Fear and Faith

Matthew 14: 22-33

White Caps on the Sea of Galilee by Dina

It was a dark and stormy night…you know the kind I mean.  You’re lying in bed asleep in the stillness of the night when you’re awakened by the wrestling of the leaves from a wind that is starting to pick up.  You roll out of bed and amble to the window to see the shadows of the trees bending freely back and forth.

You hear the distant roll of thunder and see a slightly illuminated sky to the west.  Within no time the lightning dances across the sky and the thunder is sitting right on top of you and the room is momentarily lit up inside from the flash of the lightning outside.  The rain begins to pelt the sidewalk and the roof and it’s so loud…too much….your body tenses in expectation of the next barrage of chaotic and random thunder and lightning.  Violent storms like these induce fear.

It was a dark and stormy night THAT night on the Sea of Galilee when the wooden fishing boat that the disciples were on was battered by the waves and beaten by the wind.  The Sea is not big, 13 miles long and 7 miles wide, fed by rainfall and the Jordan River.  When it’s not stormy it’s quite beautiful, as the rabbi’s say, “Although God has created seven seas, yet he has chosen this one as his special delight.”[i]

Winds at the Sea of Galilee by Dina

However the Sea of Galilee can kick up a very violent storm with winds blowing through the east-west corridor of the hill country and winds that come off of the all too close the Golan Heights.[ii]  And so it was THAT night.

Jesus and his disciples were heavy into ministry by now teaching, preaching, curing and healing.  It’s no wonder that Jesus’ reputation had spread so quickly spread throughout the Galilean countryside.  It’s also no wonder that crowds surrounded him and his disciples everywhere they went.  After a weary day of feeding 5,000 people Jesus puts his diciples on a wooden fishing boat to go ahead of him to the other side of the Sea. 

Ahh, alone, now’s the chance to relax for Jesus, an opportunity for him to kick off his sandals and dust off his feet and to sit his weary bones down and be alone to pray.  He spends the night in prayer.

In the wee hours of the morning he sets foot on the water.  The disciples who had just spent a dark and stormy night at sea cry out in fear.  Out of the extremity of their fear they believe Jesus to be a ghost.  But he reassures them.

Peter, the rock upon which the church is built says to Jesus, “If it really is you let me walk on the water and come out to you”.   He doubts.  So Peter disembarks and walks toward Jesus.  The winds kick up a bit and Peter, the rock upon whom the church is built cries out, “Lord, save me”.  He is fearful.  His faith wavers.  Jesus stretches out his hand and catches a sinking Peter and when they got to the boat the winds ceased, the Sea becomes calm.  Jesus subdues and overcomes chaos, that of Peter’s and of the Sea.  Peter’s faith is restored and strengthened.

This is an all too familiar story.  It plays itself out in our lives in a variety of ways.  Who among us has not been caught in a violent storm without shelter or has felt miserably abandoned in a boat that is thrashing about on the sea of uncertainty like the disciples?  The people of Joplin, Missouri probably felt that way when the tornado was ripping through their town.  The traders on Wall Street this past week probably felt that way too when the DJIA sank rapidly closing over 500 points down.  A family who receives news that their child has an incurable disease, the suicidal teenager whose reputation has been defamed because of cyber bullying. 

Storms are real no matter the guise.  So is fear that stems out of these storms.  Fear can impair you and leave you immobile.  It also has the ability to move you to a deeper level of faith.  Fear and faith.  The two are remarkably linked together for if we did not experience fear in life, we may not know the depth of our faith.  Fear is not a test of our faith but a facet of our lives by which our faith gets us through those dark and stormy nights.  Crying out is not a lack of faith but an act of faith. 

And God is mindful of us and our fears. 

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. tells a story of fear in his sermon, “Antidotes to Fear” from his book, “Strength to Love”.  He says, “On a particular Monday evening, following a tension-packed week which included being arrested and receiving numerous threatening telephone calls, I spoke at a mass meeting.  I attempted to convey an overt impression of strength and courage, although I was inwardly depressed and fear-stricken.

At the end of the meeting, Mother Pollard came to the front of the church and said, “Come here, son.”  I immediately went to her and hugged her affectionately.  “Something is wrong with you,” she said.  “You didn’t talk strong tonight.”  Seeking further to disguise my fears, I retorted, “Oh no, Mother Pollard, nothing is wrong.  I am feeling fine as ever.”

But her insight was discerning. “Now you can’t fool me,” she said.  “I knows something is wrong.  Is it that we ain’t doing things to please you?”  Before I could respond, she looked directly into my eyes and said, “I don told you we is with you all the way.”  Then her face became radiant and she said in words of quiet certainty, “But even if we ain’t with you, God’s gonna take care of you.”[iii] 

God’s gonna take care of you.  Mother Pollard reached out her hand, a perfect extension of God’s love and lifted King from sinking further into his sea of fear.  Amazing how God’s care and concern for our fears can manifest itself in the presence of others.  Just as Jesus extended his hand to Peter, God will extend the divine arm of hope to lift you up too because “God’s gonna take care of you.” 

There will be storms…that, my friends, is a fact of life.   God’s gonna take care of you.

You will feel abandoned in a boat thrashing about on the sea.  God’s gonna take care of you.

It was a dark and stormy night.  But God’s gonna take care of you.

Amen.

Jesus Walks on Water by Laura James, 1998

---

[i]Bolen, Todd. The Sea of Galilee from http://www.bibleplaces.com/seagalilee.htm.

[ii]Ibid.

[iii] King Jr., Martin Luther.  “Strength to Love”. Fortress Press, 1963, page 125.

Compasstionate Acts of Love

Matthew 14: 13-21

Here’s a quiz to wake you up this fine summer’s morning.  What do Sister Eileen Boffa, Sister Cheryl Driscoll, Millard Fuller, and Mother Teresa have in common? 

They all achieved a lot from a little.

Who are these people?  They are ordinary human beings in whom God has worked to accomplish extraordinary things in this world.  All they saw was abundance and not scarcity even though life was, at times, sparse.  For them today’s scripture of the feeding of the 5,000 would have been a faits accompli.  That is, the disciples with their 5 loaves and 2 fishes and a stark command from Jesus, to feed so many people with so little would have already been already accomplished in their minds.  No question, it can be done, with their let’s get started attitude.

Sisters Eileen and Cheryl were the founders of Mercy Learning Center in Bridgeport.  Sister Eileen had been the principal at Sacred Heart Elementary School on Park Avenue and Sister Cheryl had taught first grade there for 15 years. They knew that Bridgeport had 34,000 illiterate adults because they had taught many children whose parents could not read.  With a simple flyer that read “Want to Read?” they went down to WIC and other various programs and handed them out to illiterate mothers but also had to extend a verbal invitation…since the women couldn’t read.  They’re motto, “Educate a woman, educate a family”.  Today they have educated over 4,000 women. 

Millard Fuller is the founder of Habitat for Humanity.  A self made millionaire by 29 he and his wife sold all that they had and gave it to the poor.  They intentionally had nothing left but their faith.  Redirecting their lives they went to Africa with an organization which built homes for people who didn’t have homes.  From this experience the seeds of Habitat germinated.  For them an abundance of material goods did not mean a life lived abundantly. 

Mother Teresa, of course, accomplished so much with so very little in Calcutta, India.  The order she founded, The Missionaries of Charity was simply to love and care for those persons whom no one was prepared to look after.  Her remarkable ministry flourished amid the most deplorable of human conditions. 

It all starts with so little. Today’s passage is one that is familiar to us probably because it is recorded in all four of the Gospels with some variation.  Right before Jesus boards his small fishing boat for some seclusion and respite on the Sea of Galilee he receives word that, John the Baptizer, his cousin, has been put to death.  You remember that gruesome story where Herodias dances before Herod Antipas and asks for John’s head on a silver platter. 

So Jesus withdraws perhaps to grieve his loss and rest.  But others did not know this, or if they did they still wanted Jesus and disregarded his need to be alone.  We can appreciate his dilemna.  We sit to rest with newspapers in hand after a long hard day and the phone rings.  We put the children to bed and then you hear a little voice say “I can’t sleep, I need some water, I’m so thirsty”.  Can’t you just hear the sigh of frustrated exhaustion?  I marvel at Jesus’ compassion and ability to put his fatigue and feelings aside and address the needs of the people regardless of his physical or emotional state. 

He sees them coming, the broken, the sick, the thirsty and hungry people and he comes ashore.  In his understated compassionate manner he begins to heal them.  But it was getting late, the sun was setting over Tiberas and Capernaum. The disciples strongly urge him to send the people away.  Imagine that?  Send the people off to fend for themselves, a crowd of 5,000.  But Jesus, the master of extravagant hospitality, quips back pretty quickly.  “There’s no need to dismiss them.  You give them supper.” [i] 

They scratch their heads.  They look around.  “Uh, Jesus”, they replied, “We only have two fish and five small loaves of bread!”  Unflappable Jesus says, “bring them here”.  He looks up to the heavens and blesses the bread and fish.  He tears the bread apart and then gives the pieces to his disciples who in turn feed the people.  Truly a miracle.

But this, my friends, is the miracle’s secret…that so little turns into so much when Jesus and his cause is involved in whatever we do.  This is the compassionate act of love for each time that we help another human being we are reenacting what Jesus did, that is to give thanks for the food that we have, divide it up to share and then give it out to others.

Herein resides also the question for ministry today.  How is it humanly possible to feed so many with so little?  It was pertinent to the first century followers of Jesus and definitely apropos to ministry today.  How in the world are we going to metaphorically feed others when there are so little resources to begin with and dwindling rapidly with a looming debt crisis? There is so much need in this world, in Stamford, in our neighborhoods and we are just one person, one church.  Living plentifully is what ministry is about. 

In the 10^th chapter of John Jesus says, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (10:10)  To feed 5,000 people takes on a whole new meaning if understood on Jesus’ terms. To do the ministry that is sorely needed in our communities and world knowing that we can accomplish anything in Christ’s name is what this is about.  There’s plenty of food, don’t worry, there always will be that is his promise. 

Pastor Cheryl Bridges Johns says: “Ministry is about multiplying resources so that what might have been a social handout becomes a revelation of amazing grace.” A social handout is a buck given to a beggar in downtown New Haven, bus fare handed over to a person waiting for a bus on the front steps of the welfare office, shelter for someone who might otherwise sleep in a cardboard box under I-95. 

Yet a handout given from the heart, in the compassionate name of Jesus Christ, is a revelation of God’s good and merciful nature.  Anyone can offer a bowl of soup.  But when Christians offer that same bowl of soup it embodies our belief in goodness over evil, life over death and above all God’s forgiving love and grace without condition.  It is a Christ-filled compassionate meal and invokes his sacred meal that is blessed, broken and given.

                                                                                                  

To be certain we are living in a mode of scarcity today.  This economic downslide has affected each one of us as individuals and as a church for who among us has not experienced in some way overwork, indebtedness and certain dissatisfaction with our situation?  Some of us have probably experienced a sleepless night or two worrying about what challenges tomorrow will bring. 

Indeed we should tighten our belts, pinch our pennies, and clip those coupons because we have to be wise and prudent stewards of our resources.  But we should not wring our hands in despair and operate out of a place of scarcity.  That will severely damage our spiritual health and well being.  It is ‘for such a time as this’ (Esther 4:14) that God’s care, concern, love, and giving nature kicks into high gear!  Christian faith and ministry is most efficacious when there is so little.  Many successful ministries were conceived out of prayer, great faith and from little to no resources. 

I believe that God, through the example of Jesus, asks us and prepares us for the ministry that is at hand, on our watch, right now, imminent with all of the proverbial food that we will need to assuage the hunger.  People each day hunger for truth, love, justice.  People each day hunger for food, real food, a roof to shelter them from the weather, meaningful employment and deep relationship.   

There is no lack of ministry, there’s plenty of that around.  Sister’s Eileen and Cheryl, Millard Fuller, and Mother Teresa, can attest to that.  They are also a witness to the fact that there is no lack of resources just miracles to believe in, and lots of them.

When we let Christ-like behavior guide us we can live out of abundance rather than scarcity.  We can feed Christ-like portions of the Gospel to others and we too can be fed ourselves.  We can enact that sacred meal of blessed, broken and given and know that there will be enough for all.  We have nothing to fear or be skeptical about.  There’s plenty.  Like the refrain of a hymn from a Jamaican folk tune “Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ”…. Jesus lives again, earth can breathe again, pass the word again, loaves abound.

Amen.

---

[i] Eugene Peterson’s , The Message.  Matthew 14:  16.

Artwork & Photo

1- Artist Unknown

2- Overlooking Sea of Galilee

3- Mosaic in floor of the Church of the Loaves and Fishes, Tabgha, Galilee Israel

A Sermon from the Mound

Now I know that I’m in foreign territory up here with the Milwaukee Brewers being so close, and the Chicago Cubs and White Sox, if I can say that all in one breath.  I can’t claim loyalty to any of these teams.  Nor do I pledge my loyalty to the Boston Red Sox or the New York Mets or Yankees in the land where I’m now from.  And, I would not call myself a die-hard baseball fan except to say, I would call myself a very loyal fan of the St. Louis Cardinals, my hometown team. 

That’s because my dad took me to my first baseball game down in Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis. It was one of the 1964 World Series games where St. Louis beat the New York Yankees winning the Series.  My dad, a very patient and loving man answered my many questions from how do you keep score on the scorecard and what’s a wild pitch to what does the BB mean on the back of the bat boy’s jersey?  He even made me think I could be a bat boy when I grew up.

I was eleven that summer and three years later my dad passed away in 1967.  If you know your baseball stats that year also brought with it another World Series for the Cards, only at Busch Memorial Stadium, the new stadium.  Mom and I were fortunate to be invited to one of the games to watch the Cards beat the Boston Red Sox for the Series.  This was the second professional game that I had been to.  Dad also played softball for years for our church softball team so the hot, hazy, and humid days of summer don't come without me thinking about the game in some way.  

A sermon from the mound.  The mound of course is the center, more or less (there are regulations) of the field.  A Major League Baseball regulation mound is 18 feet in diameter and has ranged from a height of 20 inches, to 15 inches to the current 10 inch regulation. 

It seems to me that a lot happens on the mound; it's an important place.  Eager eyes are set upon the mound for the pitch.  It’s holy ground.  Why else would  Dallas Braden of the Oakland A’s get so incensed over a year ago last April when A Rod of the Yankees walked over the pitcher's mound in the middle of an inning shattering some unwritten rule?  It’s all in the mound folks, the mound.

Jesus knew that.  I think Jesus would have liked baseball.  After all we see him spitting in the mud (John 9:6), writing in the sand (John 8:6-8) talking about home, well ok, he meant eternal home, and even climbing up on the mount for a sermon such as we heard in our scripture today.  Although, Jesus didn’t get angry like Braden when people came up on the mount, quite the opposite.  He sat down on his mound and invited people of every persuasion to hear what he had to say.   He gives them a pep talk, puts on his game face.  He winds up and then throws out the pitch:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
 ⁴Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
 ⁵Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
 ⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
 ⁷Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
 ⁸Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
 ⁹Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons (and daughters) of God.
 ¹⁰Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
      for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Home runs on all accounts!

Ultimately, the pitch, his pitch, is about the benefits of living decently in life. For life is like a game, not always easy, not always fair.  It’s a balance of skill, luck and guesswork, blessed and enriched by God in so many ways.  I like one of Eugene Peterson’s paraphrased Beatitudes, “You're blessed when you get your inside world - your mind and your heart - put right.  Then you can see God in the outside world."  Our hearts and minds need to be right so that we can envision and embody God’s love outside the ballpark.

I want to share a few stories about some baseball giants.  Not only because they were great ball players but because their mind and their hearts were in the right place. 

Stan the Man Musial, one of St. Louis' all time favorites is today in his 90's.  Recently an article from St. Louis Today read, "….He (Musial) never once got thrown out of a baseball game.  There was this game, in ‘52.....and the Musial’s Cardinals trailed the Brooklyn Dodgers by two runs in the ninth. The bases were loaded. There were two outs. Musial faced pitcher Ben Wade. The two battled briefly, and then Musial connected – a long home run to right field. Grand slam. Everyone in the stadium stood and cheered wildly - what could be bigger, a grand slam in the ninth to beat the….Dodgers – and Musial started to run around the bases in his own inimitable way, not too fast, not too slow, all class. And it wasn’t until he rounded first and was closing in on second when everyone seemed to notice at once that the third base umpire was holding up his arms.

A ball had rolled on the field just before the pitch. The umpire had called timeout. Home plate umpire Tom Gorman realized he had no choice. He disallowed the home run. The stadium went black. The fans went mad. St. Louis manager Solly Hemus raced out the dugout, got into Gorman’s face and called him every name he could think of – finally Gorman had no choice and threw him out of the game. Peanuts Lowrey came in like a tag-team wrestler and picked up where Solly left off – Gorman tossed him too. Before it was done, Gorman threw out six Cardinals. He felt like a cowboy in one of those old Westerns clearing out the saloon…..And then Musial, who in the confusion had not been told anything, walked over to Gorman.

He calmly asked, “What happened Tom? It didn’t count, huh?” Gorman nodded sadly and said the third base umpire had called timeout. “Well, Tom,” Musial said, “There’s nothing you can do about it.” Stan Musial stepped back in the box while fists shook and boos and threats echoed around him. He promptly tripled off the top of the center field wall to score three runs and give the Cardinals the victory anyway.  “Stan,” Tom Gorman said after the game ended, “is in a class by himself.”[i] 

Stan the Man that day embodied strength of character and had his inside world just right.  Sometimes acceptance of our reality ultimately works for the good.  Blessed are those who accept what happens to them in life, for they will see God’s hand and the ways in which God was ever so present in the fabric of life.

Lou Gehrig knew all too well of acceptance.  Lou played for the NY Yankees.  On July 4, 1939 he gave a farewell speech to his fans as he left baseball in his prime.  He had been diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis now known as Lou Gehrig Disease, a rare disease that causes spinal paralysis.  Two years later Lou passed away but not without acknowledging the goodness of his life and indeed for life itself. 

 

“Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about a bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his career to associate with them for even one day?

Sure, I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert - also the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow - to have spent the next nine years with that wonderful little fellow Miller Huggins - then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology - the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy!

Sure, I'm lucky. When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift, that's something! When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies, that's something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles against her own daughter, that's something. When you have a father and mother who work all their lives so that you can have an education and build your body, it's a blessing! When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed, that's the finest I know.

So I close in saying that I might have had a tough break - but I have an awful lot to live for!”[ii] 

Most people may have given up.  But not Lou, his mind and his heart were in the right place.  He loved baseball but he loved his family even more. Blessed are they who love deeply the people who matter most, they will never be alone for those long extra innings.

And finally, I’ll share a story about the Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Orel Hershiser from Christianity Today Magazine.

 “After the final game of the 1988 World Series against the Oakland A's, Bob Costas of NBC interviewed me (says Hershiser) in the locker room. He asked what I was doing between innings when the cameras had caught me in the dugout with my head back, "eyes closed, almost meditating."  "I was singing hymns to myself to relax and keep my adrenalin down, because every time I thought about being ahead, I got too excited to pitch."

The next night I was a guest on "The Tonight Show." Johnny Carson also asked about that. "Do you just hum, or what?"

"I sing." The audience clapped and cheered. I hadn't meant that! "I'm not gonna sing!" They roared.

"Oh, yes you are!" Carson said. I shook my head, panicking. I'd never sung alone in public in my life. "This could be a first," he pressed. "Just a couple of bars."

"Well, the one I remember singing the most was a praise hymn." (Suddenly it was deathly silent.) "As I sat on the bench I'd sing: Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below. Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen."[iii]

Hershiser went back to what centered him the most during pressure and stress - God, his creator, redeemer and sustainer.  And who says God is not a baseball fan?  God’s in the dugout of life.  Blessed are they who can sing God’s praises at all times of their lives, for there will be nothing to great that they can’t accomplish. 

So what do we learn from Musial, Gehrig and Hershiser?  What lessons do we take with us from the mound?  How has Christ prepared us for life and for death through his sermon on the mount?  Here’s what we learn. 

When things don’t go our way, or they turn out different than we expect, it’s not a cause to act out our anger but a time for reflection, adjustment and new found dreams.  When your dreams go up in smoke, build new dreams….for you are blessed.

We learn that no matter how much we achieve in life we have not achieved it on our own, we have achieved it by the grace and goodness of God first, by our hard work and by the people who surround us with love and support…..you are blessed.

And finally we learn that when we are in danger of losing our way to the stress of life, go back to the center of our being.  Because it is in this center where we find God’s calming peace.  With each breath we take we breathe in the decency, forgiveness, love and the kindness of all creation.  You are blessed.

Play Ball!

preached at Norman B. Barr Camp

Lake Geneva, Wisconsin

---

[i] STLtoday.com, unknown author, 2010

[ii] http://www.lougehrig.com/about/speech.htm

[iii] http://www.christianitytoday.com/moi/2002/006/november/19.19.html, from ‘Out of the Blue’ by Orel Hershiser

23rd Psalm

For a beautiful singing of the 23rd Psalm click on the link below to hear Bobby McFerrin.  It's one of my favorites.

http://youtu.be/mgbvHM03dMs

I'm too late to log into Robert's Weekly Psalm Challenge at City Athens Daily Photo...so sorry.  I'll try to get it out on Sunday the day it's supposed to be posted.

Interpreters Wanted

Acts 2: 1-21

Recently I sat through an orientation at St. Raphael’s Hospital put on by the Patient Care office.  They introduced us to several different phones and systems whereby a patient who is deaf, hard of hearing or a non-English speaker can access their medical information through interpretation.  On the door of their office is a bumper sticker that said, “Medical Interpreters Save Lives in Other Languages”.  It sure does.  I wish I had that service a few years back when I was in Israel and I found myself in Shaare Zedek, translated, the Gates of Righteous, Hospital.

A hospitalization of four days was not one of the experiences I had hoped to have but there I was in need of medical care and was zoomed off by Hasidic paramedics in an ambulance.  Life is of utmost importance in Judaism. I got the best of attention and the worst of food.  You see Israel is on the cutting edge of technological advances in medicine so I knew that I would get extraordinary care.  And I did.  And, the food was kosher and while I’ve had some delicious kosher food, this was not by any stroke of the imagination even recognizable. 

But the food was not the problem, I can always stand to loose a few pounds.  The problem was, everyone from housecleaning, to the technicians to the doctors were Hebrew speakers.  I am not.  I had learned to read and speak (and I use read and speak very loosely) Hebrew in preparation for my year in Israel but gave it up quickly after I told someone over there that I had thirty children instead of three.  All of Israel was laughing at me, I heard them.  Language, is not my gift.

I knew that I was in God’s hands when on the third day the cardiologist and a team of 10 other doctors and residents did rounds.  There I was in bed, hooked up to monitors, not quite sure what the next step was going to be save for a few short, broken English translated phrases about drips and medications.  The empathetic patient in the bed next to me was able to translate a bit of important information like diagnosis, which I already knew-afib, and treatment. And when I was released they gave me some meds, a bill, which was nothing compared to US medical healthcare costs, and a five page medical report, you guessed it, in Hebrew!  I needed an interpreter.

It’s frustrating not being able to understand what is happening especially when you need vital information such as a medical diagnosis and your treatment options and plan.  I think that’s what God already knew that day when the disciples were gathered once again in that very familiar and safe upper room.  For what good is a plan if others can’t understand it?

The beginning of the Book of Acts is very a critical juncture for the disciples and Jesus and for the life of the early Christian community.  By now Jesus has ascended.  Their confidante, their rabbi, their beloved was gone and they would see him no more.  Before he left he makes a promise and then he gives them a charge.  He promises that the Holy Spirit will come to the apostles; that they will receive the power.  And he charges them to witness throughout Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria and in fact, to the farthest corners of the earth.  How the Holy Spirit comes to them and how they are to be witnesses is what we find in today's scripture. 

You see they were hole up in that upper room in Jerusalem. Maybe they were sitting near or in the open windows just to catch a cool breeze after the hot blazing sun of the day. By now many of the pilgrims who had converged on Jerusalem for Passover had gone back home but many of them stayed and made Jerusalem their home.  It had been 50 long days since Jesus’ resurrection, the apostles were probably tired, maybe sad and confused too.

Then, without warning, a great wind filled the house and what appeared to be flames lighted on their heads.  The Holy Spirit had taken control and when the Holy Spirit takes control…watch out!   They began to speak.  Each one of them had their own story to tell of how they had experienced Jesus, of how he had called them from their fishing nets or their almond tree groves, of how he helped them along the way. 

Each one of them could witness in whatever languages needed to be heard that day in Jerusalem.  They were not speaking in tongues, their witness was not jibberish or slurred, they were not some sorry drunkards from the farmlands of the Galil.  They spoke intelligible languages, it was Parthian, and Phyrigian, Hellenstic Greek and Aramaic, it was Cappadocian and Elamite however the people needed to hear the apostles stories, they were given the ability to tell it.

So Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit and his charge to be witnesses came true on that Shavuot, that Pentecost day way back.  But there is one catch.  The apostles had to expose themselves, they had to leave that safe upper room haven. Had they stayed in that room how would we know those old, old stories?   If you stay inside this church how will others know about how God has impacted your life, how the grace of God has been gifted to you through Jesus Christ?  We each have our own story to tell and we each have been given the ability, the voice, the gift to tell it. 

Next week we will bless and say farewell for a week to the youth and adults who are going on mission to the Bahamas to rebuild lives.  They will carry with them the message of love and dignity that God so wants for our lives and for all people.  They will tell that story simply through hammers and nails.  If you don’t think you have a voice, think again. 

Earlier when our scripture was read, we heard the same message but in different languages all at once.  What they read was a poignant passage from 1 Corinthians where Paul is encouraging the people at Corinth to use the gifts that they have been given to tell their story and to bear witness to the Gospel message, he says,

 

God's various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. God's various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. God's various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God [himself] is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people!          1 Corinthians 12: 4-7               from  The Message by Eugene Peterson

All kinds of things to all kinds of people and everyone benefits.  That is the power of the Holy Spirit. 

What is your story to tell and how can you tell it?  How have you been picked up from the valley of depression?  How have you been cured from illness or have made it through the night at the bedside of a child or a spouse or a parent?  How has God helped you through cycles of addiction?  When did you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that you were completely and totally blessed?  When did you know that you are loved?  When has Christ shined the brightest for you?   These are our stories and interpreters are wanted to interpret the great good news of Jesus Christ. (A MUST SEE VIDEO below)

Amen.

In the Meantime

A Sermon based on Acts 1: 1-11

Salvador Dali, Ascension, 1958

Two weeks ago I was the on-call chaplain at Yale New Haven Hospital.  I was at the East Pavilion 9 nurses station writing some notes and I heard a voice say, “Hey chaplain isn’t the world supposed to end today?”  I looked at the Doctor who said this and he was smiling at me. I smiled back.  I had been thinking about that since it just happened to be May 21 the day that was predicted that, you know, ‘all heck was going to break lose’ and the world would come to a screeching halt. 

One of the residents who was standing also at the station said (seriously), “Yeah, I ate ice cream for dinner last night, just in case”.  Then I burst out laughing (very pastorally of course) and said, “You guys have got it wrong!  You need to hone your research skills.  I went to the source, website shown on the billboards.  Clearly is says today is judgment day NOT the end of the world.  This is the beginning of the apocalypse.  The end of the world comes on October 21, 2011 according to Harold Camping and the Family Radio.  You’ve got five more months that you can eat ice cream for dinner.  Any flavor, Baskin Robbins, Ben and Jerry’s, Hagen Daz they will love you.” 

As we know, May 22 came and then May 23 and so on.  No rapture. Not even one pebble of brimstone was found up here in the Northeast.  Unfortunately however, there were a lot of dashed dreams and hopes the day after from people who believed, with all their heart and faith that the world would end.  There were a lot of financial pockets drained, property sold and money given away, there were a lot of people who risked everything leaving nothing, having nothing on May 22 all because they put their heart and soul and their dreams on the line just to be ready for their Jesus.

Rapture predictions are nothing new; they’ve been around for a very long time.  The Left Behind Series by Tim LeHaye and Jerry Jenkins tickled our fancy, the Y2K scare ushering in the new millennium.  Edgar Whisenant, active in the 1980’s particularly 1988 predicted that the rapture would happen in September during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.  Even Sir Isaac Newton figured out that the rapture would come no sooner than 2060.  People read the Bible and crunch the numbers and develop a date when the end of the world will come. Some of them are really convincing, enough so that other people believe them hook, line, and sinker.

Many of these predictions are based on scriptural references but, as a friend of mine who works in the news broadcast field once said after I was complaining about a weather prediction that went horribly askew, ‘they don’t call them predictions for nothing.’  Fair enough!  Ultimately Harold Camping, and Edgar Whisenant and all the others predicted but they were wrong. 

I guess that the Book of Acts, Chapter 1 Verse 7 just slipped their minds.  “He (Jesus) replied, It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.”  Jesus, of course is answering the disciples question of ‘when’?

The disciples are gathered in Jerusalem.  It’s been forty days after the resurrection and Jesus has been with them during that time.  Jerusalem is getting back to normal after the Passover and the pilgrims that had come to the Temple have migrated back home.  Jerusalem is still occupied by the Romans but yet it was a juicy time for upheaval.  The seeds of a new religious community, one who follows this itinerant, this Jesus were planted and so, as with any new endeavors there are a lot of questions and uncertainty.

The disciples aren’t quite sure what is happening so they found themselves gathered quite often.  And even after three years of close companionship, and following their rabbi from the hills of the Galil to the Judean desert town of Bethany, they aren’t clear about what Jesus is saying to them.  Restoration?  Kingdom?  Huh, what? 

They ask, “Is this the time that you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”  That’s a politically loaded question for Jews even though they were Christ followers of the first century.  They want Israel restored to its pre-Roman occupation, pre-Assyrian and Babylonian exile.  They want the glory days.  That’s what God has promised them.  And what does Jesus say?  “It is simply not for you to know what God has in mind here.”  In essence, none of your bee’s wax!  God will do what God wants to do in God’s own time – which – as we all know – is not our time.

But, in the meantime here’s what I’m going to do for you, Jesus says.  And then he gives them a promise and a charge.  You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you and with that power I want you to be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.  In other words, I want you to make my work known to other people.    

So in the meantime, let’s face it, has become a long time.  Two thousand years plus of meantime.  That’s quite an extended interval of time.  It is the creative tension between seeing Jesus, touching Jesus, smelling Jesus like the disciples were able to do, and seeing him when the kingdom will be restored.   Restoration of the kingdom is one of the foundational tenets of our Christian faith but we’ve got a whole lot of living and a whole lot of witnessing to do in the meantime. 

That others have witnessed before us is how we got here; that we witness to others, those who come after us is fulfilling Christ’s charge to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth.  How we do it and what aspect of our faith we witness, well that he leaves up to us.  Hallelujah!  I love creativity and a challenge especially where the Spirit is concerned. 

My mother witnessed to me each and every week as I watched her prepare her lessons to teach in Sunday School.  Her love for telling stories about Jesus rubbed off because I love a good Bible story! 

Martin Luther King Jr. has witnessed to me of justice and equality through his writings and his life when he said, “The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others”.[i]  His witness touched me deeply to strive for justice so that each person can live a dignified life with food on their table and a roof over their head.

A patient at the VA recently witnessed to me of deep faith as he laid there riddled with pain both physically and emotionally.  A Viet Nam vet, he derived great comfort from the 23^rd Psalm because when he was over there, at one of his platoon’s most dire moments, someone began praying the 23^rd Psalm out loud, over and over again.  I learned from his witness that I too, can be in a metaphorical trench and still feel the strength of God and the power of God’s promise to love and keep me safe.

I could go on and on telling you about people who have witnessed to me.  I pray that I have been that witness to others.  Witness is important; it is the lifeblood of how our faith in Christ and the promises of Jesus are passed on.  Witness is loving God enough so as to tell others about how God has forgiven you, graced you, loved you, brought you through life’s messy and dark alleys and has provided extraordinary views from a mountaintop.  Witness is what we do in the meantime because we can and we must.  This is what we do in the meantime.

Predictions come, predictions go.  And before Christ ascended into heaven he promised to come again. The kingdom will be restored.  Don’t try to figure it out when, it’s just not for us to know.  But, in the meantime let’s live our faith fully, let’s tell those old, old stories, let’s engage in justice and peace, let’s witness to other people of the love of God through Jesus Christ.

Amen.

---

[i] Martin Luther King Jr. ‘On being a good neighbor’, from “Strength to Love” 1963.