“I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.”
If you’ve read the classic work The Great Divorce: A Fantastic Bus Ride from Hell to Heaven—A Round Trip for Some but not for Others, by C. S. Lewis, you will have met Sarah Smith, one of the great beings who resides in heaven. C.S. Lewis gets to meet her during the dream in which he travels for a brief time into heaven.
Let’s listen in on the conversation that Lewis has with George McDonald, his heavenly guide, as they watch Sarah Smith arriving at the edge of heaven to meet her husband, who has died and who now has the opportunity to choose whether or not to stay in heaven.
Sarah Smith appears, accompanied on either side by a great host of young men and women. Lewis finds out that this host is made up of her sons and daughters. His teacher explains, “Every young man or boy that met her became her son—even if it was only the boy that brought the meat to her back door. Every girl that met her was her daughter.”
She had a love for them that made them true to their own love for others.
“And then…”And how…but hullo! What are all these animals? A cat—two cats—dozens of cats. And all those dogs…why, I can’t count them. And the birds. And the horses.”
“They are her beasts.”
“Did she keep a sort of zoo? I mean, this is a bit too much.”
“Every beast and bird that came near her had its place in her love. In her they became themselves. And now the abundance of life she has in Christ from the Father flows over into them.”
In Lewis’ vision, Sarah Smith is surrounded by her exceedingly numerous family, a family gathered around her because of her love. That love spilled out from her for everyone and everything around her in her time on earth, even though we find out that during her life, she had her share of troubles, sorrows, and heartaches.
In the end, walking before God and being blameless is about being focused on love. Sarah Smith, in her life, learned how to walk before God by loving others selflessly. C.S. Lewis reminds us that all other loves in our life flow out from the love that God has for each one of us.
Abraham had accept God’s love and promises and learn to love God in return. In the end, Abraham learned to walk before God and be blameless. His story, stretching through much of Genesis, is about how Abraham learned to love God above all else, in fits and starts.
Abraham’s journey helps us to see that our work in this life, like his was, is to learn how to love God more and more deeply, and single mindedly and fervently.
“No soul that seriously or constantly desires joy will ever miss it,” wrote Lewis, in The Great Divorce.
Loving God, in the end, is pure joy. We could also say that “No soul that seriously or constantly desires God will ever miss God.”
Here’s a summary of some practical steps each of us can take to deepen our love for God and our commitment to God, compliments of Beverly Lanzetta, from her book, A New Silence.
Lanzetta reminds us that love expands the spirit. We can grow in love by centering on God, who is love, and being faithful to God in all that we do, to ask ourselves before we do anything—“What would God do?” and to wait for the answer.
“Love all of creation with Divine compassion. Total commitment brings change. Love without self-interest. Be attuned to the splendor of creation, and the web of existence. Work actively within yourself and in the world to make the holy visible.”
“Pray daily to grow in humility, to be empty of the false self. Offer over to God your regrets, sorrows, doubts, motives and unresolved desires. Become aware of the impact your actions have on others. The refusal to reflect on your motives leads to suffering for not only yourself, but for others.”
“Remember the transient nature of earthly life and refrain from possession.”
“Treat all religions and spiritual paths with honor and respect.”
“Offer yourself as a place of prayer. May your presence be one that heals divisions and expands hearts. Create community wherever you are. Make of your heart a home for the homeless, a refuge for the poor. Pray for the well-being of all of those around you.”
In today’s gospel, Jesus reminds Peter that he must learn to set his mind on divine things if he wants to follow Jesus, another way of saying what God had said to Abraham—“Walk before me and be blameless.”
Jesus was human himself. He knew that people dread suffering and try to avoid it. Satan uses suffering to make us question our love for God and for one another, and Satan tempts us to avoid it.
To be focused on loving God requires the ongoing suffering of giving up our focus on ourselves, giving up our need to possess, giving God charge over our will rather than heedlessly following the free will that God has given to us. Suffering is having to give up certainty and answers in the face of the mystery of God and God’s ways.
Opening your heart to God and to those around you inevitably leads to suffering in this lifetime on one level or another. But as an old saying goes, “Sorrow stretches the heart to make room for more and deeper love.”
Jesus knew that suffering is necessary for growth, and suffering is necessary for new life. Elsewhere in scripture, Jesus talks about a seed falling into the earth and dying, so that new life can come forth.
Jesus is talking about this sort of redemptive suffering when he tells the disciples and the crowd, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”
The idea of taking up crosses and denying ourselves can sound burdensome. Don’t you know people who moan about their crosses and their burdens to bear? I’ve certainly moaned about my own crosses!
But crosses are only heavy and burdensome if we are focused on the crosses we are bearing instead of being focused on God.
Jesus points to the importance on having the right focus in the gospel according to Matthew when he speaks to those who are carrying heavy burdens. Jesus says, “Come to me, all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble of heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” No wonder that these words are found in The Book of Common Prayer in the Rite I Eucharist in the section often referred to as “the comfortable words.” This passage is also one that we hear at Compline, at the close of the day, before we rest.
Nothing can seem harder than taking up a cross, and yet, if we are focused on God and God alone, nothing could be easier.
The covenant that God made with Abraham is the one that God also makes with us.
“Walk before me and be blameless and you will be the ancestor of a multitude of nations.”
Staying focused on God and being single mindedly in love with God opens our hearts in love to all that is around us. Like Sarah Smith, the fictional heavenly being who appeared at the beginning of this sermon, all of the people and creatures that we meet with love become our family. We become exceedingly numerous.
And we also gain the courage to take up our crosses and follow Jesus for the good of others. Harriet Tubman took up a cross and put herself into constant danger to lead enslaved people to freedom. Martin Luther King took up a cross to insist on equal rights for everyone, regardless of the color of their skin, in this nation.
You will think of others who have taken up their crosses and in doing so have shown others the way to God and to God’s love.
During this season of Lent, and beyond, keep your focus on God. Cultivate your love for God and for God first.
For out of that love for God comes the desire to walk before God and to be blameless.
And out of that love for God comes the desire to take up our crosses and to go where Jesus leads.
Lewis, C. S. The Great Divorce: A Fantastic Bus Ride from Hell to Heaven—A Round Trip for Some but not for Others. New York: McMillan, 1946.
Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation from the Center for Action and Contemplation, February 27, 2021, in which Beverly Lanzetta’s work, A New Silence, is quoted. www.cac.org