team that practices in our gym could go out and repair nets on city or church playgrounds.  I said, Yes, that is exactly what I want to have happen here.  Be creative.  Be entrepreneurs of the Spirit.

Here's a video of Senior Caregivers.  It captures well that idea of "hanging out,"  of having no agenda but simply to be in relationship with someone, of creating emptiness so Christ can move in.

Most of our projects this year are not just one shot, let's feel good about ourselves projects.  They are about establishing relationships, about hanging out with God's people, about emptying ourselves of our agendas.

One other way you can practice this emptiness is with your Plus One.  Someone in this church suggested it to me:  take this list of projects to your Plus One and have them choose the one they feel drawn to.  I hope you are praying for your Plus One, maybe have even invited them already.

I close with a story on altruism. I heard it on NPR as I was driving around this past week.  Altruism is giving, even giving sacrificially with no thought of reward or payment, maybe even doing so anonymously.  The story on the radio started with a woman on the east coast who donated a kidney to another woman she didn' know on  the west coast.  The researcher was trying to find out what motivated here to do that.  She did a study of other altruists.  She found in brain scans that altruists have enlarged amygdalas.  They are sensitive to others' pain.  She found that psychopaths have stunted amygdalas.  What we do here in worship, our singing, our praying, our serving together in community is all brain training!  It is growing our amygdalas.  We can have the mind of Christ!

The researcher was asked why she was interested in this field.  She said, When I was a young woman, my car broke down in the fast lane, the passing land on the interstate.  I was stuck there.  A man came along. He got my car off the road.  He got cars to go around.  He got me help.  Then he drove away. I never got his name."  We have Christ who has set for us an example to follow.

I wish for you emptiness, so that you may be filled with the presence of Christ.  That's the good news I have to share.