Stop Freaking Out: July 17, 2022

 Year C, Pentecost 6                                   Luke 10:38-42                                                    

         Ever since the story of Martha and Mary was first read, it has been interpreted and misinterpreted in about 100 different ways.  Often times Mary and Martha are pitted against one another. You are either Mary or Martha.  And if you are Martha, you better learn how to be more like Mary. Books like: Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World, Having a Martha Home in a Mary Way, Made Like Martha: Good News for the Woman Who Gets Things Done---have oversimplified this story. (At least the titles have.) 

People have used this story to create archetypes for all women—you are either Mary or Martha. Mary is the devoted learner who sits at Jesus’ feet as a disciple would.  Martha is the worker bee who can’t be bothered to stop and listen because she has too much to do. At times, people seem to be trying to use this story to describe the right and wrong way to be a disciple.

          But really, it’s about different ways of being a disciple and the challenges that arise when all of the preoccupations of our life get in the way of being in relationship with God. There is little doubt that Martha was a wonderful disciple of Jesus.  Showing hospitality was incredibly important at that time.  One doesn’t have to look any further than the story we have from the Old Testament when Abraham drops everything to help three strangers wandering by his tent.  Anyone who has spent any time volunteering in the church knows that a lot of what needs to be done is the very stuff that Martha was doing. 

          Then why would Jesus be critical of Martha? I am not sure that is what is really happening here.  Notice that he’s not criticizing her for what she is doing, not even for what she is complaining about.  He said, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things….”  If you look at the Greek that this Gospel was originally written in, you might note that better translation would be: “Martha, Martha, you are completely freaking out.”   The Greek word that is translated to worried is describing someone absolutely panicked.

This was more than just dinner party stress.  It was stomach churning, headache producing---panic. I am sure there were a variety of things contributing to the panic.  But I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we are at the point in the Gospel when Jesus has set his face toward Jerusalem.  Just a few chapters before, Jesus had started talking about his imminent death.  Maybe Martha was thinking this might be the last time she would see him and here she is doing the dishes when what she desperately wanted to do was sit at his feet like her sister Mary.  But something was stopping her.

          When Jesus told her that Mary had chosen the better part and that was not to be taken away from her—he wasn’t minimalizing what Martha had accomplished.  He was simply reminding Martha that there was a better part to play at that moment.  There was something else she could be doing.  There was a way to step away from the anxiety and panic.  We don’t know how Martha responded, but I hope she sat down for a few minutes, to absorb God’s presence.  Because there he was, the very embodiment of peace, the balm for her weary soul.  All she had to do was stop for a minute and listen.

          If it was hard for Martha to find peace when she was in the presence of God in the flesh, it is no wonder that we have a hard time releasing ourselves from the burden of anxiety in times such as these.  I could start listing the many anxiety provoking things going on in our world, but I fear that would not be helpful.  We all know what is causing us anxiety because it seems to be constantly with us.  With the advent of smart phones, it’s impossible to step away even for a moment.  And it’s not just smart phone causing the problems. The pandemic has intensified all of life’s challenges. 

          In the last 2 years, the number of adults with anxiety disorders has increased by 26%. The number of children with an anxiety disorder has doubled over the course of the pandemic.  The number of people with mental health issues was increasing before the pandemic.  The pandemic simply accelerated the mental health crisis in our country. The rates of depression have also increased exponentially, but that is a conversation for another time.  The point is that we are in anxious times. 

          Many people wonder why Martha went to Jesus to complain about her sister rather than going directly to her sister to ask for help.  I think it was because she knew that that the help she needed was not the help Mary could provide.  She needed (like we all need) Jesus’ help.  She needed healing for her mind---a peace that passes all understanding.

“Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing…” The word for distracted also means to be pulled in many different directions.  Even when we were in part of the pandemic when we were all locked down and limited in what we could do and where we could go, our minds were still being pulled in different directions.  When that happens, our lives become so fragmented, we can barely remember what the big picture is.  For Martha, the big picture was right in front of her---God incarnate.  For us, the big picture—God’s purpose for our lives is a little more elusive. We may hear God calling our name, but it’s a lot easier to ignore.

This is a hard sermon for me to preach because I struggle with anxiety.  I find that the distractions of life can consume me at times. I wonder. I wonder if we could find a way to be distracted by God. If our distractions have started to consume us, what if we found small ways to let God break through and distract us from our own fears and anxieties?

My view from traffic

 That will look different for each one of us. What I know is that God’s peace is here, in this place.  I felt it the first time I walked in. I feel it when the light passes through the windows in a new and glorious way. God’s peace is out there in our cemetery where the names of those who have passed on to the next life surround us.  God’s peace is looking out over the water (even when on the HRBT) when the sun hits the water in a way that makes you forget you are sitting in traffic. 

God’s peace is everywhere, if we look for it. Take some time to consider what thing or person or place distracts you enough to experience some peace and then make some space in your life for opportunities to search for God presence.  When you have found that presence (that peace that passes all understanding)--- bask in it.  Even for a moment.  Because that moment, that moment leads to other moments and those moments are the ones that will save you.

Rejoice? Peace? Really?: October 11, 2020

 Year A, Pentecost 19                                                              Philippians 4:1-9                                          

            “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice…The Lord is near.  Do not worry about anything…”  When I read this, my gut reaction was, “Whatever Paul, you aren’t experiencing 2020.”  I am not proud of that, but I doubt I am the only one who had that reaction.  That said, Paul would never be confused for a Pollyanna.  As I mentioned in my last sermon, everything was urgent and of the utmost importance because all things circled back to Jesus Christ crucified for us.  While 2020 has been a rough year, I haven’t been beaten, shipwrecked, or imprisoned….not once.  Any of you?  But Paul experienced all of that after he became a disciple of Christ.  He experienced each of those things multiple times. He was writing this letter to the Philippians from prison.  Therefore, for him to be able to advise people to “Rejoice in the Lord always…” is rather astounding.

            If you look at the word “rejoice” in Greek, which is the language most of the New Testament was originally written in, you will find it is in the plural form.  He isn’t telling individuals to rejoice because their individual lives are joyful.  He is referring to the collective act of rejoicing.  It’s not a personal state of being, but a communal experience.  This communal joy doesn’t even come from communal good fortune, it comes because of the faith of the community. This is interesting given that it comes right after he has urged Euodia and Syntyche to be of the same mind.  Given that message and the reference to dissension in previous chapters, there is a clearly some division in the community.  It is a concern for Paul, but also an opportunity to a deeper experience of community.   

When he tells these two women to be of the same mind, he isn’t telling them that they need to agree on everything.  We all know that it is impossible.  He is reminding them of what they do agree on.  Right after he tells them to be of the same mind, he reminds them and the community that they have struggled beside him in the work of the Gospel.  Whatever their differences are, they believe in the same Gospel, the same Jesus Christ.  Not only that, but they have given their lives to proclaiming the Gospel, even though it is a struggle.  If they can do that, then they can get past these differences. 

I think the only thing harder than rejoicing in the time of COVID is Paul’ next request: “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known to God.”  Do not worry about anything—except a pandemic, wildfires, hurricanes, murder hornets, a national recession, racial tension and an election more divisive than any other in recent history. Other than that, it’s smooth sailing.  It’s so annoying when people tell you not to worry because it feels as though they are downplaying a concern of yours, one that they probably don’t understand. The other thing that irritates me about Paul’s advice, is that he doesn’t seem to be able to follow it. Earlier in this very same letter to the Philippians, he said that he was sending his co-worker and minister so that he (Paul) would be less anxious.  But remember, for Paul, it was always about the other.  He was worried for them, God’s people, not about his own life.  He wasn’t stewing about when he would get out of prison or if he would get out of prison.  He was worried for this new Christian community.  So he sent his colleague, a fellow Christian who would carry the Gospel, which would in turn alleviate Paul’s worry.

Paul didn’t deny that there were things to be anxious about, he just didn’t want people to dwell on it.  He didn’t sit there in prison worrying about his friends.  He sent someone, someone he knew would help them and thus alleviate his anxiety and theirs.  “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”  For Paul, as long as the relationship between Christians was strong, as long as the relationship to God was strong, then anxiety would never prevail.  It would never be the all-encompassing emotion it can be so often.

The following verse is my favorite part of his letter…the part that comforts me every time I hear it---the part I don’t feel the need to argue with. “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” We could try to do all the right things, follow all Paul’s advice and every single commandment.  And things could still unravel around us.  There is so much in our lives we cannot possibly control.

Yet God’s peace operates beyond our daily life.  We often hear people refer to inner peace.  I think that’s because people want to hold on to it and claim it as their own.  They want it to be something that they can attain.  God’s peace, the peace that surpasses all understanding is bigger and  bolder than whatever peace we think we can attain and grasp by ourselves.

Paul says that the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds. I love that image. I have never thought much about it until I read a commentary explaining it this week.  It said that the literal translation is “The peace of God will stand sentry over your hearts and minds.”  I read that as I sat on my deck, ½ mile from Norfolk Naval Base as planes flew over my house, so close the pictures hung on my wall are always a little slanted because of the vibrations. I feel safer when I hear those planes and helicopters, knowing that such strength and power is so close and omnipresent.  I wish that I, like Paul, felt God’s peace as strongly as I feel the planes that fly overhead.  I don’t now, but I believe I can one day, I will one day.  That feels more attainable than never worrying or always being happy. The thing about God’s peace is that like so many things Paul discusses, it is best experienced communally.  God’s peace doesn’t just guard us…it guards everyone. If we can accept that, then we will know that God’s peace isn’t simply guarding us, it is enfolding us.

Fishing without bait: May 24, 2020

Year A, Easter 7                                                                     

1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11                                                                                   

"Fishing troubles"

            One of the things we tried with Joshua early on in the quarantine was fishing.   Neither my husband nor I fish so we had no intention of actually using bait and there was no way we were giving him something with a sharp hook at the end.   But still, I thought that casting might be fun for him.  And it was for awhile.  He liked to try to get it as far as possible.  When we were in the backyard, his goal was the roof of the garage.  He also seemed to find particular joy when he could get it tangled in a tree.  When we went to the beach, he had fun, but became frustrated that he did not catch anything.  While I do not fish, I knew that the reason he was not catching anything was that there was no hook and no bait.  But even if he had a hook, I was pretty sure he would not catch anything because he didn’t leave the line in the water for long. He would cast the line and then immediately bring it back in. While his technique was certainly flawed, I admired his positive attitude and hope.  He thought if he could just get it as far as possible, something good would return. 

            I found myself drawn to this reading from 1^st Peter for a few reasons, but primarily because of this line, “Cast all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.”   This is a verse that would appeal to me at any time as I tend to be a worrier, but especially at this time in our country and world when anxiety seems to be ubiquitous---it’s even more appropriate.  The word “cast” caught my attention, perhaps because of my extensive fishing experience over the last 10 weeks.  It is not unusual to see fishing language in the Bible.  It was a metaphor often used by Jesus and presumably his disciples as well.  The Greek word translated to “cast” could also be translated to throw.  Throw your anxiety on God. Cast sounds more eloquent, but I think either works.  Because when we are desperately anxious, often we cast our anxieties like my son does his fishing line---we just try to get them as far away as possible. 

            Even when we are intending to do as the text tells us and cast our anxiety on God, it’s as though we kind of throw it at him and then expect something miraculous in return.  That is what fishing is.  You cast something out and expect something different when you bring the line back.  But real fishermen have patience and discipline. They don’t expect to get something immediately.

            Thus when the author of Peter instructs us to cast our anxieties, he also gives some advice.  First before you even cast, you humble yourself before God.  Then you discipline yourself.  Then you resist.  Peter is talking about resisting the devil, but I think we can apply this idea of resistance to all kinds of things. 

            Humility. Discipline. Resistance.  If we are talking fishing, this would mean the opposite of what my son does.  We don’t throw out a plastic fish and anticipate a giant catch.  We don’t pull in the line immediately.  And we definitely don’t throw down the pole in disgust when we don’t get the results we want.  Now we know what not to do. Let’s talk about what we should do.

            I think it is safe to say that people in our world are praying more than usual right now. It is tempting to fixate on quick results, if not a vaccine, then at least a lightening of the burden that each one of us is feeling.  We tend to pray in specifics.  We tell God what we want as opposed to humbling ourselves and asking for God’s direction.  So let’s try to start with humility.  Let’s try to admit that maybe, we don’t know what is best.  Maybe our best interests are not the same as the best interests of all the people of this world.  Humble ourselves.

            The next step is discipline. The way we have been asked to handle the pandemic is a perfect example.  When it started, most of us were doing pretty good at following directions.  But then 2 weeks turned into 10 and the discipline and fortitude we started with---the idea that we are all in this together, has started to slip through our fingers.  And I get it. I am right there with you.  It was one thing when this was during Lent.  We are supposed to suffer in Lent. But Easter…and now it’s Memorial Day and we can’t go to the beach?!?  Discipline is so hard when it last longer than two weeks. 

And Jesus and Peter…they were talking about a lifetime of discipline in our prayer and our actions.  For Peter, the stakes could not have been higher.  “Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.”  You might think that Peter was talking about persecution. He was, but not in the way that Christians were persecuted later.  At the time Peter wrote, the Christians were such a small group they were not a threat to the Romans.  They were more of an inconvenience.  They were not being thrown to the lions literally.  It was more of peer pressure and judgment.   People were trying to convince these new Christians to go back to their pagan ways.  It would make everyone’s life easier.  The threat wasn’t physical, but Peter acted like it was. That is how important, how critical it was for them to continue to practice and live as Christians.          

“Resist him, steadfast in your faith, for you know that your brothers and sisters in the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.”  Resistance is part of discipline.  It is resisting what is easy and convenient. Resisting the people who would tempt us away from the Christian path.  Peter reminds these new Christians that they are not the only ones suffering.  Their brothers and sisters all over the world were also suffering.  It is something that we have been reminded many times over the last few months.  We are all suffering.  We are all in this together.  But that is not quite true.  Some are suffering more than others.  So instead of resistance for the sake of the whole….many are resisting for the sake of themselves and their freedom.  What Peter knew and what most of the early Christians knew was that true freedom was found in suffering and sacrifice, not for the sake of oneself, but the sake of the larger community.

So yes, let us cast our anxieties on God, but let us be careful as we throw our anxieties off, that they not increase the anxiety of another.  We can do that if we act with humility and discipline.  Once we have done that, once we have been as faithful as our strength allows, let us cast those anxieties with the same hope and faith my son has when he fishes---that regardless of our skill or the bait we use, God can take whatever we give him and transform it into something miraculous.

Where do we look: March 8 2020

Lent 2, Year A                                                                        

Psalm 121                                                                             

Like many of you, I have a newsfeed option that pops up on my phone.  Lately, especially because of the primaries, I have gotten in that very bad habit of checking it as soon as I wake up. I tell myself I am only checking the weather, but then I find myself scrolling through the trending news stories before I even get out of bed.  The problem with this habit, is the news is rarely good news.  It’s usually dismal and slightly terrifying.  It’s just not a good way to start the day.  It’s been even worse lately because the majority of the stories are about the coronavirus.  I mean, how many articles can you have about how important it is to wash your hands? So many…. I’ve read about how to prepare.  I have read about recent outbreaks. I have read about what regular doctors are saying, what our national leaders are saying, even what foods to have on hand when stockpiling for a quarantine.  And this isn’t me searching for articles.  These are just popping up, because they are trending…which means that everyone else is reading them and therefore I too must read them.  It is maddening. 

            While this virus is scary, a lot of news has been scary recently.  I am not sure if life is more scary now than it was 20 years ago, or it’s simply that the 24 hour news cycle and multiple ways that we have access to news, is making us more aware of all the terrifying things happening in the world.  But here’s the thing about so much of the crazy stuff going on right now-- there is not much we can do about most of it.  I am not saying that we should just sit back and let the world descend into chaos.  There are all kinds of places where we can take action—where we can make our world better.  But for some things, well a lot of things, there isn’t much we can do, except pray.  At some point, when you are feeling anxious or worried, make a list of all that you are worried about.  Then put a mark next to the things you have absolutely no control over. My guess is that the majority of the things you are worrying about are things you can’t control.

            That can be both comforting and frightening.  For instance, let’s consider traveling.  If you are flying somewhere and you want to make sure you arrive safely, there are a few things you can do.  You can arrive at the airport in plenty of time.  You can make sure you have everything you need for the flight. You can fasten your seat belt and read the safety brochure.  But you can do nothing about the pilot, or the plane, or the weather.  Once you get yourself buckled in, all you can really do is pray.  And that’s where the psalms come in. The psalms are wonderful tools for prayer.

Psalm 121 is referred to as a Psalm of Ascent.  Biblical scholars believe it was written for people traveling or even going on pilgrimage.  In the time when this psalm was written, people were not worried about planes falling out of the sky.  But traveling was still a very dangerous thing.  There were animals that could attack.  You could get lost.  You could be robbed or killed. You could get stuck in a horrible storm. You could run out of food or water.  Of course, there were things you could do to prepare, but there was so much that was unknown.  Because of the fear of the unknown and their faith in an all knowing God, the Hebrew people prayed before and during a journey.  When the journey was over and they had returned safely, they gave thanks.

            The psalm begins with “I lift up my eyes to the hills; from where is my help to come?” When I have read or heard this psalm, I have imagined someone looking heavenward.  Isn’t that where we imagine God?  We imagine God in heaven, looking down on us.  That might be what this psalm meant.  But it’s also possible that it was warning people about looking for help in the wrong places.  Much like today, the world then was full of false gods, false assurances of safety and control.  There was the God of the Hebrew people, the God who we pray to.  Then there were the other gods.  The Sun god, the fertility god, the god for good crops.  These were the gods that people turned to in weaker moments, moments when it was tempting to forget the one true God.  These gods lived in the high places. Altars were placed on these high places so people could worship them.

Thus when the psalm says, “I lift my eyes up to the hills…” it was imagining people in their time of need looking up to these false gods.  Now we might wonder, why look to a false god when they had the one true God? Because the false gods were easier.  They were easier to conceptualize, easier to encapsulate. They had human attributes and human expectations because they were created by and for humans.   The one true God is a lot more mysterious, more difficult to understand.

            While we are wise enough now to know that there are no moon gods, sun gods, or fertility gods resting on our hills, we still find false gods to cling to. We find them in our politicians, the Hollywood stars, the newsfeed on our phone, and even---ourselves.  When we are in trouble--when we need help and direction, it’s astounding how many places we can turn to before we turn to God.  So often, God is the last place we turn to, when all else has failed. “From where is my help to come? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.”  It doesn’t say that our help comes from earth, or even heaven. Our help comes from the one who made heaven and earth.  Our help comes from the creator of all the places we turn to first.

            Psalm 121 is a pilgrim’s prayer.  It is a prayer for people who are on a journey. We are in the season of Lent, a season that leads to another hill, not one of the high places where altars to false gods are placed, but Golgotha, the hill where Jesus was crucified.  That is where our journey leads.  Because it is the season that leads us to the cross, perhaps we can bypass the false gods of worry and fear and instead place our fears and concerns at the foot of the cross.  I am not saying all problems will go away and you will be free from all stress, but your heart might feel a little lighter.

It’s all about perspective.  When you stand at the cross and you look up to see our God suffering for us, then sometimes our concerns and fears seem more manageable, not because they are any less of a concern, but because if we look close enough, we will see that they are already hanging there on the cross.  Jesus died carrying our burdens so that we could be free to worship him, free to serve him, free to look to him when we are in need. Remember the journey never ends at the cross.  It always ends with the resurrection.

Just Jesus: August 6, 2017

Year A, Transfiguration                                                         
Luke 9:28-36                                                                                    

            Recently, I have been trying to get more organized.  I realized that I was feeling scattered, trying to do a million things at once, but never seeming to get anything done.  I thought, this has to be fixable.  I just need to figure it out.  I have made some changes in how I set my schedule and ensure I follow up on tasks.  But the major change is that I don’t try to do more than one thing at a time.  I am sure most of you have had this experience.  You are sitting down trying to accomplish one task, and then your computer chimes and you find yourself reading an e-mail.  You start to reply but are distracted because you see on your phone that a text has come in.  You start responding to the text and then see a news item pop up on your screen and go to read the article. This can all happen in about 3 minutes.  By the time you have read the article, you have completely forgotten what you sat down to do.  Most people have experienced some version of this. 

With all of our technology and devices, we have become more efficient in some ways and less efficient in others.  Most people pride themselves on their ability to multitask, but the whole concept of multitasking is a myth.  I have a good friend who is a neurologist and she told me that it is actually impossible to do more than one thing at once.  What we do is that that we shift from one task to another rapidly.  Sometimes this is handy. However, I think a lot of times, it makes us more fractured and scattered.  That is why at a time when we are more technologically advanced than ever, there is a movement to become more mindful.  That is why things like yoga are so popular because there is a focus on being present in that moment.   

            While Jesus and his disciples were not affected by technology, they still knew what it was to be pulled in different directions.  Often times, Jesus would go off to pray because even the savior of humanity needed time to be away from people and day to day tasks.  Occasionally he would take a few of his disciples with him.  That was what happened in our Gospel reading for today.  He took three disciples up to the mountain with him to pray.  Yet instead of having some nice quiet time with their friend and teacher, Jesus, the disciples experienced a bit of a light show.  While Jesus was praying, his clothes became dazzling white and his face changed.  As if this was not strange enough, two men appeared out of nowhere.  They were not just any two men, they were Moses and Elijah, two pillars of their faith, two people who were supposed to be dead. 

            It must have been an amazing thing to behold—these three men together. Peter did the logical thing, he offered to make some tents for them. He offered to make tents…for two people who were dead.  It seems like an odd offer.  Even the Gospel writer comments that Peter did not know what he was talking about.  Peter is one of those people who always seemed to be saying the wrong thing at the wrong time.  For millennia people have been speculating what Peter was thinking when he made that offer.  Was it a display of hospitality?  Was he being practical?  One theory I have always liked is that he was trying to convince Moses and Elijah to stay a little while.  They had come a long way… back from the dead.  There were so many reasons why Peter would have wanted this holy moment to last longer.

            Lately, I have been wondering if it was something else entirely.  I wonder if it was just too much for Peter.  I wonder if the moment was so astounding, he just had to do something else. He needed a task to accomplish. He wanted something to do with his hands so he would not have to think about the ramifications of this moment.  He would not have to hear Jesus talking to Moses and Elijah about Jesus’ departure….which was Jesus’ death.  Who can blame him?  Why would he want to think about his friend dying?  How many of us have turned on the radio to tune out our thoughts, or watched a stupid television show to zone out? 

So much of what culture seems to be pushing right now is not things to make us more efficient, but things to distract us.  One of the things I love about writing sermons is that it is the one time when I am forced to sit in silence and let my mind wander. Otherwise, I am always listening to music or podcasts or reading.  Being distracted has become a way of life.

God does not like it when people try to avoid him or his message.  Before Peter could even finish his sentence, God sent a cloud over them.  Our text says, “a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud.”  If this was not dramatic enough, God spoke from the cloud and said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”  No more chitter chatter Peter! Stop your yapping and listen!  This is what I love about this specific text.  It says, “When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent…”  Moses and Elijah were gone.  There was no light show.  No clouds.  No booming voices.  It was Jesus…alone.   Thankfully the disciples had the presence of mind to keep silent.  I imagine that they had a lot of questions rolling around in their heads, but they knew that there was only one response to this kind of glory…silence. 

One of the things church should offer to every person is one hour a week where there is no distraction from God. It is one hour when we open ourselves up to what God might be telling us.  There are certainly people out there who have the ability to do that on their own, but those people are the exception and not the rule.  Of course we have our share of distractions, even in church, but the goal is to have time to focus on God.  Our opening prayer for today says, “Mercifully grant that we, being delivered from the disquietude of this world, may by faith behold the King in his beauty…” In case you are not familiar with this word, disquietude is the elegantly Episcopal way to say anxiety.

Life is full of so many anxieties, even if you are someone who does not suffer from technology overload.  Anxiety/worry is something we all carry.  Therefore, it is important to have some time in the week to unload those burdens.  Leave them at the door.  Because it is only when we can release these things (even release them a little) that we can truly behold the King—the King of Glory-- in his spectacular beauty.   After Moses and Elijah were gone—after the light show was over—after the voices stopped and the cloud receded, there was Jesus…just Jesus.  That is what we are looking for here every Sunday.  We are looking for Jesus.

April 26, 2015: Prone to Wander

Year B, Easter 4                                                                         

John 10:11-18                                                                                    

            One of my joys in life is a small group of writers who meet a couple times a year.  When we meet we start with an exercise called “listening to God.”  In this exercise you start by asking God a question and then writing down what you hear in response.  You are not allowed to edit yourself.  You write down everything that pops into your head, whether it is relevant or not.  After you have written everything, you take turns reading it out loud.  You don’t have to read out loud, but with this group I do because I know it is safe place.  I have also realized that you can learn a lot from what other people write.

One of the most interesting revelations I’ve had is that God talks to each one of in our own voice.  For instance, when God talks to me, he’s a little sarcastic and likes to say: “Seriously?!?” a lot. At first I thought that must mean that I am not listening to God.  I am listening to myself.  But then my friends reminded me that of course God sounds like us.  This is in our heads. God’s words are being filtered by our personalities.  Of course God talks to us in a way that we would understand.  If God spoke to me in Hebrew, I would be in serious trouble. 

            I thought of that exercise as I read the Gospel today.  John writes: “I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice.”  In what is often referred to as the Good Shepherd Discourse, Jesus explains that the sheep follow the good shepherd because they know his voice.  They know his voice because they have heard it before. They know his voice because they have a relationship with this shepherd.

            You will find shepherd imagery throughout the Bible, especially in the Old Testament.  In the Old Testament the shepherd represents a powerful leader, a king and often the one true God of the Hebrew people.    Jesus is sharing the parable that we heard today with the Pharisees…the Pharisees who are already pretty ticked at him.  This parable isn’t just a nice comforting story; it sheds light on an earlier incident.  In this earlier incident Jesus healed a blind man on the Sabbath.  The Pharisees were so angry at this display of power and disrespect for their rules that they questioned the formerly blind man.  When the blind man did not tell them what they wanted to hear, they cast him out. When Jesus learned that this had happened, he went out and found the man and told the man who it was that healed him.  It was not just some run of the mill miracle worker, but the Son of Man.  In response the blind man worshipped him.  This all happened right in front of the Pharisees. 

It is after this that Jesus tells the good shepherd parable. Therefore we can assume that while he is talking to his disciples he is also talking to the Pharisees.  He is telling them that he is the good shepherd, that he is God.  They become so angry that they try to stone him.  While this seems like a nice comforting image to us now, it served a greater purpose than comfort.  It was a proclamation of the identity of God, but also the character of God.

            Our God is the kind of God who will not only heal the blind, but go out and search for the man who was cast out of his community.   Jesus is not just any old shepherd.  He is the good shepherd, the shepherd who leads, and is also willing to die for the people he is shepherding.  That is the part that makes him more than a shepherd.  It makes him the savior of the world.   

            Yet what interests me is not merely the character of God, but the character of the sheep of his flock.   Sheep are not exactly renowned for their intelligence or bravery.  They are anxious and afraid of almost everything.  They get lost and wander off to places that are unsafe.  Usually they cannot find their way back unless someone leads them.  Humans are much more intelligent than sheep, but we seem to share some of the same characteristics.  We are easily distracted and anxious.  We tend to wander off course in our life.  Sometimes we are able to find the path that leads back to God, but often we cannot. 

What we can do is listen to the voice of God.  According to this parable, that is what sheep are really good at, discerning the voice of the shepherd and then listening to that voice.  Because the reality of life is that we will veer of course…a lot. We will wander and get frightened.  When that happens we will do things that will lead us even farther from the path to God.  We can’t necessarily control that part of us.  Perhaps some can, but most cannot.  If we know that we are prone to wander, then we need to be prepared to listen for the voice of God.  And the best way to do that is to strengthen our relationship with God now.  We can do that through prayer and meditation.  We can do that through worship and singing.  We can do that with the help of a spiritual guide or others who are wandering the path with us.  But whatever option we choose to build a relationship with God, we have to start now.  We can’t wait until we veer off course. If we do that it will be harder to listen.  We can’t listen to a voice that we don’t recognize in the first place.  

This process of being in relationship with God is not easy, even when we are trying.  Perhaps we might even think that we are too far gone.  We have waited too long.  I can assure you that is not the case.  It is never too late to get to know God and learn the voice of God.  God knows that we will wander.  That’s why Jesus compares us to sheep.  If we know that we will wander, we can work on casting out the other voices in our heads, the voices that say we are not good enough to hear God, the voices that say we are crazy to even try, the voices that say that God would never sound like our voice.  None of that is true. 

What we can rely on is the fact that God’s voice will always be the voice of love and truth.  It will often be the voice that tells us what we do not want to hear.  Let us get to know the voice of God now, as individuals and as a community.  There will come a point when we will need God to rescue us.  We will call out and God will respond.  The question is, will be able to recognize the voice of that response? 

Exodus 16: 2-15: September 21, 2014

When whining is a good thing

         Year A, Pentecost 14                                             

                                                            

Robert Leahy recently wrote a book entitled: Anxiety Free.  In it, he refers to the time that we live in as the “age of anxiety.” He wrote that the average child today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the 1950s[1].  I am not exactly sure how he came to this conclusion; but it is a rather startling claim. I don’t think any of us would deny that we live in a time that is riddled with anxiety.  I remember getting on the metro in our nation’s capital and seeing the terror alert listed.  It was orange at the time. It felt like I was living in some dystopian novel.  Around that same time I was talking to an environmentalist and he mentioned something called “eco-anxiety” which describes a heightened anxiety that people experience regarding the state of our environment.   We are anxious about everything from the air we breathe to the terror that seems to surround us. I doubt there is anyone here who has not experienced some type of anxiety; some that is completely rational and some not so rational. 

            Keeping that in mind, it might be more difficult to judge the Hebrew people who were anxious about starving to death.  I remember in one church I served, there was a lay reader who generally read in a monotone, except when it came to the Exodus story.  Then she moved into this rather nasaly whine that woke everybody up and elicited a raised eyebrow from the rector.  People love to imitate the whine of the Hebrew people.   They get a bad rap and I wonder if they really deserve it. They were after all in the desert with very little food or water.  It’s not like they were just on a long stretch of highway between Starbucks.  So why are we so quick to judge them?  

To some, they just seem ungrateful. God just saved them from slavery and parted a body of water so that they could escape and now they are complaining again!  I admit that their comment that it would have been better that they had died in Egypt where they had plenty to eat was a little obnoxious.  But they were hungry and scared.  People say desperate things when they are in desperate situations.  Plus, the God that they had experienced, the all-powerful God who rained down plagues and killed thousands of people was not necessarily the same tender hearted God that we picture.  In their minds, they had a God who was a warrior and a deliverer, but maybe not a provider of food and love.

            While Moses was a little annoyed with the people and their complaints, God showed no such judgment.  As soon as they complained to Moses, God said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you…”  Problem solved.  Yet he provided an interesting caveat.  “…each day people shall go out and gather enough for that day.  In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instructions or not.”  The instructions were pretty clear.  The people were to gather only enough…only enough as they needed for that one day.  But these were hungry people who had just been through a period of slavery and uncertainty.  Sure, God had freed them from slavery but that was after a long period of suffering.  Some Bible scholars surmise that they were enslaved for 400 years.  The people who were freed had seen many of their loved ones die in slavery.  They had seen infants killed.  That was a high price to pay and not one that would be easily forgotten.  The people needed more than a miraculous act to believe in God.  They needed a relationship with God.

            God addressed that need in a couple of ways.  He started with communication.  He communicated directly with the leaders (Moses and Moses’ brother Aaron).   Then he did something rather surprising, even as we look at the story in retrospect.  Aaron told the people to “Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.”   With those words, the glory of the Lord appeared to them.  All the people saw it.  Imagine if after every time I recommended that you grow closer to God, he appeared.  That would be effective, would it not?  People would take those words pretty seriously.  What I find particularly interesting is that God never told Moses or Aaron that he would appear to the people.  He said that he would provide food, but he never mentioned that cloud of glory. It was an affirmation for not only the people, but the leadership as well. 

            The next way that God encouraged a closer relationship with him was by providing a test.  Most of us probably do not have warm and fuzzy feelings about tests.  I have not taken a test in about ten years and I still have nightmares about them.  Recently I read about a new method they are attempting in education.  The teacher starts the year with a test. It would be similar to the test that the student would take at the end of the year, but there would be no grade.  The idea is that the student would see what was expected of them for the year.  The teacher would also know what areas needed more time than others.  The classes that have used this method ended up doing much better on their final exam. 

This is similar to the kind of test that God was providing.  There was no grade, but there were results.  It was not a test as much as it was another teaching opportunity.  The people were only supposed to gather as much as they needed.  But they were hungry. They were used to having to grab everything they could get because they did not know where the next meal was coming from.  Need is a relative term.  They probably felt they needed as much as they could gather.  Of course they could not eat all that they gathered, so they stored it for the next day….just in case God did not deliver the bread from heaven.   When they woke up, the food that they had stored was infested with worms AND the manna from heaven rained down again.  It was a test but it was also a lesson and it was one that they learned pretty quickly.  This God was not a warrior, and not merely a deliverer.  This God was God who cared about their day to day needs but also a God who expected obedience.  

            Perhaps we are quick to judge the Hebrew people for their complaints because we are also quick to judge ourselves for our own lack of faith, our lack of confidence in God.   That is what complaints about or to God seem to indicate to so many…a lack of faith.   Yet the complaints of the Hebrew people actually resulted in a closer relationship with God.  Now I am not encouraging you all to start complaining…especially not to me (unless it is non-church related in which case, fire away)!  However there is something to say about complaining to God.  Sometimes when we are questioning our faith or when we are frustrated with our own life, it is tempting to shut God out, but that is the time when we really need to talk to God, even if it sounds like whining. 

This is an age of anxiety. It might be tempting to try to ignore that anxiety or pretend we are not really that anxious.  It is best not to ignore it or to perceive it as a lack of faith.  The best thing we can do for our own mental health and our relationship with God is to share those things that weigh us down.  We might not always get the answer we want.  Or the answer might seem as though it takes years and years to come, but the answer will come.  If you find that you have grown closer to God in the process and if in that process you catch even a glimpse of the glory of God, then you might discover that you don’t even need the answer anymore. 

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[1] http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/13/most-common-fears-forbeslife-cx_avd_1214commonfears.html