Finding Peace
Part 2

Text: John 14: 27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

Last week we visited a couple of concepts that may have challenged your thinking a little bit; one concept was the idea based on our scripture that Jesus does not give as the world gives. A second idea was also introduced based on the question; “do you want to win or do you want peace?” I went on to explain that I think the primary difference between how Jesus gives and how the world gives is not so much about the giving, but rather about the gift. In other words, the world gives just a perception of peace, which is often based in winning, and Jesus offers true personal peace; perhaps something the world even lacks the ability to give.

Today, I want to introduce a third idea into this equation for you to think about.

During the mid-1960’s I was growing up in Iowa. My family was not poor by any means but we weren’t exactly rich either. I was certainly aware of the many ways my parents kept close tabs on expenses and they found creative ways to keep all of us five kids healthy, well fed, clothed and educated. We had to always be a little careful with how we spent money.

It was in 1965 that the transition from black and white TV to color TV really began to take hold in the United States. In 1965 NBC announced that a full one-half of their programming was going to be broadcast in “living color” as they described it. I’m sure many of you remember the NBC Peacock and the transition of that peacock from black and white into color as it was announced that the following program is brought to you in living color. Records indicate that it wasn’t until 1972 that color TV sets finally surpassed black and white TV’s in sales, but in the big picture, it didn’t take very long for this transition to become fully complete.

I mention this bit of history because I remember vividly that we were not one of the first families in LeMars to get a color TV; I’m sure we probably were not the last, but certainly we were not the first. I also remember sometime in the later 1960’s we had a bit of a ritual on Sunday nights. We would usually walk the 3 or 4 blocks to a friend’s house on Sunday nights so that we all could watch Bonanza; one of the programs brought to us in living color.

I have two reasons for bringing this little bit of history forward for us to consider. The first reason is that for many years no one thought anything about black and white TV as being inferior in any way until it was brought to our attention how much better color would be. Everyone just accepted black and white and everyone figured that was just the way it is. That is until color became available; then we could clearly see what a difference there was. To a lesser degree this has continued in the TV evolution as we have transitioned from relatively poor broadcast cameras to much better cameras; we have transitioned from VHS and BetaMax video tape to DVD’s and have also transitioned from the old cathode ray tube to LCD and LED screens, not to mention the move from regular definition to high definition TV. We simply are not fully aware sometimes of what status quo actually is compared to what it could be.

My second reason for bringing all this up is to help you remember some of the TV programs that represented status quo in the mid 1960’s to the early 1970’s. This is the TV I grew up with; on Saturday mornings it was Popeye and Olive Oyl, RoadRunner and Tom & Jerry and during the week it was usually a western; Bonanza, The Rifleman, Gunsmoke, The Big Valley and of course The Lone Ranger.

I mentioned earlier that I wanted to introduce a third idea into our peace mixture. This third idea is in many ways related to our TV experience and history I have been describing. It is related in the sense of our acceptance of status quo without question and it is also related because so much of the programming that we watched was a clear example of this concept.

For many years Walter Wink, a contemporary theologian who currently teaches Biblical Interpretation at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City, has been writing about an ancient cultural influence that he identifies as the “myth of redemptive violence.” I can’t possibly tell you everything there is to know about this cultural phenomenon; Wink has written a trilogy of books about the topic sometimes referred to as his “Powers” trilogy. He has also written many articles and speeches about the myth of redemptive violence over the years.

In one article which I read, Wink is can be quoted as saying: “This myth of Redemptive violence is the real myth of the modern world. It, and not Judaism or Christianity or Islam, is the dominant religion in our society today.” So in other words, more people follow the religion of the myth of redemptive violence than follow the other dominant faith traditions of our modern world.

Wink goes on to define what he considers to be the myth of redemptive violence and why it is so widespread. “The belief that violence “saves” is so successful because it doesn’t seem to be mythic in the least. Violence simply appears to be the nature of things. It’s what works. It seems inevitable, the last, and, often, the first resort in conflicts. If a god is what you turn to when all else fails, violence certainly functions as a god.”

He goes on to point out that this myth is constantly played out in our media; whether it is Saturday morning cartoons or the TV westerns I grew up with, the conflict is usually ended by violence, status quo is returned or maintained through violence and the good guy normally prevails over the evil one by means of force. The myth of redemptive violence; from Popeye to Ben Cartwright and his sons on the Ponderosa, violence is a way to win.

I bring this up in this way, because like black and white TV, until someone points it out, we really don’t think anything about it. I also bring this idea forward because the myth of redemptive violence is another way to win and is related directly to our question from last week; do you want to win or do you want peace? I also think it is safe to suggest that the myth of redemptive violence is another way that the world gives the perception of peace, (not true peace) and we need to be reminded that Jesus does not give as the world gives. So if you want to experience true peace in both your worldly experience and in your spiritual life, it is necessary for you to be able to recognize the myth of redemptive violence when it rears its ugly head. Once you begin to watch for it, I’m sorry to say that you will see it everywhere.

What I find particularly disturbing is that the myth of redemptive violence goes way beyond the Roadrunner causing Wiley Coyote to fall off a cliff or Marshall Dillon gunning down the bad guy in the streets of Dodge City. The myth of redemptive violence is alive and well in Christianity. But until someone points it out or helps you connect the dots, maybe you have not thought about it in this way.

Is it possible that the world gave us Christianity and the perception of peace, but it is not anything close to what Jesus actually had in mind? How much of the language that you hear with regard to Jesus and a traditional understanding of the role of Jesus sounds like winning or sounds like redemptive violence to you? Have you heard that Jesus conquers death and sin? That sounds like winning. Have you heard that Jesus paid the price and has purchased us with a blood sacrifice? Have you ever wondered why we needed someone to die to receive redemption? Sounds like redemptive violence to me.

Let me remind you that Jesus gives the peace that the world does not give. Could it be this is part of the reason why millions of people claim to be Christians, but still lack peace?

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

Food for thought.

Amen.

“Finding Peace”

Text: John 14: 27

 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

 

While Heidi and I were on vacation last month one of the places we stopped was Oslo, Norway. One of the many things that Oslo is noted for is it happens to be the location of the Nobel Peace Prize Museum, which we toured. It was quite an experience and very moving. Even the building itself was an inspiration, with the words “broadmindedness”, “Hope” and “commitment” etched in stone across the front façade of the building. Once inside, the rest of the museum didn’t disappoint as well. Like I said, it was quite an experience.

When you visit a special place one thing you can almost always count on is that they will have a gift shop and of course, the museum wasn’t any exception to that rule. But the gift shop in the Nobel Peace Prize museum was quite unique – at least I thought it was unique, because it was filled with inspirational items and things that were inclined to make you think. So many gift shops have tables and tables piled high with plastic junk that once home gets stuffed in a drawer somewhere never to see the light of day again. But this place had a different feel. The gift shop was actually part of the experience.

As we were looking around in the gift shop, I had an idea. There were a lot of interesting things for sale, but what to do with them was still a bit of a problem. I had an idea that you could gather a few of the items and create a shadow box display that perhaps included some of your own photos or memories. So that was my plan. It took a little time, but I have finally gotten around to creating my shadow box and here it is. You can look at it in more detail if you’re interested after the service, but I want you to notice the buttons that are lined up along the bottom of the display. The gift shop had a lot of buttons and most of them were famous quotes from past prize winners or other prominent people. I had a bit of trouble trying to decide what buttons I wanted. As you can see, I came home with several.

While each of these sayings is equally important and relevant, I want to focus today on just one of these buttons, because I think the concept is so fascinating and may possibly relate directly to the scripture text I read a few minutes ago. The button down here in the lower right corner says something I think is very interesting…

Has anyone ever heard the name Martti Ahtisaari before? Here is a photo of the man who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008. He was the president of Finland for six years, from 1994 to 2000. I was not familiar with him or his work for peace before I visited the museum. He is the person quoted on my button that I find so interesting in the lower right hand corner of my shadow box. This button simply asks the question; “Do you want to win or do you want peace?”

Now let that settle in for a minute; do you want to win or do you want peace, I think this is such an interesting question. It has lots of layers. I want to begin to unpack a few of those layers today and perhaps get you to think about peace in a new way. This may take more than one sermon.

Of course as it relates to the Nobel Peace prize and the work of our obscure Finnish president, I think the definition of peace in this context is the absence of conflict. The idea that countries can dialogue and discuss their differences and avoid war is what we think of when we think of peace in this context. And that is accurate in my opinion; I think that is the message of the Nobel Peace Prize to strive to live in a conflict free world.

I also think that when our Finnish president said those words; “do you want to win or do you want peace?” he meant them in that context. That is the context of a world stage and striving for the absence of conflict and perhaps being willing to compromise and give a little for the sake of peace.

But I think there is another layer under that first more obvious one and I think it relates to personal peace. I also happen to believe that personal peace is what Jesus was talking about when he said that he gives us peace, but he gives not as the world gives.

This is not an easy exercise and you’re going to have to think about this for a while, but I want you to contemplate the overlapping messages of Jesus telling us that he gives us peace, but not as the world gives and the idea presented in my button that asks the question; “do you want to win or do you want peace?”. If you can wrap your mind around it, I think the two messages are actually very similar. So let’s take a closer look.

For a long time as I was thinking about the relationship between these two statements, I thought I would find a link between the two hidden in the idea that the world gives in a different way than Jesus would give. What I discovered while trying to unpack this idea is that it isn’t the giving that is so different; it is the perception of peace that is different. Let me say that again-what I think Jesus meant is that he gives an honest and true personal peace, while the world gives only a perception of peace.

I’m going to detour here for a few minutes to tell a personal story. When I was in junior high and high school I was a fairly decent athlete. One of the things which I was blessed with was speed, I was fast. When I was a freshman in high school I was already playing varsity football, partially because of my speed. One of the ways the coaches chose to use that speed was on the kick-off team. When you are kicking the ball to the other team, it is important for the members of the kicking team to get down the field as quickly as possible to tackle the ball carrier from the other team. When you’re fast, you get down the field quickly.

It was the last game of the season; it was a road game and we were playing in a small town in Iowa called Storm Lake. We were winning easily; there had been lots of touchdowns by our team and consequently, lots of kick-offs. Toward the end of the game, we scored again, making the score 55-0, if I remember correctly and so we had to kick-off again.

As I ran down the field pretty much at top speed, I had an uninterrupted path to the ball carrier. I was coming from the opposite direction of where we was headed; he had some blockers in front of him, but I was coming sort of from the other side. As I was taught, I lowered my head and planted my shoulder directly into his mid-section and tackled the poor guy. As I got up I heard him moaning and he didn’t get up. Pretty soon he was the only player still lying on the ground and some of his other teammates began to motion to the bench to send out a trainer. After a few minutes there was quite a crowd around him, trainers and coaches and maybe even a physician of some type.

I hung around out on the field because I felt responsible. Actually I felt awful. I overheard a part of the conversation and the suspicion was broken or cracked ribs. They brought out a gurney and carefully moved him onto it-I heard comments about being careful when moving him because a severely broken rib could puncture a lung. I never learned his name; I really never even saw his face.

When I finally returned to the sidelines with the rest of my team, my coach came over and swatted me on the backside with his clipboard and said something like “nice hit, Cram.”

I continued to be a decent athlete in high school; I ran track, held a school record for a time, and was an OK wrestler, but I never played football again.

I didn’t realize it at the time, but the question on my button flashed through my mind that day; do you want to win or do you want peace? The idea that I had really hurt someone brought a profound sense of non-peace to my life. And the source of that non-peace was actually a desire to win.

You know the famous coach of the early Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi, is often quoted as saying that “winning isn’t the most important thing; it is the only thing.”

In the weeks to come, we will be exploring the concept that the world gives the perception of peace through winning, but Jesus gives true peace, and not as the world gives.

Food for thought.

Amen.

 

 

“Gotta Have the Wristband”

Text: Malachi 2:10

Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?

This is an obscure text to be sure; as a matter of fact, many Bible scholars have trouble agreeing on what exactly Malachi is trying to say, although most agree that the main topic is marriage and fidelity in marriage. But beyond that the theories are all over the board. Malachi contains very few historical references and this makes the writing hard to date, although portions of Malachi have surfaced in the Qumran writings which are dated around 150 BCE. In spite of all that we do not know about Malachi, there are a few things we can point out. One obvious fact is that Malachi is the very last book in the Old Testament; we can assume someone at sometime thought that the Malachi message made a fitting finale for the Hebrew Bible and placed it in that position-although we don’t know why. Bible scholars group the book of Malachi with much of the other literature of that general period, commonly called the apocalyptic prophets, but the consensus is that it probably was not the last book written, is spite of its placement in our current Bible.

I wanted to give you some of this background information regarding Malachi because I’m going to be using the text in a very different application but with the same basic idea at its root. Just in case someone were to think I’m taking a verse out of context or manipulating scripture to fit my agenda, let me save you the trouble of the accusation. That is exactly what I’m doing.

Even though I’m fairly certain that this text was not written to validate the point for which I will be using it, but the text does represent a certain train of thought which I think is consistent with my point, so I feel secure in referencing it. Let me see if I can do a better job of explaining what I just said.

Most of the scholarship pertaining to Malachi focuses on marriage, the fidelity of marriage and how infidelity or divorce impacts everyone in the community, not just those involved in the breakdown of any particular marriage. The message here is that we are all in this together, and what impacts the one or the two, impacts everyone. Malachi begins this argument by stating the obvious; that we all have a single creator and all belong to the same God. Because we are all children of the same God, when we treat each other poorly, or as Malachi says are faithless to one another, we are in turn being faithless to God. To translate, if you hate, ridicule, oppress, or scorn another person, you do those same things to God. To hate or fear another is to hate or fear God.

I think this is a message that had been forgotten to some degree within ancient Judaism by the time Jesus appeared on the scene. I’m thinking Jesus may have read this text in Malachi and that could be one reason that Jesus kept reminding the religious leaders of the day that we are to love our neighbors. Jesus told us to pray for those who persecute us, to welcome the stranger, free the oppressed and to care for the sick and the hungry. Jesus even told us to love our enemies; he told us these things because as Malachi says; have we not one creator? Do we not all come from the same God? Do we not all have the same father?

It seems to me that ancient Judaism had forgotten some of this instruction from Malachi by the time Jesus burst on the scene and Jesus tried to correct the thinking. We all know how that worked out for him in the end.

But here’s the thing; we have forgotten again. We are dividing this world into groups of the other. There are people who don’t physically look like us that are scary, there are people who don’t love like us and that is scary, there are people who don’t worship like us and that is scary, and the list goes on and on and on. How easily we forget that everyone is a child of God and the same God that created us, created them.

Does anyone remember the wrist bands that were popular a few years ago with the letters WWJD on them? The letters were supposed to represent the question “what would Jesus do?” I always thought the question was a valid one, but I saw a problem with the wristbands. It seemed to me that many of those who wore the wristbands did so like it was their admission into a special club or something, rather than taking the question seriously. I remember during the hype and the run up to the invasion of Iraq these wristbands were popular and the notion of the Iraq war was just as popular among those wearing the bracelets. The level of hypocrisy on display was mind boggling. I also remember seeing a bumper sticker at that same time that tried to point out some level of that hypocrisy as it asked the simple question; “who would Jesus bomb?” In spite of the problems associated with the bracelets and other trinkets that carried the letters WWJD, it did seem to guarantee your admission into a particular segment of society.

This makes sense, because the wristband has been used quite often as a ticket for admission to a theme park, to concerts, to zoos or a host of other public attractions. I think part of the wristband popularity is that it allows you to come and go from the area without having to keep track of a loose ticket. So wristbands serve a purpose and are useful from a certain perspective, but what kinds of wristbands do we look for on people that are different from us before we allow them full participation in our group, in our club, in our society, or in our church?

Paul Simon recently released a new album called “Stranger to Stranger” and one of the songs on the CD is simply called Wristband. It has a whimsical and amusing side, but it also ends with a punch. I have provided the lyrics on the screen as this makes it much easier to absorb the full message of this song-so let’s have a listen to Paul Simon and Wristband.

 

“Wristband”

I stepped outside the backstage door to breathe some nicotine
And maybe check my mailbox, see if I can read the screen
Then I heard a click, the stage door lock
I knew just what that meant
I’m gonna have to walk around the block if I wanna get it in

Wristband, my man, you’ve got to have a wristband
If you don’t have a wristband, my man, you don’t get through the door
Wristband, my man, you’ve got to have a wristband
And if you don’t have a wristband, my man, you don’t get through the door

I can explain it, I don’t know why my heart beats like a fist
When I meet some dude with an attitude saying “hey, you can’t do that, or this”
And the man was large, a well-dressed six-foot-eight
And he’s acting like Saint Peter standing guard at the pearly…

Wristband, my man, you’ve got to have a wristband
If you don’t have a wristband, you don’t get through the door
And I said “Wristband? I don’t need a wristband
My axe is on the bandstand, my band is on the floor”

I mean it’s just…
[Scat]
(Wristband)
(Wristband)
(Wristband)
(Wristband)
(Wristband)
(Wristband)
(Wristband)

The riots started slowly with the homeless and the lowly
Then they spread into the heartland towns that never get a wristband
Kids that can’t afford the cool brand whose anger is a short-hand
For you’ll never get a wristband and if you don’t have a wristband then you can’t get through the door
No you can’t get through the door
No you can’t get through the door
Say you can’t get through the door, no

How many wristbands do we have to see the other wearing before full acceptance is possible? Is there a wristband that says I’m not homeless? Is there a wristband that declares my religion? How about race or status or gender orientation or income or education level? Is it true that if you don’t have a wristband you don’t get through the door? I’m sorry to say that in many cases it is.

In response to this situation I have decided to launch a new initiative. I call it the “Inclusive Experience” and through this initiative we will be exploring the lives and the experiences of many people we consider to be other or different from us. We will be exposed to new thoughts and new ideas, we will watch movies and read books, and we will look at scripture and have other experiences as well. Our goal will be to remove the fear of the other; if we happen to change a few minds along the way, that will be great, but the goal is to remove the fear. Some of this will happen on Sunday mornings, but many of the other experiences will take place on Wednesday nights and maybe even in other churches. We are currently making plans with the Clarkston UMC and perhaps Orchards UMC about the participation of those congregations and clergy in our experience.

We will be taking on some contemporary and perhaps provocative topics. We will be looking at Black Lives Matter, questions about Muslims and the faith tradition of Islam; we will be exploring the LGBT issues and questions about homosexuality. We may look at systemic oppression of the poor or the shunning of science by certain sects of Christianity. There is a lot to talk about and a lot of material to discuss. Details are still being formulated, but I can tell you this much:

Many of the events will be Wednesday evenings, hopefully with transportation provided. One of the books we will be referencing is this one – “Fear of the Other” by William Willimon, and there will be a published schedule of events coming out within the next few weeks.

Once again, it will be called “The Inclusive Experience” and it will most definitely be food for thought.

Amen.

 

 

 

“A New Tradition”

Text: Mark 7: 1-8, 13

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, ² they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. ³ (For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; ⁴ and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) ⁵ So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” ⁶ He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,

‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
⁷ in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’

⁸ You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”

Thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.”

 

A few years ago Heidi and I had the opportunity to tour parts of Italy and one of the cities we visited while we were over there was Florence. This city in Northern Italy is historic on so many levels that is can be hard to know what to go see or what to take in while you are visiting. One of the places we did include was what is commonly referred to as the Duomo, or sometimes it is called the Florence Cathedral, or it is also referred to by its true Italian name, but I can’t pronounce that, so we will stick with Duomo for purposes of this discussion.

This cathedral was constructed mostly between the 14^th & 15^th centuries; it took over 100 years before it was completed. The beautiful marble façade that is now on the cathedral was added much later, sometime around 1875 if I remember correctly. On the inside, the huge dome was one the last projects to be constructed and then it was almost another 100 years before Giorgio Vasari was commissioned to paint a fresco on the inside of the dome. Vasari designed the basic concept of the fresco and painted a large portion of it, but died before it was completed by another artist in 1579. The subject for this fresco was the last judgment and in my opinion, it is one of the best examples of what people believed to be true about our world for centuries.

Historians and theologians and Bible scholars all agree that a tiered universe was the commonly held belief system of most of the world since the beginning of humankind. It was commonly held to be true that heaven was somewhere above us, probably a few miles, and hell was beneath us. Of course with the eruption of volcanoes and the presence of other geothermal phenomenon the idea of hell being filled with heat and fire and anguish also made perfect sense.

In the Duomo, we have this tiered universe laid out for us in very precise ways. At the top of the dome are what historians believe to be the elders of the apocalypse, followed by the disciples and choirs of angels, followed by a few saints and some priests, with perhaps a few normal people near the bottom of the preferred tier. Then things begin to deteriorate in terms of pleasantness, because as the eye wanders lower on the dome, we begin to see pain and suffering, flames and awful looking demons, three-headed monsters and perhaps Satan himself devouring flesh and sinners in gruesome detail.

It’s kind of hard for me to believe that I have some pictures of the inside of a church that I can’t really show in church. They are too horrible; but from what I have shown you, I think you get the idea. Trust me when I say there are others that go downhill from here.

Another thing which I find remarkable is the level of fear that is on display in this fresco. This is literally what the artists and the church goers for centuries thought was the reality of the situation. The image of God, what the believed to be true, and there concept of the universe was very different from what we know to be true today. I think most of us have moved away from an understanding of God, an understanding of heaven and hell and an understanding of our universe as it is displayed on the fresco on the ceiling of the dome in the Duomo in Florence, Italy. We have moved away from that personally, perhaps; but has the church moved and what do we currently tell people? Do we actively offer church goers a new version or a new idea of salvation? Do we even talk about it as a church?

In my experience, not so much.

Let me offer a few examples of what I’m talking about and why I think it should be a concern to us. We continue to sing hymns and read scripture and talk about heaven and hell like they are real places and we speak of salvation as the one thing which stands between us and spending eternity in hell. Even though we have every reason to reject this archaic thinking and general nonsense, we have not replaced it with anything else. If the church wants to begin to understand why people no longer want to attend or believe, perhaps the church might want to look at our doctrine of heaven and hell and salvation. It simply no longer makes sense on a practical level. We need a new tradition.

I know, I know, you’re not supposed to be practical in matters of faith. But I actually don’t believe that to be true either; I think we are called to think and wonder and ask questions. If that process leads us to a point where it challenges our concepts of God, then I think we need to challenge our belief system, rather than pretending the science and thought we have available must be incorrect. That would be a good start on a new tradition, but it’s not happening, at least not in most churches.

There are a couple of places in the New Testament where the ascension of Jesus into heaven is described. In the Gospel of Mark, the text simply says he ascended into heaven; in the Gospel of Luke, there are a few more details, but the gist of the story is the same. There is also a reference to this ascension in the first chapter of Acts, and in this story, Jesus is riding on a cloud. In all the stories, the assumption is that people watched him do this. I make that point, because if Jesus were traveling at the speed of light while ascending into heaven, no one would be able to see or witness that. But for the sake of argument, let’s just say that Jesus accelerated to the speed of light as soon as he was out of sight.

In very round numbers, if Jesus has been traveling for the last 2,000 years at the speed of light, he has traveled less than one-millionth of one percent of the distance required to reach the end of the universe we have explored so far. If anyone wants to check my math, the farthest galaxy that has been discovered by the Hubble telescope is a whopping 13.5 billion light years from earth. Not only that, in all that space, the Hubble has yet to discover anything that resembles heaven. It seems rather obvious that heaven is not where we thought it was for centuries and I think it is also very possible that heaven is not what we thought it was for centuries. But does the church talk about this? Do we offer some alternative opinions? Are we open for discussion?

The silence is deafening. We need a new tradition.

We can of course build the same line of rationale concerning the existence of hell, at least in the location where it was believed to have been for centuries. Science now has a firm grasp on the earth’s core and a solid understanding of geology, thermal and geothermal activity and volcanoes as well and at least so far, nothing resembling hell has surfaced on the science of the earth radar.

Once again, the silence is deafening. We need a new tradition.

This level of hypocrisy or at the very least a complete disregard for science is part of the reason the church has trouble attracting new faces. We all act like we believe this stuff, we talk about it, sing about it and read scripture about it, without ever really clarifying that for the most part, it is metaphor. We need to find new ways to talk about heaven as a state of being and new ways to talk about God as energy and new ways to talk about hell as the absence of love. Until we find a new language around some of these traditions, we will continue to struggle, at least in my opinion.

Consider again what Jesus was up against in his attempt to reform ancient Judaism. In the scripture I read at the beginning, Jesus was challenged by the leaders about why his disciples were not following the rules. His answer speaks volumes to us today; Jesus said that you cling to the tradition of the elders and in so doing, you make void the word of God.

It’s just a hunch, but I’m thinking it is difficult to attract a lot of new people into the church or to get them excited about Christianity if we continually hold to our traditional ideas while making the Word of God void. That’s what we do. We make the message void of any rational thought, we make the message void of science or our understanding of the universe, we make our message void of contemporary cultural shifts. We hold to tradition and we make the Word of God void; I’m not saying this, Jesus said it, and I happen to agree with him.

I don’t know if you noticed or not but the “Ark Experience” opened in Kentucky a few weeks ago. This so called Christian Theme park presents the story of Noah and the Ark, not as a story, but as fact. You really don’t want to get me started.

Where is the rational voice of reason? We need to be reminding the unaffiliated that even though that story is in the Bible, and even though the Ark Encounter is called a Christian theme park they don’t speak for all of us.

Once again, the silence is deafening. We need a new tradition.

It’s time for us to find new ways to be heard. It’s time for us to find new ways to offer alternatives to the traditional messages. It’s time for us to stop making void the Word of God.

Food for thought.

Amen.

 

“Learning to Ask Questions”

Text: Mark 8: 1-9

Feeding the Four Thousand

8 In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, ² “I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. ³ If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way—and some of them have come from a great distance.” ⁴ His disciples replied, “How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?” ⁵ He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” ⁶ Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. ⁷ They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. ⁸ They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. ⁹ Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away.

One of the things that was mentioned a few minutes ago when Cottie and I were giving our update on the Annual Conference was the award this congregation has received for what the Bishop calls, “Risk Taking Ministry”. When our District Superintendent was introducing the award, one of the things he mentioned about our risk taking ministry were the ads that we have been running in the Lewiston Tribune. He called them openly progressive, if I remember correctly, and I would have to agree with that assessment. Many of you have commented on the ads and I think most have seen some of them at one time or another.

This is the ad that is currently running in the Tribune; it says rather simply that we have the faith to ask questions. I thought it might be interesting to unpack that a little bit this morning; what exactly do I mean when I say that we have the faith to ask questions?

My first response to what I mean is that I don’t always just settle for the first impression of a text, nor do I just settle for a literal interpretation and take the story at face value and not pursue it any further. By asking questions and wondering a little bit about the text, and using some imagination, you can often get a great deal more from a text than just the surface story. I think the story of the feeding of the 4,000 is a great example of the kind of text I’m talking about.

You see, if we just read the story without asking any questions, we simply are informed about another event where Jesus performed a miracle. It doesn’t matter if you believe in the miracle or not, unless you ask a few questions, nothing really happens with this text. As a matter of fact, it is less than nothing, because in the case of Mark, this is the second time Jesus fed a crowd and the two stories read about the same. So if you simply read and accept, you are missing a great deal.

For example, why do you suppose that in two of the four Gospels, we have two stories where a great crowd is fed, and in the other two Gospels we only have just one? That’s an interesting question, isn’t it? In Mark and Matthew we have both stories; the feeding of the 5,000 and the story of the feeding of the 4,000 which I just read a minute ago.

Just to make it even more interesting, we know that the author of Matthew and the author of Luke both had copies of the Gospel of Mark while they were writing their own Gospels. This means that Matthew made a deliberate decision to include both stories, and Luke made a deliberate decision to only include the one story, the story of the 5,000. Why do you suppose that is?

Here’s another interesting question; do you think there were really two separate events? When we look at the two stories, the number of similarities is remarkable and the language that is used is nearly verbatim in some cases. In both stories the crowd is fed from bread and fish, in both stories Jesus has the crowd sit down, in both stories Jesus gives the bread to the disciples first, and then has the disciples distribute the bread. Both stories involve a boat. In both stories many baskets of leftovers are collected and in both stories it is mentioned that Jesus had compassion for the crowd. That is a lot of overlap for it to be two different stories; it’s not impossible I suppose, although it may be unlikely.

Maybe that’s what Luke thought; these are too much the same, I’m going to leave one out. On the other hand, maybe Matthew thought that there was so much good information in the story that it needed to be repeated, so he followed Mark’s lead and put it in twice.

Maybe it was two different stories, but if it was, don’t you think at least one of the disciples would have said something about doing it the way we did it last time? In both stories the disciples seem a little clueless; in other words they are reported as commenting about how impossible it will be to feed this many people. If they saw it work once, don’t you think they would remember? I know the disciples are described at times as being a little thick or slow, but really, after feeding the 5,000 don’t you think they would remember something? But if you read the story of the 4,000 it’s like the disciples are being presented this problem for the very first time, they have no idea what to do.

So do you think it is one story told twice or two stories reported by only Matthew and Mark? Or do you think that it is one story, but the lessons to learn are important enough that Matthew and Mark wanted to repeat it so it would be certain to get noticed?

See how much fun we can have by asking questions?

But here’s the real truth of the situation. When we read the New Testament and particularly the Gospels, we learn a little bit about Jesus. But if what we learn isn’t applicable to our lives, then it really doesn’t do us much good, does it? I think there is something we should keep in the very front of our thinking when we read the stories of Jesus and it might shock some of you to hear this. This may also be a good time for the Pastor Chuck disclaimer; these are my thoughts and my ideas, they don’t have to be your thoughts and your ideas, but I do ask that you think about it.

So, now I’m going to go back to my shocking news of what we should be thinking about when we read the stories of Jesus. I think we should keep in the front of our thinking that the stories are not really about Jesus, they are about us. Jesus never really said “it’s all about me” but he mentioned many times how it is about us; what we are to do, who we are to become, what example we can follow and how we contain the kingdom of God within us. It’s not about Jesus; it is about us.

If you can think about that for minute, then you will see that we would never unearth how a story about Jesus feeding 5,000 or 4,000 or both could ever be about us, unless we ask questions. Only by asking the right questions can we find the ways to make the stories not so much about Jesus, but about how we can follow the example of Jesus, and make the stories about us. The stories need to be about us; after all, who were they written for? The stories are not there for the benefit of Jesus!

One question you might ask about these stories is how they are similar and what themes develop among them that might be useful for us today in the 21^st century. I asked that question and made a list. This is what I came up with.

With Jesus there is abundance.

Give thanks for what you have.

Don’t focus on why it can’t be done.

Use what is available.

The return is more than what you gave.

Have compassion.

Feed the hungry.

Sit down when you eat.

Save the leftovers.

Do what you can, and others will too.

The hungry represents a very large crowd.

Sorry about the unavoidable pun, but that is food for thought.

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

“The Task of Ananias”

Text: Acts 9: 1-19

 

Meanwhile Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest ² and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. ³ Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. ⁴ He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” ⁵ He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” The reply came, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. ⁶ But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” ⁷ The men who were traveling with him stood speechless because they heard the voice but saw no one. ⁸ Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. ⁹ For three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰ Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.” ¹¹ The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, ¹² and he has seen in a vision^[a] a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” ¹³ But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; ¹⁴ and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.” ¹⁵ But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; ¹⁶ I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” ¹⁷ So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul^[b] and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁸ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, ¹⁹ and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

I have always loved this story because of the many layers of meaning you can draw out of it, there is a superficial literal story, but the metaphor and the depth of what it represents is, at least for me, far richer. Let me see if I can give you a couple of ideas of what I am talking about.

The first thing that jumps out at me is the irony in the story. It seems ironic to me that Paul, or Saul as he was called prior to his conversion, was really blind to who Jesus was and what Jesus stood for. His spiritual and mental blindness then ironically turns into a physical blindness when he meets Jesus on the road to Damascus. This is just one little example of the kinds of ironic metaphor you can find in this story.

Another one of my favorites is the background story of Ananias. You gotta feel for this guy. Did you catch the language around what Ananias said when the Lord told him to go a pray for Saul? Ananias protests a little bit; he said that he has heard about this man and it might be better for him to just stay away. The Lord persists, the Lord tells Ananias that Saul is an instrument whom I have chosen, and he needs to go and pray for him.

Now this is not an enviable position. Saul is well known for the level of persecution of Christians all throughout the region, and Ananias, also a Christian, is asked to go and confront this man of authority and this persecutor of Christians. Yikes.

But this is what I think is interesting. The Lord tells Ananias that Saul is an instrument that can be used, an instrument whom God has chosen. I think there is a lesson here. No person, regardless of how we view them, is lost or diminished in the eyes of God. The Lord can take anyone and make them new and create an instrument of peace from that life. So Ananias obeys and delivers the message to Saul, even though he considers it to be a great personal risk, Ananias answers the call.

I’m going to switch gears now for a minute, because I feel a little like Ananias this morning. I feel a deep and sincere calling to share some observations from our recent trip to Scandinavia, but I also have a few reservations. You see, just like Saul had a reputation that everyone knew about, there are still things that everyone agrees on that are sometimes better off left alone. Ananias did not really want to go and see Saul, but he went anyway, and Paul’s eyes were opened as a result. The scales of blindness fell away. I’m hoping for the same outcome.

What I’m referring to is the long standing tradition that you simply do not mix religion and politics and what I have to say could be interpreted as political. Well aware of that risk, just like Ananias, I am called to deliver the message anyway.

There were two cities we visited that had a remarkable similarity; the two cities were Amsterdam and Copenhagen, and both of these cities had bicycles everywhere. While we were in Amsterdam, we took a canal boat tour of the city, and one of the things that the guide told us is that once a year the city dredges out the canals. It seems that when the useful life of a bicycle has expired, a favorite place to send the bike to its final resting place is to drop it in a canal. When the city of Amsterdam performs its annual ritual of canal dredging, they remove about 15,000 bicycles from the canals. Crazy. The guide also told us that there are about 2.8 million people in the Amsterdam area and an estimated 3 million bicycles…figure that one out. They have parking garages, actual multi-floored structures, which are just for bicycle parking. There are bicycles everywhere.

I bring this up because one of the cultural differences you notice right away between the United States and these cities is there is a definite energy awareness among the residents that is not present here in the states. Use of bicycles is just a part of that awareness. The presence of wind and solar power is also a big part of that cultural shift in awareness. I’m sure the price of gasoline has something to do with all of this as well; converting the foreign currency is hard enough, but then you also have to realize that they sell gas by the liter and not the gallon, so there is more conversion. My best guess is that gas is somewhere between $6 and $8 a gallon, but that is just a guess, so many people choose to walk or bike their way to work and to run errands, etc.

When we were in Oslo, Norway it was also very similar. One of the things we did in Oslo was visit the Nobel Peace Prize Museum, which was a fabulous experience, but it was also quite personal, because I have a personal connection to two different Nobel Peace Prize winners. By personal connection, I mean that I have met these people personally, and while I may remember the event, I’m pretty certain they do not. The two winners who I have met are former President Jimmy Carter and former Vice-president Al Gore. President Carter was awarded the Peace Prize for his work in bringing peace to the Middle East during his presidency and Al Gore was awarded the Peace Prize in 2007 for his work on climate change. I am quite familiar with Mr. Gore’s work on climate change, as I had the privilege of participating in the Climate Project, which was organized through the efforts of Mr. Gore. It involved my spending an entire week in Nashville, many hours with Al Gore himself, learning about the subject, developing an ability to answer questions, and learning how to present the slideshow Power Point presentation that is the basis of the award-winning movie, An Inconvenient Truth.

I want to show you just a small clip from that movie, An Inconvenient Truth, because it has relevance to an experience we had in Copenhagen. During this part of the movie, Mr. Gore is explaining how through the analysis of ice cores scientists can determine the CO2 content of the atmosphere for thousands of years into our past. He charts these results on a graph and then compares those results with the current CO2 level emissions. But he has some fun with it while he’s at it-so let’s give it a look.

Play movie clip

I wanted you to see this graphic representation of what has happened to our CO2 emissions over the last 100 years or so, because there is a sculpture in Copenhagen that we stumbled across that uses this same representation. This sculpture seemed odd at a distance; I wasn’t exactly certain of what we were looking at. It was also a little disturbing and I couldn’t quite understand why it would be centrally located in a government square in Copenhagen.

So we walked a little closer to investigate and try to find some more information regarding this particular sculpture. This is what we discovered;

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – A sculpture of an impaled polar bear went on display on Friday in front of the Danish parliament to highlight the impact of global warming.

The seven-meter high metal sculpture named “Unbearable” depicts a graph of carbon dioxide accumulation in the atmosphere sky-rocketing into the belly of a polar bear, gutting its abdomen and almost penetrating the back of the beast. Polar bears are among the animal species most threatened by the increase in global temperatures.

“The rate at which our ice caps are melting is crazy. It is going way faster than what people expect,” said Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt who produced the sculpture in collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund.

The sculpture was first unveiled at the Paris climate summit last December where world leaders pledged to do more to curb greenhouse gas emissions. (The sculpture) is a symbol of the need to hold on to the climate deal we made in Paris. We need to keep working on climate solutions, sharpen our goals and make more initiatives to convert to sustainable energy,” said Christian Poll, energy spokesman for the project.

The arrival of the sculpture coincides with data from Greenland, a former Danish colony, which showed its ice sheet melting more rapidly this year during the onset of spring. The data showed almost 12 percent of the ice sheet surface melting by April 11, a level usually only reached in May.

What the article from Reuters failed to mention is that the graph of CO2 emissions in the sculpture is constructed out of oil pipeline pipe, which adds more to the symbolism of the entire sculpture. The article also says the sculpture is 7 meters in height, which for us sometimes doesn’t mean much, so let me convert that for you. 7 meters is very close to being exactly 23 feet. To give you a rough idea of the size of this sculpture, it is approximately 22 feet to the top of the cross here in our sanctuary. So it is a large sculpture.

Of course because of the size and rather graphic nature of this sculpture, it carries a dramatic impact. But beyond that initial impact, what I found to be particularly interesting is that the sculpture is found in front of the Danish Parliament building. If it were in this country that would mean the sculpture would be in Washington DC in front of the capitol building where congress meets. If you think about that for a minute, you realize that would probably never happen.

So here is where I feel a bit like Ananias. The rest of the world recognizes the serious nature and the threat of climate change. The rest of the world is willing to engage in dialogue about what needs to be done and what the path forward looks like. The rest of the world is fully engaged in developing alternative sources of energy, beginning to pivot off the burning of fossil fuels and is confronting the issue of climate change head on.

In this country, unfortunately, we are still blinded by the light of corporate greed.

Perhaps if enough people pray for the scales to fall from our eyes, we will see what needs to be done and we will develop the political will to actually do something. The task of Ananias was to pray for Saul and help him see the truth in both a literal and metaphorical sense. Our task is the same. Climate Change is the single most important issue this planet has ever faced; it is also the most urgent; and our United States of America is politically blind and paralyzed to that fact. And we need to pray for the scales to fall from the eyes of our leaders and begin to move forward with the rest of the world and solve this problem.

Even if it makes us uncomfortable.

And that is food for thought.

Amen.

God In Us: The Mystical Experience – Part Six of a six-part series

Text: Luke 4: 14-21

¹⁴ Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. ¹⁵ He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. ¹⁶ When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, ¹⁷ and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
¹⁹ to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

²⁰ And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹ Then he began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

There are a couple of things I want to point out about this scripture before we really dive into the mystical experience wrap-up that I have planned for today. The first thing I would like to mention is that this event follows the time that Jesus had just spent in the wilderness; so if you want to believe the sequence here, we can assume that Jesus had a few mystical encounters in the wilderness and then the text says he returned “full of the power of the spirit”. I especially like the description of the Spirit as power; because power is energy and energy is power. More about that later.

The other thing I find interesting about this text is that after returning from some mystical experiences in the desert, Jesus seems to know exactly who he is and what his calling to ministry looks like. He has zero doubt about that; he has a confidence that actually astounded those present in the temple when he read from Isaiah. In other words, he had a tremendous level of self-definition and a depth of understanding about who he was and what his place in the world is to be.

I would like to suggest to you that these two observations we can make about this scripture are a product of the mystical experiences Jesus had in the wilderness just prior to this event. We can draw the conclusion that perhaps mystical experiences grant us the power of the Spirit and they also grant us great insight about ourselves, who we really are and what we are called to do.

That being said, my primary goal for today is to offer you a roadmap of sorts that may lead you to the mystical experiences we all seek and we all cherish when they happen. For five weeks I have been telling you about some of my own personal experiences and offering tidbits of insight along the way. Today, I want to wrap everything together into a nice neat package so you can begin to seek your own experiences in your own way.

The best way I know to do this is to review where we have been and remind you of what we have talked about over the past few weeks. I began with an observation from what might be considered an unlikely source; Oral Roberts University. But the logo of that university spells out that humans have three parts we need to pay attention to and try to develop the best way we can. Those three parts are the mind, the body and the spirit. If you remember I said that we can train our bodies and we will get stronger, we can train our minds and we will become smarter, so isn’t it logical that we can also train our spirits? I think it is possible and very logical. So I offer the first in a list of ways you can become spiritual and encounter the mystical experience for yourself. Number one is to recognize the power of preparation and practice; in other words, train your spirits.

The second week of this series I told you about an experience I had while creating this photograph of 11-mile canyon in the morning. Things did not begin well for me that morning, I got snowed on, I wasn’t sure there would be any sun, I almost turned back twice, but I went on. I would suggest to you that the power of intention plays a role is our success of encountering the Divine. What we intend to have happen, often does. So number two on my list is the power of intention.

The third week we explored a couple of contrasting experiences I have had; one very positive experience in Lower Antelope Canyon, and an almost opposite but equally as moving experience while touring Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam. I explained a little about thought and emotions as energy, and how sometimes that energy remains in a place long after the people who had the thoughts and emotions have left. That collective energy can be felt and observed by those who pay attention. This is the power of place. This church and this sanctuary also benefit from the power of place. Many people who meditate, do so in their homes, and they create a special place to do that. So the third point in your roadmap to spirituality is simply the power of place.

In our fourth week of this series I told a story about growing up in Iowa and how something as simple as going to McDonald’s for lunch had become a significant and meaningful memory for me. So significant that it also began to take on mystical qualities, if you remember I talked about the 50-cent limit and all the things the family shared as we dined in fine style at McDonald’s. The point of that story was to call attention to the power of tradition and ritual; the way that sometimes when we participate in or remember something ancient, it brings us closer to the Divine in ways that we can’t always identify. Communion is such a ritual and we celebrated the Sacrament of Communion following that sermon. So the fourth point in your roadmap is simply to remember the power of ritual and tradition.

Week five, which was just last week, found us talking a little bit about meditation. I mentioned that I thought meditation was a bit of a lost art form, and as Christians, particularly here in the US, we have forgotten about the importance of meditation and all the benefits that can come from this spiritual discipline. We experienced a little guided meditation by focusing on our breathing and I hope you have been experimenting some in this last week. This brings me to the fifth and final point on your roadmap, and that is the power of the mind.

These five powers can bring you to the spiritual encounters you desire. These five powers are all within your reach and can all be brought forth and pursued in a variety of ways. These five powers can equip you to strengthen your spiritual bond with the Divine and to experience the mystical encounters with God we seek.

Not every experience requires all five elements. But if you can find a way to combine two or three of these elements into a particular experience, then your chances of having something wonderful, I believe, go way up. I approach every worship service with these things in mind.

For example, I begin with the intention that it will be a great worship service. There is a lot of preparation and practice that is evident; the choir has rehearsed, the musicians have rehearsed, I have prepared a sermon that I can deliver without notes-all of these things are done to improve our experience of the worship service. Then we begin to introduce other elements, like the power of place-we hold the service in a special place. We utilize the power of ritual and tradition. We also ask for moments of silence and prayer so we can begin to use the power of our minds as well. You see, each and every Sunday, we incorporate these elements in hopes that you might encounter the Divine at some point during our service. And often, I’m told, we are successful.

But you can too. That is the point; you can create your own experiences in your own way. There are things and places that are special to you that can be utilized in the creation of your own personal mystical experience. Consider the five powers of preparation, place, intention, tradition and mind; as you do may the mystical encounters of the Divine be within your reach.

Food for thought. Amen.

 

God In Us: The Mystical Experience (part 5)

Text: Psalm 19: 14

 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

 

I used to attend a church in Texas where the pastor there would begin every sermon with these words; I think he considered it a prayer that he would find the right things to say and minister in the best way possible. It was kind of a nice tradition. But I want to head in a little different direction today.

I want you to notice exactly what this scripture actually says; it clearly states the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart; it states them as though they are two different things. Have you ever thought about that? The words of your mouth are different than the meditation of your heart; it seems the Psalmist knew something that we have long since forgotten. What has been forgotten is that the meditation of your heart is just as important, perhaps even more so, than what you say.

“Now, wait a minute!” I hear what you are thinking…first you tell us that the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts are two different things…and then while we are in the process of trying to wrap our minds around that, you tell us that the meditation of our heart may be even more important than what we say! “I’m not even sure what the meditation of my heart is” I hear you say, “how can it be all that important if I don’t even know what it is?”

Well, it’s a good thing I came along then, isn’t it?

I guess this is a good time for the famous Pastor Chuck disclaimer; these are my thoughts and my ideas, they don’t have to be your thoughts and your ideas. But here is what I think; I think that Christianity, particularly in this country, has forgotten much of what it means to be a Christian, and what it means to be in relationship with God. Ancient Christianity knew about meditation and they knew how important it was and they practiced it on a regular basis. But the Christianity in the western world has chosen to focus on a lot of other things; many of those things, in my opinion, are not all that helpful. There is a lot of attention given to certain beliefs, a lot of attention given to other people’s behavior, a lot of attention given to what some define as morality and way too much attention is given to the last days, the end times and the so-called second coming of Jesus. None of these things, at least in my opinion, help us to get the most out of life. None of these things actually enrich our lives or create within us an appreciation of what is and what we already have. None of these things, which much of Christianity in the west focuses upon, actually provides us the opportunity to become more spiritual. More judgmental, perhaps, more self-righteous, to be sure, feeding the demons of superiority and exclusiveness in my experience, that is why much of Christianity actually works against us.

Yes, you heard me correctly; I said that much of Christianity works against us. If Christianity actually worked to everyone’s advantage and helped us get the most of out life and successfully broadened our horizons and created within us a desire to do more and be more, do you really think Christianity would be struggling to attract members the way it is today? What is the current exodus of people leaving the mainstream churches really telling us? What does it mean when the fastest growing demographic in the United States are those unaffiliated with any religion? What does it mean when people would rather identify themselves as spiritual but not religious, rather than align with a specific faith tradition or Christian denomination?

I will tell you what I think it means. This is of course just my opinion, and you may have your own theories, but I believe much of the faltering of Christianity we have seen in the past 3 or 4 decades is due in a large part to a focus on the wrong things. As we focus on the things which divide us that cause us to appear judgmental and in many ways espouse hate rather than love, we ultimately drive people away.

But there is another path. It is the path of personal spirituality. It is the path of unconditional love practiced and preached. It is the path of recognizing the Divine as a universal God, and not just a Christian God. It is the path of meditations of the heart.

I believe everything begins in the heart; who you are, what you think about, what you say, what you do for a living, what you like or dislike, how compassionate you are, and certainly how you choose to function as a Christian-it all begins in the heart. It all begins with meditations of the heart.

If something is this important you would think that we would pay a little more attention to it, wouldn’t you? Let me ask you a question; have you ever heard a sermon on meditation in church? I wonder why not?

Meditation is a spiritual discipline that anyone can do. It takes a little practice and focus, but the rewards are enormous. One of the most tangible things that meditation does for you is that it brings you into the present moment, it helps you pay attention to the now. It quiets your otherwise overactive mind. Meditation relieves anxiety. After a little bit of practice, I believe that meditation can even bring you into the presence of God. I believe that because I believe the presence of God is always there, we just need to get quiet enough to be aware of it. As the Psalmist states in another well known verse; “Be still and know that I am God.”

Meditation is a mystery for a lot of people. For many it seems foreign, it seems unnatural, you hear comments like we don’t do that here, or isn’t that dangerous, or I thought only kooks and fanatics meditate. Many think that meditation lies outside the boundaries of Christianity; they perceive it to be connected with other faith traditions and if you meditate you are not a true Christian. Well, none of those things are true. In ancient Christianity meditation was an integral part of the spiritual discipline of your personal life. It has just been ignored and not taught here in the west for the past several centuries, but the thousands of years prior to these last few hundred years, meditation has been alive and well.

“But I don’t know what to do” I hear you say, “I feel silly or I’m afraid I’m doing it wrong.”

Let me just say one thing; if you don’t hear anything else in the sermon today, hear this; there isn’t a wrong way to meditate. You will discover what works best for you and God will honor any attempt. But I can give you some guidelines.

For me, the key to successful meditation is all about subduing the constant chatter in our minds. When we quiet the mind we become more open to receive the gifts the Divine Spirit has in store for us. Gifts like perception, compassion, insight and enlightenment are all experienced when we come into the presence of God in a meditative way. You don’t have to think about the gifts, they just happen.

One way to quiet the mind is to occupy it with something simple. Like breathing, for example. If you can focus on your breath it will lead to a quiet mind. Let’s try it right now, shall we? Close your eyes and think about your breathing. Breathe in deeply through your nose. Notice how the air hits the edges of your nostrils. Breathe again deeply; pay attention to how your lungs fill with air and how your chest cavity expands. Breathe again, deeply, but this time exhale through your mouth. Imagine the creation story where it says that God breathed into us the breath of life, and you are breathing the breath of life into the world. As you breathe in, imagine your breath gathering together all that you desire and it is bringing it to you. As you breathe in, you are collecting the blessings of peace and understanding, you are bringing answers to your questions, you are gathering all that brings you happiness together and drawing into your being. Now, as you exhale, imagine a purging from your being of all that you wish to eliminate from your life. You exhale all anxiety, you release all thoughts of the future, you release everything in your past, you are in the moment, you are in the now. As you breathe in again, you cherish this moment, right now, that will never happen again, and you release any lingering doubt about the future or your past. You are here, right now, and in your breath, all is well.

OK, we can open our eyes. That is just one example of how to focus on your breathing. For others, the use of a mantra can be beneficial. A mantra is something that you repeat to yourself and can sometimes be used in connection with a focus on breathing. One example of a mantra I sometimes use is the phrase, “Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.” Sometimes as I breathe in, I say in my mind, Lord, make me an instrument-and then as I exhale, I mentally say the words, of thy peace.

 

There are as many ways to do this as you can imagine. There is no right or wrong approach, but good meditation should bring relaxation, clarity of thought, the release of anxiety and closeness to the Divine. Good meditation can make you more observant, good meditation can enhance your appreciation of the now, this moment, and good meditation can bring enlightenment around any issue you may be struggling with. In short, meditation can be a mystical experience. It can also be sought and controlled and created with intention.

So go ahead and experiment. I give you permission. It takes a little practice; but it can change your life. Even if you can quiet your mind for just 30 seconds, you will feel better. Food for thought.

Go in peace and go with God. Amen.

 

 

 

 

“God In Us: The Mystical Experience, Part 4”

Text: @Corinthians 13:13

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

 

Today we are continuing our exploration into what we have been calling mystical experiences. I have shared a few stories with you about times when I have felt the presence of God in an extraordinary way. If you have been looking for some kind of a definition as to what exactly a mystical experience is; that might be one way to define it; feeling the presence of God in an extraordinary way.

But I think there is another definition that is equally valid, but perhaps escapes our thought process because it might lack what we consider to be that extraordinary element. As a matter of fact, it might even be defined as mundane or perhaps routine. But as far as I am concerned, some of these experiences are every bit as valid as being defined mystical as anything I have shared with you thus far. It’s probably not what you are expecting, but bear with me-eventually all this may make sense for you – at least I hope so.

There are experiences in my past which at the time really seemed like no big deal; I’m certain you can think of a few of your own. What seems to happen, at least for me, is the experiences grow in richness and significance with the passage of time. There may be certain moments that you can identify when the significance of some of these past events came into sharper focus for you. In other words, you gained a new perspective or a new appreciation for certain events in your life. I had such a moment, and so we will begin at that point.

About 20 years ago I was in the midst of my seminary education and was also in the midst of trying to complete all the necessary paperwork required to become ordained within the United Methodist Church. We are called Methodists for a reason; and while that reason was originally intended as a teasing label to John Wesley it is still applicable today in many areas. The paperwork that you need to submit to the Board of Ordained Ministry is a shining example of what I’m talking about. One of the many requirements that you must fulfill is a psychological evaluation; you take personality tests, you take competency tests, a host of other tests that I can’t remember what they are called, and you are interviewed by a psychologist. After the tests are all scored, and the interview questions processed and everything is in order, then you meet again with your psychologist for a kind of debriefing. It was during this debriefing session that I had a bit of an “ah-ha” moment with regard to some of the experiences I want to share with you in just a few minutes.

During the debriefing session the psychologist that was working with me referred to my childhood years as “idyllic”. I had to stop her and get clarification. “Did you just say I had an idyllic childhood?” I asked her. “Absolutely” she replied, “the environment that you grew up in couldn’t be improved upon” she went on, “at least that is how it sounded when you talk about it.” “Was there something I missed or something wrong with how you grew up?” she asked me. “No, no” I said, “I just didn’t ever think about it as idyllic.” “Well, maybe you should”, she said.

Wow! That hit me like a ton of bricks. I always sort of knew that my parents and my home experiences were sort of special, but idyllic? I felt a little like someone who dragged a painting they found in their attic to the Antiques Road show and found out it was worth a million dollars. Huh, who knew, right?

But with the passage of time, with the perspective that comes from trying to be a good parent yourself and with the loss that comes with the passing of parents and loved ones, you gain a whole new appreciation for some of the simplest and yet most meaningful events from your past. After 4 or 5 decades they begin to take on certain mystical qualities.

Case in point number one; the 50-cent limit.

I grew up in LeMars, Iowa. It is a sleepy little town of about 8,000 people and not much ever happened there. We were, however, only 25 miles from Sioux City, which by LeMars standards was definitely the big city. As a matter of fact, Sioux City was such a big city that it even had a McDonald’s. But just one-I’m certain there are more today, but this would have been in the early 1960’s.

If I remember correctly, a McDonald’s hamburger was 15 cents, it could be a cheeseburger was 20, an order of French fries was also about 15 cents, a coke was a dime, but a chocolate shake was 25 cents. On rare and special occasions, sometimes after church, if we were good, the entire family would drive to Sioux City and we would have lunch at McDonald’s.

It was a big deal.

But this deal also came with provisions. We could order anything we wanted, but there was a 50-cent limit. You can’t imagine all the figuring that went into what you could and could not order and stay right at the 50-cent limit. You could get two burgers, a fry, and a coke and be under the limit; but if you wanted a shake, one of the burgers or the French fries would have to go. If you wanted cheeseburgers it was even more complicated. You could have two cheeseburgers and a coke, but no fries. You could get one hamburger and one cheeseburger and a shake, but no fries-the number of combinations seemed almost endless. Figuring out the order for lunch occupied the 30-minute ride rather easily as we went from LeMars to Sioux City.

Obviously, the life span of the 50-cent limit was also limited. Prices went up. But the tradition of the 50-cent limit went on for a long enough time to make a mark in my psyche and it left its mark on my siblings as well. We still talk and joke about the 50-cent limit.

It may not seem like a mystical experience to you but it is to me. It wasn’t that the food was that good. It wasn’t that McDonald’s was spectacular in any other way; it actually wasn’t even the event itself. What elevates this to a mystical level is all that it stands for.

It was fun. We had a good time. We were together as a family. We had to be creative. Sometimes we would figure out a way to share so you could get fries and perhaps a taste of the chocolate shake. But most of all it speaks to the creative genius of parents who turned their frugality into an advantage. On teacher’s salaries and five kids to feed it was a 50-cent limit or we ate at home. But it wasn’t ever presented that way. We wouldn’t have had any more fun at the finest dining restaurant in all of Sioux City. The 50-cent limit, a mystical experience you probably didn’t expect.

There are many other stories, most of them involve food or a meal and they all pretty much end up the same way. Passing time and tradition, being with family and loved ones, the sharing of experiences together and the loss of what once was, elevates the mundane to the mystical.

In a few minutes we will be sharing in the sacrament of Holy Communion. For many, the things which created a certain level of mysticism surrounding the 50-cent limit, are also true of the Lord’s Supper. We come together as family, as a community, to share an experience. There is a long history of tradition and the passing of time which has gone before us. We are asked to remember in this ritual the One who once was here among us. In these ways may you experience communion, perhaps for the first time, as a mystical experience.

Amen.

 

 

“God In Us: The Mystical Experience, Part 3”

Text: Psalm 90: 1-4

Lord, you have been our dwelling place
in all generations.
² Before the mountains were brought forth,
or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

³ You turn us back to dust,
and say, “Turn back, you mortals.”
⁴ For a thousand years in your sight
are like yesterday when it is past,
or like a watch in the night.

I think this particular text is interesting because it speaks to the timelessness of God. We can find evidence in our history that even the most ancient cultures believed in and in some sense worshiped a God – and most often it was a creator God. So with that perspective in mind, the Psalmist here reminds us that our lives are just a flash in the pan, a tiny blip in the stream of history-as the text says, a thousand years for God is like yesterday. God supersedes any understanding we have of time; there are times when I personally wonder if time actually exists in the spiritual or the God realm; what value would it have and what would it be used for? But those are topics for another day…

Today we are continuing our investigation of mystical experiences and hopefully beginning to draw some conclusions about how they manifest and what part we can play in that manifestation. I believe that a full recognition of the ancient qualities of God and our connection to that history help us in preparing to have a mystical experience. If we can begin to focus our minds on the thought that God has always been and will always be, then the search for God perhaps becomes a bit easier; in other words God isn’t going anywhere.One place for me that speak clearly of the timelessness of God is a slot canyon in northern Arizona called Lower Antelope Canyon. As you hike through this canyon, you can virtually experience the flash floods which formed the canyon. You can look at a sandstone formation that resembles a wave or flowing water and simply ask the question; how many waves does it take before a rock begins to look like the wave? The answer is quite a few, over a long period of time. But this is just one of the feelings or emotions I experience when I hike through and photograph Lower Antelope Canyon, one of many. The feelings and emotions come so thickly that at times it is overwhelming. In lieu of the flood of water which formed the canyon, the flood of visual perception and luminance fill your being. In a way, I feel suspended in time, but still participating in the formation, or at least witness to the formation of the canyon. Once again, the experience is hard to explain; it is ineffable, to use the language of Marcus Borg.

After my first visit to Lower Antelope Canyon I was so loaded up with positive energy that it stayed with me for days, maybe even a week after our visit. I found this to be an interesting phenomenon, it almost felt like I had visited one of those all you can eat buffets and when you leave you’re not hungry for the next meal; sometimes the next couple of meals. It has taken me a few years to make sense of the experience, but I think I’m getting closer to a spiritual understanding, even if it is just for me; it may or may not make sense to you… more about that a little later on.

Because the experience stayed with for a couple of days, I felt like I had to somehow get what I was feeling into a tangible thing. I knew I had pictures, but that didn’t seem adequate; when that happens to me, often I write. Sometimes they are commentaries, sometimes poetry, sometimes just random thoughts, but writing for me helps me sort out the feelings, the emotions and the significance of the experience.

So I wrote a poem. I call it “The Canyon Called To Me” and several years after it was written, I took some of the photos and some appropriate background music and created a brief video. I’m going to share that video with you now.

While you hold that experience in your minds and hopefully better understand the magnitude of what the encounter meant to me, I want to tell you about another significant event that impacted me in the opposite way. This was also several years ago, I believe in 2009, Heidi and I were visiting Amsterdam and we toured Anne Frank’s house.

To put it mildly, there is a lot to read and absorb during this particular tour. Not only is the history and the horror of the holocaust pretty much in your face the whole time, but so is the innocence and positive disposition of Anne Frank herself.

As is the case with most homes in Amsterdam, Anne Frank’s house is taller than it is wide. Real estate is at a premium, so they build up, rather than out. So when you tour the house, there are a number of steps to deal with. In my current condition trying to recover from knee surgery the number of steps may pose a bit of a challenge; but in 2009, I was a little younger and my knee was much better and steps were not a big deal for me. So I found it odd that through the course of the tour I found myself physically getting weaker and weaker and actually had a bit of trouble with the steps-even going down-by the end of the tour. I now believe this had a lot more to do with what I will call negative spiritual energy than it did with my physical condition.

There is quite a bit of research out there that is beginning to coalesce around the idea that thoughts and emotions are also electro-magnetic impulses. This can be proven by a number of different devices where they can actually measure and monitor the electric impact of a thought or an emotion on the brain. They can measure the electric stimuli that energize certain areas of the brain when a person thinks about certain things. This can also be observed in the brain itself, through MRI type imaging, they can actually see the brain “light up” in different areas. This is not really new research or a brand new discovery; they have had a basic understanding of how the brain sort of works for a while now.

What is a little newer is the idea that some of those electro-magnetic impulses actually proceed through the body and enter the space around the body. These little bits of energy remain in the space for a time long after the original thought or emotion that produced them has come and gone. Some research indicates that as long as a year later the electrical presence of thought energy can still be detected in places where the thoughts or emotions were very strong.

What I am suggesting here is that if you are sensitive to that residual energy, it can impact your physical system as well as your spiritual system. That is why, I believe, that I felt strong and energized and completely filled when visiting Lower Antelope Canyon. Not only was the experience itself feeding me, but the residual energy left from others was also positive and uplifting in nature and had the same affect on me. The experience was enhanced by the very energy of the place that supplemented the actual experience of being there.

On the flip side of that same coin, Anne Frank’s house is full of less than positive energy. As people tour and read and grieve, those electro-magnetic impulses gather in that space and can impact you on several levels. This is what I experienced just as many other people report similar experiences at special places all over the world. To have an experience is one thing, but to develop an understanding of that experience in a spiritual sense is something even more profound. It is profound because it speaks to our humanness, our Divine connection to one another and our Divine connection to all that is and ultimately our Divine connection to God.

Now here is where it gets interesting; even though we are all human and all basically function in the same way, not all have the same level of experience. Some are not impacted at all; they have no sense at all of any energy in a space, positive or negative. Some are more impacted than others; I seem to be in the group that is impacted more than most. Impacted to the point where days later I am still floating high from a positive encounter with positive energy. I was also impacted to the point of becoming physically weak and having a certain amount of difficulty finishing a tour because of the encounter with the abundance of negative energy. How can I explain this? I’m not sure I can explain it completely but I can give you a metaphor that might help you visualize or better understand what I’m alluding to.

Imagine going into a space with someone who is not familiar with modern technology, perhaps a time traveler from several hundred years ago. You enter this space with this person from the 17^th or 18^th century and try to explain that the room is actually full of radio broadcasts, television broadcasts, cell phone signals, short wave radio waves, walkie-talkie signals, police band radio waves and all the other stuff that is floating around in that space. I’m pretty certain they would look at you like you had lost your mind. If you can’t see it, it doesn’t really exist, right?

So then you plug in a TV into an outlet and tell them this device, when plugged in, has the ability to receive the signals and make them into pictures we can see and words we can hear. Again, they may look at you as though you have totally lost your grip on reality. But then you turn on the TV and they can witness it for themselves. The invisible electro-magnetic impulses of the TV signal are visible when the TV is plugged in and open or turned on.

I’m thinking we are not so different. If we tune in to the spiritual realm, we are more likely to receive the signals of that residual energy we encounter. If we don’t “plug-in” or in other words practice our awareness of the spiritual side of who we are, that energy will go largely unnoticed and our life experiences will be dulled.

Being sensitive to energy I believe is a learned skill and one that can be developed and enhanced with practice. I also believe that energy and spirit are one in the same; so when we become sensitive to energy, we become sensitive to spirit. When we become sensitive to spirit, our connection to all that is becomes enhanced and we grow closer to God.

I also believe this is the way it has always been; and the timelessness of God as spoken of by the Psalmist in the text where we began points us to this reality. The energy of God’s spirit, the energy of those who have connected with God, and all the saints who have preceded us, all that energy is still available for us. We just need to plug in and receive.

And that, as they say, is food for thought. Go in peace and go with God.

Amen.