Sermon-2/19/12 Mark 9:2-9

“Moving Beyond the Mountaintop”

The lectionary always ends the season of Epiphany with the Transfiguration of the Lord passage in one of the gospels.  This year we read Mark’s version.  He pulls out all the stops in his telling of this rather strange event.  He wants to make sure his readers know he is describing what some have called a numinous moment, a moment when the divine mystery breaks into our mundane existence.  He wants his readers to know that this was a God moment, a time when God’s presence became real.

 Mark gives all the key clues the Old Testament used to talk about holy moments.  It happens on a mountaintop reminding us of Moses receiving the Ten Commandments from God.  Elijah, too, heard the still, small voice on a mountain. 

There is a cloud in this story, like the cloud in the Exodus event that guided the fleeing Israelites.  Then there is Jesus’ clothes suddenly becoming a dazzling white. That reminds us of Moses’ face shining like the sun after speaking with God.  And, finally, when dead folks come back to converse with the living, as did Elijah and Moses in this account, we know we are hearing a story that rises above normal reality.

Some people today talk about numinous moments where the divide between normal reality and the deep mystery we call God blurs, and even disappears.  They call places where that happens thin places.  Perhaps you have experienced a thin place in your life.  Some say they encounter God’s presence in an unmistakable way in nature.  Others say being in a large cathedral became a thin place.  Maybe you experienced such a place in this sanctuary while praying or singing a particularly meaningful hymn. 

I know in my life places of meditation have sometimes turned into thin places, however fleeting.  This month I visited one of those places when I returned to Kirkridge Retreat Center in the Poconos of Eastern Pennsylvania.  There is a little community that borders Kirkridge called Collumcille.  It is a Celtic community.  There is a little stone chapel on their property.  It is in the round with a heavy wooden door.  When you walk inside there is a stone altar in the center of the room often with a candle burning. Benches on the walls surround the altar. Just walking into that space, alone, with the deep quiet, has been a thin place for me.

We need to understand our Transfiguration passage as a mystical story.  To try and see it in a literal way could lend itself to some fruitless questions.  How did the disciples know it was Moses and Elijah that came to Jesus?  Did they wear name tags?  Can dead people really come back to life?  At what age would they come back? Those questions can’t be answered and don’t lead to meaningful interpretations of this scripture passage.

Luke’s version of this story makes it clear the disciples were very sleepy, hinting that this was more like a dream than waking reality.  However one tries to explain the story, the better questions to ask are: what did this story mean to Mark’s first readers and what does it mean to us?

To get at those more important questions we need to see what comes right before our passage.  Jesus has been talking about where his life was headed.  He says that he will face crucifixion.  Peter does not like to hear this.  He says, “No way.  That is not what I signed up for when I chose to follow you.” 

Scholars tell us that people in Peter’s day lived with an expression that said, “When the Messiah comes, there will be no misery.”  How could Jesus be the Messiah and get tortured on a cross?  Why would anyone want to follow that kind of a Messiah? 

Then comes this incredible moment on the mountaintop.  Peter says, “Yes, this is more like it.  Let’s stay here awhile.”  He wanted to enjoy the heart of his religion, the law and the prophets, symbolized by the presence of Moses and Elijah.  Mark says that was a rather inane thing for Peter to say. We, on the other hand, can certainly understand it.  Mountaintop experiences are very pleasant.  Why not try to prolong them?

Then a voice out of the cloud tells Peter, James and John that something new is going on here.  Jesus is not an equal with Moses and Elijah.  Jesus is the beloved one, listen to him.  And then they saw only Jesus.  This is not a time to prolong a mountaintop high.  This is a time to listen to Jesus and then follow.

When they listen to Jesus they remember he talked about the life of discipleship as all about giving one’s life away in service to others.  We know this is how the early church heard Jesus.  Scholars tell us that in the early centuries if one wanted to be baptized, they were given “a kind of preliminary examination, called a scrutiny.  The test consisted of one question: Are you willing to help out those who are in need?  If you were, then you went through a time of preparation for baptism.” 

As you can see, they took membership quite seriously.  What fascinates me is the one question they asked.  It was not about belief or theological perspective.  It was all about how they lived their life.  Could we attract members today with that question?

We still experience thin places today.  Those are important times for people.  I know some folks who have described a time when God’s presence was incredibly real. They hold on to those moments in their memory for a long time.  That is understandable.

But the end goal is not to just feel good about those thin places.  The end goal is to listen to what the Spirit is telling us in those moments, however that voice comes to us, and then serve others.  The end goal is to see ourselves from a different perspective.

Most of our lives, however, are lived in the valleys of life. Life is messy in the valleys. We are forced to live with questions that never seem to get answered fully when we live in the valley.  Sometimes, and maybe often, we experience defeats.  We find that we are not as strong spiritually as we thought or hoped we were. 

It is in the valleys of life where our discipleship is put to the test.  Are we just Christians when it serves our purposes?  Do we go to church only to have our needs met?  Do we expect God’s presence to be felt anytime we snap our fingers? Mark tells us it is in the valley where our journey of faith takes place, where we work out our salvation. 

There is an old Pentecostal saying that goes like this: It’s not “how high folks jump in church that (makes them) Christians.  It’s what they do when they (hit) the ground.”  That’s where the rubber hits the road in discipleship.

This Lent as we prepare for Easter, let us listen to the words of Jesus, whether they come to us in a thin place or in the valley, and then follow.  Amen

Now we are quickly into a new year with Lent fast approaching. Ash Wednesday is on February 22. Once again we will have a simple dinner that will include communion and the singing of Taizé songs.

This year the rest of our Lenten Academy every Wednesday evening during Lent at 7:00 p.m. will be a book discussion. The only exception will be the last Wednesday before Holy Week (March 28) where we will have a full Taizé service and communion.

The book we will discuss this year is called “Saving Jesus From the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus.” It is by Robin R. Meyers, a Congregational pastor in Oklahoma City.

“Spiritual Athletes”

I Cor. 9:24-27

Reading the Apostle Paul is hard work.  He has written soaring passages that touch the heart.  “Love is patient and kind. ..”  “If God is for us, who is against us.. . (Nothing) can separate us from the love of God. . .” “We know the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains. . .” I am sure you have your favorite passages.

But Paul can also be so dense that it is hard to make heads or tails of what he is saying.  And some passages, to be quite honest, are just plain boring. You never know what you are going to get when you pick up a letter of Paul’s.

In our passage for today he is at his best, yet at the same time, he is, if one is not careful, at his most easily misunderstood.  Athletic metaphors are very helpful when it comes to the spiritual life.  They are especially helpful to those of us who are into sports.

Any who have taken a sport seriously know how trying to be good at it can be all-consuming.  I have friends who take golf very seriously. They play once or twice a week and practice even more regularly.  You would not believe all the practice tricks and gadgets out there for those who want to be better putters, or those who want to hit the ball straighter or longer.

Those into fly fishing may even be more consumed with their sport.  Tying flies, finding the right gear, practicing the art of fooling the fish into going after a fly all take time or skill.  Runners or bikers aresimilarly obsessed with being in good shape. It takes time to be a good athlete at almost any sport.  It takes discipline and commitment.  It takes a willingness to sacrifice other activities for the sake of excellence at one’s sport.

Paul wonders why we don’t put as much work into our spiritual lives.  After all, those into sports give their all for a very perishable wreath.  Success is fleeting.  Winning is sweet, but that only lasts for a while.  The “prize” we strive to “win” in the spiritual life is not perishable. The rewards of a disciplined spiritual life last a lifetime and will see
us through some tough times.

Before going further, we need to dispel some misconceptions.  As with any metaphor, the sports metaphor for the spiritual life can very easily be dangerous if taken literally.  The spiritual life is not a competition.  There is not a winner and the rest losers in our common spiritual journey. It is not helpful to compare ourselves to others as to our spiritual progress. The prize or wreath won in the spiritual life is not heaven, at least not primarily heaven.

Paul is not urging the Corinthians to work hard at their spiritual disciplines, to gut it out, as it were, going to worship, and being good Christians so they can get to heaven. I realize some think going to worship can be punishing, that it is one of those things, like going to the dentist that one needs to do to get to heaven.  But that is not what Paul means here.

Rather, Paul uses athletic metaphors to help us see the spiritual life takes some work and discipline if it is going to be satisfying and fun.  Any who play a sport know this to be true.  The better one gets at a sport, the more satisfying it is to play it. All the hard work and discipline make it possible to lose oneself in the playing of the game in an unself-conscious way. It is exhilarating.

The game of life is a whole lot more fun or satisfying if we have put in the work to develop our spiritual lives.  Life can be very tough.  We need a strong connection to God to experience life at its depth.  We need strong spiritual muscles to help us when life requires some heavy lifting.

I tell those I counsel in my pre-marital sessions that unless they treat their marriage relationship like a muscle, it won’t last.  Unless they work on their relationship daily, weekly, and monthly, that marriage muscle will atrophy.  And when they go through a rocky patch, and every marriage will go through a rocky patch, and if their relationship has not been worked on, that marriage muscle won’t be of any use.  It will fail them.  Sadly, 50% of marriages have let their marriage muscles atrophy.

The same is true for our spiritual journey and surviving our own lives.  We are all spiritual athletes whether we like to think of ourselves as that or not.  We are all in a race for some prize. In his letter to the Philippians Paul says the prize is recognizing God’s call and living into that call.  That is where life takes on meaning.  That is where life is lived to the fullest.

Frederick Buechner, in a famous quote, perhaps put it best when he talks about God’s call in his book Wishful
Thinking.  He says the best way to discern God’s call in our lives is this: “The kind of work God usually calls
you to is the kind of work (a) that you need most to do and (b) that the world most needs to have done. . .The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.”  That description captures the prize that does not perish that Paul refers to in this passage.

One commentator says that God calls us to work for the common good. That is another way of saying we join our deep gladness to the world’s deep hunger.  He says the running metaphor Paul uses here is better illustrated by a relay race. Paul probably only knew individual races. The spiritual life is more like a relay race where each of us does our part for the team, for the common good, to help the team finish the race. We discipline our spiritual lives to help the world be a better place.  But first we must hear the call of God.

The work we do in our spiritual lives is all about silencing all that might distract us from hearing that call of God.  It is about naming those things that distract us from putting in the effort to nurture our spiritual lives.  What might those distractions be for you?  Fear? Greed?  Trying to be perfect? A desperate need for security or comfort?

What do you do to improve your spiritual ears and muscles?  If you have not found a spiritual discipline that draws you in, that you are eager to practice, then you have probably not found a discipline that will help.  Those who practice their golf swing, or work out by running to get ready for the race, actually enjoy the practice, the hard
work or they wouldn’t do it.  It may feel like they are punishing their bodies as they work out or practice, but there is
enjoyment as well.

We know running releases endorphins that are quite pleasurable.  If we pick good spiritual disciplines that fit our lifestyle and personality I suspect we might experience spiritual endorphins!

Paul concludes by saying it is a whole lot more satisfying being a disciplined spiritual athlete than to wander aimlessly, not sensing God’s call, not feeling like you are making a difference, not having the experience of doing something well for the common good.

Spiritual disciplines are not like a trip to the dentist.  We don’t gut it out doing things that are boring or unfulfilling just so we can get to heaven.  Being a spiritual athlete is all about living life to the fullest.  It is about finding our deep gladness and connecting that to the world’s hunger.  It is about doing our part for the common good.  It is about having life and having it abundantly.

Isn’t it about time we stopped beating the air or running aimlessly in our spiritual journey?
Amen

Following the 11:00 a.m. worship service there will be a light lunch after which Bill will update us on our church’s ministries in two areas—advocacyof human rights in Israel/Palestine and ministries of advocacy to curb the trafficking of children for purposes of sexual exploitation. There will be ample time for questions and members of the church are invited to attend.

Mary Ann Eschbach and Gary Skinner are coordi-nating this event. For more information feel free to contact either of them.

Mark 1:21-28

The Gospel of Mark starts out with a bang.  The author of this gospel does not seem very interested in the virgin birth of Jesus.  In fact, there is no birth narrative at all.  Jesus is already an adult when we start reading Mark.  He is baptized by John in the Jordan and then is driven into the wilderness where he is tempted.  Matthew and Luke make a big deal of the temptations in the wilderness.  Not so Mark.  Just the fact that Jesus was tempted seems enough for him. 

The next thing we know Jesus is rounding up disciples by the Sea of Galilee.  He gets four to follow him by leaving their work and family.  All of this happens in the first 20 verses of Mark.  It is truly a whirlwind gospel.

Next Jesus heads into Capernaum with his new buddies.  Some scholars think Capernaum was Jesus’ hometown as an adult.  It is the Sabbath and he goes to the synagogue as any good Jew would do.  While there he teaches, exorcises an unclean demon, and leaves with his fame spreading all around the region.

We could get distracted by the exorcism here.  Presbyterian ministers don’t do exorcisms, at least not any I know.  What does Mark mean by an “unclean spirit”?  We do know folks in that day did not understand mental illness very well.  Some who were bi-polar, schizophrenic, or had some other mental illness frightened people.  It must be some demon in them causing them to act so differently.  Even epilepsy, causing convulsions, was not understood.

Sadly, we have not come all that far in our day understanding mental illness.  While doctors and psychiatrists understand mental illness, many of us are still frightened by it.  We may not think the person is possessed, but we don’t know what to do or how to act around someone with psychological issues.  Fortunately we are having a two session class on mental health issues this week and next here at Newport.  I would encourage you all to come and hear what our guest speakers have to say.

We do know Mark wants us to see that this man with an unclean spirit was causing a disruption in worship.  That is part of what Mark means when he calls the spirit unclean.  Something unclean disrupts relationships.  It could be human relationships, but it could also be our relationship with God.  The fact that this man was in the synagogue lets us know his unclean spirit was disrupting worship.  Mark seems to be saying not even our worship places are safe from unclean spirits causing disruptions!

Mark is getting at something even more profound than just disruptive people.  Mark is saying Jesus took on the powers of evil in his day. While most of us don’t personify evil in a literal devil, we do know how evil can take on a life of its own.  It can cause enormous damage and pain.  Evil can disrupt healthy relationships. It can destroy trust breaking down community.  But, let us not confuse evil with mental illness. Enough said.  Let’s move on.

The real issue of this passage is authority.  “They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. . .they were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, ‘What is this? A new teaching-with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’”

They recognized a new kind of authority in Jesus.  What does Mark mean by authority?  Today we are accustomed to giving many things and people authority in our lives.  Some give the media or the internet the authority to interpret what is going on in the world.  Some think those with the most education, or the most money speak with more authority than those less educated or less affluent.  Others think the position one holds in life, one’s job or elected office, gives one authority.  Still others are impressed by those who can speak fluently and are quick on their feet. 

That is not what the Mark is saying about authority.  First off, Jesus was not wealthy.  He did not have a lot of education.  He had no position of power.  And, perhaps the biggest clue Mark is talking about authority in a unique way is how little he says about what Jesus actually taught. Mark seems absolutely uninterested in the content of Jesus’ teaching.  Jesus did not have authority because of what he said or all he knew.

Jesus’ authority was different from that of the scribes.  We are told the scribes liked to quote scripture to give them authority.  They quoted other scholars who interpreted the Torah.  Their authority was second hand, in other words.  It rested on the knowledge of their sacred text and how well they could quote it and other respected scholars. 

We see this today when certain branches of Christianity overwhelm any discussion on various social or theological issues by quoting scripture verses at their opponents.  They think knowing the Bible better than others gives them authority.  If they can proof text their position then their position is the only acceptable Christian position.

Jesus’ authority came out of his intimate relationship with God.  It is not that he ignored the scriptures of his Jewish religion.  I suspect Jesus could quote scripture as well as the scribes.  But when he taught, his authority came from who he was, from his deep and abiding relationship with God. 

His authority also came because of how he treated people.  In this case his actions spoke louder than his words.  That is certainly Mark’s perspective.  Mark seems to say his actions taking on the unclean spirit could be described as teaching with authority.

Some of you may remember Frances Taylor Gench.  She is a seminary professor and a friend of Joan Merritt.  They both served on the Peace, Unity and Purity task force of our denomination several years ago.  I was at a conference this fall where Frances spoke.  Part of her topic was on Biblical authority.

She talked about how some have a propositional understanding of Biblical authority.  The Bible’s authority is in what it says.  Truth is all about propositions, facts, dogma derived from Biblical verses as if the Bible was divinely dictated to the authors. This understanding leads to a more literal approach to Bible interpretation.

But the Bible was not divinely dictated.  It was written by those inspired by God’s Spirit.  It was written by very human authors with all the strengths and weaknesses human beings have.  Gench very cleverly says the Bible is as human as Jesus. She goes on to say the Holy Spirit mediates God’s communication to us in the human words of the Bible.  She calls this a relational understanding of truth. 

That is very much how Jesus has authority in this passage in Mark.  His authority is a relational authority.  His words and being caused his hearers to be driven into a relationship with God, the God revealed in his person.  That is his authority.  It is not a second hand kind of authority.  His ability to quote the scriptures or famous scholars was far less important than the relationship his presence and actions led people into with each other and God.

What does all of this mean for us today?  I’ll start by saying as important as is theology, and I believe theology matters deeply, it is relationships that reveal God’s grace, love and care. It is relationships that drive us to God.  Such relationships are far more important than any elegant theology.  One might even say it is relationships that flesh out God’s deep love for us that saves us.

When one is hurting, quoting Bible verses, or telling someone to hold on to their beliefs, just doesn’t cut it.  There is evil out in the world, and some have been hurt by that evil.  But far more common than evil is just normal human heartache and pain.  All of us have been touched by that heartache to one degree or another. 

What has the authority to heal us and set us free?  It is a relationship with God as God is incarnated in Jesus, and in the community of faith, what we call the body of Christ, that carries the most authority.  It is relational authority, and not propositional authority that touches us on the deepest levels.

When some in the larger church accuse those of us who are more progressive of not believing in the authority of the Bible, we don’t have to accept that.  We can say we do believe in the authority of the Bible, but it is not a propositional authority.  It is a relational authority.  It is the authority of the Holy Spirit to speak to us in the very human words of the Bible and draw us into a deeper relationship with God.  It is the type of authority that, as Frances Taylor Gench says does not let one voice in scripture silence all the other voices in scripture.

“They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority. . .” May we open ourselves ever deeper to the person of Jesus revealed in the scriptures and in our community so that we may be drawn to God.  May we follow Jesus’ example and give priority to a relational understanding of truth and authority.  Amen

Marilyn Kolesar, Tuesday, January 24 at 2:00 p.m.

Judy Alder, Sunday, January 29 at 2:00 p.m.

Please call the office (425-746-6111) if you have any questions.