Anastomosis Sermon

Anastomosis and the One Million Returns
 
Earth takes her breath with a profundity and passivity that shifts whole continents without notice.  The great void within yesterdays’ oceans eventually becomes the meeting place for coastal collision, forcing mountains to ascend beyond reach.  Ice caps the distant rugged tips that decorate Father Sky.  Theirs is a slow and steady race toward nothing that began however many billions of years ago. 

Grandfather Sun shines on the glacial plains; warming drops of water carve out the rock, one grain of sand at a time, carving out vein-like riverbeds that blend into watersheds into basins and lakes, and oceanic voids.  In however many billion years from now, as the earth exhales once again and Grandmother Moon keeps ancient time, the coast may just find itself high above the rest of the world once more, capped by the frozen waters it once embraced down below.

The rivers that divide and re-join as they meander down the mountain look a lot like lightning bolts or tree branches, look a lot like roots in the ground, veins in stone and in our hands.

I wonder if this is what some refer to as returning to the source.

I wondered if there was a word for it, the dividing and returning that occurs on all scales in this world.

The word is anastomosis: it is the reconnection of two streams that previously branched out, such as blood vessels or leaf veins. Anastomosis forms a branching system that forms a network. The term Anastomosis is used in medicine, biology, mycology, geology, geography and architecture.

From rivers avoiding islands to the mesh of fungi that breeds below our feet; from the blood that carries oxygen through the complex vascular network under our skin to the web-like pavement we drive over in this hilly city, anastomosis is everywhere we look.  Each second that passes, the earth returns to itself and the oceans split, only to return to the source by coming together with more of itself.

The word is Anastomosis.  Let me break it down:

An means a native of, or relating to; Ana means apart; stoma means mouth; and osis means process.

The Greek root word translation literally means: communicating opening. 

Some of you may remember when I exposed my feelings of inadequacy at the CUC Spiritual Symposium.  The warm and inclusive response of those whose hearts I touched was overwhelming.  Or maybe you recall the time I shared my understanding of the Tibetan word shenpa which, for a refresher, is our egos’ reaction when we feel a threat to the survival of our self-importance – and it comes from our own personal vulnerable place.  I was so moved by the comments of those who related deeply with the concept.  It seems we all have a soft spot that we protect in countless ways. 

This vulnerable place, this dark thing that when exposed to the light of day by sharing with one another seems to be the thing that connects us all, that remind us we are not alone.  It is in my experience that the more I share my fears and regrets, and the more I listen to those of another, the less I feel like an outsider.  The more my heart reflects off the mirrors of those around me, the more I feel a union with that indescribable mysterious and yet ever present “source.” 

Communicating our vulnerable opening is one of the places where we find our spirit.  It is the place where isolation and belonging find harmony. 

This is the anastomosis I want to talk about today: spiritual anastomosis.  Spiritual anastomosis occurs when we feel a coming together where once we were divided.  It is the everyday way in which we mere mortals repeatedly return to the source, forming a mesh network of spiritual channels, an interdependent web of existence of which we are all a part.  

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“To share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable; to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strength.” ― Criss Jami, author and poet writes.

Every other Tuesday night in the Thomas room a small group of Unitarians have been gathering to discuss the previous Sunday morning’s topic.  The purpose of the group is to go deep and connect through what some would call “active listening.”  Sometimes we break the rules and cross talk, sometimes we get lost in our own verbiage, but we always learn something about ourselves as we learn about each other.  It isn’t always easy, listening.  But as Criss Jami points out, neither is sharing.

There is a new intimacy growing between us all, a new familiarity as we give our opinions and offer ideas.  Last week, as our session came to an end, one member said how incredible it was to know that each of us came to the group with distinctly different backgrounds and yet had found a meaningful consensus.  Even though we range in age, gender, income, education and experience, we were able to relate to one another, deeply.  Willingly sharing our weaknesses has somehow strengthened our bond.  We are slowly forming relationships. 

This is what we do here at the Unitarian Church of Montreal.  Slowly we build relationships through relating with one another as we allow ourselves to go just a little bit deeper.

Relate; to be in relation; to have a relationship.

What does this mean, relationship?  To me, the Latin roots of the word paint a human picture of anastomosis.   Re means back, again, while lation comes from the word “latus” which means carried, borne.  Relation means restoring, bringing back.  So to be in relation with another is to be carried back to the place you were born, to return to the source.  How simple.  How beautiful, and yet how overwhelmingly impossible sometimes when our weaknesses seem bigger than our courage to share them, to relate with them.  How could we possibly even dare?  Sometimes our need for belonging is so strong that we won’t risk exposing our hidden truth.  In this way, we keep our secrets close to our hearts, forcing the river within us to divide. 

Postsecret.com is the most visited advertisement-free blog in the world.  Why?  Because Frank Warren invited one thousand people to anonymously mail their secrets to him so that they may be posted online for the world to see.  Heart wrenching and hilarious, jaw dropping and jubilant, the thousand secrets that poured in just keep on coming!  Today, there are more than five hundred and seventy million visitors and an endless supply of secrets to read.  This website is juicier than a Florida orange and more addictive than General Hospital. 

Here are a few examples of the hand-made anonymous postcards:

"Dear Birthmother, I have great parents. I've found love. I'm happy."
 “Sometimes when you get angry, I get scared and want to cry. I’m scared someday you’ll take your anger out on me”
“Why do you feel the need to look to a god for inspiration, when you could most likely find someone much more inspirational right beside you.”
"Everyone who knew me before 9/11 believes I'm dead."
 “I still answer whenever your call because I am still in love with you and always will be. Just say the word and I’ll come running.”
“When a customer is rude to me, I serve them DECAF!”
“When my husband is away, I wash out the cast iron pan with soap!”
“Tonight we sat in your car while you had a panic attack.  I wish you could believe how much I love you.  I’ll always be holding out for you.  You are worth it.”
"Inside this envelope is the ripped up remains of a suicide note I didn't use. I feel like the happiest person on Earth (now.)"
“People thank me for my service as an army combat medic but don’t know that most of the lives I saved were the enemies.”
“I am contemplating whether to speak now or forever hold my peace.”
"One of these men is the father of my son. He pays me a lot to keep it a secret."
“I recently moved to another county, 1000 miles from my old friends and family… I’ve never been happier.”
 “A box of crayons gives me more pleasure and happiness than most nights out.”
In his TED talk, Postsecret.com founder Frank Warren points out, and I quote, “Secrets can take many forms. They can be shocking or silly or soulful. They can connect us to our deepest humanity or with people we'll never meet.  Secrets can remind us of the countless human dramas, of frailty and heroism, playing out silently in the lives of people all around us even now.” End quote. 

What I find the most interesting about postsecret.com is that sharing a secret is only half of the process.  There is a reason the blog has over five hundred and seventy million visitors; there is a deep satisfaction in reading them.  It is in the receiving of information that we really connect with someone’s vulnerability because we connect with our own.  This give and take of vulnerability between two or more people is what relating actually is. 

Spiritual anastomosis occurs when we feel a coming together where once we were divided.  It is the flash of affinity when we identify ourselves in another.

Whether through sharing our secrets anonymously online or courageously looking into the eyes of another and exposing our feathery heart despite the chance of rejection or failure or disappointment, we strengthen our bonds by relating with one another, by communicating our opening.  As a spiritual community that welcomes and nurtures, can we be a little more fearless, to share a teeny tiny bit more of ourselves with one another?  If we are to become stronger, how can we become more vulnerable?

Grandfather Sun shines on the glacial plains; warming drops of water carve out the mountain rock, one grain of sand at a time, carving out vein-like riverbeds that blend into watersheds into basins and lakes, and oceanic voids.  Beneath the surface, rose coloured salmon fight their way upstream, determined to return to their natal rivers, beckoned to their birthplace.  From the breath of the earth to the veins in our hands, from the rivers to the salmon who swim them; against all odds, life is carried back to itself.  Connecting to our deepest humanity, we are carried back to the place we were born, to that replenishing, revitalizing, re-energizing source. 

This is anastomosis and its one million returns.

Love All Ways

Amen