Annual Conference - Monday, July 1, 2002

I recently traveled to Nepal. I have always wanted to visit Nepal and then try to climb Mt. Everest. This desire was not recent but something I have wished since I was a child. You see, as a child I played a board game. The game took us right from the foothills of Mt. Everest all the way to the summit in the footsteps of Tensing Norgay Sherpa and Sir Edmund Hillary. Well now that half of the world is trying to climb this mountain I thought it best to do it just before it becomes a large pile of trash. The trip was fantastic. I went by myself, but there were others around me headed towards the same destination. There were wonderful people around me. The trip was very interesting. I was extremely relaxed since all was taken care of. I honestly wish all of my trips were such. Anyway I landed in Kathmandu and spent a few days there. It was awesome. We got down to the foothills and then began climbing. No, it just didn't happen. I had to go through all the procedures as everyone else, permits, etc. I had to make sure I had all my gear and got instructed by our guide and the Sherpa, etc. All of this happened so fast, I did not realize I was right by Kumbhu Ice falls. Now Kumbhu Ice falls for those who don't know is a very dangerous place. Anyway it was my turn to walk on the aluminum ladder that was laid across a large crevasse. As I reached the middle I got a bit nervous. But I was excited. As I reached closer to the other end of the crevasse my heart was beating faster. I got so excited that I lost focus and I slipped and I fell. I found myself falling and then I landed. I found myself facedown on my bed in my apartment rather than the icy and jagged floor of the crevasse. Amazingly I had no broken arms or legs. As I woke up I was wondering if the folks next door heard me scream?

I like dreams. I like the good ones where I get to go places and do things that I have always wanted to do. These are just dreams that arise out of my subconscious desires. These I dream during the night and then there are the daydreams. Yes I have had those too, but honestly I have found it awful to live in a state of dreaminess.

Some folks are in a dreamy state all the time. They are so dreamy that they don't even know who they are or where they are. I am not talking of those who are considered mentally and emotionally or psychologically challenged. These are normal folk like you (some of you) and me, but they are unaware of anything that is happening around them or who they are or what they have become.

A person once found an eagle's egg and put it in the nest of a barnyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.

All his life the eagle did what the barnyard chicks did, thinking he was a barnyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and clacked. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air.

Years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in graceful majesty among the powerful wind currents, with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings.

The old eagle looked up in awe. "Who's that?" He asked.

"That's the eagle, the king of the birds," said his neighbor. "He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth - we are chickens." So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that's what he thought he was.¹

Are you conscious of who you are and what you are supposed to be and do? What I have encountered in the short life that I have lived so far is that many of us are like the golden eagle - we are individually and personally unconscious of the heights to which we can soar. We fail to understand truly, who we are called to be and how to be. Some of us live a meaningless life even though we think there is meaning and purpose to it. Yes we may be educated with great jobs, good homes, wonderful families and live in great neighborhoods and all that good stuff, but even after all of that there are those who live a meaningless existence and fail to realize it.

Jesus in our gospel from Luke today was trying to point out to folks who they were and what they could be. He was trying to raise their consciousness, wake them up from their dreamy existence.

The Pharisees asked Jesus a question. They asked him when the kingdom would come. Now we need to realize that the Pharisees of Jesus' time have been given a bad reputation. The Pharisees, although they were not priests, were the good religious people of Jesus' day, trying their best to live all day, every day under the rule of God.² They tried their best to be faithful to God and live in obedience.

The Pharisees on seeing the unexpected and unable to believe what they had been seeing so far (namely the miracles and the healings) ask a question about the arrival of the kingdom. Jesus answers them sincerely. Jesus' answer is an honest answer. Jesus responds by saying, "The kingdom of God is among you" (Luke 17:21 NRSV). Jesus was very subtle in pointing to himself saying 'I am all about the kingdom, I am the kingdom and I am right here'.

Jesus was asking them to pay attention to him. He was right in front of them. He was pointing to what they were unable to see or detect.

Sometimes I am very observant and sometimes I am barely aware of what is ahead of me. I get so busy and so involved in something that I fail to acknowledge everything else around me. Once while in high school I was returning home with some friends after school. Anyway we were walking in the direction of the bus stop, a route that was quite familiar because we walked it each day. I was so busy talking. I was jabbering so much that I failed to see the large six-inch wide, twenty-foot tall lamppost in my path and I bumped right into it.

Jesus was talking about the kingdom in response to a question raised by the Pharisees. He did not have to think hard in order to answer. Jesus understood the kingdom because he was the kingdom.

In his response Jesus was providing himself as the answer to understanding the complex question of what the kingdom is all about. Jesus was fully conscious of the fact of who he was and what he exemplified - the kingdom and kingdom lifestyle.

We all know Jesus was a unique guy. His lifestyle was different from those living around him. He was so different that it was hard for him to blend in and so he always stood out.

During our childhood years we are all curious about things around us. Especially things like insects and reptiles. Boys more so than girls. I remember as a kid playing outside our home with the neighborhood kids right after the monsoon. After the rains the ground was well nourished and everything used to sprout and grow tall especially certain kinds of grass and weeds. In the tall grass all sorts of things lived and crawled. The chameleon always impressed us kids. We usually tried to catch one. It was one of the most difficult reptiles to spot. You could see it for a moment and the next it was gone. It blended so well with the things around it, that most of the times it was hard to catch.

It was later that I learned that chameleons change color according to their environment. Jesus stood in his environment and did not change color. Jesus did not conform to the world he was living in. He stayed true to his calling. He knew who he was and what he was and never left sight of it. He never gave up being who he was called to be.

Sometimes we forget who we are. We compromise our lifestyle and change according to the environment. We try to blend in. I personally know what it means to change so as to blend in. Having grown up in India and having been raised and influenced by that culture, I lived like a true Indian until I moved to the US. On arriving here I realized I had to blend in with the environment here and to adjust to the different cultures just so I would not stand out and look different. I blended in "some" — in terms of the way I dress, the way I behave and other etiquette matters. I remember being told by my parents the saying, "when in Rome live like Romans." That is exactly what I did when I came here. Now our dear Jesus could have applied that very same saying to his life on earth. If he had then he probably would not have been crucified and the history of Christianity would be very different.

Jesus did not want to be the eagle who blended in ignorance with the chickens. He did not blend in for he was called to a different lifestyle. He was called to live a life of holiness. Through his life Jesus showed us what it means to be this creature whom God has created. Through his lifestyle Jesus showed what it means to live to our fullest potential. Lives that will make us soar above the earth.

We have all read and or heard the stories about Jesus. Maybe not all, but we do know some of his stories. These stories describe in many ways the life that Jesus lived. Jesus did that which was right. He practiced compassion and he helped those in need, and challenged the oppressors. His life was challenging and chaotic. Yet in the midst of it all he took the time to connect with the one who had sent him. Jesus quite often went off to pray. There were times when he went off by himself and there were times when he asked others to go with him. Jesus was constantly going away and spending time in prayer. His time away from others was spent with God. He did this so God would be the center of all that he was and all that he did. Jesus prayed so he could keep his mind and his eye on the goal. He prayed for wisdom and guidance. Jesus took time to pray - in humility, with a contrite heart. He prayed and he listened. He prayed that God's will be done in his life.

In the midst of all that he was doing he never failed to focus on that which made him Jesus- his connection with God. He was in God and God was in him.

Jesus, in answering the question posed by the Pharisees, was sincerely asking those around him to take the opportunity to experience and encounter the kingdom within them. As he was calling and training his disciples, he asked them observe and learn and do likewise. He wanted them to be all about the kingdom - God's kingdom, a kingdom full of love, compassion, grace and forgiveness.

Tonight, most of us who have gathered here count ourselves as disciples of Christ, as followers of Jesus. Almost all of us would say that we are following in the footsteps of Jesus. We who call ourselves Brethren are all about living a different lifestyle. We focus, among many things on helping others, being service oriented because that is what Jesus did. We help those around us here within our neighboring communities and also out there on the ends of the earth. We take some of the teachings from the Sermon on the Mount seriously and strive for reconciliation of all people to one another.

We all like to be compassionate and helpful for we know that Jesus was compassionate. We help people in need for we know Jesus was about helping those in need. We try to reconcile among ourselves and help others reconcile because Jesus was about reconciliation. But Jesus was more than compassion. He was more than being helpful to those in need and he was more than reconciliation. Jesus was about doing all that and living a life of holiness. His life was one where being in God and nearer to God was the core of his very being - his existence. That relationship with God is what ignited him each day. That is what fired him up and helped him be about the kingdom.

We all talk about the kingdom and we share our thoughts about the same and we have theological debates about what the kingdom is all about, where the kingdom is, or when it will come if it will, or does it belong here or is it a heavenly kingdom. But we fail to grasp what Jesus was saying and showing. We fail to see what Jesus was pointing to. We fail to grasp the heart of the matter. The scripture says that the kingdom of God is among you. Jesus said that the kingdom of God is among us. But we are like the poor little fish in the ocean who said, "Excuse me, I'm looking for the ocean. Can you tell me where I can find it"³

The fact is that we are surrounded by God's kingdom. A kingdom that Jesus preached about, taught about and he was all about. But we are unable to see the kingdom because we think "we know" all there is to know about God's kingdom and that we are doing what we think Jesus did (according to our perception). The greatest obstruction to us experiencing this kingdom is ourselves.

Jesus tried to let the Pharisees and his disciples know about the kingdom. He tried to tell them what and where the kingdom was.

Jesus pointed then and points now to the reality that the kingdom is present among us today. As the spirit of Christ continues to be among us the kingdom continues to be among us. The kingdom is present because of healing that occurs among us. The kingdom is present because of our acts of forgiveness. The kingdom is present because of our salvation. The kingdom is present because we love. The kingdom is present but is yet to be experienced by all.

There was a man who was blessed with the art of making fire. He took his tools and went to a tribe in the north, where it was very cold, bitterly cold. He taught the people there to make fire. The people were very interested. He showed them different ways in which the fire could be used- they could cook, could keep themselves warm, etc. They were grateful that they had learned the art of making fire. But before they could express their gratitude to the man, he disappeared. He wasn't concerned with getting their recognition or gratitude; he was concerned about their well being. He went to another tribe, where he again began to show them the value of his invention. People there too were interested, a bit too interested for the peace of mind of their priests, who began to notice that this man was drawing crowds and they were loosing their popularity. So they decided to do away with him. They poisoned him, crucified him, put it any way you like. But now they were afraid that the people might turn against them, so they decided to do something they thought very wise. This is what they did. They had a portrait of the man made and mounted it on the main altar of the temple. The instruments for making fire were placed in front of the portrait, and the people were taught to worship the portrait and to pay reverence to the instruments of fire, which they dutifully did for centuries. The worship and the reverence went on, but there was no fire in the temple.⁴

Yet there were some that decided to keep some of the fire. They secretly took the fire with them to their homes and families. They kept the fire burning by feeding it. They fed themselves as they nurtured the fire. These folks began to build communities with and around the fire. The communities became a place where all were invited; the broken were made whole, where sin was forgiven. However they were — broken or whole they focused on feeding the fire, on nurturing it. The communities continued to survive and grow because they acknowledged the importance of the fire and chose to feed the fire and spread the same. These communities grew because they had the fire in them; they became the fire themselves.

We have gathered here as a community and we also come from different communities out there. What would Jesus say about our communities? What do you have to say about the community that you are a part of? Does your community recognize the fire? Does your community love the fire? Does it feed the fire? Does it get sustenance from the fire? Does it even acknowledge the fire?

Jesus said to his disciples "not everyone who says to me 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom" (Matthew 7:21a NRSV). We may be Christians, we may be imitating Christ but are we truly being what Christ wants us to be? Are we being the kingdom just as Christ was?

We are called not just to do the work of the kingdom but be the kingdom. The heart of the matter is that in order for us to see the kingdom and experience the kingdom among us we have to be in Jesus and let Jesus be in us.

I can only feel the kingdom and be a part of it as long as I do all that Jesus directs me to do. But I can only truly experience the kingdom when I am in Jesus and I let Jesus be in me. I can be a part of the kingdom when I love Jesus and let Jesus love me. Being in Jesus and letting Jesus be in me happens through me being in prayer and cultivating the fire. It happens for me when I rest in prayer and read the word and listen to the word and make it a part of my life, make it a part of my being and my very existence.

If you wish to see the kingdom that is among you then please, by all means do all that you do in terms of what Jesus calls you to do but don't fail to be in Jesus and let Jesus be in you. Feed your fire. Feed it by being with Jesus in prayer. Feed it by being with Jesus and let the words of Jesus guide you. Be in Jesus - not just by yourself, but be in Jesus with others. Let yourself rest in Jesus and let Jesus rest in you and you shall surely experience and see the kingdom that is among you.

¹.	De Mello, Anthony. Awareness. New York: Doubleday, 1992, p. 3.
².	Walker, Thomas. Luke. Interpretation Bible Studies. Louisville, Ky.: Geneva Press, 2001, p. 35.
³.	De Mello, Anthony, Awareness. New York: Doubleday, 1992, p.103.
⁴.	De Mello, Anthony, Awareness. New York: Doubleday, 1992, pp.174-175.