It is Easier Going Up Than it is Going Down

By The Very Rev. Sherry Crompton

February 22, 2009

Read: Mark 9:2-9

This morning I’m going to begin with a little meditation. So I ask that you close your eyes, relax, listen to my words and let your imagination put yourself in the story.

Walk up the hill with Jesus, Peter, John and James…..Feel the hot afternoon sun on your face…..Listen to feet hit the dusty path….Shoo away a few pesky bugs…You finally reach the top and wonder why you’re there…Peter opens a flask of water and passes it around….Jesus seems pre-occupied….He stands up and looks to the sky….The warm, still air makes you sleepy….Suddenly you notice Jesus’ clothes becoming blindingly white, so bright they hurt your eyes…Two other men appear and stand talking with Jesus…You hear Peter speaking, but you are too terrified to move….abruptly, the brightness is dimmed by a cloud moving overhead….From the cloud comes a strong voice….”This is my son, the Beloved; listen to him!”….Then, only Jesus.

Now, open your eyes. What struck you about putting yourself into the story? We did this in bible study and some of the sharing revealed a sense of it being a regular, ordinary day and in the midst of the ordinary something extraordinary happened. And the sense of being a child tagging along and being able to see in a way that sometimes only children can, that God is truly present in our ordinary life.

If you’ve ever done hiking and climbed up a steep hill or mountain you know that it is easier going up than it is going down. It is much harder on the knees going down and not as easy to sense whether you have a secure foothold on the way down. I think there is something to this transfiguration happening on top of the mountain before the trek back down.

We don't use that word, transfigured, much in our conversations today, so let me tell you a little about it. The New Testament was written originally in Greek, and the Greek word used here is metemorphothe -- (meta-mor-FOE-theh) which is where we get our word metamorphosis.

We don't use that word, metamorphosis, very often either, so let me tell you about it. Metamorphosis literally means a change of body. The best example is a caterpillar -- not the big yellow bulldozers, but the green creepy worms.

Calling a caterpillar a worm isn't very exact, but it's close enough for me. If you're a gardener, you prefer not to have caterpillars on your plants, because caterpillars eat plants. They eat voraciously. They eat everything in their path.
But the reason that they eat so voraciously is that they are storing up energy for a great big change. At just the right time, a caterpillar will spin a silk-like cocoon -- with the caterpillar inside. You've probably seen a caterpillar's cocoon. Sometimes the caterpillar will affix the cocoon to a tree -- or a house -- or it might suspend the cocoon by a thread from a tree limb.

But that isn't the big deal. The big deal is what comes next. What comes next, as most of you know, is that at the right time the caterpillar will start to struggle inside that cocoon. After a long struggle, the caterpillar will break through the cocoon to once again emerge into the world. But when it does, it will no longer be an ugly caterpillar. It will be a beautiful butterfly. It won't crawl anymore. It will fly. Gardeners will no longer be afraid of it, but will be delighted when it visits their gardens. In fact, some gardeners plant special bushes to attract butterflies.
That's what metamorphosis means. That's what transfiguration means. It's a change -- a big change -- a huge change.

Brice Hughes recently moved from full-time hospice work to full-time parish ministry. Hughes has been at the bedside of many persons who have had experiences of "seeing past the veil." He writes, Among our hospice, we frequently explained this with the metaphor that as one nears death, the boundary between this life and the next becomes thinner, more permeable...We have had our patients report lots of visits. Several of them have reported visits from Jesus; others have visits from passed-on family members. A fascinating number (men and women) have reported feeling the presence of babies in their bed. (Wonder what the meaning of "babies" is?)

At any rate, after over three hundred deaths in our hospice, all of the Near Death Experiences have resulted in an increase of the sense of peace. One patient I became particularly close to had a typical experience. While in the hospital, (he was not a hospice patient), his heart stopped. Aggressive intervention returned his heartbeat. When I came on-shift the next day, he had been moved to ICU. As I entered his bay, his face broke into a big grin. The first words out of his mouth were: "I've seen the light." He described a fairly typical Near Death Experience: bright light, overwhelming sense of peace, etc. The upshot of this...was that he insisted his doctor issue a "Do Not Resuscitate" Order. To get his doctor to make him a No Code, he practically had to twist the doc's arm. He was THAT convinced by what he had witnessed.

When Jesus took his disciples to the mountaintop they came to see Jesus "in a different light." The Jesus who accompanied them down the mountain was profoundly different from the Jesus who led them up there. And even though they did not fully understand what had happened to them, they knew that THEY were not the same men who had followed Jesus up the mountain. Jesus gave his disciples the mountaintop gift to
help prepare them for the challenges to come.

Not all of us have these sorts of events in our lives. But enough people have had these experiences, that it makes me think there is indeed something to it. And reminds me of Jesus’ words, “blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed”

One could say that Jesus was transfigured with a disappointing conclusion. God said “listen to him.” That was it, listen to him. And it was over, and they came down the mountain to life as we all know it. In our reading from the Hebrew scriptures today Elijah was taken up in a whirlwind and there was Elisha, left seemingly alone to return to life as we all know it.

But I think that’s the point. That in our very ordinary seeming lives, if we listen closely and if we keep our eyes open we may see the glory of God, the face of Jesus around us. When we close our eyes at night to sleep and we review our day, what do we see. Do we recognize the blessings we had, or do we focus on what went wrong?

Finally, a story about a shipwreck. The lone survivor washed up on a small, uninhabited island. He cried out to God to save him; and every day he scanned the horizon for help, but none came. Exhausted, he eventually managed to build a rough hut and set up a place where he could at least sleep and try to survive. But one day, after wandering off to hunt for food, he came back to find his little hut in flames, the smoke rolling up into the sky. The worst had happened, and he grieved and despaired. Early the next day, however, a ship drew near the island and rescued him. "How did you know I was here?" he asked the crew. "We saw your smoke signal," they replied.

God speaks in the midst of our everyday lives; God speaks into the middle of our messes; God speaks in the ordinary. May we remain open to hearing and listening to that voice. God’s promises are real and may we live in the hope of everlasting life. Amen.

We Can't Lose

By The Very Rev. Sherry Crompton

February 8, 2009

Read: Isaiah 40:21-31 and Mark 1:29-39

We hear again this week about healing and demons in Mark’s gospel. Here in Coatesville, we are still faced with the terroristic acts of an arsonist or arsonists. It is difficult to sleep well at night, wondering about each little sound that is heard in the darkness. We don’t know what motivates someone to do this to an entire community; what we do know is that this person or persons is sick. Makes us wonder about these words in Mark regarding possession.

How do we live in the face of this? Our reading from Isaiah gives us answers. “He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

A former police officer with the Los Angeles Police Department tells how the Department would demonstrate to rookie officers the value of the bullet-proof vests they’d been issued. The vests were placed on mannequins and then officers would fire round after round into the vests. The rookies were asked to check to see if any of the rounds had penetrated the vests.

Invariably the vests would pass the test with flying colors. Vernon would turn to the rookie officers and ask, "So who wants to wear a vest and let us test how it works on you?

How many of you would put on those vests and allow marksmen to take a shot at you? I don’t blame you. You could cover my entire body with that armour – and I’d still hesitate to put it on and let them shoot at me.

Why?

Because it’s one thing to "say" 'I have faith.' It’s quite another to actually act on that faith.

There are many things in this world that can threaten our feeling of safety and security. The plans, goals and the things that we desire in life can too often be threatened by powers beyond our own strength.

We might lose our jobs, our financial security, our friendships, our loved ones, our sense of well-being because of health problems, or our feeling of peace and calm because of outside pressures and threats beyond our control - like the current situation here.

At times like these it’s easy to panic. It’s easy to take our eyes off God’s faithfulness and begin to look around for other forms of power and security.

But throughout Scripture God’s message has always been to his people: "Trust me." "Put your faith in my promises." "Rely on me."

Isaiah says just this to God's people, "Israel, why then do you complain that the Lord doesn't know your troubles or care if you suffer injustice? Let me set the scene.

Judah was a very small kingdom surrounded by larger and more powerful nations. One of them was the powerful kingdom of Babylon. It had a fearsome army and a reputation of destroying any nation in their path… and Judah was smack dab in Babylon’s way as it extended its borders.

The people of Judah felt vulnerable, weak and threatened. It was difficult to ignore the dangers that surrounded them.

They saw that they needed every advantage against such a formidable enemy and so they sought to strengthen themselves by praying to the gods of neighbouring nations and making alliances with these pagan nations. Why would they do this?

This was Judah. They were people of God. Why on earth would they turn their back on God and seek out other sources of power?

Now, I think it’s easy to sympathize with these people. They lived in a very real world filled with very real dangers. They were afraid. They needed help from wherever they could get it. They were fully aware of how ruthless and destructive the Babylonians could be. They couldn’t ignore the dangers that surrounded them.

I don’t think it is any different for us. There are times when our happiness and inner peace are threatened. Like now with the arson situation. Or, perhaps you may feel as if there is nothing left in your marriage. Or perhaps there is no joy left in your work. Maybe you feel down hearted about the path your children are taking. It’s easy to become depressed about the havoc that sin causes in our lives. You are upset about what you have said and done. You are despondent about the same old temptation that you fall into again and again.

Whatever it is that is unsettling you, it’s good to remember that God has had plenty of experience with people who are fearful, discouraged and upset.

Think about the disciples of Jesus out on a lake in a wild storm. Even though Jesus was there in the boat sleeping peacefully, they were convinced that the wind and the waves would overwhelm them and they would all drown. They even believed that Jesus didn’t care what happened to them. They woke him saying, "Don’t you care that we are about to die?"

You know that’s the same question that God's people asked in the Old Testament – "Lord, our enemies are surrounding us, don’t you care that we are about to be crushed by this Babylonian giant?"

And the answer that the prophet gives is one that is worth reading again and again when it seems that our troubles are more than we can bear.

‘O Israel, how can you say the LORD does not see your troubles?
How can you say God refuses to hear your case?
Have you never heard or understood?
Don't you know that the LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth?

He never grows faint or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to those who are tired and worn out; he offers strength to the weak. Even youths will become exhausted, and young men will give up. But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint’ (Isaiah 40:27-31 NLT).

One of my favorite pieces of scripture: ‘Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles’

A friend shares this story about eagles:

We are often privileged to see eagles soaring in front of our house –– usually in the distance, but occasionally up close. Yesterday we were sitting around the dinner table in front of our kitchen window when an eagle came soaring over our front yard –– in and among the trees. I was the first to see it. I pointed, and my family turned to look. We marveled together at the eagle's majestic size and effortless grace. It was one of those "hold your breath" moments ––like having a large plane thunder over your roof –– except that the eagle flew silently.

Some years ago, we were visiting a trout hatchery in the California hills when an eagle suddenly swooped down to scoop up a trout from the water only a few feet from us. We had no idea what was happening, and it was like an explosion in our midst. A lead weight couldn't have dropped so quickly out of the sky –– this was powered flight –– a dive-bombing eagle.

Later, we remembered hearing the eagle's wings shattering the air –– but we heard them only for an instant. And we remembered the eagle striking the water and grabbing the fish –– that was the explosion. And then the eagle was once again high in the sky. The whole process took only a couple of seconds. The eagle's power was awe-inspiring –– and just a bit frightening. But the power of eagles is nothing compared to God’s power –– and it is God who empowers those who wait upon him. That is the promise.

The people of Judah thought God had abandoned them or was too weak or far too removed to be bothered with their problems. And so Isaiah gives the people a reality check.

"What’s wrong with you guys?

Don’t you know? Haven’t you heard? Hasn’t anyone told you that God can do anything? If he can create the universe, if he is able to not only make the stars but also knows how many there are and does a daily check on them even though there are millions upon millions of them. Because God's power is so great and he loves and cares for his creation, it follows then that his love for you and his concern for you in the middle of all your problems is unquestionable. We need only look at the cross and we can see just how much God loves us – there he died for us, unworthy though we are, and there on the cross he gave us forgiveness for our sin and hope for the future.

One of the great movies of all time was the 1959 epic Ben Hur. One of the movie’s most riveting scenes is where Charlton Heston (Ben Hur) defeated his arch enemy in a chariot race. The scene required 5 weeks of filming, 15,000 extras, and 18 chariots.

To add to the spirit of authenticity Charlton Heston actually learned to drive the chariots he’d be using in the race. But after weeks of practice, Heston was worried about the shoot. He confided in the stunt coordinator: "I can drive the chariot, but I’m not sure I can win."

The stunt man smiled and replied: "Chuck, you just make sure you stay in the chariot, and I’ll make sure you win the race."

Heston had made the mistake of thinking that he actually had to win the race by his own power and skill. He had forgotten that the outcome had already been decided. It was in the script. He couldn’t lose!

And really that’s what God is trying to get us to see in Isaiah 40. With God on our side, we can’t lose. The script has already been written – written in the blood of Jesus, you might say, the blood that reminds us that we are God's special and chosen people and that he will never give up on us. We might be scared out of our wits by events that threaten our safety. We might be disappointed in ourselves. We might grow weary, tired, disheartened and exhausted. We might even be tempted to give up.

But we have a God who never gets tired of caring for us and loving us. Even when we think that he isn’t close to us and in fact, find it hard to feel that closeness – his promise is as certain as ever.

Let’s hear it again.

Those who trust in the Lord for help
will find their strength renewed.
They will rise on wings like eagles;
they will run and not get weary;
they will walk and not grow weak.

Amen.

Jesus' Spirit Within Us

By The Very Rev. Sherry Crompton

February 1, 2008

Read: Mark 1: 21-28

I’m not sure where to begin with today’s gospel reading. Jesus is in a holy place, a synagogue, where the people were astounded because he teaches as one with authority. And then a man with an unclean spirit, in the synagogue, recognizes Jesus for who he is, the Son of God. And Jesus commands that spirit to be silent, and come out of the man. Again, the people recognize Jesus as one who has authority; while saying “what is this?"

So, this story of Mark’s has something to do with authority and where true authority comes from. And it certainly has something to do with good and evil – unclean spirits.

What is unclean? Unclean can mean dirty, soiled. For example, a dirty cup needs to be washed before it can be used again…or a second definition: lacking moral, spiritual or physical cleanliness. And Mark’s unclean spirit was in a man who was in church – he was in a holy place, a synagogue. What does a man with an unclean spirit look like today?

With the arsons here in Coatesville, we can clearly see that person or persons as having an unclean spirit. The actions are clearly evil. But it is often much more subtle and pervasive than our arsonist, or arsonists are currently showing us.

I think the man with an unclean spirit can look like any of us, quite frankly. Perhaps the better question to ask here is, “what, living in us, would cause us to convulse if Jesus told it to be silent?”

Keith Miller wrote "Habitation of Dragons"; it’s a book of Lenten meditations about naming the "dragons" within. He said that to name them was to exert control over them. And in these very personal and transparent vignettes, Keith Miller reveals the struggles and subtle temptations that beset him, a "successful" Christian author and lecturer. His honest appraisal of his own failings prompts a more thorough soul-searching of our own "dragons". Frequently, while describing his own struggles with insecurities, anxiety, escapism, pride, self-doubt and ordinary family challenges, we can recognize the similarities in our own lives.

There is a native American story that I’ve shared before, but is well worth repeating:

A grandfather and grandson were out hunting one early morning, and they came upon a ridge on the mountain.... over the ridge was a large clearing below, where at a distance, they could see two wolves fighting furiously.

They watched as the wolves attacked each other in battle. The grandfather narrowed his eyes, and said slowly, "Ah, yes.... this is the way with all of us Human Beings, within our hearts, each and every day."

The grandson asked, "What do you mean, grandfather?", to which the old one replied; "Always in our hearts, every day, is a struggling battle, like those two wolves down there.... one is the wolf in us who wishes to do bad things, and the other is the wolf who wishes to do good and honorable things."

The grandson listened more intently now, with a look of slight recognition, and deep concern. The grandfather continued...."Sometimes, the bad one seems to win.... and other times, the good one seems to take a stronger lead. When we see honorable people who do great deeds, and make great sacrifices for the good of others, we know that the good wolf's spirit is strong within his heart, and is the winning spirit in that Human Being. Each good and honorable deed he does gives this spirit more power within him. This in turn, empowers the Human Being to be more honorable."

The boy smiled, as the grandfather continued to speak...."But when we see those people who turn to badness, and hatred, doing terrible and dishonorable things, we can know that the bad wolf within him is strong - and each bad and wrongful deed he does, gives the bad wolf more power over him, until it has won, and has utterly consumed him."

The young one's face fell with a look of slight, shuddering inner fear.

So the boy thought long and hard on these things, as he continued to watch the wolves battling below. They both battled fiercely, giving no quarter - neither one backing down. Seeing this, he looked within himself, and saw the truth of his wise grandfather's words, and it made him very concerned for himself with a great, deep fear.

"But grandfather," said the boy, "How will I know which wolf will win within me??"

The grandfather smiled, looked at him with an understanding eye, and after a moment, told him, " ....the one that you FEED."

Dr. Erich Fromm, also addresses this tendency for the good to get better and the bad to get worse. He says:

Our capacity to choose changes constantly with our practice of life. The longer we continue to make the wrong decisions, the more our heart hardens; the more often we make the right decision, the more our heart softens—or better perhaps, comes alive.

A wandering preacher in a non-descript fishing village in the middle of an economic melt-down picks up a bit of scripture and teaches from a point of radical love. Having authority through the extreme love that seems to always be connected to the margins, always struggling for justice, always looking to make a way out of no way for those nobodies who often seem in the way.

Not much different from a young preacher who writes from a Birmingham jail in the columns of a discarded newspaper, reminding the scribes of his day that “love of God” can never be “love of God” if it remains disconnected from “love of neighbor.” Not much different than a Hispanic pastor pointing breathlessly at his brothers and sisters and demanding that they be known not as “illegals” but as “human.”

And then I read a story about Maya Angelou, who went to a conference in Texas. The theme was "Facing Evil." A man stood up and said:

I really have seen evil.
I have felt its force.
I went to Germany
and I went into the concentration camps.

To which Maya Angelou responded (with an indignant tone):

Do you mean to tell me
that we've come from all over the world
and we're going to talk nonsense?
You had to go to Germany,
you here in Texas who refused Mexican-Americans a chance to vote,
you who don't want them to even live next to you,
you have your own history of slavery --
you had to go to Germany?
I don't wanna hear it!"

Maya Angelou was right. We don't have to look very far to find evil.

Some years ago, Max Lerner made this statement. He said:

Our demonic civilization
is like a painted face on a balloon.
As the balloon swells,
the face becomes more and more monstrous.
If we take it at face value
we will be terrified....
But actually it is hollow within.
One pinprick will destroy it.

That pinprick comes from radical love. Healing is the result of love. It is a function of love. Where there is love there is healing.

Jesus teaches us how to love; how to live in community with each other. Remember the first and greatest commandment: To love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind and the second is like unto it. Love your neighbor as yourself.

Jesus spoke as one having authority. “Authority,” in the best sense of the word, is persuasive, it doesn’t need nor does it depend on threats of force. People gravitate toward genuine authority because it is persuasive, because it speaks to the heart, because genuine authority is recognized as being different, it’s recognized as having come from above.

So, Jesus is different from the scribes, because Jesus is said to teach with “authority.” Jesus’ authority comes from above. He is rightly identified by the demon as, “the Holy One of God.” Jesus’ authority is a derived authority, it comes directly from God.

The food available to feed the good wolf within each of us comes from above, it is the food of hope and grace whose singular nutritional authority comes from God. We do not have the power to overcome evil on our own. In fact, left to our own devices we would probably choose evil more often than good.

Far from being the self-righteous hypocrites the world paints Christians out to be, we know all too well our own capacity for evil and our own need for forgiveness. It’s when we meet Jesus that we are perpetually astounded by the food of hope and grace.

It is the “Holy One of God” who has the authority to call evil out of us, to forgive us, and to transform us.

And it’s as we leave this place and follow the light out into the world that we are given the authority to speak, and live, and heal in ways that feed a hungry world.

Spirit of the Living God, fall fresh on me; fall fresh on us; feed Your spirit within us. Amen.