Journeys with Jumblies
July 22, 2007
by Martha Gotwals

When I was a college student, my home church made the big mistake of inviting me and other undergraduates back to speak at a service. Our topic: What do college students think of the church? Those of you who know me probably realize how big a mistake it was. Then as now, I seldom shirked from expressing my views, even when they were unpopular. Why, I asked, isn't the church out protesting the Vietnam War? Jesus believed in peace. Why aren't we doing more around poverty? Jesus loved the poor. Why aren't more wealthy people sharing? Remember the rich young ruler? Fortunately for my parents, I was not shunned for speaking these words. Instead a number of people came up to me afterwards. Pro or con, they wanted to talk about what I'd said.

What I realized much later was that all those beliefs I cared about, I had learned in that church. My faith was the foundation for how I lived my life, working for nonprofits my whole career and getting involved in advocacy and political movements for change. All this comes from learning from an early age "to do unto others as you would have them do unto you" and "to love your neighbor as yourself." You may not see religion in the same way when you grow up, but the values stick with you.

That's why I started coming to Judson when my daughter Lauren was about a year old. She could accept or reject the specifics, but I wanted her to have that foundation. You're probably asking yourselves what all this has to do with Jesus' retreat to the wilderness and The Jumblies. To tell the truth, a few weeks ago, I was asking myself the same thing. I knew I wanted to put together a service about life journeys. But as the time loomed closer, I began to wonder if I was out of my mind. Let's face it - the speaking I've done before this congregation has focused on social action. Why did I think I could talk about faith as a basis for living, and at Judson, of all places?

But then I thought some more. I thought about the members of this congregation and all you do to make a difference in this world. We may come from many different places spiritually and theologically, but something brings us all to church. To me that's faith - a foundation that demands we develop spiritual strength and work for justice and love.

The story of Jesus models that strength for us, and nowhere more clearly than his journey to the wilderness. Truth to tell, God cast him "to sea in a sieve." The wilderness is where he makes choices of his own. He's tired and hungry after a long trip on foot and a 40-day fast. In the story, the devil tempts him with food, with infinite power and with proving that he is God's son and has God's protection. Jesus turns all these temptations down flat. He accepts the path that has been laid for him.

And the way Jesus resists is with the values that he learned in the synagogue. Every response he gives is a quote from what he was taught. When tempted to turn a stone to food, he says, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone.'" When offered power, he says, "It is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'" When tempted to prove his divinity, he says, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

This story is particularly important because it occurs between Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist and the beginning of his public ministry. Jesus rejects the role of king with all its trappings for an uncertain future, laying the foundation for his unconventional views and his ultimate death. The kind of witness he will make is laid out in his first public statement made upon his return to the city. He chooses the words of the prophet Isaiah to proclaim his ministry: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release of the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." Jesus aligns himself with the poor, the oppressed, the prisoner, rather than with the authorities and the powerful. His life journey will be spent preaching for change, following his understanding of faith.

Making choices is what we see modeled over and over in Biblical journeys - Moses' decision to lead the Jewish people to the Promised Land; Noah's choice to build that ark as crazy as it seemed to others; Ruth's decision to buck tradition and stick with Naomi; Saul's choice to become Paul and join the dangerous religion of Christianity.

Life journeys are like going to sea in a sieve. We know we're in danger of drowning. But the experience can be wonderful. What's important are the decisions, how we prepare and what we bring with us on the trip.

When we move into adulthood, what dreams do we have? What values do we bring? When we decide to become parents, what do we have to give? How do we act, what beliefs do we share when our children are growing up? When we face our own mortality, what sustains us? What gives us strength?

The Jumblies chose to "go to sea in a sieve." Instead of being scared, they relished the adventure. When things got tough, they adapted. And when they finally came back home, all the people who'd said they were crazy wished they'd gone too.

May we live our lives like the Jumblies, taking chances, bringing with us the visions and the beliefs that we can affirm, leaving the fears behind that can drag us down, finding strength within ourselves when things get tough, and living out our dreams. Bring on that sieve!

*****

by Lauren Otis

What journey are you on at this time in your life?
How does this journey compare with going to 'sea in a sieve'?
What are your hopes on this journey?
What are your fears?
What do you bring with you on the journey?
What gives you the strength to face it?

In response to the six questions that my mom proposed, it was pretty difficult to identify one journey in particular to step out and share with you. All of the journeys that I brainstormed either seem to be works in progress or reeeeally cliché. The journey to find love currently seems to be stalled, seeing as my internship has me consistently…and sometimes overwhelmingly surrounded by women-and the last new male individual I met dually happened to be the creepiest individual I've ever met. After hours on end of stuffing envelopes and running around town, sometimes in the rain, to deliver items to people that often lack the common courtesy to smile and say 'thank you'-I often find myself too exhausted by the time I get home to even THINK about turning around, getting dolled up, and going back out into the night on a quest to have that chance meeting with my soulmate. No, by this time, sprawling out onto my bed with my laptop to my immediate right to watch an illegal/pirated episode of 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' on the internet looks 'pretty pretty PRETTY GOOOOOOD'.

The journey to "find myself" seems too vague and too layered to try and dissect in front of you all, and coincidentally, one that has also been stalled because I have been too busy poring over envelopes and putting together giftbags for editors that may or may not even like them.

I always used to hear people say on TV and in movies that once your career takes off, the rest of your life seems to remain in somewhat of a stasis. Given the fact that these envelopes seem to be that magic ingredient that currently obstructs the rest of my life from occurring, I will share with you why they are so important.

In a sociology class that I took during my final semester of college, one of the constant ongoing themes was that an individual's quality of work and quality of life never seem to match one another. It appears that one often seems to detract from the other, but CAN one actually maintain a quality of work and a quality of life that impact one another in positive ways? To work my way up from scratch until this is actually feasible-this is my journey.

How does this compare to going into a sea in sieve? Well, sieves are full of holes, and they particularly known for their advanced navigation technology. Sometimes I feel like I don't know if I'm going in the right direction. I managed to get past the interview stage and get myself offered two fall internships: One with Ken Sunshine and one in PR at Rolling Stone. Which do I pick? I don't know. My interests sometimes feel like they are too far across the board from one another. Can an entertainment publicist simultaneously be a film editor, and a Vanity Fair columnist? I.. don't… know if this has been done yet, but if it has, you had better believe that I will hunt them down and make them give me answers.

What are my hopes? What are everyone's hopes? Money. Success. Fame. Glamour. No, I'm just kidding. Well, maybe not. I don't need fame. I'd just like to see what I always like to see: The end product of an awesome creative endeavor that I can proudly put my name on top of. In terms of money, I don't need to be the next Paris Hilton. I'd just like enough so that I can get my mom back for all the amazing things she's given throughout the due course of my life…and….a few Catherine Malandrino dresses. And then I'm good.

What do I fear? What else? Death. I don't really believe in failure, just laziness. I don't mean to sound like a spokesperson for the American Dream ideology, it's just that I believe everyone has the capacity to make things happen for themselves-it's just a matter of going the procedures that they need to to make the doors open. Sometimes I feel like time is not moving at the pace I need in that little office with the envelopes that sometimes starts to feel like a cage, making me claustrophobic and keeping me from my list of perpetual randomness. The moments I can sneak in with my ipod might be the only thing to keep my heart inside my chest and save me from my impatient state. Sometimes time moves so slowly that the minutes seem to turn themselves into years for the sake of driving me to the brink of insanity, and it's like my anxiety is about to erupt from my pores. Yet, I can't help but feel like everything I've done and everything I do are working in coordination towards something great. What it is is not definitely established, but it is there, brimming with the possibility of occurring, and instilling further confidence within me when I'm getting warm.

What gives me strength of my journey? My friends, and of course, my mom.

*****

Ancient Testimony: Luke 4:1-19