No Day But Today
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins
New Year’s Day 2012

It’s a new day and a new year and we have an amazing opportunity to seize the newness at hand and to do incredible things with it!

Take a minute right now and remember something wonderful from the past. Remember some of those good old days. Remember when you were the star athlete in high school, or when you made straight A’s your freshman year in college, or your first kiss, or the day you learned to swim. Wow…what great days they were. And we can recall them like we’ve just done and smile. We can enjoy our memories if we allow them to be memories. When we confuse the way things were with how we wish things were now, then we aren’t enjoying our memories we are using them as an excuse to not be present in this moment.

Remember your first Pride Parade. Remember how good it felt when they took that cast off your leg. Remember the thrill of getting your cosmetology license or your driver’s license or your voter registration card. Remember and smile and let that memory fill you with warmth and joy and then come back to this moment and let’s start making new memories! The past is past. It can be remembered, but it cannot be relived, and time wasted trying to recreate the past only sabotages our opportunities in the present. Remember. Smile. And get back to living right now.

Of course not all memories are pleasant.
There was that first break up, or that last one.
There was that job that you just didn’t do your best at and opportunities for promotion or raises passed you by.
There was that beloved pet that died.
There was a friend who proved not to be a very good friend after all.

We can remember those difficult moments too, but to learn lessons, not to get stuck in bitterness.
We look back on those hard times either to learn how we can do better next time or at least to say, “At least I survived all that and I’m still here!” But if we look back on the difficult times to fuel the feelings of victimization and regret, then again, we are just sabotaging the present by not leaving the past in the past. The past can be remembered, but it can’t be relived, and trying to only keeps us from living fully in the present.

2011 is now behind us. I hope it was a year of success and joy and miracles for you. If it was, be glad. And now let’s get to work on making 2012 even better.

If on the other hand 2011 was a year of challenge and disappointment, then I hope you will realize that even in the midst of the hardship there were moments of opportunity, healing and joy and in spite of the difficulties you’re still here and the future is yours to create starting right now. Be glad you got over all those hurdles in 2011 and now let’s get to work on making 2012 much better.

Whether your memories are good or bad, whether they are from childhood, last year, or last night…let them be what they are…MEMORIES. Not blue prints for how things ought to be, not fantasies that the past will somehow rise again in your life, but just remembrances of what was. Some good times, some challenging times, some cherished moments, some learning and healing opportunities. We can visit those memories now and again, but then we leave them to re-enter life which is always happening now. There are new memories to make; let’s not make idols of the old ones.

Now, listen carefully. Sometimes when we talk about releasing the past to the past, someone will try to twist the meaning and use it against us. They will say that their abusive behavior should be overlooked since it is in the past and we should be open to letting them ambush us again. That is not what I’m saying and I hope you don’t fall for that. Yes, I may forgive those who have harmed me, but I’m no fool. I’m not willing to drink the poison again! No, if someone apologizes, tries to make amends, of course second chances can be given. But without such goodwill gestures, trust may also be a thing of the past regarding someone who has abused that trust before. Just because I don’t hate you for being mean to me does not mean that I’m willing to allow you to be mean to me over and over again. Fool me once, shame on me; fool me twice and be served with a restraining order. Yes, the deed is past, and so is my willingness for it to be repeated. As Jesus said, we must be wise as serpents as well as gentle as doves.

The story in Luke is a story of change and how the past gives way to new beginnings.

First of all, Luke is writing sometime between the end of the first century and the early part of the second century. That means he is writing sometime between 50 and a hundred years AFTER Jesus’ execution, and a couple of decades or more after the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple. The Jesus movement is growing and changing. It is less and less the fringe movement within Judaism that it started as. And the Jerusalem Temple as a pilgrimage spot no longer exists. The world just keeps changing.

Luke remembers when there was a Temple, as he imagines this story taking place in the Temple. But that begins a longer narrative that goes on to tell of Jesus’ life and then the life of the church beyond Jesus’ life.
Luke remembers the past only to show how this moment is a continuation of what was begun. We aren’t to venerate the past, but to be the living embodiment of our highest ideals just as our ancestors in the past were.

We aren’t limited to their situations, understandings, habits, or preferences, but as they embodied their ideals in ways that were relevant for their time, we are to continue doing the same. Not mimicking how they did, but in our own way continuing what they did, which is to be relevant in this time and to reach out to new people in new ways so that more lives can be enriched, empowered, and healed.

We use pop culture, varieties of music, science, and technology to communicate good news. It’s not the way we did things 50 or 20 years ago, but the eternal verities must be communicated in ways that will reach new generations of people. Religion should be a movement moving forward, not an historical museum cherishing the memory of a world long since faded from view. Religion can no longer be the excuse to cling to ignorance in the face of scientific discovery, nor can religion with any integrity be used to promote hatred and prejudice toward any group of people. Religion, using the language and media of the day, must facilitate life-giving spirituality that affirms human dignity, calls for peace, and offers hope even when circumstances seem hopeless. Surely only that kind of religion will endure in the 21st century; I hope that is the only kind that will endure.

Look what Luke’s story tells us this morning. He dares us to think in new ways about some things so that we can create a new experience of life going forward:

First we see a poor family. How do we know they are poor? Because they are offering doves instead of lambs or goats. They are offering the least expensive sacrifice; not because they are cheap, but because the small birds are the best they can give. But that is a new way of understanding economics, isn’t it? We aren’t expected to give what someone else gives; we are expected to give our best gift. Our tithe may not look like someone else’s tithe, but it is our gift from the heart, giving as much as we can to something we believe in expecting nothing back other than the joy that giving offers. My gift doesn’t have to look like your best; for it to be holy, it only needs to be my best. We all have to something to share, and as we lovingly share what we can, we are making a huge difference in the lives of others.

Secondly, we see that even the most vulnerable can have a huge impact. It’s a baby that is causing Simeon to be so happy. Just a baby, but even in what seems small or weak or insignificant by common standards might in fact contain divine potential that will bring hope and joy to someone’s life.

And third, we see a very aged Simeon. And yet, even in the winter of his life, Simeon isn’t too old to learn. He isn’t too old to experience and express hope and joy. He isn’t too old to experience something new. As long as Simeon is alive, he has life to experience and express. Simeon chooses to live for as long as he is alive. He isn’t limited to just his memories, there is still life right now for him to enjoy.

The lessons of the gospel reading today are perfect for the first day of a new year. Let’s today renew our determination to overcome fear with hope, to in the moment of challenge go to peace instead of to pieces.
Let’s today renew our commitment to believe in ourselves and to love ourselves and to affirm our sacred value.
Let’s today renew our gratitude for and support of this amazing spiritual community that gives us so much, which has drawn us all together so that we might bless one another with the light we each carry within us.
Let’s today commit to learning more, giving more, praying more, and being more present to the moment at hand.
Each day is new and brings new opportunities.

Today, bless your memories and leave them as memories, and be present to the newness that this new day offers. This moment is the only moment we have. The past is over and the future isn’t here yet; now is all there ever really is. New Year’s Day reminds us to be present to this day, this moment, the miracle that is now at hand. There is no day but today, and with each today there is newness and as we are present and open to the newness, we too become new and renewed.

This is the day our God has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!

Release the fear. Release regrets. Release despair. Release the past to the past and remember the future has infinite possibilities. Those possibilities begin to become visible as we fully embrace today. And this is the good news.
© Durrell Watkins 2012

Affirmations
This is a new year.
This is a new day.
There are new opportunities for me.
I am renewed today.
Miracles are possible for me.
And so it is.