Part 1: Solid Ground
Last Sunday, I heard a rumor that there would be a chance to see the northern lights. There had been a massive solar flare, and they predicted that it might lead the aurora borealis at 5:00 a.m. Sunday. So I got up at 4:30 am, put on my winter coat and hat, brought a blanket into the backyard, laid down on the ground and stared up at the sky.
Long story short: I didn’t see the northern lights. But that’s okay, because it was a beautiful opportunity to meditate for an hour, which was definitely worth the trouble. I didn’t see the aurora, but what did I see? When I first looked up, the sky was crystal clear, and even in the middle of St. Louis Park, I could see many stars. And I thought about what stars are: intense fires burning many lightyears away. And then the clouds started to drift in, carried by the wind – making the currents of the air visible. Those clouds, of course, were mostly composed of water droplets, and over the course of that hour, those clouds slowly blocked out the stars and filled the whole sky.
But the thing I enjoyed most was not the sights above me. It was the sensation of the ground beneath me. I tried to remember the last time I had lain down on the ground for a whole hour – it’s been quite a while. What an incredibly comforting feeling that is: that solidity beneath me. A whole, rock solid planet connected to my back. And it was not just the solidity that felt so good – it was also the sensation that the ground was fertile and rich, and supporting all the growing things around me: the grass, the trees and bushes – all made possible by the rich soil.
The only problem was the cold, and even with the winter coat and blanket, I longed for the warmth of the sun. And then it showed up, and heated my chilly bones. Then I went inside and turned on the space heater in my office.
Fire, air, water, earth. The four “classical elements.” Aristotle wrote about them 2,300 years ago, and other cultures throughout the world have picked up that idea and developed it further. The belief was that they were the buildings blocks of everything – a belief that was not really questioned until the time of Swedenborg in the 1700s, when we started learning about atoms and molecules, and the word “elements” took on new meaning. But there are still societies that see great value in dividing up the world that way. So I was inspired to start a sermon series exploring each of those four elements one at a time. Beginning with the one we named our planet after: “earth.”
There are some ironies about that, though: a marine biologist noted that we really should have named our planet “water,” since there’s more of that on our planet’s surface than dry ground. But of course, that water rests on solid earth. No other planet in our solar system has liquid water, or an oxygen-rich atmosphere, and without oxygen you don’t get fire. So it’s odd that we named our planet after the element that is not unique to Earth.
Whether other planets have “earth” depends on how you define that term, though. Does it just refer to soil? Or also to rocks, sand, clay and lava? It could be all those things. I have written sermons about soil before, so for this one, I will just focus on the quality that air, fire and water do not have (at least, not water at room temperature): solidity. What is the spiritual importance of solidity – that feeling of being able to lie down on something “rock solid.”
What does that correspond to? The most obvious answer is “beliefs” – those beliefs that you can trust, that will never let you down. I knew, for example, that my pre-dawn meditation was going to end at precisely 6:11 am. The experts told me exactly when the sun would rise, and they were right. What would that have felt like, if they had been wrong?
Solid beliefs – unshakeable faith. There are well-known stories in the Bible of people whose faith was tested, and they passed with flying colors. God asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son, which must have been the last thing Abraham would ever want, but he knew without question that if God asked him to do it, things would turn out well in the end. Daniel was placed in a den of hungry lions because of his faith on God, and his faith protected him. Those stories are thrilling, but also intimidating, aren’t they? Would your faith have faltered? In the New Testament, the disciple Simon was renamed Peter—meaning “rock”—because of his faith in Jesus (but this is the same Peter who denied Jesus three times on Good Friday).
What are the things in your life that you have utter faith in? What are the unshakeable beliefs? That there is a God? That God loves you? That there is a life after death? I can’t tell you what your rock solid beliefs ought to be – that is up to you, but I know you need to have some. At the university, I am surrounded by people who do not have religious faith – but they do have faith in something; principles or theories or facts, and their academic careers grew out of the soil of that faith.
They do not have to be religious or scientific beliefs. I think of the old Paul Simon song: “My mama loves me, loves me like a rock, like the rock of ages.” Knowing that your mama loves you – knowing it so well that you never have to question it – how important is that to your spiritual health, and your ability to thrive in the world? That is the solid ground that everything can grow out of, the ground you are planted in that allows you to grow into a glorious tree spreading branches everywhere.
Part 2: Earthquakes
But of course, one must recognize that sometimes those beliefs are shaken. There are earthquakes in the world. If it’s faith in another person, sometimes you discover that that person can let you down. The thing that you knew would never happen does happen. Metaphorically, the sun does not come up at the predicted time. People who had faith sometimes lose it. What caused them to lose it? For some, it is a tragedy that they just can’t reconcile with their beliefs – an event that is so terrible, they say “How can a loving God allow this to happen?” And because it did happen, there must not be a loving God.
Just like I’ve never seen the northern lights, I’ve never experienced an earthquake. I’ve heard that most people in earthquakes can’t grasp what’s going on for a few minutes, since it’s so disorienting to think that the earth itself is moving. How can that be? So when we face those spiritual earthquakes, no wonder the first stage is shock and disbelief. I picture the disciples during Easter week, at first triumphant in their belief that Jesus would take charge of Jerusalem and become their new king. And then they watch him get arrested and executed, and die on the cross. “No, no, no – this is all wrong! That’s not how this was supposed to go!” Jesus kept telling them over and over exactly what was going to happen, but their unshakeable faith prevented them from hearing it. They had the wrong idea, and it took a long time for them to grasp reality. No wonder it says there was an earthquake when Jesus was on the cross …and a second one on Easter morning.
For me, when I was 13 years old I knew with absolute certainty what I was going to be when I grew up: a musician. I could see with perfect clarity where the finger of divine providence was pointing. I played in many bands, but didn’t make a stab at making a living off from music until I got my bachelor’s degree. I joined a blues band in Tucson, and after three years it looked like our career was finally going to take off – there was talk of getting signed to a record label. Then came the terrible day when our bandleader left us in the lurch. My music dreams were shattered, and I lost my confidence that I could interpret the pointing finger of providence. That was an earthquake for me.
For other people, they don’t experience a spiritual earthquake, but they do go through a gradual eroding of faith. I think of a friend I’ll call George, who is about 65 years old – an extremely decent, kind-hearted man who spent most of his life as a loyal churchgoer. But over time, he lost his faith and now calls himself an agnostic. The things he was asked to believe just don’t make sense for him anymore; don’t work for him. We go for long bike rides together and talk about this sort of thing. We even talk about death, and he says cheerfully that he is not afraid of dying even though he has no idea what will happen next, if anything. It’s puzzling to me how comfortable he is with uncertainty. To be agnostic means to have no rock solid beliefs – at least on some subjects. And one reason he’s so pleasant to talk to is because he’s so open-minded. Yet it’s also clear that he has principles that he has built his life on.
Part 3: What an Earthquake Really Is
I want to make one more point about earthquakes. When I was young, I had this image that when an earthquake happens, the ground splits wide open and people are swallowed up into a giant chasm that goes all the way down to …. ? A bottomless pit. Even that phrase, “bottomless pit,” filled me with fear. You just keep falling forever, never hitting solid ground.
Of course, that’s not how earthquakes really work. Granted, they kill many people. But people die from things falling on top of them – not from being swallowed into a bottomless pit. Sometimes a crack may open up in the earth, but that crack doesn’t go down forever. Earthquakes are not the planet splitting open: earthquakes are a settling of tectonic plates, a resolution of forces. In reality, it is the earth getting more solid, not less solid.
So if you ever experience those spiritual earthquakes, and it feels like the bottom has fallen out beneath you, it is really just an adjustment. A recognition that what you thought was a solid foundation is not, and there is a more solid foundation you should rely on instead. You have put your faith in a false god, and it is time to find the true god instead.
When I was young, my unshakeable knowledge that I would become a world-famous musician was a false god. Knowing where the finger of providence was pointing was an illusion, was arrogance, and I am better off without that certainty. I am better off, as I said in a recent sermon, walking humbly instead.
People with an addiction are absolutely certain where their happiness comes from, and are absolutely wrong about that. Slowly their life falls apart, showing them piece by piece that their solution is not working, until they reach the phase called “rock bottom.” But I heard a song once that pointed out that when you hit rock bottom, you are standing on sacred ground.
So, whether you are lying in your backyard hoping to see the northern lights, or whether you were knocked flat on your back by hardships, either way you can look up at the stars and thank the Lord for solid ground.
Amen.
READINGS
Old Testament Reading: 1 Samuel 2:2,8
There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; on them he has set the world.
New Testament Reading: Matthew 16:13-18
[Jesus] asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. “
Reading from Swedenborg: True Christianity #152
Our human body grows; so does our human mind. Our body grows in stature; our mind in wisdom. Furthermore, our mind rises up from one level to another. It goes from being earthly to being spiritual, and from being spiritual to being heavenly. At the lowest level we are knowledgeable; at the middle level we have understanding; at the highest level we are wise. This rising of the mind, though, happens only over the course of time; it takes place as we acquire truths for ourselves and connect them to something good.
This process is much like building a house. First we get ourselves the materials for it—the bricks, the shingles, the beams, the boards. Then we lay the foundation, put up the outside walls, frame out the rooms, hang the doors, install the windows in the walls, and build the stairs from one level to the next. All these stages and features are together at once in our goal, however, which is the comfortable and respectable living space we planned and provided for.