Enabling Fear

Pentecost 4b, also JTB day, Mark 4:35-41 with II Cors. 6:1-13 in the b.g

Sometimes, as Jesus teaches, it's helpful to start at the end of the parable or at the end of the miracle. Today that will be our tack. Did you hear Jesus asking those early disciples, "Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?" These are hard questions, in the sense that they are accusatory and reveal two fundamental truths about ourselves: 1) We often are afraid. 2) Sometimes we "have" little or no faith (if to use a colloquial expression faith is something we can "have"). So let me first ask, "Why are you afraid? What are you afraid of?" (LISTEN)

 

I am cosmologically afraid. I am increasingly convinced that the earth and her ecosystems cannot, will not sustain our greed, our demand, our living as if we are the only ones that matter while we neglect those who are economically poor, and absolutely disregard those whom God intends to chronologically follow us. Unfortunately my fear often paralyzes me. I move into denial of reality as I continue to drive more than I need to, as I eat things that contribute to the earth's demise, as I waste wantonly.

 

I am also afraid faith wise. Will we work at being a Christian community – congregationally, nationally as we collaboratively seek to study Scripture and tradition with our best minds and as we also seek to remember and care with and for the poor, the vulnerably and oppressed? Will we honestly wrestle with what the grace of God means not only for ourselves but for the entire world which God loves? I am sometimes afraid that we, (that includes myself) won't have the courage or the faith to do this. Disengaged either from our faith tradition or from attempting to live that out in this time and place means that we no longer function as the body of Christ  but become at best a club, or at worst first irrelevant and then extinct.

 

This means that sometimes/often I am afraid that we have no faith: the kind of faith that actually trusts God when the storms are great, the waves are high and the little boats we journey in are filling up. We are in little boats. That's part of the reason why this part of the church building is called a nave which is  the word for the  body of a ship from the Latin 'navis'. We are called to be on a journey with God.  But this journey is not without storms. And storms often evoke fear.    

 

In the midst of our fears it is important to stop – to pause, listen and think.

 

It's hard to do that. The storms of our lives vary.  Some are quite intense. The storms of illness, of broken relationships, of injustice, of human hatred and deceit can knock us down. There are also the storms of death and injustice. Some of these storms we bring upon ourselves. Other storms blow up from outside of us, occasionally despite our best efforts to prevent or avoid them.

 

The early disciples knew storms. In today's Gospel one blows into their boat, threatening to kill them. Meanwhile Jesus is ASLEEP ON A CUSHION... Have you ever felt that God was asleep while you were in the midst of a storm – while you or someone you loved was dying or losing their way? Do you ever feel that God is asleep even now in the midst of all the crazy storms that are raging?

 

But now, watch what the disciples do. They speaking to Jesus to wake him up. Their words are urgent, even logical. Yet their words betray the reality that the disciples do not understand who Jesus is. Mark includes an interesting "tidbit" of information - the disciples  have taken Jesus on the boat with them 'just as he was'.  How else, could they have taken him? There must be some reason that Mark includes this bit of information. Is it possible that sometimes we take Jesus not as he is, but as we would like him to be – as some kind magic maker who would remove us from any storms of life, any pain, any loss, from any struggle, from any doubts or fear?

 

The disciples wake Jesus by asking him this seemingly logical question even as their tiny craft is being swamped, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?"

 

In his unique economy of words Mark informs that Jesus rebukes the wind and says to the sea, "Peace be still!" Then the wind ceases. There is a dead calm. That's the word Mark employs, a DEAD calm. It is then that Jesus queries them: "Why they are afraid. Have they no faith?"

 

For Mark Jesus enacting what we could term a miracle DOES NOT result in faith. In the NRSV translation of the text we hear that the disciples are filled with great awe and said to one another, "who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" The older King James Version translated this with, "and they feared exceedingly and asked one another".

 

Indeed who is this, this Jesus? That's the question raised as Jesus lives, moves and dies through the Gospel of Mark. That's the question of our lives, raised particularly in the storms.

 

It is imperative for us to know that Jesus does not absent himself from the storm. He is here with us just as He is. He suffers with us. He is not a stranger to loss – whether that be of his relative John the Baptist or of the abandonment by friends when he could needed them most. He knew suffering first hand – his own and others. Jesus never promises that we will  be storm free, uninjured, nor suffer great loss.   

 

But He does not abandon us. Nor do the storms have the final or the lasting word. You see when Jesus eventually stills the storms there will be a calm. In such a calm we may realize that we are together - with him. We may still be filled with a great fear. When we are in the presence of God in a tiny craft where our own fear and lack of trust are unmistakeable, and we are embraced by God even then - well my goodness, some fear may actually be logical and healthy.

 

But know this dear people - Jesus and His Father God, Jesus and our Creator God, do not wish for us to be paralyzed by such fear, nor to live perpetually in a fearful state. Jesus stills the storm. Then the disciples are enabled to move in their boat to the other side. Yes, the "other" side of the lake where there are 'other' people, seemingly at first glance 'different' people. Nevertheless these are also people who need, the very love and forgiveness of God that Christ embodies.

 

Very often in the Biblical records the angels and apostles are given a similar message to share with people who are just beginning to glimpse God, to experience God's presence in tangible ways. This is the message that Mary the mother of Jesus hears from the angel Gabriel. This is the message that the first witnesses of the empty tomb hear. "DO NOT BE AFRAID". Don't be afraid, not because there isn't anything that is horrible or hard or difficult. No! There are many realities that are horrible, hard and difficult. There are many STORMS.  But don't be afraid, don't be paralyzed from living, from moving to the other 'sides' God is calling us to  because God in Christ  is with us and for us. God in Christ is with and for the well being of this entirely crazy and sometimes crazed world.

 

To close I invite you to turn to each other and one by one while holding their hand, look into their eyes and say because of Jesus Christ, "Do not be afraid, for Christ is with you." (take a moment).

Let us pray: We confess oh God, that sometimes we are very afraid, even paralyzed. Send your Spirit among us that we may live with faith in you, both for Christ's sake and for the sake of this world. Amen.   

 

Grow Weeds Grow!?

3^rd Sunday after Pentecost, June 17, 2012 (Mark 4:26-34) with II Cors5:6-17 in the b.g)

Sometimes on Saturday mornings I make the time to actually read the newspaper. Have you ever noticed that so much of the news is disturbing? This week Luca Magnotta has been in the news. What is going on inside of a person that would cause him to even think about such things- to say nothing of doing such things? Syria has also captured headlines. Allegedly, parts of the Syrian military  are murdering hundreds of their own people who are in favor of democracy. To make things worse, those committing such atrocities are being supported by some outside forces, particular governments or even countries. Much of the rest of the world simply watches. At home in Canada there is a Security Guard who allegedly has murdered some of his own colleagues for personal financial gain.  The accused is 21 years old. I find this disturbing, depressing. Many are led to despair, bitterness, apathy.

 

Yet on Sunday mornings we gather here. We come in the midst of all our "news", of all that is our living, to be around a cross, a font, the Scriptures. We come to praise, to hear, to receive. What do these realities have to do with each other? Can this second group of realities, these apparently "small", "ordinary "things" have anything to do with, any influence upon, even the ability to impact or even transform those first group of realities, the disturbing news of our lives?

 

There are times when I really wonder about that ...

 

So, let me ask you a question. How do you feel about weeds – and no, I didn't mean weed, as in marijuana even though we live in Greater Vancouver. I said, weeds. How do you feel about weeds- you know those pesky things that seem to be able to grow almost anywhere.

 

Personally, I don't like them. I try to control them. I do avoid pesticides. So, my means of attack is to cut, to pull, to dig up all the weeds I can find. In the aftermath of my efforts you can't see any weeds in our yard. But the rain falls! The sun shines – even if just a little bit. Within a day or two or at most a week – those weeds are pushing up again: in the alley, in my lawn, in the flower beds, even through the asphalt. No matter how many times I try to get rid of them. No matter how thoroughly I attempt to control them -  I am not able to do so. They persistently grow and return. Someday I will be dead and "gone". I suspect that the weeds will still be coming up.  It's enough to seriously discourage me, as in what's the use, throw in the towel.  But yet...

 

Did you listen to and for the Gospel today? Jesus tells numerous parables in Mark. Some people think that the parables are kind of like object lessons. There is truth in an object lesson. And there is profound truth in Jesus' parables. But the parable's truth is larger than any object lesson – much more than just small beginnings can have huge, even enormous endings. Jesus' parables are intended to upset the apple cart, to cause any who have ears to hear to actually see themselves, others and God in new light. And from that new light, dare I say it, to CHANGE or more accurately, BE CHANGED AND CHANGING!

 

So look again at Jesus' parables. I want to focus on the 2^nd one.  "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all seeds on the earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade."

 

In attempting to hear this parable I want to begin by offer two disclaimers. Jesus exaggerates here. The mustard seed isn't the smallest of all seeds. The mustard seed is small, but not the smallest – even then. Secondly Mark's Gospel differs here from the parallels in Matthew and Luke – the mustard seed doesn't become a great tree but a sizeable shrub. Although these details are noteworthy I don't think that they are the main point of the parable.

 

More importantly, mustard is a weed. Yes, I said a weed. As such most people wouldn't plant it, because you can't control it. Mustard grows in the middle of sown fields, on hill sides and even manages to pushing its way up through asphalt and brick surfaces. But here as Jesus speaks about the kingdom of God – that is the reign, the influence, the very dreams of God for the world, Jesus uses this weedy image.  Could it be that Jesus is saying that God's reign is far beyond any human control? Could it be that God's dream that human beings love each other, care about and for their enemies, and actually forgive one another – all of that stuff, could grow among us like weeds?

 

Once the seeds are sown – seeds that are seemingly ever so small that many see them as completely insignificant: seeds like a preacher preaching, a parent  or someone else teaching Bible verses, exemplifying love; seeds like a chunk of bread and a sip of grape juice or wine – things that you can find at your 7-11 and the liquor store, that these seemingly "small" things when coupled with God's promise take root and begin to grow, to push up in the world and our lives with a power that can soften our hearts, open our minds and change the status quo. Could it be?

 

What's happening with you right now? What are you doing "out there"? Are you "just" living for yourself and those closest to you, whom you think or feel are similar or even "like" you – or could there be so MUCH MORE to life than that?

 

There's another curve too. At the end of this parable  Jesus says that once the mustard seed grows into the greatest of all shrubs and puts forth large branches , then even the birds of the air can make nests in it shade. Is this just a nice picture where creatures are given safe haven in something that started small but then became much more significant? Or, does Jesus intend much more?

 

The parable preceding the two in our gospel this morning is the parable of the sower. In that parable, the birds of the air came and snatched some of the seed that was sown on the ground to prevent it from growing. But now Jesus tells a parable that has even such birds, attracted to what is growing in God's kingdom. They are no longer snatching the seeds that give rise to the kingdom.

 

We live in a complex, wonderful and sometimes horrific world. Still, God is here in the midst of it all. We need to trust that God is working through the suffering and risen Christ, as the Spirit blows in and through people and creation. This "work" of God is not always visible. Sometimes we even resist such work. May God forgive us. Yet, despite the resistance, God does not stop working. God continues to call, to stir up obedience by employing many different means. Even now God calls us to trust, to obey, to have hope as we hear Jesus' words of mustard seeds growing, as we drink wine and eat bread, as we are once again grasped, embraced and even "dragged into" trusting that God loves and forgives even us even as God calls us to join HIM/HER in the endeavor to love and embrace the world in its complexity, wonder and brokenness.        

 

May the kingdom, the reign, the influence, the dreams of God grow and grow and grow to their fruition. And may we be part of God's weedy growth both for God's sake and the sake of the world. Amen.

 

A Good Crazy

Pentecost 2b, June 10, 2012 (Mark 3:20-35 with I Samuel 8:4-20 in the b.g.

 

This is a strange and powerful text. Jesus has been helping people. No, more than that – Jesus has been delivering people – delivering them from illnesses which separated them from each other, from their means of making a living, from being able to worship God with others. Jesus has more than given them back their life. He has actually given them life – a life which before they did not and could not know. So many are deliriously thankful. Others are hungering for the same. So a crowd is literally crushing around Jesus in Mark's gospel. At one point Jesus needs to get into a boat to escape the crush. At another time he seeks refuge in a house. Even then they keep coming. People are desperate to hear him, to see him, to touch him. Many are being healed, receiving new life, a freedom that they had never known before. And others, those who realize that they also need new life, to be freed from the powers that hold them down and in, they also are pressing around Jesus.

 

Have you ever noticed such realities about Jesus and yourself?

 

I remember Howard. When I met Howard he had been an active member of the church for over 20 years. I do mean ACTIVE. Howard worked around and for the congregation. He cared for many different people in the community. He rarely if ever missed studies at the church. Both he and his wife whom he called Swede, were vital members of that congregation. But it hadn't always been that way. Howard had been a large cat operator in his early days. Listening to others, he had been pretty wild too. Much of his wildness in those days came out of his drinking. As he told me – "You know Pastor Tim I used to go into the bar when the wind started to blow and I didn't come out until the wind had stopped." And then he would smile, a wistful smile. You see, Howard lived in Southern Saskatchewan where the wind almost never stops blowing.  

 

But then one day, something different began to happen to Howard. In his words, "God got hold of him – and everything began to change." He no longer went to the bar. He stopped fighting with other men. He came home every night to be with his wife. He began to experience and realize in profound ways that God in Jesus Christ loved and forgave him. This was wonderful! So, he wanted everyone to know and experience this love and forgiveness of God. He, Howard, in his own unique way, had a responsibility and privilege to share this love and forgiveness with others.

 

When I first met him he hadn't had a drink in over 20 years. To be sure, some people thought Howard was a little crazy. Yet, if he was, he said that "It was a good 'crazy'."

 

I also remember "Mike" (a fictional name- to protect his identity). Mike had been involved with the Hell's Angels since he was a teenager. If there was anything good about that, it was that Mike always had money. That was "good" because Mike didn't have a trade nor any education past about Grade 10. However there were also many things about being in the Hell's Angels that weren't good. As he grew older Mike became increasingly violent. He wasn't sure if he could trust anyone, including himself. Mike was estranged from his own family. His life was broken in so many ways, like a number of the bones in his body had been. Mike did time – for murder. But one day, after he "got out" – Mike met a young woman who really needed help – his help: to care for her, to provide some stability in her life. And gradually together, they attempted to begin a new life. Now you just don't quit or retire from the Hell's Angels. You have to "relocate". You need to find a new identity and disappear. As they did so Mike and his young lady began to come to church. Amazingly that congregation, which sometimes was uptight, afraid, even judgmental, embraced Mike and his lady. I never knew who was better for whom.  A newer member of the congregation found Mike a job. Together the congregation provided Mike and his lady an opportunity to get married. They were "showered" with lots of practical gifts. The people truly loved Mike and his lady. They even trusted them. For the first time in Mike's life, he could glimpse light,  hope and love. Some thought Mike was crazy: to go from a relatively lucrative life – where he had first rate accommodation, to living on welfare for a long time and asking even for handouts. But Mike, said that even though it wasn't easy, it was a good crazy. Others thought that the congregation was crazy to trust Mike and his lady. But if you asked most of them, they thought that it was a good "crazy".  

 

Do you ever think that you might be crazy? Crazy to trust God – to believe, really be convinced that in Jesus, God actually loves us and accepts us unconditionally. Crazy to believe that God even loves the world! To know that such love of God is the essential, the core part of Jesus' life, suffering, crucifixion and ultimate resurrection?

 

I ask because Jesus while walking upon the face of the earth, encountered all kinds of opposition. This was strong, occasionally horrible opposition. Although Jesus reached out to the social "outcasts" of his day, those who had been excluded by many due to their physical, mental or sexual behavior, many of those people welcomed Jesus and were often transformed in such encounters so that they were no longer viewed as "outcasts".  Yet, it was and too often is those who are "inside", who are convinced not only that they "belong" but that they deserve to belong, who consistently resist Jesus.

 

In fact, some of the religious leaders accuse Jesus of having a demon, of being in league with the powers of evil. That is their rationalization of how Jesus can get rid of the powers that had captivated the outcasts. The religious leaders cannot stand Jesus. Many of them refuse to accept that in and through Jesus God is doing a radically new thing. The religious leaders have their traditions, their understanding of how God has worked in the past. Despite many being excluded because of their religious traditions, the religious leaders are convinced that's just the way life is, the way it has to be. But Jesus works and lives to show them that they are mistaken.

 

Nor are they these the only ones who oppose Jesus. Even his own family resists his work! Now we hear that they come to restrain him, thinking that he has lost his mind. But Jesus will not be restrained. He continues the work that God calls him to:  to free people from the power of death, hatred, and even expulsion so that others can have a sense of importance. Jesus works to free people from being cut off from each other and from God. As he does so Jesus makes a profound statement: "Who is my family? Those who do the will of God – they are my mother, my brothers and sisters." WOW!

 

This is important for we who sometimes elevate family to the status of God. Not that we shouldn't love our families. The commandments exhort us to honour our parents: to love and not hurt each other. But as important as our families are, they are not God. Sometimes our families are incapable of loving unconditionally.

 

So where are we today? Are we inside that house with Jesus – aware of OUR ONGOING NEED to be helped and healed – OUR ONGOING NEED to be helping and healing? Or, are we gossiping with the scribes who have come down from Jerusalem, saying that this Jesus who is doing inexplicable things: Howard has stopped drinking and actually cares about us even though we had written him off; Mike and his girl although they live in tenement housing and scratch out a living from one day to the next now actually care about us, their mail man, and their neighbors in ways that often put us to shame.

 

Do we believe and trust in this Jesus that He actually loves us and this world? Are we convinced that this risen One can free us to love and forgive? Or is that just so much hooey? And if we live that way, trusting Him, what might others think of us? Might they think that we are SO NAIVE, literally crazy, at best deluded?

 

Could it be that Howard was right, that such trusting is "a good crazy!"?

 

May we be so possessed by God's Spirit, so moved beyond ourselves, our fear, our prejudice, our never ending analysis and rationalization that we too do "crazy" things. Crazy things like loving and forgiving, trusting beyond proof that God is God, that we and this often insane world are loved by God and that we are invited, even "commanded" to be an active part of that unfolding love.   Amen and Amen.