“Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”
GATHERING AND GREETING
As we gather, we acknowledge with respect the history, spirituality, and culture of the K’omoks First Nation and the Coast Salish peoples on whose traditional and unceded territory we meet. We also honour the heritage of all indigenous peoples as we recognize the need to seek a new relationship between the descendants of settlers and of those who were here before colonization. As a congregation of The United Church of Canada, with them, we take responsibility both for past injustices and the need for healing and reconciliation. We love and honour this land upon which we meet and live and all whose footfall has trod and will tread upon it.
THE SINGING BOWL IS SOUNDED AND THE CHRIST CANDLE IS LIT
INVITING US TO BE ATTENTIVE TO WHAT CAN NEITHER BE HEARD NOR SEEN BUT WHICH IS PRESENT AND REAL
OPENING IN COMMUNION WITH THE ANCIENTS
Psalm 37, Responsively
Verses selected and adapted from “Psalms for Praying”: Nan Merrill, Continuum Press, 2002
Trust in the Most High, and seek goodness;
live harmoniously upon the earth
in peace and with assurance.
Take delight in the Beloved;
enjoy the bountiful gifts of Love.
We commit our life to the Beloved,
confident that Love will act on our behalf,
making clear our pathway,
bright as the sun at midday.
Be still before the Beloved,
and wait patiently in the silence.
Pray for those who prosper by deceitful means,
and for those who live by their own desires.
We recognize our own anger as unfulfilled desire,
and lift our thoughts to higher planes;
for those who act out of anger
separate themselves from Love;
while those who live in harmony shall know
peace
assurance
gratitude
love.
In a little while,
those who live with greed will prosper no more;
while the humble shall inherit the earth,
and delight in sharing its abundance with all.
HYMN (Psalm 42): “As the Deer Pants for the Water” – Voices United, p. 766
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm1LLchTpFI
As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you;
You alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship you.
You alone are my strength, my shield,
to you alone may my spirit yield;
You alone are my heart’s desire
and I long to worship you.
(repeat once)
READING FROM SCRIPTURE: John 6:24-35
Today’s Gospel passage follows immediately after the story of Jesus feeding upwards of 5000 people by apparently turning just 5 loaves and 2 fishes into enough for everyone with basketsful left over. After this communal feast, Jesus and his disciples head home and this passage picks up the story from there.
When the crowd saw that Jesus and his disciples were no longer there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.”
Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Hear and consider what the Spirit is saying to the Church and to the whole created order:
Thanks be to God.
TED’S REFLECTIONS
My favorite uncle lived to listen to jazz. Unfortunately he also had to make a living somehow and he did so selling things: tires to start with, office equipment at the end of his career, and any number of other things in between. Once sitting together in his modest house in North Van listening to his collection of big band swing music, he shared some of his sales experiences with me. He told me there were basically two reasons people bought anything: one was because they wanted it; and the other was because they needed it. He said he would never try to make a sale by convincing customers to want something they didn’t need, but he would work hard to help them get something they really needed. Today’s scripture passages ask us to sort out our own needs from our wants and not to be satisfied until we have identified the deepest need in our soul.
Even in a quick reading of today’s Gospel passage, two things are pretty evident. One is that people went to great lengths to seek Jesus out and the other is that Jesus was pretty frustrated because they often wanted something else than what he knew they most deeply needed. The passage suggests some of the baser motives that attracted people to Jesus. Some simply saw him as a kind of circus performer and wanted to re-experience the titillation they had felt when he pulled off his last trick. Easy to understand why Jesus would be frustrated – even offended – by that response from the clamoring crowd. Others were there because they wanted more of the bread he had given them the last time they were together. Now the problem with that motivation is a bit harder to tease out. Obviously the need for food both to satisfy our body’s immediate hunger and to sustain us over our lifetime is a valid need. Without it we would die. Or at least, our bellies would hurt and our lives would be severely diminished without an adequate and regular supply of nutritious food. I’m pretty sure Jesus understood that because he was human himself. His own acquaintance with hunger and his empathy with others feeling the same gnawing emptiness had led him to provide food for the crowd in the first place. But I think the edginess Jesus expresses here is because he longs for people to understand that their physical survival and sustainability is not an end in itself. Beyond our body’s very valid needs, our soul has needs as well. And that, above all, is the need Jesus wanted to fill for them. Jesus longed for them to experience soul hunger and allow him to offer them insight into finding that deeper satisfaction and fulfillment. So bread in this exchange is both a literal, physical, very human need and a metaphor for what we need not only to survive but to fulfill our deepest human potential. Now that such a hunger is not the idiosyncratic concern of a few but something inherent in being human is evident because, when Jesus talks about this other kind of hunger and this other kind of bread, something resonates with the people he is speaking with. “Sir, give us this bread always,” they say, even if they don’t fully grasp what it is they are asking for.
So I think that where all this leads us today is into some soul searching of our own. I wonder what it is that has led us to be here today. There are obviously some surface reasons why we have come. Habit maybe. Because we have a role to play and we are responsible people perhaps. That sort of thing. But something got that very good habit started in the first place. Something led us to take on the roles we do play in such a setting and such a gathering. Is there a quiet whisper emanating from the depths of our souls that needs us to be here today and to involve ourselves in all the other ways we seek soul satisfaction? For those of you checking in on this Service later in your own time and place, something led you to take time for this as well. Beyond habit and a sense of responsibility or your own more personal reasons, are we still in touch with that soul whisper and seeking the fulfillment of its promise?
How would you describe that deep soul need for yourself? There are some helpful models out there to guide us in naming such a deep soul need.
Over my lifetime – in my own spiritual quest and in trying to be a guide for others on theirs – I have developed my own model, a three-fold summary of our deepest human longing as an existential need for authentic and satisfying meaning, purpose, and belonging in life. Perhaps that is my way to talk about what Paul called faith, hope, and love.
Abraham Maslow, in his work as a psychologist, developed a classic model: the idea of a hierarchy of human needs. Visually he builds a three-tiered pyramid of our ascending needs. The lower tier is a solid base of our physical needs being met: food, water, warmth, rest, security, safety…. The middle tier he describes as our psychological needs: belonging, love, friendship, community, esteem that comes from a sense of worthwhile purpose and accomplishment…. And the top tier, self-fulfillment or, in his words, self-actualization: coming into the fullness of our potential with the release of our own unique giftedness and creativity…. I wonder if that is what Jesus longed for people to seek beyond the more superficial wants or needs they were prepared to settle for. Maybe what Maslow called self-actualization is similar to what Jesus called life in all its abundance.
Perhaps my three-fold summary or Maslow’s three-tiered pyramid are helpful models. But what is most helpful, I think, is for each of us to listen to our own soul persistently whispering to us its deepest need. What is that whisper saying to each of us, to you? Are there other wants or needs badgering us and drowning out that deeper whisper? How do we learn to listen that deeply and how do we help each other tune in to our own soul’s whisper?
I will end here and let any of our inner thoughts and shared responses continue our reflections on the theme ….
For Further Reflection
- What is the whisper of your soul reminding you about your deepest need?
- Are there other wants or needs badgering you and drowning out that deeper whisper?
- How do we learn to listen that deeply?
- How do we help each other tune in to our own soul’s whisper?
A SHARED TIME FOR REFLECTION, PRAYER, AND OFFERING
You are invited to use the quiet to reflect on the readings and ideas shared today, to light a candle or place a stone or shell as an expression of your intention or prayer, and/or to place an offering in the basket. If you get up to move about, please maintain safe physical distancing. And if you have a thought to share, please feel free to offer it aloud. For those of you sitting with this Service later in your own time and place, you might want to take time for personal prayer and reflection before continuing further. I would also welcome any thoughts you might wish to share by return email.
OUR DEDICATION
A Classic Prayer from Augustine of Hippo, born in the 4th Century CE
You have made us for yourself, O God;
and our heart is restless ‘til it finds its rest in you.
Amen.
CONCLUDING BLESSING IN WORD AND SONG
HYMN: Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God, VU#356
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAmpsNtU6g0
Seek ye first the fullness of God and God’s holiness,
and all these things shall be added unto you … Allelu Alleluia.
Alleluia Alleluia Alleluia Allelu Alleluia
Ask and it shall be given unto you, seek and you shall find.
Knock and the door shall be opened unto you … Allelu Alleluia.
We do not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God … Allelu Alleluia … Allelu Alleluia
Dream Deferred, a poem by Langston Hughes
From “Teaching with Fire”, Eds. Intrator and Scribner, Jossey-Bass, 2005
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore –
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over –
like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Good People:
May the dream that was you
even before you were born or even conceived
burst from within you to startle the world closer to its truer nature.
Peace to you
In the name of the Creator, Christ, and Spirit One. Amen.
And now for something completely different….
(WARNING: this just might break the mood!)
