Howard be thy Name

(John 14:1-14) – Jesus said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going."

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it."

One of the central claims that we inherit from the teaching of Jesus is that we are one with God. You wonder about God -- who is God? What is God like? Look in the mirror. Look deeply within the depths of your being. There you will find God, living and breathing you into life, Jesus says.

I don't think too many people really buy that, though. We know our own creaturely limits and boundaries, and we know we're not God. We are as skeptical and clueless as the disciples when Jesus says to them "You know the way; you know the Father." "How can we know the way? Show us the Father," they answer.

"How can you say that?" pleads Jesus. I am in the Father and the Father is in me. I am in you and you are in me. We are all living divine life, and everything that I am, you are also. You can do everything I can do, and more. Jesus aches for us to really believe that. To live out of that reality is to become a new creation.

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Robert Fulgham is best known for his column "Everything I Ever Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten." He's an engaging writer. In his book "Uh-Oh" he tells about an interview when he was being questioned by a reporter who quite suddenly asked him, "Do you believe in God, Mr. Fulgham?"

"No, but I do believe in Howard."

"Howard? You believe in Howard?"

"It all has to do with my mother's maiden name"

"Your mother's maiden name …"

"Was Howard. She came from a big Memphis clan that was pretty close and was referred to as the Howard Family. As a small child, I thought of myself as a member of the Howard Family because it was often an item of conversation as in 'The Howard Family is getting together,' and 'The Howard Family thinks people should write letters to their grandmother.' The matriarch, my grandmother, was referred to as Mother Howard."

"And you thought … she … was … God?"

"No, no, I just wanted you to first know how it was that Howard was a name that was important to me from early on in my life. What happened was that I got packed off to Sunday School at around age four and the first thing I learned was the Lord's Prayer, which begins, 'Our Father, which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.' And what I heard was, 'Our Father, which art in heaven, HOWARD be Thy name.' And since little kids tend to mutter prayers anyhow, nobody realized what I was saying, so I went right on believing that God's name was Howard. And believing that I was a member of His family -- the Howards. Since I was told that my grandfather had died and gone to heaven, God and my grandfather got all mixed up in my mind as one and the same. Which meant I had a pretty comfy notion about God. When I knelt beside my bed each night and prayed, 'Our Father, which art in heaven, Howard be Thy name,' I thought about my grandfather and what a big shot he was because, of course, the prayer ends with 'For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever and ever. Amen.' I went to bed feeling well connected to the universe for a long, long time. It was a Howard Family Enterprise."

"You're not putting me on, are you?" [asked the reporter.]

"Not at all." [answered Fulgham] "All human images of the ultimate ground of being are metaphors, and as metaphors go, this is a pretty homey one. And I thought it for so long that even when I passed through all those growing up stages of skepticism, disbelief, revision, and confusion -- somewhere in my mind I still believed in Howard. Because at the heart of that childhood image there is no alienation. I belonged to the whole big scheme of things. I lived and worked and had my being in the family store."

"So. Do you still believe in … Howard?"

"I'll give you what may seem to be an enigmatic evasion, but it's truly the only answer I have to your question. It's a line from the writings of a thirteenth century Christian mystic, Meister Eckhart. 'The eye with which I see God is the very same eye with which God sees me.' That's what I believe."

"Does that mean that you are God?"

"Yes and no. It depends. In some cultures if a man says, 'I am God,' he will get shunned or even locked up as crazy. In some other cultures if a man says, 'I am God,' people will say, 'What took you so long to find out?' If you say you pray and talk to God, we will think of you as religious. If you say God talks to you, we will think of you as loony.'

"I'm not sure I understand." [said the reporter]

"Consider it this way. It makes a big difference if you think of God as transcendent or immanent, as up there somewhere or present here."

"Yes."

"Howard is a transcendent image of God. The God of childhood. The man in the long white beard on the throne in heaven -- up there, somewhere else, separate from us … transcendent. On the other hand, if God is immanent, then there is no place God is not, and I am not separate from God. Hence, 'The eye with which I see God is the very same eye with which God sees me.' No boundaries between God and me."

[Fulgham writes.] There was a long silence between us. The journalist smiled. I smiled. She changed the subject. None of this discussion about Howard appeared in her article. I understand. Some things are hard to write about … hard to think about … hard to sort out. Maybe when she asked the first question ['Do you believe in God?'], I should have just said "Yes." As a favor to her. But the truth is I haven't finished thinking about God, and the God of my childhood and the God of my middle age are mixed up with the God of the wisdom that may yet come to me in my later years. Howard would understand. (Uh-Oh, p. 133-6, from a sermon by Elwood Sturtavant of the Thomas Jefferson Unitarian Church, Louisville, KY)

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There are those moments when everything is so alive it tingles. When green somehow seems greener and everything seems filled with wonder. There are those moments when we are so grasped by everything that we seem to disappear, we are one with the all and the all is all. I'll bet you've had those moments. Moments when if you were thinking at all about it, you might say it seemed like you were seeing with the eye of God, seeing so vividly it must be as God sees. Words fail. All that can be spoken is the escaping breath sighing "Ahh." There are those moments when time stands still and life is eternal. When all is well and all manner of things shall be well. These are moments of being and knowing. Whispers of sanity. And when these moments pass, and green is ...well, ...just green again. There is an afterglow of peace. A deep peace that needs nothing, and is satisfied.

I am told there are people who live in that kind of awareness always, moment to moment. They tell the rest of us that it is available to all of us as well. They speak of it as something that is easy, mostly a surrendering of whatever sense of separateness and possessiveness we hang on to. They urge us to practice. All of those contemplative traditions come out of their experience. To sit and to be silent; to let go of thoughts and feelings; to surrender to a mantra. To carry water; chop wood. These things help open us, they say.

It's always available, they say, this oneness with God. Ever present to everyone. When some people hear the words "I am in the Father and the Father is in me" they smile enigmatically, because they know what is being said. When they receive the gifts and hear the words, "The Body of Christ; the Blood of Christ," they feel the divine life quickened within. And they see and breathe with the very eye of God and the very breath of Spirit. No alienation. No boundaries between God and them. For them, all is God and God is all.

And I whine with Thomas and Philip, "Lord, just show us the way; show us the Father and we shall be satisfied." And with eternal patience Jesus sighs. "Have I been with you all this time and you still do not know me?"

"The Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ keep you in eternal life."

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