ADVENT 3: Simplicity

 

Last Sunday we heard the simple story of John the Baptist in the wilderness baptizing in the Jordan River. He was preaching that he was preparing the way of the Lord -quoting from scripture, words spoken by Isaiah the prophet. John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

This Sunday we hear a more complicated story of John the Baptist.  Written 30 years later -or so- the Gospel of John has added all kinds of images, explanations, and theology to the story.

We understand how this works.  Consider your favourite stories to tell – or better yet a story that a partner or parents repeats often – over time has the story stayed the same?  Of course not. It is embellished with each recounting. People respond or ask questions, things get added, problematic pieces are taken out.  Actions might be added, long pauses .. if you get a laugh that part stays.  The teller of the story – if the story is about them-  becomes more and more the hero in each reiteration.    Meaning gets added to pieces of the story, or other stories, from before or after get added to punctuate the validity of the original story.

 

Being confronted with these two very different versions of the John the Baptist story, has had me reflecting this week on simplicity. Without much thought I certainly kept coming back to the realization that human beings have a propensity for making simple things very complicated.

As we have been considering holy practices for this season of Advent – the practice of attention and imagination; the practice of gathering and sharing the Word; this week we add the practice of simplicity.

 

A quick google search of the ‘practice of simplicity,’ offers two main ways to do this: own less and do less so that you can be more. Both of these -owning less and doing less- I commend to you; however, this is not where the sermon takes us this morning.  

 

Steve Jobs said: Simple can be harder than complex: you have to work to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.

 

To practice simplicity  we have to work at changing our thinking; changing the patterns of our brain.

 To prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ, let us begin with exercises for the brain, so that the brain will follow our heart song.

As crazy as this might sound, this week to practice simplicity try one or both of the following:

First when giving an answer to a question respond with either yes or no – that would mean no added commentary, or asking someone else what they think, or waiting to try to determine what the person asking wants to hear, no colouring your response with an excuse or explanation.  Yes, this sounds easy enough...  until you consider the answers one usually gives to questions.  Answering only yes or no is not our common practice.  We generally rely on extra thoughts and words to either avoid answering a question directly or to validate our choice. Practice simplicity – yes and no.

Second when getting dressed forget about choosing clothes. Simply reach your hand into your drawer or closet.  Pull out underwear, a pair of socks, a shirt, bottoms...don’t even bother to look or match or think about what the outfit will look like.  How much fun would that be?  Honestly, we are mostly at home anyway. So shake off preconceived ideas of what goes together, is proper, is expected... with making fewer well thought out choices -about something that really doesn’t matter so much- you are training new pathways in your brain.  The added bonus of participating in this activity is that every time you see yourself in a mirror, you will see yourself differently because you look different.

You are practicing simplicity.

 

Advent is a season when we are called to dream, to hope, to see what can be, to focus on promises and the fruition of those promises.  God is nudging us to expand our horizons – to expand how we think and how we participate in the bringing of God’s promises to this time and place.

 

Through Advent we hear the words of the prophets, songs from Zechariah, Mary, and Simeon. All contain similar words, words that speak of God’s vision of wholeness for creation.

This morning we hear the words from Isaiah - simple words – we have heard them many times before:

Speak good news to the oppressed, bind up the broken hearted, proclaim liberty to the captive, release to the prisoners,  comfort those who mourn.  All are simple instructions.

 

But our experience is that these are not simple instructions. And you would be right in so far as human beings have trouble with simple.  Speaking good news to the oppressed, binding up the broken hearted, proclaiming liberty to the captive, release to the prisoners, and comforting those who mourn are complicated by politics, religion, , philosophy, societal norms, culture, race, status quo.  In facing change to work towards fulfillment of promise and creating vision into reality – we spend a lot of time worrying and focusing on trying to keep everyone happy, not wanting to put ourselves in a corner by picking sides; we want to be seen as politically correct, have our opinion heard (and acted on), not have changes affect the life we are living, and we do not want to be ‘that’ person who rocks the boat. We do not practice simplicity.

 

Some of the biggest problems in the world have simple solution:

homelessness: build or provide a shelter for someone

hunger: give food

thirst: provide a clean water source

war: stop fighting

It is really quite simple!  Human beings are the ones who have made solutions complex.

Remember what Steve Jobs said: Simple can be harder than complex: you have to work to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.

And there it is – you can move mountains. God’s vision is possible, now. You can build and provide shelter. You can relieve hunger. You can provide water. You can stop fighting. If enough of us practice simplicity and model using simple solutions, homelessness, hunger, thirst, and war would be no more.

 

Advent is a season that gives us a chance to strip away the ‘extras’ and return to the foundation of who we are and what we are to be; as created in God’s image. This year, like non-other in our lifetime, is an opportunity to reflect and determine the simple truths. Without the same mad-dash to Christmas we have time to ponder the simplicity of faith, life, relationship, hope, peace, joy, love.

My prayer is that as each of us ponders and practices simplicity, the beautiful words of the prophet rest in our hearts – as a heart song- and that our brains refrain from complex acrobatics and rather follow our hearts to blanket the world in hope, peace, joy, love – solving the world’s biggest problems – for the healing of the whole world.

 

The German-British economist E.F. Schumacher once said: Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction.

 

God grace you with a touch of genius and a lot of courage, much courage, to move in the opposite direction.  Amen.