On Our Way To The "Other" Side

Pentecost4b 15, Mark 4:35-41 with II Corinthians 6:1-13 in b.g.

(Mark 4:35-41 with II Corinthians 6:1-13 in the bg) (Pentecost 4b 15) June 21, 2015

Have you ever been afraid – I mean really afraid?  Not like the kind of fear when you go to Fright Night at the PNE and you scream because "something" jumps out at you but it's only temporarily frightening and later you can laugh at it. I don't mean "afraid" like the kind of fear that passes as you get older allowing you to smile at your "immaturity" when you were afraid that somebody might notice your pimple or your big ears or your small hands. 

 

No, I mean really afraid - like when you were a small child and you lost sight of your mother in the supermarket. You immediately started to scream inconsolably because you didn't know where you were or how to find her, she who was your home. Yes, I mean really afraid, like when another car is careening out of control TOWARDS YOU and the people you most love are there in the car with you. In that interminable second or two you don't know what will happen. That's REALLY AFRAID.  Like when you or your child are awaiting tests and that one who matters so greatly to you may have their life hanging in the balance depending on the results of those tests.

 

Have you ever been afraid like that? Are you afraid right now?

 

Many of these fears in my life have arisen in the midst of necessary transitions. Such transitions  are unavoidable for any who would seek to follow Jesus. Let me say more.

 

I was deeply afraid as I began high school. I left all my friends to attend a different school. My mind raced as the first day at the new school drew closer. Who would my new classmates be? Would the seniors throw me in a locker and just leave me there? Would I be able to cut it?  What would happen in the locker room when I had to shower?

 

Looking back on all of that now, after both my 25^th and then 40^th high school reunions such feelings seem almost laughable. But my fear was anything but laughable in that moment. I had to literally force myself to place one foot in front of the other that first day, that first month and through much of that first year.

 

I was very afraid as I began university. Only weeks before I had turned 17. Now I had to leave home for the first time. The 90 miles felt like a million miles. I didn't know anybody in my dormitory. They were all older, "more experienced". They appeared to have it together so much more than me. That first year I would hitchhike home every Friday – to see my parents, my girlfriend. But by my second year my mother was phoning – would I be coming home at all that month?

 

I was afraid as I first became a Pastor. I lived by myself in a small town. The people were counting on me – 26 year old ME. A few of the people were suicidal. Some of them were experiencing post traumatic stress disorder in the aftermath of the 2^nd world war. A number of them were struggling in their marriages or with addictions. They called me, confided in me. Usually many I didn't have a clue what to do or say. I had so little life experience! And I was terrified by even the thought of failure.

 

When I became a father – I was often and sometimes continue to be afraid. Could I be a good father to three amazing girls/women? What if they picked up my impatience, my false judgments, my unintended prejudices, my irrational fears? What if someone kidnapped them, hurt them? Then as they so quickly grew up and took wing, what about the guys they were dating and falling in love with? And finally as both their father and a Pastor,
what if they don't have faith in God?  

 

Can you identify with any of these fears? (Pause)

 

The disciples are in a boat with Jesus. They are sailing from one side of that large lake to the other. As their boat moves they are delivered from a somewhat known reality to a most assuredly unknown reality. On that "other side" there are people whom the disciples perceive as being quite "different" from them. Yet, Jesus says that they must go to the other side. And so they do.

 

Even as they are going a great storm comes up. It's a gale force storm. The waves are crashing over the boat. They are taking on water. Now they are being consumed not only by water but by all that comes with such crashing waves. Fear overcomes them. Only when they realize that they are beyond their resources do they look to Jesus. What do they find? He's asleep!

 

In desperation they wake him up. They ask, "Don't you care? We are dying here!"

 

Sometimes - that's the way it feels for us. At times our lives, the lives of others we so deeply care about, are at risk, maybe even being lost. At such times our "boats" are taking on water. In those times we may think and certainly ask, "Where is God? Where is Jesus? Where is that Holy Spirit? We are dying here – and you don't even seem to care..."

 

We may even be so afraid, so desperate that we don't ask for any help from God. We might even assume that our plight is beyond God's means, since sometimes no human being seems able to help us. Fear can do that to us. Fear can drive us to believe that we are all on our own - that nothing can be done. Such is the reality of hopelessness, of fatalism, leading to despair.

 

But can't we see? Jesus is in the boat with them. He awakens. He stands up. He addresses the storm. The wind - hushes. The waves - are stilled. Then He turns to the disciples –WHY ARE YOU AFRAID?  In essence he asks them, "Don't you know – don't you trust that I am with you – that I will never leave you?"

 

Dear people – I would be more than remiss, I would be misrepresenting truth, if I told you never to be afraid. Many different storms may come into our lives. Some of them catch us unaware, ill prepared. Pain, suffering, illness, betrayal, death, job loss, prejudice, tragedy - any or all of them can cause us to be afraid. They have come. They will come.

 

In addition Jesus continually calls us to move as we follow Him often to those "other sides" – wherever that is, where people whom we may perceive as somehow being different than us are. On the way and there Jesus calls us to work at listening, seeing, hearing and loving these "others". As we do so, we most certainly will be changed. Our understanding of ourselves, of others and of God may be in flux. That journey is anything but easy. Yet it is important and very, very good.

 

At times we will be taking water into our boats – the boats of our families, our friends, our congregation, our cities and country. Then we will be afraid, even terrified. Many will panic. Some will declare that there is no hope, no purpose – even that there is no God who has any power or who cares about us and this world.

 

But, dear people by God's grace  know this. This same God who creates the universe, who dares to become one with us in Jesus of Nazareth, this One who breathes His/Her Spirit into and onto each of us, today especially Rachel Marie, Julia, Duncan, Mackenzie and Sarah – this God will not abandon us! This God in the flesh somehow comes right to where we are. This God holds us and  joins us to Himself/Herself. This God will never let us go, no matter what happens.

 

How do I know this? Behold the cross. See the empty tomb. Listen to others who hear God. Most importantly, listen for yourself. Know - you are not alone. Despite many frightening things, we do not have to be paralyzed by fear. God is with us. God even goes before us as we move to the other side, whatever the other side might be.

Count on God, Jesus, the Spirit. Be moved beyond our fear, to faith, hope, love and new life – yes to that other side.  Amen.

 

 

 

What You See Isn't Necessarily What You Get

Pentecost 3b, June 14, 2014

II Corinthians 5:6-17 with I Samuel 15:34 – 16:13 in the background

Grace to you and peace, from God the Creator, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, three in One, Amen

"For we walk by faith, not by sight." That's what St. Paul says to the church in Corinth long ago...

 

But what might that mean for us, here, today?

 

What might it mean to "Walk by faith – not by sight?"

 

A number of religious groups take this to mean that a person checks one's brain at the door – that people in their "group" are to blindly accept the teachings of their denomination – without question.   But as I observe many of our forefathers and foremothers in faith and their experience of and with God - people like Moses, Jacob, Samuel and later Nicodemus, even Peter and Thomas, I am absolutely convinced that this is NOT what Paul means for us now.

 

Walk by faith not sight...

 

Other religious people, among them many Christians, say that faith means that we understand the Word of God, as in the Bible, as inerrant, and divinely inspired. Although the first of those terms, inerrant, didn't come into existence until at least 1800 years after Jesus' death and since the Bible as we now know it now wasn't "finalized" until at least 200 years after Jesus' death – once again I am convinced that this is NOTwhat Paul meant when he writes so passionately about "walking by faith not sight".

 

To begin with, there are two creation accounts in the First Two Chapters of Genesis. If one is to interpret them literally, like in a camera shot of what was happening, they just do not fit together. I am convinced that the Spirit of God in speaking through Paul and writing of walking by faith not by sight is pointing us far beyond some kind of mere literal interpretation of the Bible – as if that somehow is "it" – all there was and all there ever will be.

 

So, what does or could it mean for us to "walk by faith and not sight"?

 

Might this have anything to do with the other "things" Paul is writing about in these few verses today? Paul boldly says that Christ has died FOR ALL! He then moves forward in a bold but logical progression. Since Christ has died for all – and ALL therefore are vitally important to God – Paul says that the love of Christ urges us on to live not for ourselves but for this One who has died for all and loves so profoundly -  that is cares deeply about the welfare of ALL, including US.

 

Could such "walking by faith and not sight" be what moved Martin Luther King Jr. to have a dream – that black children and white children might go to the same schools and all be treated equally? King speaks of "seeing" the picture of Jesus knocking at the door, an image from Revelation, at the front of his church and asking to "come in" as one that informed his entire life.  

 

Could "walking by faith and not sight" be what moved Justice Sinclair to push for and become an integral part of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that has been working across our land for the last 7 years – encouraging first nations people to tell their stories and praying that the rest of us might not only listen but hear their pain and be moved to both repentance and working for reconciliation?

 

Could walking by faith mean that since Jesus dies for all – there can be honesty, truth telling, reparations made wherever possible  between individuals and groups? Could it be then that we might actually see each other as we are, all children of God?

 

Such walking by faith, beyond what we see with only the "externals", gives us new eyes, new ears and even new hearts. This means that by God's grace, we are gifted with new capacities to see, to hear, to feel and yes to question, even IMAGINE. We do not need to be captive to fear, to thinking that the current way is the only way – even though hundreds, thousands, millions are hungry, lonely, not given opportunities to explore and know how special they are!

 

By and through faith we begin to see, to know that God is good! God dares to become one of us – to love us unconditionally, to suffer as we suffer and beyond – to die on our behalf. Because of who God is and what God does we are birthed into a living "faith" – an actual living, vibrating, back and forth relationship that struggles with, celebrates with, and WONDERS, while trusting God.

 

But such living doesn't stop even there. Because God loves ALL, we are gifted with hope. This hope is not a wish. Rather, this hope is a conviction from beyond ourselves, a conviction planted in our hearts and minds, that swirls around us and through us finding voice in music, poetry, prayers, tears, laughter, hugs - in lives lived and sacrificed for others, in dreams that will not let us go calling forth in response our very best, our all. Such lives lived in this abiding hope reverberate through history resulting in new discoveries, new possibilities, cures and learning. Such lives lived in this abiding hope absolutely refuse to disregard others as unimportant or less than, regardless of the cost. We know that CHRIST HAS DIED FOR ALL. Christ LOVES ALL!  

 

So, since this great and only God, THE CREATOR of the universe, the One daring to be born of Mary in a seemingly inconsequential place can choose to work through people such as the mentally unstable King Saul, the adulterous, murdering and yet musically gifted David, Rahab a prostitute and Paul who gladly persecuted the early Christians even to death but then subsequently became one of the greatest missionaries ever – well, who knows - God may choose to work through supposedly common, ordinary people like you and me. After all God doesn't see as we humans see!

 

This doesn't mean that we discount eye sight, insight, intellectual acumen or hard work. God can and does often bless us with all of these. In fact I am convinced that God often calls us to serve by engaging others in our human interaction with all of these.

 

But such sight, such work and logic is not all that we walk by or ultimately depend upon as followers of Jesus. With Paul, let us walk by faith depending on God to direct us, guide us, even though that sometimes will fly in the face of what we think possible or see as the "best" choice for our well being.  

 

God loves this world. God calls us to have an active part in loving this world even as we are loved by God in Christ. Make no mistake! It is the love of Christ that urges us forward.

 

Oh people, by God's grace walk by faith. Who knows what will happen?  Amen.

 

Living With Fire

Pentecost b15, May 24, 2015 (John 15:26-16:15 and Acts 2:1-21a)

O precious ones of God, grace to you and peace, from God the Creator, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, three in One, Amen.

 

One of the great privileges of being a Pastor is to work with people who are planning to become married. They desire to publicly make promises to each other – to live together, to care for and with one another, whatever may come into their lives. As an initial part of our pre-marriage I ask them to introduce their fiancée to me. What do they see, notice or hear in the other person that they so deeply value that they now wish to make this kind of a life-long commitment? Their responses often move me.

 

Today I invite you into a similar exercise of reflection. This exercise will require an inner willingness to be open to what you are seeing, hearing and wondering about. I am both trusting and praying that you will be willing to do this with me.

 

As you look around – what realities do you see, hear, and notice today? (LISTEN)

{If need be I can add to their reflections - a variety of birds making a whole host of noises; dogs barking, seals swimming, people coming together to sing, to pray, to hear God in the midst of their lives, their joy and pain}. There is a whole host of "stuff" – of life and death, of joy and pain, of being freed and being caught – of frustration and exhilaration, of anxiety and letting go.

 

Here is my second question – don't panic, there will only be three. As you examine yourself – your thoughts and feelings, what realities do you notice? (LISTEN)

{If need be I can add some of my own –  restlessness and hope; anticipation and resignation; thankfulness and regret; pain and peace}.

 

Finally, here is my third question – as you look around, notice, hear, come alongside of some of the realities of the world around and within, where do you notice or experience God working? In other words, what do you see God being up to? (LISTEN)

 

Perhaps to aid our theological wrestling it may help us to think of God in a Trinitarian manner.

 

Where do you see God creating in your life and the life of others and the world? (LISTEN)

 

Where do you see God acting in and among others in real ways to free us, to prompt us to move beyond our comfort zones so that others may be freed to know they are loved? (LISTEN)

 

Where do you see God as Spirit, breathing new life and hope into others, people, things, institutions, nations, relief efforts (LISTEN)

 

Today is the celebration of the Festival of Pentecost across the Church. Pentecost underlines the coming of God's Spirit as well as the action of God's Spirit, birthing life and hope both within and through people. Pentecost is akin to a fire that will not die.

 

On Ash Wednesday it appears that such fire demarcates only death. On that day we are marked by ashes imposed on our foreheads reminding us, no enveloping us, in our mortality. We are dust and to dust we shall return! If that isn't enough – the ashes remind us of even more. We miss the mark of God's intent. We don't love as we are loved. We don't forgive as we are forgiven. We need God to do something because we are well ASHY, ASHEN.

 

Can you believe it? God does something. We see, remember and celebrate the unfolding events throughout Lent and Holy Week. Jesus goes to the cross. We watch as our forefathers abandon him. My God, he dies – for us! It's so dark. All light seems to have disappeared. Violence and death claim victory – like they so often do.

 

But then on the third day, very early while it is still oh, so dark, women come to the tomb. But Jesus is no longer there. HE IS ALIVE! Then he appears to a number of people. Just as they are beginning to get it, He must leave. But he does not abandon them. He   sends His Spirit comes to be among them.

 

This is our celebration, our remembrance, hopefully even our experience today! His spirit comes to us, among us, for us and others. The Spirit isn't necessarily warm and cuddly although sometimes in our despair the Spirit brings great comfort.

 

Often that Spirit propels us beyond our comfort zones – to see and hear God, in the midst of our own lives and the lives of others, in the midst of all that is going on in the world. The Spirit of God enables us to see God working there, to join with God in God's great and grand endeavors, whatever the cost. The early disciples were somehow speaking in ways that others who didn't know their language could understand. The early disciples were speaking of the mighty acts of God in Jesus Christ. . .

 

Do you see God at work in us, among us, in this crazy, horrible, beautiful and wonderful world? Do you see God at work in Richmond, in Surrey, in Vancouver, in Nepal and California? Do we see God at work in our families, in our places of employment, even in our faith communities?

 

God is here. The Spirit speaks to us right now. The Spirit is working to testify to God's presence, work and love even through us!

 

Will we share with others? Will we show them in the ways we love, share, and are willing to be vulnerable that God cares about them deeply? Will we acknowledge and rejoice in the hope that is with us in Jesus Christ? This is a hope that cannot be proven and yet will not die nor disappear. This is a hope that often flies in the face of so much that others and even we ourselves sometimes experience as the dominant reality: hatred and violence, the gap between the rich and the poor, the desire to deny or escape from all that is painful, inequitable, death bringing; and finally (in our culture) the demand to simply mind our own business and try to take care of ourselves.

 

Nevertheless, the hope that arises from the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is kindled within us through the work of the Holy Spirit. This hope grabs us and will not let us go! This is because we know that we matter, that others matter, that all of creation MATTERS INFINITELY TO GOD. Jesus loves us and the world so much that he is willing to die for us and the world. Things will and can change. This is God's promise! This is what God works for in Jesus Christ.

 

And all of this is happening here and now – unfolding, opening towards the future.

 

Even now God's Spirit is blowing upon us – as a fire that warms our hearts and minds, sometimes blazing, sometimes more gentle – as a kick in the pants or a hug that embraces – as a peace that doesn't necessarily make everything alright but which dwells and abides in the midst of so much that isn't alright. Come Spirit, come. Come beside us. Stir us up. Bring us to ongoing trust in God. Move us to active love, hope and honesty beginning with ourselves, but leading us beyond ourselves to heart of the very Son of God, His incredible love and dream for all creation. Come Holy Spirit come. Amen. 

           

 

Goin' His Way?

Easter 7b, Acts 1:15-17, 21-26; I John 5:9-13, John 17:6-21, May 17, 2015

Do you pray?

 

When do you pray?

 

How do you pray?

 

Years ago, when I had just graduated from seminary, I wondered about praying. I reasoned (danger alert) – if God was all knowing, if God was all compassionate, what difference would or could my prayer(s) make?

 

Now, I wanted to be a good pastor so, I did pray – publicly and personally. But mostly my prayers were on behalf of others.

 

And then Helen came into my life. Helen was a woman of prayer. Much of her praying arose out of the struggles of her own life. Helen's father had been an alcoholic. She married an alcoholic man, who at the point of our meeting had been dry for a number of years. At that time, Helen's only son, merely 17 was a raging alcoholic. In the midst of all of this Helen had grown into a woman of prayer.

 

Shortly after my arrival in her parish Helen approached me. "Pastor, could we pray together once a week?" I said, "Sure". So Helen joined me on Monday evenings for a time of prayer  - usually 15 -30 minutes. We would pray for the people in our congregation who were ill or who were struggling. We would pray for the people in our town in difficult times. Sometimes we would pray about wider concerns. Mostly our prayers were for others. We would also seek to thank God for our blessings and some of the amazing wonderful things in the world that we were noticing and appreciating. Then Helen would go home.

 

But in the next day or two some of the people we prayed for would begin to call me. Could I come over? Could they come into see me? And I was blown away. The Spirit was doing something with and for others, with and for me as I prayed. It wasn't magic. But it was real,  powerful, beyond my analysis or understanding...

 

This morning we hear Jesus praying. Wow! The occasion for Jesus' prayer is the very night before he is going to die. In John's Gospel Jesus knows beforehand that He will be executed the next day. Now, as He is sitting at table with His closest friends and followers He begins to pray. 

 

What does He pray for? He prays for them. He prays that they will be protected from the full power of evil. He doesn't pray that all of their troubles will be magically removed. Nor does He pray that everything will be easy for them. He knows that isn't possible. After all he is sending them into the midst of this world that so often is opposed to his way. His way is the way abundantly sharing, of courage to care and advocate for others in need. His way is the way not of lies, deception or blame but of truth, of honesty that begins with the truth of God as seen in Jesus and then flows to self and others.

 

Jesus loves this world. This doesn't mean that Jesus says everything is OK, hunky dory. Not at all!  But Jesus desires intimate relationships with people together and individually. Jesus dreams of and works for reconciliation and harmony between people and God, between the rest of people and creation. Jesus is, after all, God in the flesh.  As such Jesus is willing to empty himself of power in order to move all of this forward.

 

Even as He prays Jesus is facing death. He is sending his followers, those people around that table out into the world to embrace and model his way. He knows that it won't be easy. He knows it will cost them – friends, possessions, sometimes even their families. At times they will be shaken to the core, wondering whether this is the way – the way to go, the way of God.

 

So, he prays for all those who were with him, who had been with him. And he even prays for us!  "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me"

 

I am convinced that Jesus continues to pray for us. Even today He sends us into this world – to embody his way – his way of courage in the midst of fear, to care, to trust, to speak truth in love, to honestly look at ourselves, to give generously and even sacrificially to causes and people who need our help. He sends us into this world where often the darkness of hatred, mistrust, deceit, anger and violence seem to be winning the day. Vegas would get you good odds on it. Evil is winning. But Jesus gives His life to differ and sends us into the world to be different than all of that. We are to invest our lives in His way – the way of the cross and  resurrection which underlines that might isn't right, that death, hatred and power don't have the last or lasting word. Instead, God does.

 

Dear people, even as Jesus is praying for us He calls us to follow Him. Know that He goes ahead.

 

Please take out those little blank pieces of paper in your bulletins. What would you want Jesus to be praying for you today? Think about that. Pray about that. What do you want Jesus to know? What do you need? What do you want Jesus to pray for, for you? Is it patience to be a better parent or friend? Is it encouragement amid a difficult chapter in your life? Is it courage to stand up to a bully in the classroom or at work or befriend a friendless person at school or at work? Is it joy or peace somehow in the face of the loss of a parent or the end of a relationship? Is it hope when we feel like you've no options left? Is it companionship in the time of loneliness? Is it healing of body, mind or spirit? Is it forgiveness... or the ability to forgive another? What? What do you want – Jesus to know and about and pray for, for you?

 

Now, write down on your piece of paper one word that will remind you of what you are asking Jesus to pray for you. Then put that in your pocket or when you get home on your dresser or even on your fridge. Look at it this week a number of times. Be reminded, now that Jesus knows your need, cares about you and is praying for you.

 

And then watch for how Jesus responds to the identification of your request. His response may come in a variety of ways. Sometimes he even uses us or other people. Notice that – and as that occurs give thanks. Who knows he may send us on his behalf to be part of the answer to someone else's prayers... Amen.