Living in the Land of Butterflies

Anton DeWet

Joshua 1:10-17

I dearly dislike quoting politicians because my personal disillusionment with them comes after seeing their inner workings in the two states of which I had previously been a citizen. It has led me to believe that the difference between a good politician and a bad one is simply 6 months. I know…I know…I am a little optimistic here!

But when Rahm Emanuel says, “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste…” I have to agree. Shall I add that Mr. Emanuel appears to have inherited great opportunities to prove his point.

We are at a point in time when the world finds itself at a hinge period in history. Its like the door has swung open and we are crossing over into a new room where things are very strange and unfamiliar. The world economy is teetering on the brink of total collapse.

With over thirty wars waged at this time two of which touch us very intimately it feels like our new world is an angry, dangerous place.

The great divide between those who have and those who can barely stay alive is growing and the consequences of this inequality will soon come to haunt us in ways we cannot imagine yet.

I looked at a map of the areas that will be flooding here in the US due to global warming and the melting of the ice caps and I discovered that I will, some day in the not so distant future, be owning beachfront property over in Safety Harbor. I will also be living on a very small island.

The new world unfolding before our eyes is a place of crisis. The question is whether we as people of faith, are going to let this opportunity go to waste?

Joshua and the Israelites faced a huge crisis when the father of their tribe, Moses, died. We read over this story and it sounds like a smooth transition from one administration to another, but it must have been far from that. It was most probably a time of great crisis filled with fear and uncertainty. What would become of them here in the desert without their leader?

And in the midst of the crisis a young man named Joshua steps forward and leads them through that hinge period of their history. Joshua not only calms their fears and anxiety and uncertainty, but he leads them through the door of history into the next room of life. Where Moses had been the father of the tribe his best efforts kept them trekking through the desert for forty years and it takes the crisis of his death for these people to be able to make the next phase of their history possible. They cross the River Jordan and they claim a place where they settle and prosper.

And the author of this story interprets this part of there history as a great triumph giving God the credit saying:

“Wherever you send us, we’ll go. We obeyed Moses to the letter; we’ll also obey you. We just pray that Yahweh, your God, will be with you as he was with Moses.”

God will be with you as he was with Moses.

How can we believe that God will be with us as we, the 21st centuries Joshua generation face the uncertainty of the future, not knowing what it is that lies ahead for us?

Most of don’t believe that God literally intervenes in the history of people allowing some to win major military battles and allowing others to be defeated as the Old Testament stories claim. We know that was how these people thought God was involved in their history, but its plain to see that its not true that God is in the weapons of mass destruction business.

So how do we find any direction in these times when we imagine God’s presence in this world and in a time when crises threaten to overwhelm us?

Remember the words of the people of Israel: “Wherever you send us, we’ll go. We obeyed Moses to the letter; we’ll also obey you. We just pray that Yahweh, your God, will be with you as he was with Moses.”

The Israelites acknowledge God to be their guide and inspiration, but then they stand up and do something very courageous. They cross over the River Jordan and march into the unknown with hope and courage.

God does not send angel armies to help Wall Street overcome its bizarre combination of greed and abuse and God does not send the angel Gabriel to fight wars. But God endows us with the ability to stand up for what is right and just. God bestows upon us the potential to do great things not by conquering armies in great battles but by overcoming pain and brokenness and hopelessness and despair by small acts of kindness—small deeds of love toward another—what seems to us like insignificant acts of justice toward the least among us.

“But that’s not gonna fix the world…” you may say.

I was privileged to hear Deepak Shopra speak on Friday evening and this great thinker used an image I will never forget.

He said that the world stands at the brink of a new consciousness. A new way of thinking and living. A quantum leap in the evolutionary process. And he likened it to an example of such a quantum leap of creative power in the life of a butterfly. He said that the butterfly and the worm are the only examples in nature where one creature evolves into an entirely different creature with a different heart, different eyes, a different metabolism, in the span of days.

He told us how within the body of the caterpillar there are cells called imanginal cells (from the word imagination). These imaginal cells are identified by the immune cells of the caterpillar to be foreign objects and they attack the imaginal cells. But the imaginal cells are so entirely of a different consciousness or reality that they do not even acknowledge the attack against them much less be harmed by these attacks. And eventually these solo imaginal cells find one another and clusters of imaginal cells begin to stick together. At a critical point the caterpillar’s metabolism overcomes its own body and the caterpillar begins to die. And the goo and mess of its body suddenly sets of a frenzy of activity in the imaginal cells. These imaginal cells feed off this goo and flourish in it and these clusters become a more integrated system of cells and out of this is born an entirely new creature, the beautiful butterfly.

We, Friends, are God’s imaginal cells in this world. In the beginning what we do tend to be isolated and small. But we gather in clusters and are called to be of a consciousness that is so different from the rest that the attacks of the immune system of this world cannot harm us. And in the crisis of our world we are called not to hide or become paralyzed with fear and uncertainty but to recognize that this is where God has called us to be and to imagine the power we have even though our deeds and actions appear small and insignificant and isolated, there are clusters of these cells all over the world gathering strength and momentum even as we speak.

And if we remain true to our calling and steadfast on our journey we will find that these cells will come together in systems that we may still not be able to imagine but remember—we are God’s imaginal cells, gifted with a DNA that cannot be overcome and from this great new imaginal system will come the new creature, the butterfly of God’s love. A new expression of how to be a human being in this new world.

People of God, we cannot be overcome by either crisis or threat of war or oppression or disease or even grievous loss for God has gifted us with the ability to be transformed from worm to butterfly. This is our mission in this great miracle of life—to stay focused on what it is we can do individually and collectively and to do it well!

In the Gospel of John Jesus tries to explain this concept to Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council, when he says; “Unless you are born again you will not enter God’s realm.”

Friends, yes, these are times of great uncertainty. We could loose our savings in this mess. Yes, the world is a place of great danger and much violence. The earth is changing before our eyes and we could be facing our own demise if we do not help in restoring its health. Our own Faith Church appears to have reached the end of a road as we know it. But I proclaim to you the Gospel of Hope and the God of the ages who says in Isaiah 41:10 “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

We are being upheld by the love of God as God’s clusters of imaginal cells and from us there will come forth God’s butterflies of faith, hope and love and we shall overcome and flourish whatever the odds.

So let us go from here, embracing the present with its uncertainty and threat as God’s opportunity for this world. Remember that you are not alone. Remember that we are not alone. Imagine the future, gather what you have for we are the Joshua generation, and we are about to cross the River Jordan on our way to a place we may call God’s Promised Land. Let us give thanks to God for the past, the future is ours…Amen.

PRAYER

O God, you are our Shepherd God. When we feel tires and overwhelmed you are our strength and hope. We pray in these times for a vision of what it is we are becoming in the midst of these times. We pray for a vision to be able to see how the clusters of cells in this world are transforming and coming together even though we see only chaos at present.

We give thanks for this church and its witness to the world. We pray for vision to see what it is we can become as we are transformed from the structures of those who came before us to the new possibilities of a future church where the message of hope and the deeds of love transforms all of us into your butterflies of hope.

We give thanks for the leadership of this church and for the support of every person here. Guide us this afternoon in our conversation regarding our future and free our minds and hearts to discover your mission for us.

We turn our thoughts to those among us who are ill, who are recovering, who are deeply pained by the anxiety of these times, and those who have suffered the loss of a relationship or who struggle to maintain relationships with those they love.

Guide us, O great Jahwe, and may your peace be upon all who seek to serve you in this place. Amen.