EROSION

February 26, 2012
Lent 1
Genesis 9:8-17
1st Peter 3:18-22

(prayer)

Six weeks today will be Easter Sunday. Easter is the Christian celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. That’s where we are heading. In six weeks, we’ll be there...again.

But...not yet.

//

There is a liturgical tradition within many parts of Christianity that marks the significant times of the church year with special ‘seasons’. Today, we begin the Season of Lent. Lent is the season that leads up to Easter.

Unlike Christmas, which always falls on December 25th and can be any day of the week, the day of Easter is always on a Sunday and varies year by year, based on the Biblical assertion that Jesus death and resurrection happened at the time of the Hebrew Passover – on the first day of the week, the day after the Sabbath. Passover is a movable spring festival determined by the cycle of the moon.

Modern Christian Easter is always between March 22nd and April 25th and is based on the predicted timing of the vernal (spring) equinox and full moons as predicted by the Council of Nicea of 325CE. There is a formula and 1700 year old astrometric tables to consult, but...

I tend to just trust the modern calendar makers.

I have a sheet in my office that tells me the dates of Easter (and the days of the week on which Christmas will fall) all the way up to the year 2038 – if I’m not retired from active ministry by then, I’ll have to update the information.

//

Easter 2012 is April 8th. Count back 46 days (that’s an even 40 days, if you don’t include the Sundays) and the official start date of the Season of Lent 2012 was this past Wednesday, February 22nd (since Easter is always a Sunday, Lent always begins on a Wednesday – aka Ash Wednesday).

The word ‘lent’ comes from an old English word for lengthen, because (in the northern hemisphere, where Christianity began), Lent always occurs as the spring days are getting longer.

Today is the first Sunday in Lent.

//

These six weeks are a gift to people of the church. They are an opportunity for each of us to delve into the history of our faith; to explore the path that lead Jesus to the executioner’s cross; to examine how Jesus’ followers reacted to his teachings and example. And most importantly...for us to “take it to the next level” personally, and to challenge ourselves with the question: “so what?” How do these old stories and time tables impact my life today?

This opportunity is available to each one of us - regardless of the depth of our church connections or how spiritual we might describe ourselves to be.

I do assume that each of us is here because we have some spiritual yearning to connect to the mystery of our existence – to discover meaning and purpose in our lives. To find the courage and inspiration to be as good of people as we are able. We seek some level of communion with our creator, with God.

//

And so, it begins.

//

[Web note: each Sunday throughout Lent, St. David’s will add water from different sources to a common bowl to symbolize our connection to the water cycles of our world and the valuable place H2O plays in our existence, today the source of water was freshly fallen snow]

As I noted earlier, with that handful of fresh snow (now beginning to melt), water has always been a significant part of the story of life. Water is central to both of our scripture passages for today.

The letter of 1st Peter spoke to the early church about an interpretation of the symbolism of baptism – it was like a ritual washing, but not to remove dirt, but to remove us from ‘all that might stand in our way’ of a meaningful relationship with God (to cleanse us, spiritually). Baptism was the ‘rite of initiation’ into the early Christian community (as it is for the modern church). Water cleanses and welcomes.

From a biblical perspective, water is both life and chaos - it can be refreshing and suffocating - it is a source of nourishment and complicit in death.

We are all born of water and made of mostly water. We cannot live without it. But...violent thunderstorms, tsunamis, mudslides and floods can remind us all (too quickly) that water ultimately is not under our control.

As the weather patterns across our globe continue to change: shrinking glaciers, drying up river beds and wells in one place and flooding land in another, access to fresh potable water is poised to be the next battleground for the hoarders of the world (it’s already begun actually). Water is moving from being an essential staple of life to being a commodity for sale to the highest bidder.

//

We may think we control water, but we don’t – it is the ultimate indigenous characteristic of our planet and like the dance of tectonic plates over magma, water has abilities that we can never control, no matter how smart we get.

//

The people of antiquity knew that, as well as we do. The account of Noah and the Ark is a great example of this.

The story of Noah comes from (what is sometimes called) the ‘pre-history’ section of the book of Genesis: ancient stories that sought to explain some of the basic truths known about our existence.

[Chapters 1-11: creation legends, the good and evil within the growth of humanity, Noah and the flood and finally, the great tower of Babel.]

Although, many of these ‘pre-history’ stories have roots in some historical event or place passed on from generation to generation (and often culture to culture), they are wonderfully steeped in metaphor – AND are seldom meant to be taken literally - as they are written.

For example, the account of Noah is actually based on a cross-cultural tale; it is not a story unique to the Bible. It is a re-telling of part of the Epic of Gilgamesh (a Sumerian poem and one of the oldest surviving pieces of human literature with fragments dating from the 18th century BCE).

The relevant part of the epic concerns Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk who (having just experienced the death of a dear friend and fearing for his own eventual death) seeks out Ut-na-pish-tim, a person alleged to have been granted immortality by the gods.

Gilgamesh travels a long and dangerous journey to reach the island where Ut-na-pish-tim lives, only to see that this immortal one does not appear much different than him: except that he’s got a bit of an attitude: not concerning himself with trivial human concerns. When Gilgamesh asks about how he obtained immortality, Ut-na-pish-tim tells a story about a great flood, of which he, his family and craftsmen were the only survivors.

[(adapted from wikipedia) Utnapishtim explains that the gods decided to send a great flood (to destroy humanity, whose ‘noise’ had become annoying to the gods). To save Utnapishtim, the god, Ea, told him to build a boat. Ea gave him precise dimensions, and it was sealed with pitch and bitumen. Utnapishtim’s entire family went aboard, together with his craftsmen and 'all the animals of the field'. A violent storm then arose (so violent, in fact, that it caused the terrified gods to retreat to the heavens).

The goddess, Ishtar, lamented the wholesale destruction of humanity, and the other gods wept beside her. The storm lasted six days and nights, after which 'all the human beings [had] turned to clay'. Utnapishtim weeps when he sees the destruction. His boat lodges on a mountain, and he releases a dove, a swallow, and a raven. When the raven fails to return, he opens the ark and frees its inhabitants. Utnapishtim offers a sacrifice to the gods, who smell the sweet savor and gather around. Ishtar vows that (just as she will never forget the brilliant necklace that hangs around her neck) she will always remember this time. When another god, Enlil, arrives, he is angry that there are survivors; Ishtar condemns him for instigating the flood. Ea also castigates him for sending a disproportionate punishment. Enlil relents and blesses Utnapishtim and his wife, and rewards them with eternal life.]

Sound kind of familiar?

//

The authors of Genesis, knew this ancient Sumerian epic well. They saw a deep truth within the story, and maybe even believed in a great historical flood, but told the tale (in their context) with the Hebrew God at the centre. In the monotheistic world of Israel, there is no divine battle, but the flood is still a divine response to human activity – the violence and corruption of the world: certainly a more valid and just reason than simply annoying noise.

The cleansing grace of water seeks to restore the world to its original blessedness.

Notice how, in the Genesis version, Ishtar’s brilliant necklace has been replaced with the colourful rainbow, visible to all - human and divine, alike. The bow in the sky is a reminder of the divine promise of God to remain committed to humanity and to all the creatures of the earth.

//

If we are forced to take Genesis 9 literally, as a unique story of the actions of the Hebrew God, we would have to confront the ‘extreme’ reaction of God to the people’s corruption and wicked violent living – we would have to question our allegiance to a god who seeks to completely destroy: to drown all but one family. We would be right to ask: Was Noah really the only good person left? Did everyone else deserve capital punishment for the crime that was their life? What kind of ethic does God operate under?



But this is clearly not a story to be understood literally, but... metaphorically. Our best evidence of this is that the essence of the story is, in fact, non-biblical.

As well, when our eyes are open to the symbolism, when we allow the layers of literalism to wash away, we can see a greater truth about justice, renewal and promise.

JUSTICE – corruption and violence are counter to just living.

It is a noble desire to have corruption and violence wiped away from the human experience. We might long for some outer force to affect an easy and quick solution by just covering up the problems with a flood and let them wash away, but that’s not the way life seems to work outside of the storybook.

A quick glance at the newspaper or a news website will remind us

(far too quickly) that corruption and violence were not wiped out in some ancient flood.

But that does not mean that we should accept the selfish attitudes that give rise to those injustices. Jesus’ actions in his ministry were almost exclusively acts of justice, bringing people back into the fold of a just community. Noah can remind us to expose ourselves as people of Justice.

RENEWAL – a most wondrous part of the story of the Ark is that the flood is not the end of the story – waters recede to expose a renewed world – a world with a fresh peace. The dove returns with the very proof of that as it carries an olive branch in its beak. That biblical image still carries that meaning today – peace is possible when we are made aware of the new life that exists, if we are willing to look for it long enough to find it. Strengthened by the dove’s gift, Noah’s family can leave the Ark in confidence that the old ways of negative living can give way to new life.

This was perhaps the most obvious lesson for the people originally listening to the stories in Genesis. All agricultural societies know the value of the renewing waters: whether that is the nutrient-rich, cleansing floods of river basins or the gentle spring rains that fall on our first world farms – water renews. Noah can remind us to expose ourselves as people who believe in renewal.

PROMISE – some of the magic goes out of a rainbow, if all we think about is the refraction of white light through the prism of suspended rain droplets. Fortunately, rainbows are so wonderful to behold that even our modern scientific minds can just enjoy the beauty.

Three years ago, Patti and I walked out on a rock path into the harbour at Sooke, BC. It had just stopped raining and we were soaked to the bone when we reached the lighthouse at the end of the path. We turned around and saw this.

All the cold left my body as I looked at this wonder of our God-given world: the brilliant necklace of God that we all get to enjoy.

For as long as humans can remember, the rainbow has been a sign of promise – the rain is over, the sun is shining to the ground again. It is a peaceful and joyful promise. Noah can remind us to expose ourselves as people of Promise.

//

This is how we are invited to begin our Lenten journey in 2012. We can erode away our old ways of ambivalence and wash us down to the basics of justice, renewal and promise.

Thanks be to God.

>>PRAYER>>



Let us pray:

O God, we still live in a broken world desperate for the grace of new beginnings. Help us to trust the rainbow sign, and share in the covenant of caring with all creation, in Jesus, the Christ. Amen.



#4MV “All Who Are Thirsty”

INSULATION - RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW

February 19, 2012
Transfiguration
Psalm 50:1-6
Mark 9:2-9

 

INSULATION

 

 What is insulation?

 Ever heard of R-value?

 R-value is a measure the thermal resistance. The higher the number the less heat will transfer through.

 In Canada, we want home insulation with a high R-value to keep the heat in, in the winter.

 In warmer places, like Florida, they want high R-values to keep the heat out of their homes.

 Insulation can also be used to hold back sound.

 Well built apartments will have sound stopping insulation between suites.

 We use insulation when we are interested in isolation - when we want to shut ourselves away from something.

 That’s a decent metaphor (an example) about life, eh?

 Sometimes, we choose to isulate ourselves – keeping out things we don’t want to deal with.

 And sometimes, we find ourselves isolated, even if that’s not what we want.

//


 When the stories about Jesus first came to places like Scotland and Ireland, the people there lived in a very isolated place. They are on islands separated from the rest of Europe. There were no cars or planes and big boats that travelled the seas were not used by ordinary people. The Celtic people were isolated from how people in other places lived out their spirituality (how they practiced Christianity).

 Very prayer and song focused. Trying to feel closer to God. Sometimes they found that easier in some places – like a mountain side or by a river or in a beautiful meadow.

 Those places were called “Thin Places” – a place where the insulation (so to speak) between people and God was very thin.

 Have you ever been somewhere, where you felt very close to God? Well, for you that was a thin place.

//

 Peter, James and John has a thin place experience with Jesus when they went with him up on the mountain in the Bible story we read a bit earlier.

 It was as if the difference between Jesus, their friend and teacher and Jesus, the Son of God was brought together – they felt they were on Holy Ground.

 As the story said, the three of them had a common vision – Jesus, all glowing white like an angel, standing with two of the great prophets of the past: Moses and Elijah.

 Peter didn’t want to leave this Thin Place: Let me set up three tents: one for you Jesus, one for Elijah and one for Moses.

 And then they felt even closer to God – they thought they heard God speak: “Jesus is my deeply loved child - listen to him!”

 As soon as this thin place experience started it was over – Jesus looked normal again and they went back home. For a long time, Peter, James and John, never told anyone about it because it was so special to them.

//

 In your life, try and remove as much insulation you can between you and God. Let as many places as you can, become thin places for you.

 Amen.

 

RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW

 

(prayer)

 

“Let me set up three tents, Jesus: one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

 

The moment was so striking, so unique that Peter knew that this was one of those special one-in-a-life-time experiences.

 

He wanted this moment to last.

 

//

 

He knew that he was in the company of honoured guest: they shouldn’t have to sleep out in the open air; they should have sleeping booths. James and John and Peter would let the great prophets use their gear.

 

//

 

How could Peter and the others ever look at Jesus the same way again? How could the valley and the towns and the countryside ever hold their excitement again? Now that they had been on this mountain top, the rest of the world would seem smaller, duller.

 

//

 

It wouldn’t last, of course.

 

Their work lie in the valley, not on the mountain top. Jesus’ gospel was a proclamation of the nearness of God that was to be shared not hoarded. They would return to the world below.

 

The transfiguration of Jesus ended so suddenly (after they felt God talking right through them “This is my belov`ed son; Listen to him”), that they must have wondered if any of it was real. That had to be a topic amongst these three for quite a while afterwards. Was it real? Did you hear the voice too?

 

It felt real – that they were sure about. It felt real and that would be enough to remember what had happened in the thin air of that thin place.

 

Maybe that is why Jesus told them to be quiet about it for a while. He knew they needed to sort out what they had been through before they tried to explain it to someone who wasn’t there.

 

//

 

//

 

I think Peter was on to something, perhaps more applicable in our time rather than his. We live is such a rushed world, where rest is not really honoured. Every day, there is time to be filled; there are obligations thrust at us and duties we choose to take on.

 

I am forever running into people who are so concerned about what they have to do next, that they can’t possibly be fully enjoying the moment they are in (one of the people who does is stares at me in the mirror every morning.

 

It is not just a less-desirable-situation; I think that there is a danger to moving on too fast.

 

Firstly, we are not endowed with perpetual energy – if we don’t rejuvenate and rest, our bodies will force us!

 

Secondly, life should not only be about the next great thing on the horizon. Our culture tries to sell us on the idea that each new thing is obsolete only moments after we get it.

 

Yes, the might be good and wonderful things to come; but this moment matters too – maybe more so because it is right here, right now. Just because it won’t last doesn’t mean it should be discounted.

 

An obvious reason to enjoy this moment is of course the future is not guaranteed – you never know.

 

The next big asteroid could be coming tomorrow.

 

You could be cowering in your Syrian home, when a military mortar attack kills you and your family.

 

You could be listening to some of your favourite music and not hear the train whistle’s warning.

 

You could have holiday plans and a doctor tells you that you should make time for treatments right away.

 

//

 

‘S#!+’ [stuff] happens. And if there is a consistent message I have heard from people who have had more than their share of ‘stuff’ it is that let yourself appreciate this day for whatever good it can bring into your life.

 

Even if (as history rolls on) the future comes and goes in a relatively good way, ‘now’ still matters.

 

//

 

The excellent 1997 Oscar winning movie, Titanic, is coming out in theatres again on April 4th – this time in 3D (April 4th). When Jack and Rose meet, she is given the opportunity to think about the wonder of each moment, not simply how to endure what appears to be an unchangeable path.

 

He slips her a note at dinner to meet him at the clock by the stairs and “make it count”.

 

That’s just a movie. But the message has value for real life – just as Peter’s experience did in his life.

 

Choosing experiences over stuff is counter cultural now a-days. But it might feed us deeper than anything we could place on a shelf or lock in a safe.

 

Make this moment (with those you love and care for) matter. Open yourself up to learn about the newness that exists in this moment. Seek out the hidden blessing. Find the thin place (that’s around you somewhere right now) where your spirit can be nurtured; where you will not only know, but feel, that you are not alone.

 

The author of the first letter of John said it best: God is love – knowing love is knowing God. Thin place moments are emotional more than tactile.

 

I know that our language usually anthropomorphizes God. But try thinking of God as a ‘feeling’ more than a ‘being’; don’t interpret First John as saying that God loves, but simply that God is love.

 

Feelings are to be experienced, not created or bought, just felt. God is like that.

 

Peter, James and John got a brief glimpse of this and they appreciated it in the moment: what it meant, how might react to it later, they didn’t know – they just left the feeling of the moment be the focus. And, maybe because of their willingness to just be in the moment, it was still real for them, long after the clouds had cleared and they had returned to the valley.

 

Right here, right now ... matters.

 

Make it count.

 

//

 

Let us pray:

 

Holy Love;

 

let us feel and know your presence in our lives right now. Move in us and through us and change us. And we pray for more of the same for the time that is yet to be. Amen.

 

#156MV “Dance With the Spirit”

 

BURSTING WITH ENERGY

February 12, 2012
Epiphany 6
1st Corinthians 9:24-27
Mark 1:40-45

{scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off}

In my undergrad degree at the UofA, I took more than my fair share of macro-economics classes – and the content was all about that exciting. Although, I never found that I needed to sleep or stare blurry eyed off into space.

I think that the difference is that I may have had slightly more engaging professors than the one we just watched.

//

An audience has a better chance of enjoying a presentation if the presenter has some obvious energy for what is being talked about.

As many of you know, I am involved with the local minor football association. I have been part of many-a pep talk before and after games. I have seen the power that an engaging speaker can exercise.

History is scattered with charismatic, speakers who are able to energize crowds – in both positive and disastrous ways.

I’m enjoying the current US election season, because (certainly as an outsider), the debates and rhetoric have an entertaining value. It is kind of fun to watch, sometimes. But, even as an outsider, when I meaningful, passionate words that touch at the core of my values, I can be moved.

An energetically charged message can be incredibly powerful.

Of course to mention the obvious, for me as a preacher, this topic is highly applicable.

//

//

And yet, as I think back to my economics courses, what I appreciated the most – and why I chose to take extra economics courses to fill option slots in my schedule – was that there was a life-applicable aspect to what I was learning.

There was a practice behind and beyond the theory. Even Ben Stein’s character in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, was trying to engage the class in the practical implications of public economic policies: raising tariffs didn’t help raise new revenues during the great depression, and how early 1980s supply-side economics policies were guided by the controversial Laffer curve.

//

I think it is generally true that people are more impressed by actions rather than words – it is always true if there are inconsistencies between words and actions.

But when impressive actions are tied to engaging words, the impact can be remarkable.

//

Today we read a story from the gospel of Mark that comes from Jesus’ first ‘road trip’ as a travelling preacher and healer. The section leading up to today’s passage (which people would have heard in church here over the past two Sundays) told about Jesus’ ability to teach with authority and to bringing wholeness and wellness into people’s lives that allowed them to be full participants in their communities.

Jesus had discerned that this is what he was meant to do; so he told his new group of Capernaum-based followers that they would be going to the neighbouring towns as well to share these kinds of experiences there, as well.

What we read today in verses forty to forty-five is the first account of Jesus’ expanded ministry.

A man sought Jesus out. He suffered from what is described as leprosy. Now, in the bible, when a person is described as a leper, they could be suffering from any range of skin diseases by modern description, not simply Hansen’s Disease (or leprosy). None of that subtlety matters.

What is important is that the ailment was obvious to an outside observer and that it was contagious. People who were afflicted were forced into isolation – sometimes into communes with others also with the disease.

In a similar vein to the ways things were in Capernaum, the ‘sick’ that were brought to Jesus needed not only a healing of their body or mind, but also their dignity as persons and their place in society.

We now know that leprosy is a bacterial disease, but there was no anti-biotic treatment for people in Jesus’ day. Even so, people did recover occasionally, if the conditions were right (or it was a less serious skin disease). In cases, where lepers were cured of the disease, before they could reintegrate into society (following the traditions laid out in Leviticus chapter fourteen) they needed to call for the priest to come and examine their skin and if they were seen to be clean, the person would have to go through an elaborate ritual involving two living birds, some cedarwood, crimson yarn and hyssop, followed by the washing of clothes, a full body bath and shaving all of all the hair on the head and face (including eyebrows), living outside the camp for a week, another clean shave and bath. When that was all done, the former leper could re-enter the worship life of the people, beginning with another elaborate temple ritual, this time involving three sheep (two male, one female), a grain offering and choice flour mixed with oil.

Lepers were not welcomed back into the general workings of society easily.

The leper in the Mark reading asked Jesus to make him clean. With compassion, and touch and word, the man was healed.

Jesus knew the levitical law: simply having the disease cured was only the physical cure – the society still needed mending. Jesus told the man to not get too excited yet: he needed to go see the priest and get the birds and yarn and wash and...wait – and then the man could offer his special lamb and grain offering. And finally, he would not only be clean, he would be treated as clean. It seems to be this last part that was ultimately important to Jesus – the healing of a person that leads to the healing of community.

//

But...the healed man could not wait for the rituals to be done to share his goodnews.

It seems that Jesus’ act of compassion spoke much more authority that the words of the ancient ritual texts.

When you are so filled with joy and appreciation and wonder and excitement – it cannot be contained.

//

//

The apostle Paul makes the point many times in his letters to early Christian communities that faithful living is something to be worked on with great effort. One such teachings was our other reading for today from one of Paul’s letters to the church in Corinth.

THIS IS HOW IT STARTS

February 5, 2012
Epiphany 5
Isaiah 40:21-31
Mark 1:29-39

(prayer)

A few weeks ago, I shared the scripture story of Jesus by the lakeshore inviting James, John, Andrew and Simon to join him in a new kind of fishing – the catching of people. In Mark chapter one, we can read that they all immediately left their fishing nets to follow Jesus. Sometimes, we can hear that as if these people completely turned their backs on their old lives; cut all ties with work and friends and family and put every gram of the focus on Jesus. That kind of commitment is extraordinary and, frankly, beyond what most (if not all of us) feel we might be capable of. It’s the level of involvement and isolation that we fear as we look at how some people have been drawn into cults. I doubt that this is the image we hope to see in relation to Jesus and his disciples – that they were like the crazy cults of our day: shut out all association with your life before and only focus on the new life before you.

Fortunately, our gospel record is clear that this is not how things were. Sure Simon and the others saw something in Jesus that drew them into a significant re-focusing of their lives, but it did not require them to leave everything behind with those nets on the first day.

The setting of our reading from Mark today is Simon and Andrew’s home in Capernaum. It was a Saturday. Earlier that day, Jesus and his new disciples had attended the service at the local synagogue. Jesus had amazed the crowds there with his knowledge and the confidence with which he taught. People were amazed at how he spoke with such authority.

After all that was done, they retreated to Andrew and Simon’s home.

So, clearly, these two fishermen were still connected to their family, even if they weren’t going to out in the boat every day. Verse 30 gives us a nice glimpse into the life of Simon Peter. He was married and his mother-in-law lived with him and his extended family. She is under the weather that Saturday (in bed with a fever the text says). Jesus goes to her, helps her out of bed and suddenly she feels better. For women of that day, unfortunately, that meant that she would need to attend to the mid-day Sabbath meal and see to the affairs of the household. In her illness, she was separated from her involvement in her home and her community. Jesus restored, not only her wellness but, her identity and dignity as a person in her community.

[I hope that Jesus’ motivation was not simply that they wanted her to serve them (as the text says she did). As the parent of a couple of teenagers, I know what it is like to be asked to serve those late evening hunger needs of my boys, regardless of how I or Patti might be feeling. “Umm, could you make me a pot of macaroni?” Believe me, “Oh not tonight, I’m not feeling great” is seldom a good enough excuse. I hope that wasn’t why Jesus healed Simon’s mother-in-law: to just get up make the boys something to eat.]

Earlier that day, Jesus had spoken with remarkable authority. It gained him an instant reputation that almost immediately began to spread throughout the region. In the middle of the day, Jesus actions showed a measure of this authority as he abated his host’s fever. As evening came, when the Sabbath was formally over, people flocked to where Jesus was and he brought comfort and wellness into their lives. Many of the diseases that people had were such that they would be required to be isolated from the community. Their ability to be fully involved was limited because of their illness of body or mind. Jesus restored, not only their wellness but, their identity and dignity as people of their community.

The next day, when Simon and the other awoke they realized that Jesus wasn’t in the house. He had gotten up early to think and pray on his own. I imagine his thoughts dwelling on the day before – the synagogue teaching, the needs of the sick. Jesus’ conclusion? – they needed to take a road trip and do this same kind of thing elsewhere. Jesus new travelling ministry would be two-fold: teaching: to restore the hearts and minds of people and acting: to restore them to wellness and community.

“That is what I came out to do?”

We can reasonably assume that Simon’s home in Capernaum was their home base. It was the hub, where they returned to renew and restore from the various excursions into the neighbouring towns.

//

I am pleased that the invitation to follow Jesus was not one that required or expected the disciples to leave everything else behind. I know this seem contrary other gospel passages where the text says to drop everything and follow: “let the dead bury the dead” and “give it all away and come”. The subtle consistency is that in those cases the people Jesus was talking to were unwilling to make any effort to re-focus. Remember, the rich young didn’t want to change anything about his life; he went away depressed when Jesus challenged him to be generous.

This new faithful exploration was a complement to the life they were leading before, not a replacement for it. What they found was that there was room in their lives for the glimpse of the divine that was in their midst in Jesus. And they were so very fortunate that, so often they caught much more than a glimpse.

//

As time has marched on since the first century, that isn’t always the case. Sometimes the divine can seem elusive.

//

Imagine a person who has been in a real funk lately - for a few weeks or more, feeling increasingly overwhelmed with a sense of dread and a lack of hope. Maybe you know how that feels.

//

This is a demanding time we live in: even normal day-to-day life. Expectations abound – professionally, personally, relationally. There can grow a time when the expectations seem to outweigh the possibilities. And that can create this trapping void where hope becomes but a distant, indistinguishable dot on the horizon.

Such a person might reasonably ask: What’s the point? Am I getting much bang for my buck out of life? Is this the limits of who I will be? Ironically, this kind of funk can have a person feeling both inadequate and unappreciated at the same time.

//

The Babylonian exile was a demoralizing time. They were not prepared for the life they were forced to have in Babylon. And...the people felt as if God no longer cared; that they had been abandoned; that clearly if their God had some power it was no match for the gods of the Babylonians. For centuries, the Temple had stood as the place where God was experienced. For many a theology had developed that it was the only place God could truly be found. Now that temple lay in ruins. Where was God now? Gone?

It is into this depressing mood that the prophet speaks.

O Lord my God,

when I in awesome wonder

consider all the works

thy hand hath made,

I see the stars,

I hear the mighty thunder,

thy power throughout

the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul,

my Saviour God, to thee,

How great thou art!

//

Have you not known? Have you not seen? God does not grow weary,

God’s understanding is boundless.

Just wait...God will renew our strength.

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It’s the waiting that is hard.

The words are nice. It is meant to be comforting and assuring to say that we have company in the Spirit. A little later in this service, we will recite together the United Church Creed, with those marvellously hope-filled words – “We are not alone”. That is the promise in the words of the prophet.

Words sometimes seem like they are not enough. As we look around and focus on what is missing, on what is wrong with our situation – as we focus on our feelings of loneliness and abandonment, we are challenged to consider that God is not really so far away from us and our concerns.

In the exile, in the wilderness, sometimes all we find is that glimpse.

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God’s presence is subtle – and it can be missed. The ‘still, small voice’ was how God spoke to the prophet Elijah (see 1st Kings 19) – still, small voice might even be too obvious: the NRSV translates that phrase with the oxymoronic words ‘the sound of sheer silence’. God is not going to heard or known or experienced over the noise and busyness of this life. God can only be heard and known and experienced in spite of all that chatter and distraction. The God to whom we sing “how great thou art” needs to be found in the quiet in the cracks between the noises of the rest of our existence.

Sometimes, we need to force open a crack to invite in the silence.

//

I am a hypocrite talking about this because I am as guilty as anyone could be for not making time and space for the sheer silent voice of God to be heard. There are not enough hours in the day. No matter how much I am able to accomplish, there can be disappointment, even condemnation that something was needed.

So, I am preaching for myself and to myself at least as much as I am offering these insights to you.

What has the prophet said to me (to you)?

Yes, even at our best, in our prime, we will run out of steam. Weariness is the expected result of a full life. But, God is not like us. God does not get weary or downhearted or spent. God is the ever-flowing stream – constantly able to kick start our renewal. When we are able to find that crack in life to let God in, God is there to be known. That’s the prophet’s promise.

It is similar to how Jesus chose to minister: to be where the need was, to be where inspiration and wellness and community renewal was needed.

//

That is how Jesus started his active ministry.

The prophet’s words of hope, were the beginning of the exiled peoples restoration, long before they would make the journey across the wilderness back to Judah one day.

// [end]

Every new thing has a start.

For those of us desiring more hope and purpose and appreciation for this life – a starting point can be allowing that crack to invade the busyness: allowing us to begin to believe that we are not alone.

I am trying hard to make this happen more in my life. I think this is a good start. [prayer>>]



 

Let us pray:

Help me find a way to you O God, not so I can escape this life, but to be able to enjoy this life most abundantly. Amen.



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