No Fear

June 24th, 2012               “No Fear”                    Rev. Heather Jepsen

1 Samuel 17:32-49 and Mark 4:35-41

          Fear.  Today we are talking about fear.  Knees knocking, palms sweating, eyes wide, quick breathing; fear.  We are talking about being really scared, scared out of your mind.  We are talking about that nervousness that seems to paralyze you.  Did you feel that way at all this week, real fear?  Perhaps not.  Webster’s gives the following synonyms for fear: bother, worry, fret, fuss, stew, and stress.  Did you feel that way at all this week?  Perhaps you did.  Fear.

          David appears to have no fear in our Old Testament reading.  Make no mistake, there is plenty of fear in the passage, it just doesn’t seem to come from David.  The Israelites are in battle with the Philistines.  King Saul is there as well as some of David’s brothers.  A large fellow, Goliath, appears out of the Philistine ranks and starts trash talking; a common prelude to battle.  Young David shows up bringing in some rations for the fighters and hears this trash talking Philistine.

          The rest of the Israelites are plagued by fear.  Just like those Webster synonyms I see them feeling bothered, worrying, fretting, fussing, stewing, and stressed.  They are paralyzed by their fear and all the guy is doing is talking.  David, the one without fear, decides that by the power of God he will be able to take down this enemy.

          Now King Saul seeks to outfit David with the latest battle field technology and so decorates him in his own armor.  It’s a comical scene really, as the Bible writer describes David putting on the giant helmet, coat of mail, and sheathed sword.  It’s all so big and heavy that David can’t even walk.  “I can’t wear these” he says, and takes the gear off.  He doesn’t need all that junk.  That is for people who are afraid, and David, he has no fear. 

          David just grabs his staff, his slingshot, and his bag of rocks.  Upon seeing him apparently unarmed, Goliath just laughs at David.  The trash talking resumes and we find David can dish it out as well as Goliath.  Finally the battle commences.  The two fighters run quickly toward each other and David takes out that sling shot.  With great skill, great accuracy, even greater faith, and no fear; David launches that little rock at Goliath’s head, and that’s it.  Goliath is felled with a crack to the skull and the battle is over, the Israelites have won.

          As kids we loved this story of David and Goliath.  At one point I think most kids take a rock and chuck it at the nearest tree imagining taking down the great enemy.  As adults, we give this story less credit.  It’s the stuff of children’s Bibles and not something that has any real say in our life.  As a pastor and a preacher, I can find lots of possible things to wonder about in this story.  From the role of oppressor and oppressed to the glorification of violence this tale is ripe for discussion.  But today, we are talking about fear.

          It is interesting in this story to find that so many people are afraid.  The warriors, full grown men who have seen battle before are terrified of Goliath.  Saul, the great king, clothed in the best armor on the battle field is paralyzed by fear.  The young David alone is the only one who is unafraid.  What is surprising about David is that though he is small of stature, and has the smallest portion of strength, he has the largest portion of faith.

          David has battled with the beasts of nature and always survived; a credit he gives to God rather than his own skill.  And so when trying to convince King Saul to let him fight David says, “The Lord, who saved me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, will save me from the hand of this Philistine.”  Great faith, no fear; it’s quite the story.

          Of course today’s gospel reading is also all about fear.  Jesus is dead tired after days and days of teaching and healing.  He needs a break from the crowds and the only way to get away is to literally get off the land and to a place where the people can’t get to him.  Into the boat he goes with the disciples.  Mark notes that other boats followed as well.  The poor Savior can never really get away. 

          Jesus is taking a much needed break, sleeping on a cushion in the back of the boat, when a storm comes up.  The storm grows and grows and before they know it the waves are bigger than the boat and the craft starts taking on water.  We must remember that several of Jesus’ disciples were experienced fisherman.  They must have known how to handle a boat in rough seas.  Yet, even they too begin to panic.  Before long fear sets in; bother, worry, fret, fuss, stew, and stress.  Something must be done, and so they wake Jesus.

          I love the way Mark writes his narrative here.  You can just see the disciples panicking.  Jesus has been asleep, he doesn’t know what’s going on, but they are swamped in fear and all worked up.  They don’t calmly tap his shoulder.  No, someone shakes him awake and yells in his face “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”

          Now I was just telling the brown bag group this week that Mark is my favorite gospel.  The reason I love Mark so much is that Jesus is so human in Mark.  I imagine that he was a bit annoyed by this rude awakening.  And in our NRSV his reply to his disciples and to the storm is gently translated “Peace, be still.”  Another possible translation of the Greek here is “Be quiet!  Shut up!”  Jesus is often annoyed in Mark and personally I think this is no exception.

          Now the waters are eerily calm.  And this, more than the storm, is frightening to the fishermen.  Jesus turns and asks, “Why are you afraid?  Have you still no faith?”  And the NRSV does us a disservice here with their translation, “the disciples were filled with great awe.”  A literal translation of the Greek is they were “fearful with a great fear”.  Who Jesus is and what he has done is much scarier than any storm that threatens to take their lives.  And so they are fearful with a great fear.  Fear: bother, worry, fret, fuss, stew, stress.  And they ask one another, “Who is this guy?”

          We have a study in contrasts this morning: David, the young man who was without fear in the face of a large opponent on the battle field; and the disciples, first afraid of a storm and then even more afraid of the one they called teacher.  David sets the bar high, like the story books we often relegate him to, his is a mythical faith.  When we consider our own lives it is hard to imagine any of us going up against a giant of a problem and not being afraid.  David’s great faith is an ideal, a fairy tale if you will, something to dream about, even strive for, but not something many are likely to achieve.

          No, I think we much more likely to achieve the faith of the disciples; afraid of the storm, afraid of the calming of the storm, afraid of everything, including Jesus.  I think the disciples thought they were following any other prophet and miracle worker.  Sure they had seen healings and exorcisms but these were common practices among traveling healers at the time.  Jesus certainly wasn’t alone in these feats. 

And yet here suddenly things change.  No one controls chaos but God.  Here suddenly they realize that they have been walking around with God.  That God has been with them and God has seen all the stupid things they’ve done and God has heard all the awful things they’ve said and so they are afraid.  It’s much scarier than a storm or even Goliath.  It’s God, and God knows what you’ve been doing.

          Fear: bother, worry, fret, fuss, stew, and stress.  How many of those words describe your week?  I know they’ve been a part of mine.  Like us, the disciples are always misunderstanding Jesus.  He doesn’t want to scare them; he doesn’t want them to be afraid.  I am sure by this point he is hoping that they will know he comes in love, not judgment.  But still, there is fear.

          In our lives we face many things to be afraid of.  There are the problems that are as big as Goliath.  How will I ever get past this, how will I ever overcome, how will I ever beat this thing, it’s too big?  And there are dangers as scary as the storm.  Our boat’s taking on water and we just know we are going to sink, we are going to drown, and we are going under.  And then there’s the biggest fear of all, what if God is real and what if God really knows me.  What if God knows all the things I’ve done, all the things I’ve said?  Can there be any forgiveness for me?

          Fear.  It’s all too easy for us to become paralyzed by fear.  And in this moment, we need the gentle translation of Jesus “Peace!  Be still!”  God does not want our fear.  God wants our love.  Because God doesn’t come at us in judgment, God comes to us in love.

          It is my prayer today that we would be able to let go of even just a small part of our fear; that we could be more like David, ready to take down any challenge in the name of the Lord.  That though the storms may come, we might have faith that Jesus is with us in the boat, and we will be ok.  God has saved us from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear and even from the greatest of storms.  God will certainly save us from our fear.

       May we go forward from this place with great faith, and with no fear.  Amen.                  

         

Among the Weeds

June 17^th, 2012                       “Among the Weeds”                     Rev. Heather Jepsen

1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 and Mark 4:26-34

          It’s Father’s Day.  A day we set aside to honor our Fathers, to thank them for their hard work, and to give them a break.  I am sure that many of us here have plans for today.  We are headed out after church to take Dad out to lunch, or to go fishing, or maybe to just let Dad nap on the couch.  We have plans for BBQs and get togethers, for the giving of gifts and cards, today we have a plan and a vision in our mind of what the perfect Father’s Day will be like.  The reality is though, that for many of us today will not be perfect.  It will be just another regular day, where stress runs high and things don’t go according to plan.  Such is life.

          When we look at the Biblical narrative, we also find that often things don’t go according to plan.  Our first reading comes from the history of Israel.  Saul has been anointed king, but he is not up to snuff, so the time has come to anoint a new king over Israel.  It sounds like a simple thing, a smooth plan, but in reality it is a messy business.

          You see Samuel, the priest who has now grown old in years, still has hope for Saul.  He was the one who, at the word of God, anointed Saul to lead, and I am sure that was no small thing in his eyes.  But Saul has failed the Lord and the time has come for a new king.  Though his heart still holds on the past, still holds on to the plan, Samuel is now called to anoint another.  In a small ceremony, while Saul still reigns on the throne, Samuel will anoint a new king.

          And so Samuel comes to the sons of Jesse.  One by one they pass before him.  Surely if this is going according to plan, than the oldest most handsome boy is the new king.  But of course, this is not going according to plan, at least not the plans of man, and the firstborn is not the chosen one.  One by one the sons of Jesse pass before Samuel and none are chosen.

          Now imagine the scene with me.  Jesse knows that Samuel is coming, and has planned for his family to attend the sacrifice.  He has probably heard rumors that something important will happen that day.  But someone has to stay back and watch the flocks, and there is no way that his youngest boy, David, needs to be there.   So he is the one chosen to stay home with the sheep.  Things are going perfectly according to plan as Samuel approaches Eliab with the horn of oil, but then it all goes wacky.  None of the sons are chosen, and Samuel is calling for David, and someone has to run and fetch the poor boy from the fields while everyone stands around waiting.  Samuel even says “we will not sit down until he comes here.”  Jesse’s mistake in leaving David behind is holding up the work of the high priest, the work of the Lord.  How embarrassing, what a mess!

          When David arrives he is sweaty and he reeks of sheep and he’s out of breath.  His face is ruddy, or red, probably from running in the heat.  He stands before Samuel, and now, this is the one, the youngest one, the one that everyone assumed it couldn’t be.  Here is the new king of Israel, young David.  He is anointed with oil and the Spirit of the Lord comes upon him.

          In the anointing of David we discover that the kingdom of God, or the realm of God, or the ways of God, are not our ways.  We like to do things in decency and good order.  We like to have a plan.  In our world, up is up and down is down.  The kingdom of God is a different place, a messy place.  We could argue that there is a plan in the realm of God, but it sure doesn’t look like any plan that we would come up with.  In fact, in the realm of God, up is more likely to be down, and down is more likely to be up.  How else can one explain that “First will be last and last will be first” stuff that Jesus was always talking about?

          Of course, this crazy realm of God plan continues to spin out in David’s life.  Sure he’s anointed king, but Saul is still king and that is going to be messy.  Once David comes into power things are still far from smooth.  We all know about poor Bathsheba, and she’s not the only bump on the road.  David is far from perfect.  Sure he has a heart for the Lord, but he is a liar and a violent man who will experience much loss and hardship.  His path is not one that I would choose, and yet in his story, his messy story, we find the realm of God.

          The truth is; many of our lives are messy.  We have good intentions, but often things don’t work out.  We struggle in our marriages and in our families.  Sometimes our spouse disappoints us; sometimes our kids aren’t what we wish they would be.  Sometimes we lose our jobs, sometimes we get sick, sometimes despite our best efforts things just fall apart.  When life doesn’t go according to plan we are tempted to wonder where God is.  I would say that when life doesn’t go according to plan, is precisely when we are with God.

          In our gospel reading from Mark, Jesus is teaching about the kingdom or the realm of God.  He says that the realm of God is like a farmer who planted seeds and fell asleep.  All by themselves the seeds sprouted and produced grain.  The farmer then is ready for the harvest.  The realm of God is like a mustard seed; a tiny seed that one can barely see and yet sprouts up to be a great bush.  The realm of God is like a seed sprouting, it seemingly just happens by itself.

          Modern readers love the mustard seed parable.  “Oh yeah” we say “The mustard seed, that’s great”.  What we forget is that the mustard plant was a weed.  First century Christians would have hated it. 

Now I just moved here so I don’t know which weed you all hate, but where I came from people hated dandelions.  In Wilbur folks were always digging up dandelions and continually spraying poison on their yards.  Everyone was working toward that perfect patch of lush grass, all at an even measured height, with no dandelions in sight.  Now it doesn’t take much driving around here to see that lawns are not such a big deal to you all, but you get the idea.

Imagine if Jesus said, the realm of God is like a dandelion.  You never know where it comes from.  The gentle breezes blow the tiny seed into your lawn, and before you know it, the most beautiful flowers appear.  We think it’s silly, but that how folks would have responded to the mustard seed.  The realm of God is like weeds blowing around in the air. The realm of God is like those weeds that sprout up, ruining your perfect lawn or garden.  When Jesus says the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, he is saying that it is like the most annoying weed you know.

As believers, we like to imagine or even hope; that because we have faith our lives will be perfect.  I have often wondered where we got such a silly idea.  It doesn’t take much reading of the Bible to discover that for believers throughout history life was far from perfect.

We remember perfect Adam and Eve, but we forget their sons Cain and Abel.  We remember Noah and his family, but we forget that time he got drunk embarrassing his sons.  We remember perfect Abraham and Sarah, and forget poor Hagar on the side.  We remember the great David, and we forget his killing of Uriah.  We remember the wisdom of king Solomon, and we forget his giant harem and how he leaves the kingdom in shambles.  We remember Jesus, and we forget how his family called him crazy, his church killed him, and his friends abandoned him to die alone.  We remember the teacher Paul, and we forget Saul who willingly killed people who disagreed with him about the nature of God.

My friends, the realm of God doesn’t happen in a perfect place.  The people of God are not a perfect people.  Not even close.  Throughout the scriptures we find God not in decency and good order, not when things are going according to plan, but in the messy places of life.  Jesus didn’t say the kingdom of God was like a rose garden that you worked so hard on to make perfect.  No, he said the kingdom of God was like the weeds that sprout up when you are sleeping.

This is where we find God, among the weeds.  We find God in the messy places of our lives, when things are falling apart, when we are weak and tired.  We find God when we are broken and hurt and feel most alone.  We find God among the weeds, because it is when we are lost in the weeds that we most need God.  It is when we are lost in the weeds that we most need grace and forgiveness, hospitality and love, for others and for ourselves. 

Just like the seed that grows while the farmer sleeps, the realm of God just happens.  No matter how messy and imperfect our lives are, the realm of God just happens.  No matter how many weeds sprout up around us, the realm of God just happens.  Like the little flower sprouting out of a crack in the sidewalk, the realm of God springs up all around us of its own power.

So today, as you think about fathers and think about families, I am sure you will find that life isn’t perfect.  I am sure that while today may be a beautiful celebration for you, you will find that life generally doesn’t go according to plan.  God is in that.  God is there when it is all beautiful and happy and works out.  But God is also there, if not more so, when it is messy and just doesn’t click.  Nothings perfect, nobody’s perfect, and that’s OK.  God is with us, even here among the weeds.  Amen.

           

June 10^th, 2012                     “New Family Values”                       Rev. Heather Jepsen

Mark 3:20-35

        As we move out of the season of Pentecost and back into Ordinary Time our gospel readings turn to the book of Mark.  As readers of the Scriptures know, each gospel presents a unique picture of who Jesus is.  Together, we will spend the next few months reading and studying the unique picture of Jesus that Mark presents.

          This morning’s reading finds Jesus early in his ministry.  He has been teaching folks about the kingdom of God, healing the sick, hanging out with tax collectors and sinners, and casting out demons.  He has been on the road traveling among the people; from Galilee to Capernaum, he has been on mountaintops, in wheat fields, on boats, and at the synagogue.  Needless to say, he has been busy.

          Now, Mark tells us, Jesus has gone home.  Perhaps he is seeking rest and a break from the crowds.  Unfortunately he will find neither of those things there.  Mark says that the crowd gathered so tight around him that he could not even eat.  Imagine how annoying that would be.  Now I am an introvert, and I need my alone time.  I need my down time in order to function in the world.  My home is my sanctuary, a place where I am safe to let down my hair and relax.  If you all came to my house at the same time, crowding in my windows and doors such that I couldn’t even eat my dinner, I would be pretty upset. 

          So this is where we find Jesus.  Trying to have some quiet time at home; only he can’t because the crowds are pressing in too tight on him.  The interesting thing about this scene is that Jesus doesn’t seem to mind.  He has gotten used to the crowds at this point.  So he shoves a piece of bread in his mouth and just keeps going about his mission and ministry. 

          The folks who don’t like this scene are his family.  In fact, they think that Jesus is out of his mind.  Someone who is going to hang out with all the rejects and riff-raff must be crazy they think.  Someone who is going to let all of these outsiders invade his life needs to be stopped.

          Of course, the folks in Jesus’ family are not the only ones upset by his behavior.  The church doesn’t like it either.  The scribes come down from Jerusalem to up the ante; not only is Jesus crazy, he’s possessed.  It is by the power of the devil that he is able to cast out demons. 

          Jesus response to both of these accusations is to teach in parables.  How can one who is under the power of demons cast out demons?  It doesn’t make any sense.  Satan would not rise up against himself to take down his own house.  And by the same token, it takes a stronger man to win any battle.  Jesus is clearly the stronger man as he has the power to bind up and plunder the house of Satan.

          Then Jesus speaks of the power of the Holy Spirit and of blasphemy.  He declares that he works by the power of the Holy Spirit, and those who speak against his works speak against the power of the Spirit and therefore against God.  And of course, those who speak against God and the will and ways of God are sinning.

          Jesus’ words ring true, they make sense, and yet still the scoffers are unconvinced.  The scribes will be back to tangle another day and his mother and brothers continue to try to call him back to his senses.  Jesus makes clear that he has not come to abide by the old ways of the family.  Rather, he has come to create a new family, for “whoever does the will of God is his brother and sister and mother.”

          This reading is a challenging one for modern believers.  The topic of Satan is always a bit of a bugaboo since most folks who consider themselves intellectual really don’t believe any of that stuff anymore.  And frankly, what Jesus says about family and church is a bit threatening.

          “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he did not exist.”  Now that is a line from a movie, but it has its place in our discussion this morning.  Who here really believes in the devil?  I think most of us have come to assume that folks in the ancient world were a superstitious lot who didn’t know much about science and medicine.  I think that many modern readers of the Bible come to the conclusion that when Jesus is casting out demons, he is really healing people of schizophrenia, epilepsy, and other illnesses.  Now there is a pretty good argument for that, but it doesn’t get us off the hook when it comes to the forces of evil in the world.

          Now whether or not you believe in Satan as some form of evil concentrated in a single being or person; I would argue that no one can look at the world around us and not see the forces of evil at work.  And not only that, but humanity is constantly in captivity to these evil powers in the world.

          In the commentary Feasting on the Word pastor Nibs Stoupe describes it this way:  

“The reality of Satan and Beelzebub is disturbingly clear.  They name the forces and configurations of power that capture us and cause us to hurt ourselves, to hurt others, and to hurt God.  To name a few of these, there is the power of race, which tells us to believe that one group is superior to another simply because of skin color or cultural heritage.  There is the power of patriarchy, which tells us that men should dominate women.  There is the power of materialism, which roars at us that money gives us life.  And the power of militarism – the belief that weapons and war bring us peace and security – which causes us to kill one another, often in the name of God.

I would add to his list, the power of nationalism which convinces us that America is God’s favorite country on earth.  The power of our economic system which teaches us that we too can be millionaires and that is good for everyone.  And the power of the status quo, which leads us to believe that even at the cost of our planet we cannot afford to change the our wasteful lifestyles. 

When considered this way things begin to get scary.  When we look at the world as a place of demonic power, a place that calls to us and pulls is into ways of thinking that are against God; then we begin to perhaps take our faith more seriously.  For the real forces of evil in this world are much more powerful and insidious than simple demon possession; rather they are large forces found everywhere on the TV, radio, internet, in advertising and politics.  In fact I would argue that these forces are at play in even the minute details of our lives, from the groceries we buy at the store to the clothes we choose to wear.  One may not believe in literal demons, but it is hard to argue against the power the forces of evil have in our world.

          When Jesus was engaged in a ministry of healing, a ministry of love, and a ministry of inclusiveness, these forces of evil sought to stop him.  The power of evil wanted to stand in the way of the power of God.  And really, that shouldn’t surprise us.  But what might surprise us is that the power of evil approached Jesus not in some back alley; but at home, and at church.

          It was Jesus family who sought to tell him he was wrong.  It was his family who could not stand him hanging out with prostitutes and lepers, outcasts and sinners.  So it was his family who said he was crazy and sought to stop his ministry.

          And it was Jesus’ church who sought to tell him he was wrong.  It was his church that attempted to twist the world so much that it accused him of acting under the power of evil.  It was the church that declared the work of God to be the work of the devil. 

          You see, more than anything else, it is the family of home and the family of faith that have the power to lead us into sin, because it is there that we are comfortable and familiar.  It is there, at home and church, that we build a routine; a routine which encourages us to close our eyes to the world around us and which tempts us to call the work of God the work of the devil. 

          I want to turn back to pastor Neil Stroupe here who gives a great example of this from his own life.  He writes . . .

“I grew up in the Deep South in Arkansas on the Mississippi River Delta in the 1950s and 1960s, part of that generation of white Southerners who wrestled with the civil rights movement.  I was resistant to that movement because I had been taught white supremacy and the racism that undergirds it.  I had accepted this ideology, and I had been taught it, not by mean and terrible people, but by loving and caring people such as my mother and my church leaders.  They taught it to me, not because they were evil – quite to the contrary, they were wonderful people in my life – but because they were captive to racism and had come to accept that racism was the way to find and maintain life.

As I came to hear other voices from God’s Spirit – voices that told me that racism was not God’s will – I began to be in internal conflict with my family and my community.  It was a struggle and continues to be a struggle at some points.  I began to appreciate why Jesus calls the configuration of these forces “Satan”, and I understand why he had indicated that his family [and his church] might be part of the problem.”

From Nibs example we can clearly see how the family and the church might be the ones to bind us to the forces of evil.  And it doesn’t take much imagining to make a leap from his experience with racism to other social justice issues in our world.

          At the end of this reading, Jesus reminds his family, his church, and his followers that he has come to create a new community, a new family.  The family of Jesus Christ is made up of those who speak out against the forces of evil in the world, those who come in brokenness to look for healing, and those who do the will of God.  While we may certainly find those folks in our own families and church, we must remember that we are also just as likely to find them outside the normal circles that we travel. 

          Today we will gather at the communion table.  This is a feast that stands in the face of the forces of evil because this is a table that welcomes all in a spirit of hospitality and reconciliation.  This table isn’t just open to your family and your church, its open to all who come seeking God.  And as Jesus reminds us in the gospel of Luke, “People will come from east and west, from north and south, and will eat in the kingdom of God.”

          This morning’s reading from Mark, challenges us to consider the roll of the family and the roll of the church in our lives.  Clearly there are forces of evil in our world and unfortunately it can be through our familiarity in family and church that we are tempted by evil.  Like the folks in this gospel reading, we are tempted to ignore the injustice of the world around us or to even call that injustice right or the way of God.  Likewise, we are tempted to call the movement of the Spirit the work of the devil when it challenges the way we think the world should be.

So, as those who consider themselves part of Jesus’ family; let us remember the values that Jesus calls us to.  The family values of our culture, our own family, our even our church, may not be the true values of Christ.  Jesus teaches new family values; values based on hospitality, love, and the kingdom of God’s justice.  Let us go out to be a voice for these new family values in our world.  Amen.

Big God

June 3^rd, 2012                             “Big God”                          Rev. Heather Jepsen

John 3:1-10 and Isaiah 6:1-13                   

          Did you know that today is a liturgical holiday?  That’s right; it’s Trinity Sunday.  Now it certainly isn’t as much fun as Christmas, and it would be a lot harder for us all to wear trinity outfits like we wore red last Sunday for Pentecost.  But, today is Trinity Sunday; it’s something to talk about, something to celebrate, or at least something different to think about before we go back to exciting “ordinary time” next week.

I find myself intrigued by this morning’s first reading from the book of Isaiah.  This is one of those strange passages that I think we sometimes wish wasn’t in the Bible.  It’s one of those crazy vision type stories where we read about six winged seraphs, giant thrones, and rooms filled with smoke.  Not something that I easily identify with; but in many ways I think that’s the point.  Scripture passages like this serve to remind us that often the God we choose to worship is too small.  The God we choose to worship is nothing like the big God that is really out there.

          Frankly I think we are satisfied with letting our God be too small.  We like to have a God that we completely understand, a God we totally know.  We like to imagine our benevolent father in heaven as an old man sitting on a golden chair.  This Gandalf look alike is excessively friendly, not scary or strange, and he only wants the best for us and would never lead us to harm.  This reading from Isaiah makes it very clear that God is not Gandalf.

          Now this is the famous call of Isaiah.  Isaiah is a priest and enters the holy temple only to be blown away by the very real and very frightening presence of God.  He sees God sitting on a giant throne, wearing a giant robe which fills the whole room.  God is attended by Seraphs which are totally other worldly Old Testament creatures.  Seraphs are not angels so we aren’t talking about cute little cherubs here.  Instead, we are talking about six winged creatures that shine like fire or are on fire, I don’t know.  Their name seraph is derived from the Hebrew word to burn.  These creatures cover their eyes with two wings so they don’t look directly at God, they cover their genitals (that’s what feet means) with two wings for modesty, and of course with the other two wings they fly.  Now, to me this reads more like one of those comic book graphic novels than the Bible.

          Isaiah sees all this and thinks, woe is me, definitely not the place for a mortal to be.  Hearing his cry, one of these fiery creatures comes over and burns his mouth with a hot coal, cleansing him from sin.  Again, this reads like something out of a science fiction novel instead of our beloved holy text.  Isaiah overhears God asking for a messenger and since he is newly cleansed of sin he eagerly cries, “Here am I; send me!”

          Now most readers end here, it is where the lectionary officially cuts off for the day, but if we keep going our picture of God grows even stranger.  When we read on, we find that Isaiah has just signed himself up for a doomed mission.  He is to preach a word that the people will not understand; a word that will dull their minds, and shut their eyes and ears.  He is to speak this word until the cities of the people lie in waste, and everyone is sent far away.  Not the kind of voyage I would volunteer for.

          This picture of God in Isaiah is strange and frightening.  God is not benevolent but is sending disaster upon the people.  God does not care for whether or not Isaiah is comfortable with the task God has assigned him.  God is not personal; rather God is simply a voice upon a giant throne in a room filled with smoke.  And God is not at all like the God we like to think of and imagine.  Frankly, the God of Isaiah 6 is a God I often chose not to think about and I would wager many of you agree with me.

          Now my job as a preacher is to find meaning in this text for our lives today.  I don’t think many of us are about to have a run in with a six winged seraph or get a hot coal in the mouth, so there has to be something else.  I think this passage helps us to remember that God is so much bigger, so much stranger, and so much more mysterious then we like to let God be.

           Now, cue the Trinity.  Trinity Sunday is the one day a year the church sets aside to think about the Trinity in worship.  The Trinity is one of those concepts that is a bit mysterious for most people.  Yeah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost but the thought process ends there for most of us.  And that makes sense, because the Trinity is a complex theological idea that not even theologians agree on.  It’s not something you’re going to read about in the Bible because the concept of the Trinity is not really in the Bible.  And frankly, you’re as likely to get a hot coal in the mouth as you are to have a direct encounter with the whole Trinity in this lifetime. 

          But, the doctrine of the Trinity does serve its purpose; only if it’s to help us better understand God, by saying we can’t understand God.  The fact that we really can’t explain the Trinity reminds us that we really can’t explain God.  We need to be reminded that our ideas about God are never 100% right and that we can never 100% know who God is.  In fact, the God of six winged beasts is as real as the God who wept at the tomb of Lazarus; it’s just that one of these images is a lot easier for us to identify with.

          The truth is that while we can know a bit about God, most of God is a mystery.  Most of God is not like us, and is not something that we could ever understand.   God is profoundly holy, profoundly untouchable, and profoundly other.  God is strange and foreign to us because we are not holy, and we are not God.  I think sometimes we forget that.  It’s much easier for us if God is all about Jesus the good shepherd rather than hot coals and voices in smoky rooms.

          Today’s first reading, from the gospel of John, is another great encounter with our big God.  Nicodemus the Pharisee has come by the cover of darkness to seek out Jesus.  He comes seeking answers, but seems to leave with nothing but questions.  Nicodemus is a religious leader, a religious authority, someone who ought to have a pretty good idea about who God is.  Jesus will blow his mind.

          Part of the misunderstanding between Jesus and Nicodemus has to do with the Greek word anothen which can mean both “again” and “from above”.  Jesus starts talking about being born from above and Nicodemus is talking about being born again.  In fact, Nicodemus gets so stuck in his limited understanding that he’s trying to imagine literally crawling back into his mother’s womb.  Then Jesus starts talking about being born in water and the Spirit, and just like in that room of smoke in the reading from Isaiah, things are starting to get hazy and make less sense.

          Jesus starts teaching Nicodemus that the Spirit is like a wind which blows where it will.  This wind of the Spirit illustrates that God is big, God is mysterious, God can’t be explained, and God can’t be controlled.  The Pharisees had a strict idea, a small idea, about who God was.  And their idea of God certainly didn’t include Jesus or this mysterious wind that was blowing around.  Poor Nicodemus is so confused that all he can say is “How can these things be?” before he wanders off back into the darkness.     

          I love Nicodemus, because like him I think we are often confused seekers.  Sometimes questions aren’t welcome in churches and so we come in the cover of darkness, trying to seek out the true nature of God.  Jesus meets us in our wanderings, but we cannot count on him to give us simple answers.  In fact, like Nicodemus and Isaiah, our encounters with God are more likely to leave us with questions than anything else.  And you know what, I think that’s a good thing.  The moment we have all the answers, is the moment we stop growing in our faith.

Now I am a firm believer that our God is a big God, a Trinitarian God, a mysterious three in one event.  Our God is not small at all, some old Gandalf in a pointy hat.  Rather, our God is a really big God, our God encompasses everything.  Our God is in the mundane from a handshake and hug with a friend and our God is in the mighty from the earthquake to the waterfall.  Our God is a God of mysterious creatures, and a God of simple people.  Our God is totally unknowable, and totally relatable.  Our God is with us all the time, and half way around the world.

          On this Trinity Sunday, I want to encourage you to open your minds and hearts to make space for a big God; a God who is not what you think or expect or even want.  A mysterious strange God who calls you on missions you may not choose, and sends you to places you might not want to go.  A God who goes on and on about the water and the spirit and this strange new birth from above.  A God who perhaps leaves you with more questions than answers.   

As you leave this worship space today and head back out into the world, I want to invite you to think about Isaiah as he partook of the burning coal and then eagerly went wherever God sent him.  I want to invite you to think of Nicodemus as he wandered off in darkness with more questions than answers.  I want to invite you to expand your mind and consider God in a new way.  This Trinity Sunday, I want to invite you to make space in your world for a big God, and leave your small God at home.  Amen.

The Miracle of the Ear

May 27^th, 2012                “The Miracle of the Ear”               Rev. Heather Jepsen

Genesis 11:1-9 with Acts 2:1 -21

          This morning we celebrate Pentecost, when the fire of the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles to mark the birth of the church.  It was a miracle of language; a miracle of hearing and speaking.  But before we discuss this miracle of communication, we must first discuss the moment when communication was thwarted.  I want to begin our story this morning in the book of Genesis, rather than Acts. 

In Genesis we find the story of the tower of Babel.  This is the first story of humankind after the flood of Noah, and people have gathered together in a unity of sorts.  They are one nation with one language and they have decided to build a great city with a tower that reaches into the heavens.  The people want unity, which is not in and of itself a bad thing, but, they are seeking power through a unity that is in opposition to God. 

A few chapters earlier, students of Genesis read of the sins of Adam and Eve; the sin of individuals.  Here we have one of the first examples of sin in community.  Just as Adam and Eve challenged the limits God placed in the Garden of Eden, this community is seeking to challenge the limits of God by reaching a tower into the heavens.  The fear of this community is that they will be scattered and lose their ability to challenge the boundaries God has laid before them. 

The Lord descends to the earth to see this tower that has been built.  And as in the story of Adam and Eve; God enters into the scene to punish those who cross the boundaries that have been set.  In this case, God scatters the people, much to their dismay, and confuses their language so it becomes harder for them to work together against God. 

In verse seven we read, “Come, let us go down, and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”  The Hebrew word for understand used here is shema’ which can also be translated as listen.  So an alternative translation of this passage is “let us confuse their language, so that they do not listen to each other.”

God confuses the people in this story so that they can not come together and challenge the limits that have been set.  It is not that God does not desire unity of people.  Unity is willed by God, but it should be based in a loyalty to God.

Now, we will fast forward to the time of Acts.  Jesus Christ has come and gone and the disciples are gathered in the new community that will be the church.  Suddenly they experience a fire from heaven and their mouths are filled with the words of other languages.  Likewise, those that can hear this miracle gather around and their ears are open to hear all the languages spoken and more.  Luke takes pains to point out how far and wide the people have come from that participate in this language event.  This is a gathering of people in a miracle of language.  This is a reversal of the dispersion that occurred at Babel.

In the story of Pentecost, humans experience the ideal speech situation.  The power of language that was lost at Babel is once again re-harnessed – but this time in the power and purpose of God.  People now have the ears to hear and the tongues to speak.  There is a fresh capacity to listen – and not to just any message, but to the word of the Lord.

          We refer to Pentecost as the birth of the church and that is expressed in the energy and life that flows from this text.  This is a time of new life; a time when people from all places were once again gathered together, as they had not been since the time of Genesis.  This is a time of universal understanding that is a God ordained reversal of the universal confusion of Babel.  God has once again intervened into the lives of humanity – but this time to bring us together rather than scatter us apart.

          This hope for unity is alive in the church today.  Though the literal tongues of fire may have burnt out, the spirit and hope of Pentecost lives on.  This hope lives on in our desire to connect with each other among our Christian communities.

          We often think of the miracle of Pentecost as a miracle of the tongue but I like to think of it as a miracle of the ear.  At the time of Babel – God scattered and separated the people.  By giving us multiple languages God made it impossible or at least very difficult for us to listen to each other.  In the miracle of Pentecost, God opened our ears to listen again.  All people were gathered together to witness and participate in a miracle of listening.  All people once more had ears to hear the message of the Lord.

          Imagine if God touched you this day with the power of Pentecost.  Not the power of tongues to fill the air with speech, but the power of the ear to listen to the message of the Lord.  If we were a people who listened, how much we would hear!  We would hear the sounds of praise to our God, from the birds of the air to the chimes of a church bell.  We would hear the words of the Lord coming from the mouths of strangers and friends.  If we had ears to hear we would listen to the message our neighbors were trying to send.  With open ears we would be able to hear those things we sometimes choose to ignore; like the cries suffering and starvation, of war and strife, of pain and fear.  And of course we would also hear sounds of joy.  From the coo of a young baby, to the blessing from a parent to a child, we would hear more clearly the joys in our world.

          This is a time of transition and new birth in the life of this church, Warrensburg First Presbyterian.  This is a time for all of us to be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit and to be willing to experience a miracle of the ear.  If we are going to work together; if I am going to be your pastor and a part of your church family, then we are going to have to listen to each other.  In many ways we are like the folks at that first Pentecost morning for we don’t really speak the same language.  Though we all speak English, I’m not from around here, and you are going to need to be patient with me as I learn about your community’s culture.  And though we both speak Christianity, we probably have some different ideas about what it means to be the church. 

This is a time when we need to trust in the Lord.  I believe in my heart that the Holy Spirit brought us together.  And just as Cretans and Arabs, Libyans and the folks from Egypt all heard one Holy Spirit that Pentecost morning, we all hear one Holy Spirit as well.  As we begin this new adventure together, as the Holy Spirit breathes new life into this church, we are going to need to open not only our ears but our eyes and our hearts to each other so that together we can discern just where God is leading this community.

On this Pentecost Sunday, our first of what will be many together, I want encourage you to be open to the working of the Holy Spirit in your life.  Pentecost is the birth of the church, and as the story of Babel tells us, we can not be the church together if we cannot listen.  I invite you to let the Holy Spirit touch you this day, with a gift of the tongue to speak the word of the Lord, and perhaps a gift of the ear to listen to the Lord in the world around you.

          May we be a people of the miracle of the ear who are able to listen to each other; a people who are able to listen to the message of God in our world.  May God touch our church, our lives, and our ears this morning with the fire of Pentecost.  Amen.