Reinhold Niebuhr, a legendary ethicist and theologian from the previous century, may have produced the greatest single slice of spirituality in the history of North America when he penned a profound prayer in 1932. That prayer begins: "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference.”

This is the first talk in series of taking the full Serenity Prayer line by line:  To celebrate it, be shaped by it, and learn how to live lives of strength and peace in a mad, mad world that cannot - that never could - and never will - provide us those things. 

"Why would someone wish or ask to be baptized in the first place? Well, that depends upon who you ask. And then, of course, there is the question of how we baptize properly? Do we pour, sprinkle, immerse, dip, spray, squirt, squeegee, soak or flush? Again, it depends upon who you ask. Modes and means of baptism are as diverse as Christianity itself. But we can’t ignore the fact that it is an essential part of our faith."

"So, it's true after all: God is out to get you! Just like the sandwich-board evangelists have always said...But it’s not with the closed fist of anger and punishment. God arrives with an invitation in hand. God invites you to the party. God welcomes you to the table. At least that’s the kind of God revealed to us by Jesus. I don’t know where we got this other God who is so hateful and unkind; this God so retrograde and primitive, this God who is more cruel and sadistic than any human being who has ever existed. The only God is I know is the God revealed by Jesus of Nazareth: A God who is good! A God, not too good to be true, but a God so good, it just has to be true!" (See Luke 14)

"Have you ever seen a peacock? It's a strutting parade. He's popping his feathers...all territorial...marking their boundaries. He makes noise, trying to get attention. And they might shine, but he mostly makes a mess and disturbs the neighbors. A peacock is so noisy because it can’t sing. It shows off its feathers because it has no other redeeming qualities. A peacock struts because it can’t fly. It will never fly - nor will anyone of the human species who seeks their own exaltation.

"In God’s economy the strivers, hustlers, ego-maniacs, and peacocks all end up on the bottom, while the humble will ultimately rise to the top. 'For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted,' Jesus says (Luke 14)."

"And yes, I know this is counter-intuitive to the way it is. This is a loud, strutting, peacock world, with so many flaunting around with their feathers of self-importance and entitlement. Nice guys and nice gals finish last, and those with ruthless ambition finish first. But, finishing last is the point. 'The first shall be last; the last shall be first; for those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.'"

"If I lose hope – I have lost the very vitality of my present life and given up on the possibility of a more loving future – for myself, and all who will come after me. Without hope, I can only leave my children, my grandchildren, and their children nothing but despair. This I refuse to do. I cannot allow myself to surrender to cynicism; I refuse to accept the status quo as the best we can do; I still believe that love is the greatest force in all the universe; and I believe that there will always be people of goodwill who will follow Jesus, love their neighbor, and who quietly will not capitulate or bend the knee to the tyranny of public opinion. My heart might be broken – but maybe that is required. Brokenness allows the hope within to spill out into a world that needs all the hope it can get.”

“How can we regain the ability to form Christian disciples who will actually be guided by Jesus, instead of politics or economics or the fashionable? Can we infuse those in our congregations with such courage, that they will be able stand for what is right and true and virtuous - even if it means losing what have been long-lasting relationships; even if it means losing status or favor with others? Why aren’t Christians leading the way when it comes to honesty…integrity…love…and truth?” (See Luke 12:49-55)

There are some puzzles that simply cannot be solved. We don’t have the ability. We don’t have the time. So, we twist and writhe, losing sleep and years in the process, trying to find answers. The better part of wisdom might be to put such puzzles down and get on with living the life we have, rather than obsessing over what we can do nothing about. In my experience, one word would capture most of the deep riddles that people struggle with: “Yesterday.” Because for every person wrestling with what is happening in their life today; for every person anxious about what might happen tomorrow, there are a dozen people stuck in what happened yesterday (See Isaiah 43:18-19).

 “The world is held together, really it is held together, by the love and the passion of just a few people.” That quote from James Baldwin captures the idea of the "Tzadikim" from Jewish mysticism. Tzadikim means, “the righteous ones." Based on Genesis 18, the Talmud elaborates: “There are no fewer than 36 righteous people in the world who daily greet the glory of God and uphold creation.” That is, a tiny group of people, because of their innate goodness; because of their humble, just, loving hearts, proves to God that humanity is worth all the trouble.

Therefore, God would never go so far as to wipe away humanity, for that would mean wiping away the righteous, and “the Judge of all the earth will do what is right.” Yes, the world is full of corruption; it’s full of every vice and evil - just as in the days of Sodom - and God surely must contemplate bringing it all to an end. But through these righteous ones and their persistent hidden holiness, the world is spared. The questions put to each of us, then, are these: "Could you be one of the righteous? Could you...would you...can you...will you - live in such a way that keeps hope alive in the world? You may be the one upholding God's creation.

"My wife calls me a minimalist. But a new word has been introduced into my vocabulary: Essentialism. As I am learning, a minimalist is concerned with having less stuff; fewer possessions; buying less. I like all that for sure. 

"But an essentialist is one who seeks to untangle from the unnecessary, turning life toward the vital; the absolute crucial. It’s not so much about having less - it’s holding on to only what counts. Because we only have so much space; we only have so much time. We only have so much energy. Shouldn’t we use our limited personal resources on what is most consequential?"

"People behave the way they behave because they are driven by what is within them. That’s simply how the human heart works. If it’s all garbage and rubbish on the inside of a person, then garbage and rubbish is the only possible outcome, and you need not expect anything different. The only way to amend, reform, redeem, or change a person’s actions is by the amendment, reformation, redemption, and change of a person’s heart." RM