Ash Wednesday 2017, "Ambassadors of Christ"

2nd Corinthians 4: 13-6:10 Matthew 6:1-21 About seven or eight years ago, after a worship service, a trusted friend in the congregation commented that when Earle had been overloaded, our church had given he and Jane a trip to the Holy Lands as a sabbatical, and maybe I needed that. I recall quickly dismissing the idea, because I knew that when he returned, there were those who believed he would be leaving, and actually it was only about a year later that he did retire, so I did not want to encourage any similar ideas. Before going to Israel, with stress and worry over whether I was up to the trip, whether it would be safe, concerns about the two jury trials I had to be part of when returning, whether my computer and materials would make it to Texas while I was in Israel, all the plane connections, as well as the normal stresses of the church, of marriage and life: like Jacob I had put my hip out of joint. Actually it was more than that, in all humility I share with you that my father had been my role model, my pastor, my confidant and friend, as well as my father. When he died eight years ago, a stranger contacted us saying that my trusted father had had an affair and he was an illegitimate brother who had been put up for adoption. The whole story violated everything I knew about the man I had loved and trusted, it was a secret I could not accept and rejected. This Christmas I had asked for one of those Genealogical DNA Tests, and in February the results came back stating that I was not the 3rd of 4 but instead the 3rd of 5 sons. There is an importance in owning our story, owning the story of our faith, because secrets/things which are hidden, are carried on and perpetuated eternally, but when secrets are owned and brought into the light, they become only temporary. There is an importance in faith Not being about pride of station, or respect for piety, but humbly accepting the brokenness and need for communion. So I had been going to the local Physical Therapist for exercises and adjustments. This morning I returned to see him, and in surprise he described “You are so much more relaxed, your whole posture and demeanor is different. It is as if, you not only got away to a different place, but if you did not see God at least you saw where Christ lived and it effected you.” It was a marvelous experience, where 45 pastors were explicitly told we were not and could not be in charge! We stayed in the very best hotels, ate incredible foods on a Mediterranean diet, had the most plush tour bus driven by a retired Israeli Police Detective who literally could back a camel through the eye of a needle, with a Tour Guide who had been a Colonel in the 1967 War and the Primary Instructor and President of the Israeli Tour Guide Academy. We witnessed Israel and Palestine, in ways that challenge every story we as preachers thought we knew, and created something of a 5th Gospel, or at least added 3 Dimensions to the Gospels we know. But somewhere along the journey it occurred to me, that what was most powerful was that as a Reformed Protestant, a life-long Christian, both of my seminary educations and experience had all been tailored for being a Professional Leader of the Church, a Pastor, your Pastor. I had studied preaching and counseling and had over 33 years experience. But it had always been more important to me that “God so loved the World God Gave God’s Only Begotten Son;” and that “Christ died for our sins,” than it mattered where these occurred. Knowledge of the Life of Paul and the Prophets had been like knowledge of the history of Abraham Lincoln or George Washington, and preaching and teaching had been on “Trust” “Love” “Justice” “Commitment.” Suddenly, you could not escape the reality that the 2000 year old Olive Trees in the Garden of Gethsemane where we prayed on the Mount of Olives immediately outside Jerusalem, were the actual trees that were there, and this was The Garden of Gethsemane on The Mount of Olives. But also, that the same mountain that we were looking at, with the Muslim Mosque with a Golden Dome, was the place where Mohammed claimed to have gone to Heaven to receive the Koran and returned; was built atop the Place of Jesus Crucifixion and Resurrection; atop the ruins of the 2nd Jewish Temple built under Ezra, Nehemiah and Zerubbabel when the Israelites returned from Babylon; was built atop the ruins of Solomon’s Temple; built in the City of David, because David and his army had taken this fortification from the Jebusites, this was where he had seen Bathsheba on the rooftop; and this had been the same mountain on which Abraham had sacrificed Isaac; the mountain called Moriah because decades before God had told Abram to leave his home and family to go to the place God would point out, and Moriah means the “Place Pointed To.” We celebrated the Sacrament of Communion together in the actual Upper Room. We waded through the water and crawled through the underground tunnels that David had done coming up at the Pool of Siloam where Jesus had healed the Man born Blind. I am incredibly thankful that Mario, who did not simply go on a pilgrimage as I was given, but he went on a Mission trip to the Yucatan Peninsula to build a roof on the Presbytery building, to construct the foundation and walls of a church, to paint a Seminary. And as a Resident Alien, he took part in this mission aware that he might not be able to cross the border back into this Country. One of the circumstances Mario and I have spoken of several times, that we both are committed to is that Mission is and has to be a two way street. Mario has received from the Church, and from his faith and experience he is an Ambassador of Christ to the North American Church. I am also incredibly thankful, that while I was away, and Mario was away, and the circumstances of the church went on, you the Choir, the Deacons, the Elders, the Women’s Association, and Members stepped up without us directing you, to be the Body of Christ, to be the Church to one another and this community. So, I am afraid to tell you, Mario and I are both back, and neither of us is planning to go anywhere, but we are not the same as we were. Having been in Mission elsewhere, having knelt down on my knees at the foot of the Cross, we are “Ambassadors of Christ, God making God’s appeal to you through us.”