Rian Adams Sermon “Shield: Carrying the Weight of God.” Second Sunday of Lent, Year C
A shield normally has one job… the difference between life and death can be how well a shield does that job. A shield’s job is to protect. In the Genesis passage God identifies as a shield – protector – to Abram… Gen 15:1 “Abram, I am your shield.”
It’s clear from the beginning of the story, God desires a relationship with Abram where God protects and guards him.There are many layers in God’s announcement, “I am your shield.” In the original Hebrew, shield (Mah-gane) is usually in masculine form. It means “to protect.” It’s a picture of God’s mighty arm holding a heavy shield that prevents arrows from nicking our vulnerable places.
But interestingly, it has a feminine use too, “to gather under” is one possible translation. God gather’s us under wings of protection. Another, far more enlightening feminine use, is “the thick hide of a female crocodile.” I wonder… can that expand our understanding of shield to include something we wear and not simply something we hold. It’s a powerful image of mother God shielding us with her thick skin. The blows reach her skin, they pummel her, she feels the pain, but it doesn’t breach her.
“Abram, I am your shield.”
When arrows try to puncture our soft hearts, her skin is the shield that absorbs the spear.
The shield imagery doesn’t stop there.
If you google “shield” the first shield you find, in search and images, is the shield of Captain America. I find it interesting to note: The most popular shield on the internet belongs to a super hero.
That hero is the archetypal warrior who is the pillar of justice, good, and morality. Our culture instantly equates a shield with a hero. It’s telling that our association with shield is one made from the strongest metal on earth. If you’re a comic geek you’re probably aware that Captain America’s shield was created by accident.
The shield’s creator worked with mythic Wakandan Vibranium. But the shield’s creation is not without misunderstanding… The metallurgist worked long hours and fell asleep before the final metal blend was complete. He took no notes, so the shield’s contents are a mystery.
The image creatively suggests that the God who shields us will always remain a mystery. We will never fully figure out how, or why, or even when God shields us.
The writer of Ephesians says to take up the shield of faith… There is some kind of mystery to God that we will never fully understand and we must simply hold sacred space for faith.
God protects us in ways that are mysterious. My guess is we can point to pivotal moments in our lives when God shielded us from injury, deceit, or distress. We probably didn’t noticed it then but hindsight, combined with spirituality, helps us see the mystery of God at work in many things.
However, as with any metaphor, it always offers a holy invitation to listen for deeper meanings.
As the Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung says, we learn to listen by “cultivating the creative art of inner conversation.
That imaginative conversation reminded me that a shield is weighty.
While I served as a soldier in Afghanistan, my body armor, my shield as it were, was roughly 75lbs of gear. I carried these body shields on my chest and back. Each day I shouldered the weight of my vest, attached the Velcro, buttoned the snaps, and prayed that I wouldn’t need it.
I wore these shields for months on end. What stands out to me is how quickly my body normalized the weight. The armor merged and became one with my body. I wore it like it was a second layer of skin. One post-deployment struggle was feeling naked without body armor. My body familiarized the weight of its shield and it found comfort knowing it was there should it ever be called upon.
But it was not without its difficulties.First, it was heavy. My shoulders are still tense from the weight because it was a constant burden. To this day I get 5 CCs of steroid in my right shoulder every 120 days. The pain is so that I welcome the cold steel of an 18 gauge needle as an old friend who visits for dinner and tells good stories.
Second, the sand in the deserts of the Middle East and South West Asia work their way between the collar bone and the shoulder strap. Hour after hour it rubs and grinds. You treat it with cream and band aids, it doesn’t do much. Every day I was reminded that my body shield was a double edged sword.
The body that it protected was the same body that it injured.
New medical studies say the same. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the number of military personnel who retired with musculoskeletal damage increased 1000% between 2001 and 2010. Military physicians now make the direct connection between the weight of body armor and chronic injuries.
It appears that carrying the weight of body armor for prolonged periods inflicts a harsh toll on the body. That leads me to a curiosity… I wonder what the weight of a shield teaches us about God?
I wonder if people feel like God is a heavy weight to shoulder? “Abram I am your shield… to carry.”
The weight of faith, in a world filled to the brim with governmental tyranny and human suffering, must be a reality we are willing to own. If God is like a shield then we need the spiritual freedom to admit when our arms tire. Although it’s scary to admit we need help, its essencential to grow into our vocations.
Even Jesus tired under the weight of his calling, the Gospels tell us another helped him carry his cross.
The psalmist understood the tension of God as shield.
In Psalm 33 he balances the protection of God with the need to patiently wait. He says, “We wait in hope for the Lord, He is our shield and our help.”
Maybe C.S. Lewis was on to something when he said that God’s glory is a weight to carry. I have friends who wear the weight of God. They shoulder the difficult joy of Christ’s ministry of mercy. But they grow tired carrying the God who protects them.
That’s why Jesus calls us to be a shield to our sisters and brothers! Jesus said,“Blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown mercy.”
In the original language, mercy literally means a surrounding of compassion. Jesus asks us to be like God… and shield one another with mercy.So when I buckle under the weight of church imposed perfection, love me like a soldier and pull me out of harm’s way. When I’m exhausted, hold up my hands like Aaron and Joshua did for Moses, and when I’m attacked, be Paul’s shield and quench fiery gossip.
Be my shield. Have mercy on me, surround me, as I attempt to wear the wdeight of the God who protects me.
Amen.
Note: This sermon was prepared and preached at Sewanee as part of a doctoral program.
Note: If you’d like to check out my other writings, you can find them here.
The Will of God: Jesus, Demons, and Family Drama
by The Rev. Rian Adams
“But how do I know the will of God?” The woman was extremely distraught. She had to choose between two equally appealing options and genuinely didn’t know what to do. The church where she grew up drilled a certain theology into her that served as a handicap. That theology goes something like this: If you mess up and miss the will of God, it can ruin your life.
She meant well, the church who taught her to live in fear probably meant well too. Her heart was certainly in the right place, and she simply wanted to please God. But I think the problem, and thus the agent of her suffering, was a misunderstanding of what “God’s will” means.
This Gospel passage from Mark touches on the subject and ties it to a theology and psychology of freedom. Initially this passage appears to be two sections. First we have a section on Jesus and resistance to his ministry of freeing the demon possessed. Second we have a section on Jesus’ mother and brothers and some family drama.
Although they first appear unconnected, I think they are purposefully connected by the Gospel writer. A main theme is freedom and the will of God. As you read it, you will see it.
The Lectionary Gospel, Mark 3:20-35. Proper 5, Year B.
Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebul! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables:“How can Satan drive out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. 26 And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come. In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house. Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.” He said this because they were saying, “He has an impure spirit.”
Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Demons and how to understand them
The story begins with opposition to Jesus casting out demons. Obviously debates have raged from the earliest days of the church on how we should understand demons. I think the most important thing is to recognize that demons were forces that controlled people. I think this applies psychospiritually.
Jesus made conscious the things that were controlling others. This is what brought about such criticism from religious leaders. They claimed that he was shining the light on the wrong day.
Apparently there is a wrong time to heal human suffering…
That seems to be an absurd idea but we shouldn’t be too quick to judge. The church has been guilty of this crime too. We have created wounds in the name of rules and righteousness when compassion and love would have healed them.
However, I like to think about demons in a spiritual light. Here Carl Jung proves helpful. He says, “…the psychic conditions which breed demons are as actively at work as ever. The demons have not really disappeared but have merely taken on another form: they have become unconscious psychic forces.”
In Jung’s thinking the demonic is an inside force of negativity and criticism (of self and others). This criticism often takes control of us and consumes us with anger and questions of “what if…”
No matter how we choose to understand demons, Jesus sets people free from them. In my thought Christ makes the unconscious conscious. And that will usually meet religious resistance.
Dementors flee in the Harry Potter books when the light shines from a wand. The same goes for us. When we shine the light and make seen the unconscious in ourselves, our “demons” are then exposed. We are able to overcome them when we make them known.
Family Drama
The second part of the story is about family drama. Who’s not familiar with that? Well, at least it seems like some mother son drama at first.
The story says that Jesus, like so many of us, ran into some family issues when he began shining the light onto the unconscious. It shows that the Holy Family wasn’t perfect either.
This seems to coincide with the above section because both show how people misunderstand the ministry of Jesus. First it’s religious leaders, second, it’s those closest to Jesus – his family.
If James Hillman is correct, the human psyche is “polytheistic.” For Hillman this means that the psyche consists of many different parts. Religion often suppresses certain parts of the psyche (or the soul) in the name of righteousness or goodness. I’ve witnessed this first hand with religious rules and socially accepted standards of behavior.
The family system where we grow up can also suppress pieces of the psyche. I once knew a woman whose father physically beat her and she had a hard time standing up to men. Another story we know all too well of the man who can’t function in life because his mother waited on him hand and foot. Thus, he’s rendered useless in a relationship because women, in his psyche, exist for service and not much more. The list can go on and on… Family has a way of imprinting its values early in life. When we resist the values and standards (especially spiritually) it can cause conflict.
The point is that families often instill handicaps to parts of the self. It’s important to remember that Jesus is not being rude to his mother. On the contrary, he is confronting a family system.
I think resistance in multiple areas of the self is expected when we evolve spiritually. As the German psychiatrist Fritz Kunkel says, “Creation continues. It’s not finished yet because we are still evolving.”
The Will of God
The crux of the lectionary Gospel comes down to the final verse. Jesus said “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister.”
The message seems clear… those who accept the naming and subsequent healing of unconsciousness are those in the family of God. Said another way, Jesus denounces the tribal family and replaces it with a family of the Spirit.
Jesus fundamentally redefined sabbath and tied it to a spirituality of loving people enough to heal them regardless of religious circumstances. That is the will of God… those in need freedom from whatever binds them. The will of God is not about asking God what grocery store will give us the best deal on steak this week. The will of God is Good News… mercy, love, hope, and compassion. And that Good News isn’t bound by a certain day of the week, or a particular Christian denomination.
My poem Flight is attached below, I hope it can be helpful. Also, if you’d like to read more of my poetry, click here.
Peace,
Rian+
Memorial Day: The Conflicting Feelings of a Combat Officer
By Rian Adams
Another Memorial Day is here…. I find myself conflicted as usual. On one
hand, I’m very thankful to be counted among the living today. It could have easily gone the other way.
I’ll confess that I didn’t sleep last night. I’m well aware of the reason. I remember my friends.
This morning I made espresso and took medicine that prevents me from dying of seizures. Thanks, Afghanistan, eye roll. I don’t want to take this medicine because it often robs me of an appetite. Then my shoulder tells me I was injured. It also tells me that I had 3 CCs of steroid injected a couple of days ago. My back reminds me of a spinal fusion, I take four Advil liquid caps to take the edge off. My ankle says “Hey, remember me, I could use some of that Advil too.” These scars testify to a journey few are expected to make.
Yet through all the physical pain, I have a sense of gratefulness. I’m thankful to be here, I’m thankful to be alive. I’m certainly glad that I can say “I love you” to the ones who are important to me.
I have friends who will never again tell their wives or kids how special they are. Some of their numbers are still saved in my phone because I can’t bring myself to delete them… it would be as if they died all over again.
To those brave men and women who gave up everything, I say this: Thank you for teaching me what love is.
Greater Love
Jesus said, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
I once sarcastically remarked that the military taught me more about love than the church. I’ve watched friends die for each other in combat, often holding hands in a hospital.
I haven’t watched very many people sacrifice themselves – in the way of Jesus – to save their friends in church. As one professor remarked to me recently, “You mostly watch the wagons circle the institution to protect it.”
That’s probably accurate, but I refuse to accept that answer. Call me arrogant, naive, or a host of other words… I’ve been called worse, trust me. Yet I’m silly enough to believe that if military members can give their lives for others, Christians can too.
In this way, my service as a military officer taught me what we should expect from a church: sacrifice, love, and mercy. Hold my hand when parts of me die!
On the one hand, I’m thankful, on the other I’m frustrated.
Some of my friends, veterans, are quick to be rude and obnoxious when people say “happy Memorial Day.” Instead of absorbing pain they tend, rather, to feel the need be social police. Sure, they make a valid point that Memorial Day is more than a three day weekend. They are also right that “happy Memorial Day” is not correct.
But when I’ve checked my phone today to noticed texts saying “happy Memorial Day,” I’ve just replied, “thank you.” Sometimes it’s important to lay down your own life (and the incessant need to be right about everything) for the sake of saying “Thank you” or “I love you.”
However, there is something deeper at work. My belief is that Memorial Day is about absorbing pain and transforming it into love.
The opportunity that combat veterans have is quite profound. If we are willing to shoulder the weight of being the 1%, then we can live, and then die, with the dignity worthy of our friends who did not come home.
When we choose to love, we understand the true message of military service.
My first Command Sergeant Major in the Army stood next to me at a re-enlistment ceremony (which always took place in the Battalion memorial) and said, “Father Adams, the Army has saved more souls than the church.”
I replied, “I can’t say for sure Sergeant Major, but what I can tell you is that love for the guy in the fox hole next to you is a central message of Jesus.”
I’ve learned, much like the Trojan War, that one does not have to agree with the political reasons for war to love the person who stands next to you.
I’ve written a poem about my feelings. It’s below. And with that, I think it’s time to get rid of some stress in the gym.
To my friends who didn’t make it back: I love you… more every day.
Peace,
R+
