Muddy Water

Sermon preached by John C. Hall on Initiation Sunday, June 5, 2005
Text - Exodus 2:5-15

In the Bible and in the hymns of the church, passing through water is a major symbol. So the final mystery rite of the Initiates program is trip in the whitewater section of the Delaware River. It's an experience filled with symbols of what happens in life.

A week ago this past Friday, our Initiation to Adulthood group left for our final "mystery rite" around 5:15 p.m.. Just after we crossed the Hudson River, we ran into a heavy thunderstorm, with lots of lightening. Not a good omen.

We got to the campground around 9 p.m. The rain had stopped, but the ground was wet. The campsites had been covered with silt (that is, mud) from an unusually high spring flood, 20 feet above its normal level, but the campground company had spread a nice layer of hay so we didn't have to walk right on the mud. We pitched the tents in the dark, with flashlights.

In the morning, there was a thick fog, but it burned off. We were driven 9 miles upstream and by 11 a.m we were afloat on the river in our canoes and kayaks. And the weather was perfect. Crisp clear sky. Not a cloud in sight. No wind. There were steep green hills on both sides of the river. We saw two mature bald eagles, one carrying a fish.

The Initiates started paddling furiously - a lot faster than I wanted to paddle, so I was last in line. But in about half an hour, questions started coming, like, "What time is it? How far do we have to go? When will we stop for lunch? At about 12:30, we did stop for lunch on a high rock ledge overlooking the river. You could see the river bottom clearly, and fish swimming by.

After lunch, we got back on the river. One white puffy cloud appeared just over the rim of the valley. We kept paddling. Occasionally, the wind picked up so we paddled a harder. Arms were getting tired. In spite of the high spring flood, the river level now was unusually low, so our boats ran into rocks hidden just beneath the surface. The sky got grayer and then dark.

In the last half hour of the trip, it started to rain, but because it had been so hot and sunny when we started out, the Initiates' rain gear wasn't exactly at hand. The rain was cold on the skin. A number in the group got stuck in a shallow part of the river and had to get out and walk. It was a rich experience of the river, but by the end, I think most of us had had enough.

We finished at our campsite, and put on dry clothes, but the rain didn't stop. It got heavier. We had a tarp over the picnic table but there wasn't enough room underneath it for everyone, so some stayed in the tents where something apparently quite hilarious that involved a digital camera was taking place. Others played Frisbee in the rain. The dry clothes were no longer dry.

After an hour of rain, the mud under the hay started to soften up, especially where it ran down off the tarp and around the doors of the tents. When you took a step, the mud oozed up around your foot. The ground was more like a brown liquid with hay floating in it. Some of the Initiates took off their shoes and stayed barefoot. That way, they didn't have to take off their shoes before going in the tent.
By 5:30, it was clear that this was more than a passing shower. If anything, it was raining harder, and now we were hungry and it was time to cook. Doug Gagnon, who in my mind has become an indispensable part of any Initiates canoe trip, put the grill on the fire and started cooking hamburgers and hotdogs. We took turns holding an umbrella over the fire so the food wouldn't get rained on. We ate standing up, squeezed under the tarp, or in the tents, or in the cars. Thanks to Linda and Ellie, all this meal preparation actually went extremely smoothly, although some pasta salad did get mixed up with the hay and mud on the ground.

Around 6:30, I decided to broach the question everyone was pondering. Should we stick it out, or pack up and go home? We had an impromptu meeting. I asked everyone how they were doing and how they were feeling about our situation. Some leaned slightly toward packing up and driving home, as many of the other campers around us had already done. But we leaders were genuinely impressed that a significant contingent of Initiates, especially the girls, were very emphatic and committed. "We want to stay. The deal was, rain or shine." And that was the deal, so we stayed. A little muddy water wasn't going to kill us, after all.

Later, when it was dark and still raining, we all crowded into one tent for our meeting. Each Initiate read his or her Statement of Faith. We had to raise our voices to be heard above rain pounding on the tent. The situation wasn't exactly what we had hoped for. It wasn't ideal. But we made the best of it. It was a "bonding experience." And, it was a metaphor for life. I'll let you ponder on your own how these symbols of rain, rocks, mud, and fatigue match up with your lives.

Now I want to say something directly to the Initiates. Imagine yourself about to cross a line, a line in time, the official boundary between childhood and adulthood. Right now you're very close to that line on the childhood side. In a few minutes, you'll still be very close to that line, but on the adult side of it, sitting separate from your parents. In terms of absolute distance, you won't have traveled very far, and the world will look pretty much the same as it does now, but your place will be different.

The purpose of this ritual is to bring into your consciousness and into your parents' consciousness the fact that a change is happening, a change that needs to happen in order for life - all our lives, your parents' and yours and the lives of people yet to be born - for all this life to flourish and find its way.

You Initiates aren't ready to move out and into your own apartment. You aren't ready to drive a car. You still need your parents' guidance and rules. I know how embarrassing that is. And you will have to put up with that guidance and those rules because, among other reasons, you still need your parents' money.

One past Initiate immortalized this painful, embarrassing obstacle to freedom and independence this way: "Why can't parents be just a fat, silent wallet?"

But of course, even our parents' wisdom and money can't shield us from the muddy, messy side of life. So don't feel bad, and don't feel like a failure, if your life doesn't unfold like a perfect sunny day in a fairy tale.

In the Initiates program these past two years, we have tried to give you the "entry level knowledge and skills" you need to deal with the storms and rocks and mud you'll run into. I can assure you that there is also much glory and wonder and beauty to find. We give this wonder and beauty many names: God's presence; the Spirit of the living Christ. You've had a glimpse of it. It's the treasure hidden in all life.

I strongly encourage you to stay alert and to watch for more of that treasure - so much of which becomes visible and available to us when we are truly open with each other and sincerely care about each other and listen to each other. That's the core of the church's life and teaching that we've tried to introduce to you - not perfectly, but nothing is perfect.

As part of the Rite of Separation almost two years ago, I reminded the Initiate parents of the story of Moses mother, who put her child into a basket and watched him float away on the Nile River. That story breaks my heart every time I read it or think about it. How could a mother do that? Why did she do it? She did it to save him.

Now we re-enact that Rite of Separation just as we did in the parking lot almost two years ago. During the hymn, the parents will escort their Initiates to the front of the church, where you will say goodbye to each other, as a symbol of the change that is taking place in your lives.