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“Only connect.” The final thought of E. M. Forster’s Howard’s End (1910). “Only connect.” Forster (1879-1970) writes of the character,
Margaret, “Only connect! That was the
whole of her sermon. Only connect the
prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at
its height. Live in fragments no
longer. Only connect…”
Forster’s words have been swimming
around in my head leading up to tonight.
They’re never far away from me. He,
she, is talking about writing here, connecting prose and passion, but this
wisdom speaks beyond the world of writing.
Words and emotions, bring them together and both will be exalted. Bring them together and love will be seen at
its height. Enflesh the words with
passion, with emotions, thought, purpose, and love will be embodied. In many ways, this is what tonight is all about,
connecting prose and passion.
In a few minutes we will hear the
majestic opening of John’s Gospel, one of the most profound expressions of the
Incarnation in scripture; it’s why we’re here this evening. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word
was God and the Word was with God. All
things came into being through him…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-3, 14).
Word embodied in human action, in a human life. Bring them together and
love will be seen at its height.
The birth of Jesus the Messiah,
Emmanuel, God with us, is the fullest expression of this truth – that God wants
to connect with us and we really want to connect with God. It’s all about connection. This is the root and true meaning of the word
religion. It doesn’t mean being holy or following
religious practices, it has little to do with belief. Religion, from the Latin religare means, to make a connection. Our words ligament
and ligature come from the same
root. Religare. It’s all about connection – God connecting with humanity,
humanity connecting with God, human to human, person to person, connecting with
the depths of the self, connecting with creation, with the cosmos itself. As Einstein (1879-1955) showed us, this
entire universe – at every level, from the micro to the macro, including the
properties of light – is all based on connections, relationships, making those
links and realizing how we’re all connected.
It’s really this simple and profound at
the same time. This is the message. This is the story; the story in its
simplest form. And the One who connects
with us is Love itself, Love with a face.
And because it is Love it’s untiring, it never gives up on us, never
gives up in searching for us, reaching for us, desiring us.
And we never tire in needing to hear it
again and again, to know it, to feel it, to encounter this Love – because at
some level we don’t really believe it or trust it. It’s too simple. It’s too
good to be true. For the truth is that
there’s so much at work in our hearts and in the world, in the brokenness of
the world that works against this,
that disconnects. The plight of the human condition is rooted
in the fact that we’re often disconnected from God, from others, from
ourselves, from creation.
But sometimes there are truths so good not
to be true, so good they have to be true – like snow falling on Christmas Eve.
I intentionally placed the anthem – Carol to Joy – before
the sermon tonight and before we sing the carol Joy to the World after the sermon.
For the upbeat message that Joy to
the World proclaims, what we celebrate this night, must speak directly to
the world as it is, especially the events of this dark December; Joy to the World cannot be detached from
the world, the world reflected in the pathos and poignancy of that haunting
anthem. Joy to the World must connect to a fallen world, to a fearful
world, to a friendless world, to a world burdened and bound, to deep, dark
valleys absent of light, for the lonely, the laden, the forlorn. To such a world
a Savior has come. “For to you is the
song” – to you and me. To you and you
and you. For you is pardon. For you, healing and reconciliation. Look up sad hearted.[1] To you is the
song of songs, sung by angels, sung by the cosmic hum of the universe that God is
with us and we are with God, God is in us and we are in God – and nothing, nothing, nothing! – in all of
creation can separate us from the bond of that love. Humanity absorbed by divinity, divinity
dwelling with humanity, enfleshing our lives with grace.
The world needs us this night. God needs us to live in fragments no more. Only
connect. And the Word became flesh and
lived among us. Always and forever.
That is our joy. To you is the song!
