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iving in the present
SERMON - 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 24th February 2008
Revd. Matthew Vernon
I had a lovely experience on Tuesday this week –
• a spiritual experience.
I was going to a meeting at Tao Fong Shan,
• the Chinese Christian Centre above Shatin.
It's a place I love going to –
• a peaceful, holy place.
It's wonderful to get a way from Central.
I was going to meeting at Tao Fong Shan so was feeling relaxed at the prospect:
• MTR to Kowloon Tong;
• one stop on the KCR to Tai Wai;
• then a taxi up the hill.
I was going to arrive on time.
Until the taxi driver went the wrong way.
If you've driven in Shatin recently you'll know this is easily done.
They're building an astonishing new road system with suspended roads and flyovers and confusing signs…
It's like a rabbit warren that changes regularly.
The taxi driver went the wrong way
• and for a moment I was tempted to snap at him,
• "Come on, you should know where you're going".
He had tried to avoid a queue at some traffic lights,
• only to find he couldn't go where he wanted to.
So off we went on the "scenic" detour.
For a moment I was tempted to snap at him,
• but then I thought, "hey, it doesn't really matter.
• "My friends won't mind if I'm a bit late.
• "And it will only be 5 or 10 minutes anyway."
So I relaxed and enjoyed the journey.
In those situations, I've often spent the time fretting about being late:
• annoyed that my timing has been spoilt.
But this time I put that to one side and enjoyed the journey.
I consciously appreciated the things I could see out of the window.
Since it was a sunny day the world seemed to glow.
Even the great concrete blocks of the new roads.
One road works sign said "We apologise for any inconvenience caused".
I smiled at what is says about the way we live.
We often feel inconvenienced,
• but most of the time its silly to feel like that.
When we reached Tao Fong Shan the taxi meter said HK$45.
The taxi man said "Sorry, sorry. $28."
I paid him the full amount –
• grateful for the wonder-ful journey.
I had a related experience on Wednesday.
It was lunch time so I went out of my office at St. John's Cathedral and headed for Pret A Manger in Lippo Centre –
• Pret do the best sandwiches in Hong Kong.
My mind was buzzing with the various things I had spent the morning doing.
But as I walked I started to relax.
On the way back to the office I faced a decision:
• do I go straight back to work and have the sandwiches at my desk?
• or do I go through Chater Garden and pause a while?
Not a life or death decision,
• but I'm glad I chose Chater Garden.
What intrigues me was the part of my mind that urged me to go straight back to the office.
I've noticed it in other situations.
Like the cartoon devil and angel sitting on each shoulder.
The devil was whispering
• "go straight back to the office and continue that important stuff".
I'll come back to that later.
It was bright, sunny day.
I sat down in Chater Garden and noticed what was going through my mind
• and then started noticing the beauty of the place.
The bright sunshine created all sorts of shade of light in the trees and plants;
• all sorts of shades of green.
I noticed the variety of leaf shapes and sizes.
I ate my sandwich more slowly.
One of the small palm branches was quivering faster and faster in a breeze.
Another small plant had deep red, burgundy leaves.
One of the big trees is a weeping fig tree –
• its majestic.
The fountains in Chater Garden at not the most beautiful ever designed,
• but the water sparkled.
Other people where eating their lunch there too.
Others were strolling through the garden on the way to somewhere.
The one person that jarred with the peaceful scene was the woman walking earnestly round and round,
• on her mobile phone.
Perhaps she was dealing was some urgent business.
But she seemed to be missing all the wonder around her.
Lent is about how we spend our time –
• how we spend each moment.
This is life or death stuff.
I've been reflecting on it since David died.
Lent is not about spending 40 days bewailing our manifold sins and wickedness.
Lent is about choosing life.
Which often involves self-discipline.
Lent is about engaging in the ongoing process of renewal and new life.
We can engage with that process at every moment.
I'm talking about living in the present moment:
• those often spoken words,
• but rarely practiced art.
Some of you have heard me talk about it before.
And it's such an important topic.
"The only thing you can know for sure is the present tense …"
• and yet we so often miss it.
"The nowness of everything is absolutely wonderful."
• but so often in Hong Kong we are distracted.
The good news is with a little self-discipline we can appreciated the present.
Perhaps not all the time –
• only a few reach that level of awareness –
• but we can catch glimpses of the glorious, holy present
• and those glimpses of peace and contentment encourage us to practice more and more.
One of the problems is that little devil sitting on my shoulder whispering
• "go straight back to the office and continue that important stuff".
I'm talking figuratively, of course.
The little devil is actually in side here (my head).
Psychologists might call it our "ego".
A good name is "silly me".
It's the constant flow of thoughts and memories and projections that distract us from what's right in front of us.
Its not who we really are.
Our true identity lies deeper within us.
The constant flow of thoughts distracts you from your true identity –
• your deepest identity,
• the inner-most you,
• the divine image that mirrors the Divine in all things.
This "silly me", this ego demands entertainment and distraction.
This might be entertainment like television or a book.
But it can be anything that keeps our ego occupied.
It might be the ever so important work sitting on our desk.
It might be emotional stimulation,
• joy or sadness.
Sometimes, for me, it's having lunch in a garden in Central wondering what to preach about on Sunday –
• like a photographer who only sees the world as potential photographs rather than just as the world.
It might be the entertainment of comparing other people negatively to our selves.
It might be day dreaming about a past event or an imagined future.
The point is that this appetite for amusement,
• this desire for diversion
• stops us really living.
It prevents us appreciating what is right in front of us
• and connecting with the Divine.
It distracts us from realising that the present moment is all we ever have.
For example, listening to me talking,
• I wonder if your mind has drifted off to something else,
• instead of really listening to these words.
Don't worry, my words are not important.
But we do it in other situations too when we don't really listen to what someone is saying.
That's just one example of how much of the time we live our lives like the people in this final story.
A group of people is on a bus that is passing through gorgeously beautiful country;
• lakes and mountains and green fields and rivers.
Every now and then the bus passes a wonderful Temple or an ancient walled village.
But the shades of the bus are pulled down.
Most of the people on the bus don't look outside
• and so do not have the slightest idea what lies beyond the windows of the bus.
They spend the whole journey arguing over what they will do when they get to their destination,
• quarrelling over what should be at the top of their sight-seeing list,
• squabbling about how they will spend their time.
And so they remain until the end of the journey.
But a few people on the bus peak behind the shades and appreciate what's around them.
Just occasionally, a person gets off the bus –
• they've realised that the journey is what's important
• and they've decided to walk.
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