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Out into the Wilderness

2/26/2021

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Genesis 9:8-17; Mark 1:9-15

 
      Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson went on a camping trip. After a good meal, they lay down for the night and went to sleep. Some hours later, Holmes awoke and nudged his faithful friend. Holmes said: “Watson, look up and tell me what you see”.    Watson said: “I see a fantastic panorama of countless stars”. 
     Holmes: “And what does that tell you?”       Watson pondered for a moment: “Astronomically, it tells me that there are millions of galaxies and potentially billions of planets. Astrologically, I observe that Saturn is in Leo. Horologically, I deduce that the time is approximately a quarter past three. Theologically, I can see that God is all powerful and that we are small and insignificant. Meteorologically, I suspect that we will have a beautiful day tomorrow.”     “Why? – What does it tell you, Holmes?”      Holmes was silent for a moment then spoke: “Someone has stolen our tent.”
        As an inveterate city dweller, tried and true, outdoor living never ranked high on my bucket list.  The closest we came to roughing it was our annual family camp week at Frost Valley YMCA, where we lived in rustic cabins with electricity and bathrooms, but with no TV or cell phone access, limited internet connection,  We had to climb down to mess hall for meals, in mud or rain or sunshine. In 10 years we never did the ropes course or climbing wall, go fishing or the sunrise hike that required getting up at 4am.  We did however manage to make campfires and s’mores with the kids.  
It is not easy stepping outside our comfort zones.  We like our routines.  The familiar is soothing to us.  It gives us a sense of control and reassurance to predict our daily schedule:  up by 6am, shower, dressed and breakfast by 7:30, out the door, at work by 9, back home by 7, bed by 11pm.  We all have some structure, with some give or take – meetings, interactions with family, answering emails, checking Facebook and texts and tweets, social events- our days develop a predictable rhythm. 


Our readings today describe a disruption to that steady, regular pace of life.  In our Hebrew lesson, God is grieved by the continuous evil in the world.  So, God decides that the only way to ‘redeem’ the world is to begin again with a small family – Noah and his immediate relatives. After everyone and everything that God commanded were in the ark, the Lord “shut them in.”   Then began the wilderness of the floods – forty days and forty nights of rains that destroyed all living things on earth not in the ark.    God then makes a promise, in the sign of a rainbow to never again destroy the earth with water.
Imagine being a member of Noah’s family getting off that ark that first day.  We are told the Ark landed on Mt. Ararat, considered by some scholars in modern day Turkey.  Did Noah’s family have to establish a new home base in a foreign land?  They were the sole survivors to a God-ordered holocaust.   What did they see as they left the ark, a new world, wiped clean?   How did they adjust without their extended family and friends?  Think of the stress of building new homes, establishing farms, planting crops, starting over. With the stress of all Noah lived through, that he is the first person in the bible who gets drunk!

     Although Noah and his family were saved by the terrible flood, their lives were upended.  They could never go back to their old life.   Much like us, trudging through this COVID19 pandemic, when we get to the other side, things just will not be the same. Noah and his family, despite God’s reassurance and blessings, went through a spiritual wilderness, with all the trials that implied.  A place where the familiar was gone, the direction was unclear, nothing seemed right, and even relationship was God was reestablished with the covenant of the rainbow. 
         In Mark’s gospel lesson today, we see God has decided that the only way to truly ‘redeem’ the world is by entering into the world in the personal, intimate way – in the person of Jesus.   But first, before Jesus’ public ministry begins, a time of preparation – a time in the wilderness for forty days and nights.  Jesus’ wilderness time “immediately” followed his baptism, and the text says, literally the Spirit expelled Jesus (not led him politely) out into the bleak, lonely, and dry Judean wilderness for forty days of testing.
 Mark is very succinct: he just tells us that Satan tempted Jesus.  He leaves a lot to the imagination.  What did Satan tempt Jesus with?  How did Jesus respond?  What we do know is that people for centuries have fled to the wilderness to seek answers and find new directions in life.  It is not surprising that the people of Israel would wander for 40 years in the wilderness – not just in response to disobedience and unbelief – but to give time for a new generation to rise up, a new generation familiar with the teachings of the Covenant and leadership of Moses.
        So, we can imagine Jesus, having lived the majority of his years in relative obscurity in Nazareth, as a local carpenter if we are to believe the legends.  We simply don’t know.  What we do know is that at age 30, more or less, he made a radical shift.  Something stirred in his soul.  Something was calling him forth.  Something was fully awakening in him, telling Jesus, it is time.  Jesus’ routine was about to be upended.  The flood of baptism washed away, once and for all, all that was familiar and safe.  The wilderness then, would strip away everything else that stood in the way.
        While our other gospel writers tell us about some of the temptations Jesus faced in the wilderness, temptations about his identity as Song of God; temptations dealing with human hunger and of use of divine power for selfish purposes.  I would like to think Jesus faced a very common temptation that we all face.  The temptation to go back.  To return to the old life and play it safe.   The temptation to say no to God out of the fear of the unknown.   To return to the carpenter’s shop and live an ordinary life.
        We’ve all found ourselves out there. In the wilderness of money problems, of too much debt, of bills piling up and no end in sight. The wilderness of a lump, then an exam, then a test, then a biopsy, then a meeting with the oncologist and a diagnosis and a treatment plan and one drug after another and side effects and the waiting for results and the wishing for another life.  There’s the wilderness of depression. The blinding wilderness of anger.   The wilderness of a crumbling relationship. The wilderness of indecision. The wilderness of doubt. The wilderness of change. Could be you’re in the wilderness of busy. The wilderness of making time for everything and therefore having time for nothing.  We all have one, don’t we? 
God has called us into the wilderness not to punish us, but to bring us back to our true selves – that at the core of our hearts is that we are loved. We are loved, even if we fail and are tempted.  We can love in hard times as well as the easy times.  We can love in new and powerful ways.  That is the grace and goodness of Lent.  We are freed from the madness of self-centeredness.  When that happens our whole world opens up to something new.
  This Lent let us move out of our comfort zone.  Let us be open to the unfamiliar.   We might find what we prayed for radically transformed into something different .and bringing us a new future full of new promise and hope Amen.


2. For this sermon illustration I am grateful for the Rev. Amy Starr Redwine and the way she used it in her sermon, “God Revealed,” preached on January 17, 2010 at Firestone Park Presbyterian Church in Akron,
       

         

 
 
 


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A Glimpse of Jesus

2/26/2021

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Mark 9:2-9
 
 
A number of years ago, The Economics Press cited the following story.  A John Hopkins Economics researcher gave a group of graduate students an assignment. The assignment was to analyze the background and environment of 200 boys in an impoverished area, then predict their future.
The graduate students conducted their surveys.   They selected and interviewed the boys. They consulted the most sophisticated social statistics. After much fanfare they wrote up their findings.  They predicted that ninety percent of the boys were bound for prison.
Twenty-five years later, a follow up study was done.   Another John Hopkins researcher gave another group of graduate students the task to contact the participants in the original study.   The graduate students managed to track down 180 of the original 200.  The rest had either died or moved away. To their surprise, they found only four out of 180 had spent any time in prison.  The researchers were astonished.  How, in an environment that was a breeding ground for crime, did these men come away unscathed?   Over and over again, the men told the researchers, “well, there was this teacher….”


The researchers found that in 75 percent of the cases, it was the same woman.   They grew more curious. The researchers decided to track this teacher down.  By this time, she old and living in a retirement facility.   What was her secret?  They wanted to know.  Why had these boys remembered her so?  What did she do that made the difference?  The old teacher just shrugged off all the questions.   “I didn’t do anything special. She responded.  I just loved those boys.”    I just loved them.
I haven’t been able to track down and read the study itself.  But whether or not the facts were embellished, deep down in our hearts, we know that the message is true.  Our lives can be radically changed when we experience unconditional love that comes from being true and authentic. There are people, encounters or experiences we never forget.  Those encounters have the power to sustain us, even through difficult periods of our life.


Perhaps it is a teacher.   A friend.  A spouse. Maybe even a stranger.  Or a grandmother, or grandfather.  Maybe, it was out in nature, during a camping experience.  For some, it might be while fishing. For others, a walk on a beach early in the morning.  Or it can be something as simple as really noticing a perfectly shaped flower. Or listening to a favorite piece of music.  But in that kind of encounter our guard drops, and we come face to face with pure love. We experience the essence of life, the ground of being.
It is amazing what love can do for us.  When just one person believes in us and accepts us unconditionally, we are able to not only withstand trials and tribulations, but despite all odds, persevere and flourish.


Deep down, underneath all the reserve, it is the one thing we need the most. To feel thoroughly accepted, loved, and clear, about what we are about.
Our Sunday is today is called Transfiguration Sunday. The story of the transfiguration of Jesus is probably, next to the resurrection, one of the most supernatural experiences witnessed by the gospel writers. The transfiguration and resurrection bookmark the season of Lent, which we begin this Wednesday.   The transfiguration occurs at a pivotal point in Jesus’ life.  Ministry for him has been hard and frustrating. Throughout all the miracles and healings that the gospels record, Jesus continually confronted in his disciples a lack of faith, a lack of vision and understanding.  At the point that they are about to journey to Jerusalem, Jesus began to disclose to them what awaited them in Jerusalem:  his suffering and death.      


What made it possible for Jesus to press on?  What made it possible for the early church to press on, despite persecution and scorn?  What made it all possible is the experience of pure and total love that God had for Jesus. And Peter, James and John got to see that up there on the mountain.  It was the experience of seeing the essence of Jesus – and the power in which God loved Jesus, and Jesus with Moses and Elijah, the holy men who represented the all the authority of religious life – law and prophecy, there in the company of Jesus.   It was a brilliant.  It was terrifying.  It was a glimpse of glory, to the extent that glory can be apprehended by human senses.  And in the midst of their terror at this amazing scene, a cloud overshadowed them. A voice spoke from the cloud itself.  And it was the voice of God.  “This is my son, the beloved.   Listen to him.”

That voice was the Voice of Transfiguration itself.  The voice did not give the disciples a lecture.  It didn’t tell the disciples what laws to follow which laws to discard.  It didn’t give them a laundry list of all their faults. It did not berate them for their lack of comprehension. The voice didn’t predict the future, didn’t promise pie in the sky.  The voice said simply, “This is my son. The Beloved.  Listen to him!”  The Voice revealed the true self of Jesus.  Jesus, God’s beloved child.


What a gift it is to hear these words.  What a greater gift it is to give these words to another.   Simple, basic, powerful.  Simple enough to save dozens of impoverished men from winding up in prison.   Simple enough for one man, Jesus, to change the course of world history.

This Wednesday we will begin our Lenten journey.   Lent is a time associated with self-reflection, sacrifice and giving up.  It is a somber time, because we journey with Jesus to Jerusalem to the cross.  The sacrifice our text is asking us to make is to slow down long enough to open up to our true self. To live that true self faithfully through which we can touch the lives of others. In this we see a glimpse of Jesus.

Most of us have heard of “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood,” the long running, beloved children’s show.  Mr. Rogers was a Presbyterian minister, and one of his sayings touched me deeply.  He said, “The greatest gift we can give to others is the gift of the honest self.”    The honest self is another way of naming the essence of who we are, plain and simple. No masks, no gimmicks.  That is what Jesus gave to Peter, James and John on the mountaintop.  A glimpse of who he was.  God’s child.  Beloved.  And isn’t that what the Transfiguration is about after all?   It wasn’t about adding anything on the outside to Jesus’s character.  It was about letting out what’s inside, letting it be seen and heard, in all its true, honest essence, in all its glory.

         This Lent let us cultivate the gift of our true essence, our honest self.  Find yourself in the Lenten practices and devotions. Glimpse Jesus. Be true to the self-God created you to be: beloved, child of God.  Love your neighbor with the gift of your honest self, be open like Jesus so we can continue the journey together, knowing when we are whole, we make a difference in the lives of those God places in our midst. Let us find our ability to love, and like that old teacher, make a difference in the lives of whom we meet. Amen.

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It All Begins with Prayer

2/26/2021

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“ Mark 1:29-39
 
 
As a roving reporter for my high school newspaper, I was once selected to cover the visit of a foreign nun to a local women’s college.  Like any other teenager, I was most excited about being away from classes that day.  So, I gathered my camera, tape recorder, notebook, and off I went, not knowing the slightest thing about my subject.  This of course was before the time of household computers and google searches for gathering background information.
        The event began with a worship service, followed by a luncheon at the end of which this nun began to speak.  She shared about her work with the poor and the dying in India.  One might expect this to be a depressing talk to listen to, but the effect was quite the opposite.  This woman radiated joy and peace, which could be felt at the back of the room where I was. By the time the reporters could ask questions I was mesmerized.  Something in my heart was awakened. In front of all these reporters from the local newspapers and television stations, I boldly raised my hand. Finally she called upon me.  I blurted out, “How do you become holy?” You could hear a pin drop in the room.  Not the kind of question to go on the 6:00 pm news.
        As you have probably guessed, the nun I encountered was none other than Mother Theresa of Calcutta.  I met her the year before she won the Nobel Peace Prize and truly became a worldwide household name. As providence would have it, I was so nervous that I only remembered the first few words of her answer to me.  I blanked out on all the rest. So the only response I recall from one of the 20th century’s most exemplary lives was:  “It all begins with prayer.”
        “It all begins with prayer.”
        Our gospel lesson from Mark today gives us a snapshot into the life of Jesus.  Jesus and his small band of disciples left the synagogue and went to Simon Peter’s home.  Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law and she is restored to health, and she in turn got up to serve everyone.  Word of this healing traveled around and at sundown, the townsfolk brought the sick and the demon possessed to Jesus, and he cured many. Mark tells us that the whole town was gathered at the door.   And the next day it’s more of the same: “Everyone is searching for you” the disciples say to Jesus.  The demands on Jesus are endless, the need is great, and the work has just begun.  What kept Jesus going?
        The key to Jesus’ perseverance, to his successful ministry, is right in the middle of this passage.  Mark tells us in the morning, while it was still very dark, Jesus went to a deserted place, and there he prayed.  It all begins with prayer.  Jesus, who was one with the Father, still needed to pray.  He still needed to set aside time out of his day to be alone and get with God.  That’s how Jesus made it all work and that’s what he modeled for us.  It all begins with prayer.
        Whether we want to call it becoming holy or want to think of it in ordinary terms of staying healthy or achieving balance in life, we need to pray.  There are a lot of us who say, “I can’t pray” or “I’m not a good pray-er.”  But this is not true.  Anyone can pray. Each one of us can pray.
Part of the confusion about prayer is that there is a big difference between saying prayers and praying.  We can all say a prayer and it really may not mean anything other than the words on the paper it’s printed on.  To pray, as Jesus would have us, means to engage our hearts in casual conversation with God, even as if we’re talking to another human being. We pray with the bluntness of the Psalms. In this way prayer centers us and opens up the depths of our being to God’s mercy and love and it opens us up to each other. 
Because praying is first and foremost about relating to God, prayer isn’t really about the quantity or quality of the words.  Jesus advises against piling up the words in prayer, (Matt. 6:7) and Paul assures us that the Holy Spirit intercedes for us in groans too deep for words (Romans 8:26).    So, we pray with words, but we also pray with our silence.  With both words and silence and the groans of our heart we pour out our confessions, our petitions, our thanks.  We can allow God’s will to take over.  We can learn to trust in the providence and mercy of God even if our prayers are not answered in the way we want them to be. 
I’ve heard of some creative responses to developing a consistent prayer life.  One friend uses prayer partners and her prayer group and takes her dog on long walks to focus her mind to pray everyday. Another colleague uses his time on the treadmill to pray.  And of course, many of us have learned to use our time on the morning subway commute, or the wait on check out lines, as times to pray.  If we think about it we can all find creative ways to make praying a priority in our lives.  In this way we develop the habit of “praying without ceasing,” throughout the day, as Paul encourages us (1 Thess. 5:17).
The great spiritual writer, Henri Nouwen, wrote:
“Why is it so important that you are with God and God alone on the mountain top? It's important because it's the place in which you can listen to the voice of the One who calls you beloved. To pray is to listen to the One who calls you "my beloved.
That is what we need to discover and understand in our prayer life:   To experience and know the love and presence of God.  Isn’t this what Jesus experienced as he prayed in that deserted place? He connected to the Father, and that love he received filled him. That divine love sustained him and enabled him to carry out his public ministry of healing and expelling demons and teaching the multitudes that flocked to him on a daily basis.   It was divine love which no doubt sustained Mother Theresa in ministering to thousands of the poor and dying in Calcutta for over 50 years.  . Prayer and service is what after all is what makes us holy.  It all begins with prayer.
        So pray. In the car at the stoplight.  Pray in your closet at home. Pray as you get up in the morning and go to bed in the evening, and throughout the day.  Pray for those whom you facebook or see on TV.  Just pray.
        Let us make time for prayer, alone and together. Let us serve as Jesus did wherever God has placed us.  If there is any confusion about what to do, there is only one thing we need to remember:  it all begins with prayer. 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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