In praise of young women

A sermon preached in celebration of two young women of Faith on the occasion of their Rite 13 Ceremony, at Faith Episcopal Church, January 15, 2006.

When you give someone a gift, the hard thing is to let them use it as they will. Granted, you might have some use or direction in mind but all you can do is suggest or let the gift’s nature be its own suggestion. The gift of fine wine is usually intended for the enhancement of a good meal not a chugging contest. The gift of a car might be for transportation and enjoyment but not drag racing. The gift of womanhood today is celebrated for our beautiful girls Kelsie and Laura with some hopes and dreams for how it will be used.

The ceremony for the entry into manhood and womanhood, Rite 13 is sometimes referred to as a Christian bar mitzvah. It is that acknowlegment of the transition from childhood into physical maturity. It marks the beginning of the journey to adulthood. It scares fathers to death. They no longer look like daddy’s little girl and daddy’s not the only one to notice that. For parents, this passage calls for some sort of letting go which will be symbolized at the end of the ceremony by Laura and Kelsie leaving their seats with their parents and taking their seats over on this side with their peers.

The real meaning of this day is found in the words bar or bat mitzvah which literally mean son or daughter of the commandments. Samuel was called in the middle of the night by God to know himself as a son of the commandments. What that means is first of all to know the commandments or will of God, to understand the wisdom in them and then always keep them around you like a cloak. To know the commandments is hear in them how to be in right relationship with God and the rest of creation. What God wanted of Samuel was not to hide out in the Temple wrapped in the commandments but to be out in the world, as a living example of how to be, living, loving and taking the commandments into the future.

Jesus calls out to those who would become his disciples “Follow me” which in the Greek is actually “come after me.” What I hear in that is not “do everything exactly as I do” or “do only what I did” but “move into the future as I would.” Jesus knew that he would not always be here so he tried to prepare those around him to take what he taught and apply it to the world. That’s kind of like the work to get all of this newly installed wood stained. It started with the beams, which are cedar and pine. The cedar in particular was very dry and soaked up the stain quickly. The natural red in the wood was brought out by the color of the stain. The big laminated pine support beams took the same stain a bit differently – they didn’t have as much natural red to bring out. Trying to get this oak to match the reddish color of the ceiling beams using the same stain was frankly impossible. We used the same colors but had to combine them differently to get a mixture that works. The birch of the paneling will require the same process. It will take a different mix, a dash of creativity, to achieve the desired effect. You can’t just slap on the same coat of stain and get what you want.

Jesus had to trust those who came after him to apply what they had learned. He had to trust them to be children of the commandments to love God and to love each other and to love those problematic neighbors. He gave them what they needed and then he set them free to find the right ways to apply it in the world. The early disciples of Jesus scattered all over the Middle East and had to apply the commandments and teachings to very different cultures. That takes creativity.

One of my favorite poets, Rabindranath Tagore, has some perfect words for today – for Kelsie and Laura.

“Free me as free are the birds of the wilds, the wanderers of unseen paths.
Free me as free are the deluge of rain, and the storm that shakes its locks and rushes on to its unknown end.
Free me as free is the forest fire, as is the thunder that laughs aloud and hurls defiance to darkness.”

Creative power is not power to replicate – to make copies of something that already exists. Creative power makes new things. The power to procreate is much more than cloning. Cloning may be technologically complicated but it is ultimately boring and pointless. It is not creative; it is merely an exercise in copying. The creation of a new person is an ultimate expression of creativity because every new person is a unique expression of the image of God.

Journeying toward adulthood is to take that power seriously and to recognize that human creativity is more than the ability to make babies. It is the capacity to find new paths and walk them in new ways. The gift of each new generation is their willingness to find new ways to approach challenges and each other. There is never a moment that is exactly like one before. Stubbornly insisting that the world stays the same will create a new future.

Each moment holds in it the seed of the future – the unseen paths. “Free me as free are the birds of the wilds, the wanderers of unseen paths. Laura and Kelsie and all young people are called to unseen paths – those which are unknown to their parent’s generation.

It’s the dangers along any path, known or unknown that give parents and a community pause to turn loose the young people so carefully nurtured and sheltered until the moment of passage. Probably because most parents did stupid things on their own journey – it’s truly amazing that any of us make it to adulthood. Remembering those moments of folly it’s good to reflect on what might have encouraged you to say no to tantalizing naughtiness. Would one more warning from your parents or one more school assembly on the dangers of X,Y or Z have motivated you to model citizenship? Probably not. The sort of life and behavior that we might wish for our children has in all probability already been taught. You have given your genes and your examples. At some point young men and women begin to make their own decisions and way in the world.

What we hope for and from these young women, as we simultaneously hold them close and let them go, is that the commandments have taken hold in their hearts. Now supported by loving family and community they will look around the world and imagine new and good things. They will recognize what is harmful and what is evil and full of the knowledge and power of their own creativity they will be as free “as is the thunder that laughs aloud and hurls defiance to darkness.” That’s what it means to be made in the image of God, ready to be in the world to help create a better future. Imagine a world full of people who understand and cherish and honor their creative power. Imagine a world full of young women like Laura and Kelsie who have an idea of how Jesus would have them respond to hunger and poverty and meanness in the world. That’s the kind of world I want to live in – full of strong young women hurling defiance at the darkness.