Onto New Ground

Isaiah 43:16-21, John 12:1-8 and Excerpts from For A New Beginning in To

Bless the Space Between Us by John O’Donohue

April 6, 2025

Good morning again from all of the places you are gathering, with whatever

you are bringing today, I feel so grateful that we have one another, that we

have this group of people and this place. May we each hear whatever it is

that we need to hear today. And as you are moved, I invite you to join me in

a spirit of prayer from Psalm 19.

“When your courage kindled, out you stepped onto new ground…”

These lines from this poem by John O’Donohue spoke to me this week, in

this moment in our shared history, in our life together in this country and on

this planet. Things are clearly opened, shifted, expanded when courage is

kindled. Even with just one flame flickering, even if just in a small way, even

if just for a short time, courage like anger can be contagious. Courage can

make a way to new ground, can spread among the masses…

Especially when we let go of thinking that we need to know where we will

end up or whether it will do any good or how it will be received, courage

can make a way onto new ground. And as the poet also said, though your

destination is not clear, you can trust the promise of the opening; when our

courage is kindled, out we venture, on we go, onto new ground, even in a

time that does seem like a wilderness.

When so much is being destroyed and not all of it can be saved, moving

fast and breaking things might take generations to repair, but we will

continue to save what and whom we can, we will continue to protect what

and whom we love to the best of our ability and in order to get through this,

I believe we need to see courage as a spiritual practice.

I believe that when we gather each week and come here we can remember

those who came before us who bravely busted through with love. As some

of us learned from our studies of some of the gospels and early writings not

included in our Bible, especially in the Gospel of Mary, part of our north star

is seeing the world with and living from the eye of the heart, seeing the life

of faith as rooted in our hearts. The word "courage" itself actually comes

from the Old French word "corage,"which in turn comes from the Latin

word "cor," meaning "heart." Courage is trusting the heart, speaking from

the heart, acting from the heart. And I believe that a key element of the

Christian faith is courage, being willing to live what we believe, living from

our hearts, even when that is labeled as something other than Christian. As

Heather and I were planning some activities for our kids and figuring out

what we wanted to introduce, Heather said, “Religion gives people a

backbone.” The Christian teachings give us something to hold us up and

move us onto new ground. Being faithful is being courageous.

Sometimes courage looks like speaking for 25 hours in a row, when people

are saying what good is that going to do? Sometimes what we can do is

disrupt business as usual. Sometimes it looks like being willing to get

curious with a relative who thinks differently. Sometimes courage looks like

staying sober and healthy so we are alive and clear for this moment to love

ourselves and others. Sometimes courage looks like being willing to lose a

job or leaving it entirely, risking financial security for the sake of truth.

Sometimes courage looks like being willing to make a call to an elected

official for the first time. While I was on vacation last week, I had a chance

to catch up with some friends. A dear friend shared they had never called

an elected official before. I took a deep breath and thought of how I have

seen many progressives shame people really easily in this moment. And in

my experience, that doesn’t help get people on board. After we got off the

phone, I sent her something she could use. And I celebrated that one call

was a big deal. Sometimes courage isn’t bold. Sometimes courage is

private. Sometimes it’s just doing the thing we need to do, letting go of

where it will end up. Sometimes courage looks like being willing to bring

oneself out of the house, off the keyboard, out onto the sidewalks and in

the streets when it’s unclear what else there is to do to disrupt business as

usual. And I know a lot of you were out there yesterday. And I love that

some of my church ladies went to brunch and then to the streets. These

are my church ladies! Brunch and to the streets! And sometimes courage is

daring to hold onto to empathy. I see that’s what they targeting now is

empathy. We won’t let that happen. Even for people who got us into this

mess. We will have empathy. And we are ready to welcome all.

And do you know I think sometimes courage also looks like being among

those willing to accept the truth of what is happening, to be among those

who are willing to be there, to be present fully to care for the ones who will

be harmed or hurt or killed by the powers and principalities. I think

sometimes courage looks like being there for those who grieve.

In the part of the story that we heard in the Gospel of John, I wonder if that

is part of what Mary is doing with Jesus. When those around him, even

those who are among the so-called closest, the ones whom tradition labels

the 12 disciples, she gets what is about to come. She understands what the

government is doing and is about to do. And she anoints him. As New

Testament Professor Susan Hylen writes, “Anointing with oil or perfume

had many purposes in antiquity. For kings and priests, anointing meant

consecration for a specific purpose (see Exodus 40:15; 1 Samuel 16:12).

The sick were anointed as a ritual of healing (e.g., Mark 6:13; James 5:14)

and the dead anointed for burial (e.g., Mark 16:1).” Jesus is of a kind of

royalty, but one whose message cannot be found on a coin, He speaks of

and lives in an upside-down world where all are included, where the last

are first, where those with too many resources are invited to give them up,

to welcome the heaven is at hand. The story that we get, Jesus is referring

to Deuteronomy 15:11 where we read, “I command you to open your hand

to the poor and the needy neighbor in your land.”

Sometimes courage looks like being willing to accept reality when no one

else is willing to. Mary is using the oil to ritualize the end of this part of the

story, to bless and anoint him as a leader so different than the ones in

Rome and she’s ritualizing how to prepare for the next chapter or as the

Prophet Isaiah said, I am about to do something brand new, or as it says in

another version behold I am doing a new thing. I think that part of how we

will move through this time and move ourselves onto new ground, part of

how God will do the new thing with us, among us, in us and between us,

when it’s unclear what else there is to do, but disrupt business as usual,

here is how we can live from the heart:

- Be courageous in whatever way you can, whatever that looks like for you.

Wherever you are, now is the moment see courage as a spiritual practice.

- We must accept what is happening. We cannot live in denial. Let us

anoint some things for burial. This is how we accept the truth.

- Be among those who are willing to be present to care for the ones who

will be harmed or hurt or killed. We must continue to show up, even when

it’s hard. Being there for those who grieve.

-Accept what can rise from here. It is time to prepare for what is next. That

is how God does a new thing; we must accept some things are dying.

That’s how we fall to the end, knowing that isn’t really the end. That is how

it is unfurled into the grace of a new beginning.

I know God will do a new thing, the energy that is love between us. It is

courage that will help make a way onto a new ground.

Communal Reflection

What does courage look like to you right how? How have you experienced

God/Love/Spirit do a new thing?

Beloved of God, courage can help us make a way onto new ground. So let

us hold nothing back. Let us learn to find ease in risk. Let our souls sense

the world that awaits us. May it be so. Amen.