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"Tempted"   February 14, 2016

2/19/2016

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Luke 4:1-13; Deut. 26: 1-11
In The Beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth. And the Earth was without form, and void, And darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Devil said, "It doesn't get any better than this." And so God created the human being in His own image; Male and female He created them.

      And God looked upon Man and Woman and saw that they were lean and fit. And God populated the earth with broccoli. cauliflower, spinach, green and yellow vegetables of all kinds, so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives.

     And so the Devil created McDonald's. And McDonald's brought forth the 99-cent double cheeseburger. And the Devil said to Man, "You want fries with that?" And Man said, "Super-size them."
God said, "Hey, try my crispy fresh salad." And the Devil brought forth Ben and Jerry's. And the Man and Woman gained 10 pounds.  And God said, "Why doth thou eatest thus? I have sent thee heart-healthy vegetables and olive oil with which to cook them."  But the Devil brought forth chicken fried steak so big it needed its own platter. And Man’s bad cholesterol went through the roof.

        And so God brought forth running shoes.  Then the Devil brought forth cable TV with remote control so Man would not have to toil to change channels between ESPN and ESPN2.
And so God brought forth the potato, a vegetable naturally low in fat and brimming with nutrition.  The Devil peeled off the healthful skin and sliced the starchy center into chips and deep-fat fried them. The Devil added created sour cream dip.  Man clutched his remote control and ate the potato chips swaddled in cholesterol. And the Devil saw and said, "This is good."

       Man went into cardiac arrest. God sighed and created quadruple bypass surgery.  The Devil then cancelled Man's health insurance. Ever-patient, God showed Man how to peel the skin off chicken, and cook nourishing whole grain brown rice. But the Devil created light beer so Man could feel righteous because he had to drink twice as much of the insipid brew to get the same buzz.

      Woman ventured forth into the land of Godiva chocolate, and upon returning asked Man, "Do I look fat?" And the Devil advised, "Always tell the truth." And Man did.  And Woman went out from the presence of Man and dwelt in the land of the divorce lawyer. The Devil said, "It doesn't get any better than this."

      Since the story of the Fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, temptation has been a constant, unrelenting part of human life. People have tried to avoid, resist or ignore it. But no person has ever found a place or a circumstance that can make him safe from temptation.

     Today in our gospel from Luke we find Jesus, fresh from his baptism, pushed out with great force by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness.  And there in the wilderness Jesus encounters Temptation.  Before he can begin his public ministry, Jesus must know what it is like to be tempted.

          It’s not surprising this passage appears on the first Sunday in Lent.   It is customary among many Christians to give up something or add some practice to our lives as part of our Lenten observation.  Giving up candy. Coffee. TV.  Going to the Gym. Helping out weekly at a soup kitchen.  Reading extra devotionals, making it more often to worship.  Even the most experienced among us discover making changes isn’t easy. We find ourselves in a struggle with the flesh. We learn how weak we are, how hard it is, how much help we need.  Because we are tempted. To eat that piece of candy.   To stay home and lounge in front of the TV.  The Devil knows our weak points, better than we do, and is eager to exploit them.

          After fasting for 40 days Jesus encounters the Tempter.  Satan came across sympathetic to Jesus’ plight.  He wants to appease Jesus’ hunger by turning stone into bread. Who’s going to miss one measly stone? Wouldn’t Jesus function better if he weren’t hungry? Satan promises the kingdoms of the world and all earthly power and glory if Jesus would just worship him. Just one time.  He knows Jesus is messiah and offers him power over all the kingdoms on earth.  Wouldn’t that make Jesus’ work go more smoothly?  Finally Satan tries to get Jesus to spread his wings – to leap from the pinnacle in the Temple in Jerusalem.  Wouldn’t that be a grand entrance for the leadership and faithful to see? They’d be talking about it for months.  How could they dispute God’s Chosen One with this feat?  Just one time, Jesus, just one time.  Satan is so suave and convincing.  He knows his scripture well, so well, he is able to twist it to his advantage.  He just wants to get between him and God. That’s all. Just like he got between the Man and the Woman.

    Temptation shows us our real selves. I remember once I was having a pretty good Lent. I had given up chocolate and had set aside extra time for prayer and spiritual reading. When I got to Holy week I felt pretty confident. On Palm Sunday someone gave me an early Easter present - a box of Hershey’s Chocolates. With caramel and nugent.  I looked at the box and started thinking about which one I would eat first when Easter came. Then I reminded myself that Palm Sunday was well a Sunday - a kind of little Easter. And I noticed that some of the chocolates have nuts which, of course, are nutritional. Well, you know what happened: I stripped the plastic off the container and ate one. By the end of the afternoon I had finished the entire box.

That temptation exposed my true self. I am nowhere near as strong as I thought.  Our common humanity has an unattractive side. We humans have developed an almost unlimited capacity to deceive and allow ourselves to be deceived. When we want something badly – when we want to get our way -- we easily fall into self-deception. We make excuses.  We go in denial.  We pile one lie onto another.  And we pay the price.  The loss of peace of mind. Our relationships suffer. We become ill – in body, mind and spirit.   In my case, I was also left with a nauseous stomach ache and the blues that follow a "sugar high."  And the sorrow of a broken promise to God.  What a lesson.  Just over chocolate.  What if it were about stealing? Or not forgiving some none? Or nurturing envy or hatred?

          The tempter’s plan is to get us to give in and break our promises or do something wrong – but that’s not the real goal. The Tempter’s goal is for us to feel badly about ourselves, about others, so our relationships will be strained and hopefully severed, and in our shame we will turn away from God.  I had a professor once who was a consultant on the movie, “The Exorcist.”   He was the Devil expert, we called him.  His insight on Satan and Evil is that actually, the devil prefers to tempt us subtly, raising doubt quietly, almost without us even realizing.  Why?  Satin’s desire is to destroy relationship, to weaken and tear apart community. Satan’s longs to isolate us. To kill us, spiritually if not physically, and to smash the image of God within our soul, and to force us to flee from the presence of God, convincing us that God does not love us or will forgive us.

     The devil knows us better than we know ourselves. As the Father of Lies, and half-truths, he knows how to lead us away from what is true and right.  He knows how to plant fear, worry and self-righteousness in our hearts – and have it seem like carrying, concern and competence. The tempter knows what buttons to push, what triggers our weakness.   We learn through Lent through struggle, us have a choice.  Will we stay in the Tempter’s snare or will we break free?  That’s why Jesus was sent to the Wilderness, that’s why he embraces the cross – so we are not finished when we fall.  Jesus is there, helping us up again. 
   
     There was a little boy visiting his grandparents on their farm. He was given a slingshot to play with out in the woods, but he could never hit the target. Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner. As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet duck. Out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck square in the head, and killed it. He was shocked and grieved. In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood pile, only to see his sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing. After lunch the next day Grandma said, "Sally, let's wash the dishes." But Sally said, "Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help." She whispered to him, "Remember the duck?" So Johnny did the dishes.

     Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and Grandma said, "I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make supper." Sally just smiled and said, "Well that's all right because Johnny told me he wanted to help." She whispered again, "Remember the duck?" So Sally went fishing and Johnny stayed to help.

    After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally's he finally couldn't stand it any longer. He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck. Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug, and said, "Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at the window and I saw the whole thing, but because I love you, I forgave you. I was wondering how long you would let Sally make a slave of you."

     Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done, whatever the devil keeps throwing it up in your face you need to know that God was standing at the window and He saw the whole thing. He has seen your whole life. He wants you to know that He loves you and that you are forgiven. He's just wondering how long you will let the devil make a slave of you.

  No matter how many forbidden chocolates you eat, or mcdoubles you sneak, or other temptations you face, how many times we fail and have start over, God is there.  We can pick ourselves up, because as the old gospel song, goes, a saint is just a sinner, who fell down – and got up.

      We fall down.  But we get up, loved and forgiven.  It doesn’t get any better than that. Amen.

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"Go to the Mountaintop"   February 7, 2016

2/7/2016

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2 Kings 2:1-12; Mark 9:2-9
UCBR: February 15, 2015 “Go to the Mountaintop”

 Today is Transfiguration Sunday, the last Sunday in the season we call Epiphany – the celebration of light and insight and revelation – our understanding, in particular of Jesus as Emmanuel, God with us.   The Epiphany season began, as you may recall, back at the beginning of January when we celebrated the visit of the Magi, or the wise men, to the child Jesus.  On that Sunday we saw how the enlightened foreigners acclaimed Jesus as “The King of the Jews.”  They were filled with joy and they worshiped him – Jesus as this little kid, and brought him gifts. Today, Jesus is all grown up – and now it is Peter, James and John, ordinary Jewish people, who become enlightened as to Jesus’ true nature – not by the Bethlehem Star, but as Jesus transfigures, or changes, before them on the mountain top. Up there at the summit Jesus appears as light, his clothes dazzling white. Two visitors from Israel’s past – Moses and Elijah, join Jesus.  They see Jesus as he truly is: not just a amazing new rabbi, or a miracle worker, or healer, but as the voice from heaven proclaims, Jesus is God’s Son, the beloved to whom we should listen.

The appearance of Moses and Elijah, two esteemed figures from Jewish history, confirm Jesus as the long-awaited messiah.
Mountains throughout scripture, indeed throughout the ancient world, were places when people encounter the sacred.  Moses encountered the burning bush that was not consumed, and later received the Law on Mount Sinai   (Ex. 24:15).  At the end of his ministry, Moses stood on the mountaintop of Mt. Pisgah to see the Promised Land right before he died, knowing with satisfaction that his task in God’s plan was accomplished.  Elijah the prophet also had a sacred encounter with God on Mount Horeb (1 Ki. 19:8).   Fleeing for his life on the top of the mountain, depressed, Elijah encounters God not in the earthquake or fire, but in the silence that followed.  In the aftermath of encountering God, Elijah’s mission to speak out on behalf of God in the face of danger is revived.

Now the disciples, James Peter and John encounter the divine, but not in the earthquake and fire, a burning bush, or a piercing silence, but in the very person of Jesus.   In this moment of revelation they see Jesus in conversation with Moses (representing the Law) and Elijah (representing the prophets) – the totality of Jewish faith.  The disciples see Jesus as the bridge, the fulfillment of all which the Jewish people have longed for.
Some scholars have even found it curious that the gospel writer Luke reports two men at the empty tomb (Lk. 24:4; Jn. 20:12) and in the book Acts he describes two men at Jesus’ ascension into heaven (Acts 1:10).  The ‘two witnesses’ described in the book of Revelation (Rev. 11:3) are often identified with Moses and Elijah.  So at Jesus transfiguration, resurrection and Ascension and in the end of the ages, there are divinely ordained witnesses bringing the old and new together – pointing to Jesus as the fulfillment of revelation and God’s work among us. 

 Jesus, knowing what mountaintops signified for the people, chose to take Peter, James and John to the summit, to witness the transfiguration. Mountains are a perfect choice:  they are place of refuge and where we can step back and see the big picture. In the effort of going to the mountaintop today, we too find inspiration and the potential of spiritual transformation.  We find God – and we find who we are—beloved children of God.     
    
In 2011, Former Navy rescue swimmer Brian Dickinson, an experienced mountain climber, and motivational speaker, was roughly 1,000 feet from the summit of Mount Everest—also known as “the death zone”—when his Sherpa became ill and had to turn back, leaving Brian with a difficult decision: should he continue to push for the summit, or head back down the mountain? After carefully weighing the options, Brian decided to continue toward the summit—alone. Four hours later, Brian solo summited the highest peak in the world. But the celebration was short-lived. Suddenly, his vision became blurry, his eyes started to burn, and within seconds, he was rendered almost completely blind.

All alone at 29,035 feet, low on oxygen, and stricken with snow blindness, Brian was forced to inch his way back down the mountain relying only on his Navy survival training, his gut instinct, and his faith.  Brian slowly started down the mountain.  Very tired, Brian was tempted to close his eyes and become a permanent member of the mountain.
Yet he pressed on. But things went from bad to worse. He start falling head over heel.  He landed upside down, his mask is ripped from his face, and my bottle of oxygen’s coming out of my pack.  His oxygen wasn’t working. At that point he  dropped to his knees and just surrendered. It was a simple prayer he said, ‘God I can’t do this alone. Please help me.’”

At that moment, on the other side of the world, friends and family were suddenly compelled to pray for Brian. His climbing friend, David Heiting says, “I felt God just talking to me saying, ‘You need to pray for Brian to get up and move. Things are going to be hard and he just has to power through.’  That’s what I prayed for. Joanna felt compelled to pray. “I just got this feeling that maybe something was wrong, and I kept praying about it, for God to bring him home safe.”

“And at that moment, I witnessed a miracle.” Brian says, “It was as if God reached down by the back of my down suit and lifted me up. I mean I just had this unexplained energy. To have that life re-enter my body was just unexplained. To be able to stand up, to feel strong, and just have hope. Then Brian tried the oxygen tank again. This time it worked. He made it down to the camp at 26,000 feet.

With help Brian made it the rest of the way down Everest and home to his family. One month later his sight returned to normal. Brian says he is thankful God was with him every step of the way to the top of the world, and back down again. “In my moment of need He was there. I believe He was there the entire time. He’s always there. That Presence I felt I was never alone. When I needed to be lifted up He was there. He got me down the mountain.” Brian concludes, “People give up on themselves but God’s not giving up on you. No matter what, God is always there. He’ll lead you through the toughest times and help you survive the impossible.”

Brian found God up there on Mount Everest – and he wrote a book about his saga called “Blind Faith.”   Like Brian today we are invited to that mountaintop with Peter, James and John. We get to see Jesus in all his glory, alongside Moses and Elijah.  Today, God wants to overshadow each of us with the Holy Spirit as he did those disciples, and speak to us.  God has a message for each of us, straight from the mountaintop. 
Some of the mountains God has called us to are a part of the glory of creation, the wonders of the world that we scale, we ski on, we plan treks – and in the beauty of nature we are renewed. God also calls us today to those mountain ranges of our culture, to those peaks of justice, mercy and righteousness, difficult summits that are too often left un-tread except for the most spiritually intrepid.  

God is also calling each of us to those mountains  here in our hearts—mountains of faith and prayer we are invited to climb,  as described in “The Seven Story Mountain,” the renowned autobiography of Thomas Merton a Trappist monk, writer and mystic of the 20th century.  Merton choses as the title of his book the image from Dante of a purgatorial mountain that we must ascend if we are to reach paradise.  About this ascent Merton writes:  “Whether you teach or live in the cloister or nurse the sick, whether you are in religion or out of it, married or single, no matter who you are or what you are, you are called to the summit of perfection: you are called to a deep interior life perhaps even to mystical prayer, and to pass the fruits of your contemplation on to others. And if you cannot do so by word, then by example. Yet if this sublime fire of infused love burns in your soul, it will inevitably send forth throughout the Church and the world an influence more tremendous than could be estimated by the radius reached by words or by example.” 

Today in our climb to the mountaintop God helps us see who we really are and what we are called to do in this life.  There is nothing more important than this: to take from the mountaintop “this… love that burns in our soul,” that experience of glory, and share it.  To make a difference. To someone - Somewhere.
That, my friends, is the challenge of the season of Lent.  Starting Wednesday, until Easter Sunday we are called to this special task.  Forget about giving up chocolate or TV.  We are called to something greater.  To take that knowledge of Jesus, his glory, the love that burns in our soul, and to apply it to daily life.  To take like Brian, the knowledge that God is always with us.  To take, like Martin Luther King Jr., the long vision of racial and social justice and give people hope.

Today we’ve been taken to the mountaintop.  We’ve seen the glory.  We got to share it.
​
This Lent, I invite all of us to listen. I invite us to renewal that comes from knowing ourselves so loved by God that we must, we must, pass it on. Dare to share what a difference faith in Jesus has had in your life.  Stretch your prayer life. Get more invested in God’s work.  Get more involved in the mission of Union Church and around the world. Work for racial justice and social equality.  Be a guide and lead others to the mountaintop – to Jesus.  This Lent, may love be energized, mobilized, concretized – realized proclaimed and celebrated by each of us, by all of us. This Lent let us truly change. That’s how we’ll know that we’ve been to the mountaintop. Amen.

       

 
 


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    Moirajo is a minister, social worker, wife, mother, writer and animal lover. That's just for starters. Join the story, there's so much we can share together! 

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