A Thorny Encounter: February 28 2016

Year C, Lent 3             Exodus 3:1-15                                                                        

 

            I have often heard people say something to the effect of, “If only God would speak to me from a burning bush, then things would be so much clearer.”  I too have considered that at times.  In this day and age, God seems to communicate in much more subtle ways than he did in the Old Testament.   Yet when I find myself yearning for the clarity of a burning bush, I remind myself of what that burning bush did for Moses.  It changed his life forever.  It really complicated his life, and the life of his family.  It turned a shepherd into a leader of an oppressed people, a man who would challenge the Pharaoh of Egypt.  I am sure there were times when Moses wished God would have been a little more subtle as that would have made it easier to ignore him.

            But Moses did not ignore the bush.  It was curiously that drew him to the bush.  He was beyond the wilderness tending a flock.  He was alone.  I imagine he was a little bored, probably lonely.   From a distance he saw what appeared to be a bush that was on fire.  The fact that there was a bush on fire was not what interested him.  What interested him was that the bush was not consumed by the fire.  He was intrigued and decided that he needed to investigate this a little further.  It was only when he drew near to the miraculous sight that God called to him from the bush.  God called his name…he said it twice.  He then identified himself as the God of his father, the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.  There could be no doubt of who this was or who he was calling. 

            If only God spoke to us all this way! God could create something shiny that would grab our attention.  God would then call our name and then in no uncertain terms identify himself.  That is the way that I want God to communicate with me.  It seems so straightforward.  It was this clarity that led Moses to hide his face.  It was common knowledge at this time that if you looked at God directly it would be the last thing you would do.  Seeing the face of God would end in your death.  Moses did the safe and smart thing.  He had responded to God by saying, “Here I am”, he followed God’s directions by removing his shoes and now he was shielding his face out of deference to the power of God.  So far, things are going about as well as can be expected when a burning bush is involved. 

 God has never been one for small talk and immediately got to the point. He knew what was going on in Egypt.  He knew that the Hebrew people were suffering at the hands of the Egyptians. He went as far as to say, “I know their sufferings…”  That meant that not only was he aware of what was going on, but he had experienced the suffering with the people.  He felt the pain and the desperation.  I imagine that this understanding was comforting to Moses.  Finally someone was on their side, someone with power and authority.  If this God could create a bush that would burn but never turn to ash, surely God could free his people.

But then God explained how this was all going to happen.  He was going to send Moses to the Pharaoh and he would lead the Israelites out of Egypt.  Suddenly Moses was wishing he had gone about his business tending his flock and not investigated this dangerous bush.  There is a little detail in this story that is usually left out.  The Hebrew word that is translated to bush is actually translated to thorn bush.  This wasn’t just any old bush.  This was a thorn bush and those bushes can be dangerous.  It was a dangerous bush and an even more dangerous message.  Moses argued with God for a little bit and was eventually worn down.  God did not promise Moses that it would be easy or that it would be safe and sacrifice free. He only promised that he would be with him through it all. 

Whenever I am asked to pray, I almost always ask for God’s presence and that God’s presence be known.  That’s because I believe that God’s presence is a comfort and reassurance in difficult times as well as good times. Yet as I consider this rather thorny text, I wonder if that is the right prayer when seeking solace and comfort. If God wanted to comfort Moses, he could have sent a rainbow like he did for Noah.  But that’s not what God did.  God lit a thorn bush on fire, a fire that could not be quenched.

God should be a comfort to us all. But God should also challenge us, challenge us to change.  When you have a personal encounter with God, you will always be changed.  You might even leave with a limp or a scar.  It’s like when you start exercising after not working out for a while, it hurts.  But you know that that the pain will lead to a positive change.  You know that you will endure.  It is the same with our encounters with God.  When we open ourselves to God, we will be changed and it won’t be an easy change.  I am reminded of a quote that I have seen and probably mentioned before.  “God loves you just the way you are, but God loves you too much to let you stay that way.” 

That to me is what the season of Lent is about.  It’s not about beating ourselves up for our deficiencies or our sins.  It is about opening ourselves up to new encounters with God, even if those encounters shake us up a little…even if God tells us the exact opposite of what we want to hear. 

Now you might be thinking, ok, I am ready for this new thorny encounter.  Where’s my burning bush? 

While the burning bush will probably not be your sign, there are some things we can learn from Moses’ experience. The only reason that he saw the bush was because he was looking at the world around him.  If we are perpetually gazing at a screen…we will probably not see the bush.  Our world is suffering from sensory overload.  It is suffocating.  Therefore we need to be deliberate about creating that space to encounter God.  It might just mean turning off the music or podcast.  It might even mean silencing the phone.  I realize these things sounds drastic, but we have to give God something to work with.  God did not call out to Moses until Moses turned from his task and went to investigate the bush.  My prayer for all of us is that God will be present with us and that we will know that presence.  I pray that presence will not only bring us the peace of God-- but will also disturb our complacency and light a fire that cannot be quenched. 

Failing more: Feb. 14, 2015

Year C, Lent 1              Luke 4:1-13                                                                            

           When I was in my early 20’s one of my brothers thought it would be fun to go sky diving together.   It sounded like an adventure, so I said yes.  The first time you go sky diving, you are required to go tandem.  This means there is someone on your back who has some sky diving expertise.  They can help steer you to the correct landing and also pull the cord if you forget.  I was really glad I had this person with me, because I did not have the presence of mind to pull the cord.  I am not sure I would have jumped had he not been with me.  All in all it was a good experience.  I am glad I did it, but will probably never be tempted to do it again. 

            We all know the story of Jesus’ temptation.  It is in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke.  We begin every Lent with a temptation story.  Today, I am not going to talk about temptation in general, but specifically one of the tests that the devil gave to Jesus.   There were three tests. In the first, the devil asked a very hungry Jesus to change stones into bread.  Jesus quoted scripture and refused.  The second was an offer to provide Jesus ultimate power if he would only worship the devil.  Jesus refused and again provided scripture.   The third is the one I would like to focus on.  The devil asked Jesus to throw himself from the pinnacle of the temple.  This time the devil quoted scripture to support his request.   He quoted Psalm 91, which we just chanted together.  If Jesus really was the Son of God, then surely the angels would catch him.

            We all know that Jesus could have easily turned the stone into bread.  Later in his ministry he fed thousands with only five loaves of bread.  As far as the second test, he didn’t need to worship the devil to have power.  He already had the authority that the devil was offering.  He simply chose to wield it in a different way. Finally, he could have called on an army of angels to catch him, but he decided that instead he would fall as any human falls.  He would live as any human lives.  He would die as any human dies.

            What the devil was offering was a risk free life and ministry, one that would not involve potential failure….a path that would be much easier than the one that Jesus chose.  Assuming that Jesus knew he would be crucified in three years, I would imagine this would be the greatest temptation.  Who would not want a risk free life?  It reminds me of a quote that I occasionally see: “What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?”  I find that question both inspiring and ridiculous.  It’s wonderful to consider the possibilities—of what we could do.  However if all we do is consider what could be done if success was guaranteed, then we would not learn how to fail. 

            One of my favorite poets is: Rainer Rilke. One of his poems reads:

This is what life can teach us:

to fall,
patiently to trust our heaviness.
Even a bird has to do that
before he can fly.

            That is less likely to end up on a motivational poster, but it seems more appropriate to me.  Nobody wants to fail. Nobody starts the New Year by making a resolution that they will fail more this year.  There were a lot of moments when it seemed to many that Jesus had failed.   He didn’t free the Jewish people from their Roman oppressors.  He did not endear himself to most of the religious leaders. He was betrayed, denied and deserted by the 12 people he chose to be his followers.   When he was put on trial, the people chose a common criminal (Barabbas) to free instead of him.  In the end he was killed in a humiliating way.  He was resurrected, but he didn’t do it in a very public way.  Most people didn’t even know it happened. To this day many people consider him a failure if they can even admit that he existed at all.  That isn’t a very impressive track record for someone we consider to be God in the flesh. 

            Jesus chose to live as a human.  He refused to take the easy way out; the method that the devil offered.  He did that so he could be an example for all of us mere humans.  We cannot call on angels to catch us--but we make a choice every day whether we will take the easy way or the hard way; whether we will risk our own comfort and happiness so we can be Disciples of Christ or whether we play it safe and be disciples of the path of least resistance. 

            I read that when a bird learns to fly, they sometimes fall to the ground.  Yet their mother will always be close by protecting the baby bird from predators, doing its best to keep the bird safe.  Yet the mother can’t keep the baby from falling.  It has to fall in order to fly. 

When I participated in tandem skydiving, I knew that if something really bad happened, the guy on my back would not be able to save me.  He probably wouldn’t even break the fall.  Yet I also knew that he was going to do everything in his power to keep me safe.  We were in this together.  God is like the mother bird, always watching and doing all he can to protect us.  In some ways life as a disciple of Christ is like tandem sky diving.  It is full of risk and the only way to experience life is to take those risks and be willing to fall.  However, God is with us the whole way sharing in the agony of defeat and the joy of success. 

            I challenge you this Lent to consider taking some risks and being open to failure.  Like the poet said, “Trust your own heaviness.”  If you take a leap of faith, you are going to fall at some point.  It’s inevitable.  But it’s not the end.  The heart of the Christian message is resurrection.  Even crucifixion only kept Jesus down for 3 days.   Perhaps instead of asking, “What would you attempt if you knew you could not fail?”---we would ask, “What would you attempt if you knew that failure was temporary and every failure provided a new beginning?”

What God Sees: Ash Wednesday

Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21                      February 10, 2016

            Every year when I come to this service, I wonder what people must think when we read this text from Matthew and then do the exact opposite.  Over the years I have come up with several theories which I have shared and sometimes I have just avoided the topic all together because I am sick of talking about it.  But this year I decided to come back to the drawing board and look at it with fresh eyes.  I was trained in seminary to look at texts critically always considering the context not only within the Bible, but the time and place it was written.  I was also trained to look at my own innate biases in regards to the text.  For instance, I will almost always look for strength in women of the Bible. 

 I also realized at one point in seminary that I was extra sensitive about hypocrisy in the Bible…anytime the Bible seemed to contradict itself or anytime we as Christians flagrantly contradicted our core beliefs.  This year, it occurred to me that I was overly preoccupied with our practice of putting ashes on our forehead after reading a Gospel which clearly states that you should not disfigure your face and to be sure to wash your face.  I was worried about how it looked, how people might judge Christians as hypocrites. 

            Then I read a commentary that opened my eyes.  The commentator reminded me that this was not meant to be taken literally.  Jesus was using a tool that he often employed- that of hyperbole. He was talking about extremes.  When talking about giving alms he used two examples.  One was the person who blew a horn before giving money to charity.  The other was the person who was so sneaky about giving, one hand did not know what the other was doing.  We all know that would be impossible.  Jesus was simply trying to illustrate the point that we are not to do things just for the sake of being seen by other people.

            However these examples that he used (like putting oil on your head while fasting) were not meant to be new commandments or rules; they were simply examples.  What Jesus was trying to emphasize was the motivation behind these actions, not the actions themselves.  There is one word that comes up over and over again in these 12 verses: See or be seen. Each time Jesus uses the word, he juxtaposes two ways of being seen.  The first is doing things in such a way that will ensure you are seen and recognized by other people.  The other is that your Father in heaven will see you in secret.  In saying that God will see you in secret, Jesus isn’t just talking about you praying in your closet to make sure no one can see you.  He is pointing out that God can see your intentions.

            It makes you wonder why being seen matters so much.  Today it seems as though people are constantly aware of what other people are doing.  You don’t need a street corner or a horn anymore if you have youtube, twitter and facebook.  The point of social media is being seen.  You can look at your video or post and the statistics will tell you how many people saw your post or video.  And for some reason, that matters.  It matters because it gives us affirmation.  The more people who are seeing us, the more people who like us, the more we matter as individuals. 

            Why is it that we need this kind of validation and affirmation from other people when we already have that from God?  Why do we seek from other people what God already gives us unconditionally and selflessly?

            It goes back to the word see.  We can see other people’s reactions and affirmations.  We can see if they approve or disapprove and if we are so inclined, we can change our actions to get the right response.  Many years ago I said something in a sermon and I got a gasp of horror in response.  I made it through while maintaining my point, but I never made that point again.  In not making that point again, I knew I would please the people in my congregation.  I have no idea what God thought of the point because there was no audible or visual reaction from God.  And that’s why it is so difficult to depend on God’s perception alone.  I can tell you a million times that God loves you the way you are but it would be a lot more effective if God told you himself.

            That is why we have the Bible and this community of believers (the church).  We help one another understand what God wants from us.  We try to emulate God’s loving kindness and we try to avoid the kind of judgment that we see so frequently in the world around us.  I am going to stop worrying if the act of putting ashes on our head makes us look like hypocrites.  I know why I do it, partly because of what our liturgy says.  In putting on ashes, we are reminding ourselves of our mortality and our vulnerability.  We are remembering that Jesus died and was resurrected for us so that we too could one day defeat death.  We wear these ashes not to show everyone how holy we are, but to show people that we know that death is not the end.  These ashes are temporary.

When I put the ash on your forehead, I will tell you: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” But we know in our hearts that we are far more than dust.  Remember, it is what is in your heart that counts, not what you wear on your face.  You are dust and to dust you shall return.  But that is not the end of our story because God has promised us eternal life. The ash will one day come off and we will be reborn.