"Living Life As A New Creation" June 17, 2018

Ezekiel 17:22-24 2nd Corinthians 5: 6-17 A true story, that starts off like a joke… Once upon a time, the Chaplain at University Hospital invited a Jewish Rabbi, a Catholic Priest, Muslim Imam, a Presbyterian Pastor to answer questions of 1st year Medical Students, most of whom claimed to be Spiritual and not Religious, questions about Faith & Medicine. We thought this could have gone any number of ways: When does life Begin, When does life End, Questions of Ethics, Do we Play God? But the question the Students were most interested in was: Their understanding the importance, and the Role of Suffering for each of us. Caught unprepared, the Rabbi and the Priest were like Deer in Headlights both said, “Suffering is bad, we try to comfort those who suffer.” The Imam protested, “Suffering is Good! Suffering is important! Only by suffering can the sinner atone for their sins.” The Medical Students began shifting in their seats, getting up, afraid one or more of us might enter patients’ rooms to cause suffering. At which point, I spoke to the Rabbi about the Book of Job and how despite suffering illness, the death of children and loss of his career; despite his friends and spouse pressuring him, Job never gave up his faith. I turned to the Priest, reminding him of the Passage in Paul’s Letter to the Romans that “Suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, character produces hope and hope does not disappoint… And to the 3, that there is a powerful connection between us: Islam, Judaism, Christianity (Catholic and Protestant) in that all of us have Scriptures about the Suffering Servant, whose sacrifice for the world, brings us all closer to God. Then turned to the Students, describing that we look to Medicine, as professionals possessing an arsenal of different tools to alleviate suffering and pain. Whereas, Our emphasis is on Redemption, and What Else is needed to Heal Suffering of the Whole Person, which does not automatically come because you took out the malignancy, or healed the disease consuming life. As Religious professionals in the business of caring, No one would ever inflict pain or suffering on anyone, but it is true that Suffering changes us! Suffering allows us to appreciate Life, to hope and dream differently than we ever could have without suffering. Actually, as much as Science and Religion have fought for years over the Origin of life, what I have experienced as far more relevant, have been the times of being Recreated, of Reconciliation and Redemption, that have come because of suffering, and the ability afterward, to LIVE LIFE AS A NEW CREATION! Those in the Wednesday Evening Bible Study, recently read the whole of Ezekiel, which began with Visions/ Hallucinations of Monsters, Men with 4 heads, each of which had 4 faces, and multiple pair of Wings. Then there were Wheels, with wheels inside of wheels, all spinning in different directions, that seemed to us like gyroscopes, however the wheels were covered in eyes staring in different directions. There comes realization, that connected to Suffering is Fear, fear of the Future. After the Vision of Beasts came chapters of Nebuchadrezzar’s destruction of every Ancient Nation and Kingdom, all justified in that time in the ancient past because: the World had forgotten God, Nebuchrezzar King of Babylon brought all the powerful low, then God entered in to reclaim and rebuild as a New Creation; that this new Creation would know and listen and love the Lord God. Next follows this poem, this parable, of how God like a mighty Eagle with outstretched wings and the razor-sharp dexterity of talons, takes the top sprig, the newest growth of the tallest Cedar, and plants this sprig on the top of a mountain on top of the world. The Sprig will grow tall enough and strong enough that all the world will make its home in the branches, and all will come knowing this new creation is a gift of God. In Corinthians, Paul describes that At one time, we each saw Jesus from a human point of view, then he suffered and died for us, and was resurrected by God, so none of us can see Jesus only like that anymore! In the same way, we cannot see each other only as sinners, but each and every person as part of the Body of Christ. A hundred years ago, at the height of the Evolution Debate, Henry Sloan Coffin, the Preacher of Madison Avenue in NY preached a sermon “From the Natural to the Spiritual”, describing Nature’s desire for Primordial Species of life to crawl Up from out of the Water to live on the Land. The thickening of skin, the development of lungs as they changed from fish to mammals. The growth of hair on our bodies for warmth and covering. The use of clothing and tools. In the seas, water provides air and food and a home for young; but on land, families must be carried and nurtured and sheltered in homes, developing a societal bond between us. There is a parallel development, as we are Called by Christ suffering to struggle to grow from Evolved Natural beings to Spiritual Relationships with one another and with God. One of the greatest experiences for me with my sons was Mountain Climbing the High Peaks which included a good deal of suffering. Parker Palmer has a story of Mountain climbing like this, with his greatest fear of repelling on a rope down the side of a sheer face cliff. Palmer describes that there were three plateaus, as he stepped up to the edge of the cliff, he was told to turn around and keeping the line taught gradually lean further and further backward until you could walk down the face of the mountain. He took a first step, and having not leaned far enough his feet went out from under, he crashed into the cliff and fell to the first plateau. His spotter called out, that that was a great first try, but he had to lean further, to risk more. He took a deep breath, rapped the rope around himself and leaned out far further than the first time managing to take one step, then another, when suddenly his feet went out from under and had again fell to the next plateau. Trying the third time, he managed to step over the cliff and walk backwards down the side of the mountain, when suddenly, he realized there was the large hole of a cave beneath him, and no where to place his footing! His Spotter called out, “Now you learn the meaning of when you can’t go round it, you have to trust to go deeper in faith!” The greatest joy of being a Father, is the Joy I hope we each experience this Day… The joy of coming through life to be God’s New Creations! This Joy comes in pausing to remember and reflect upon how blessed, how very blessed we have been by God, and to be part of the Church together. Otherwise we only “exist from day to day”, and we forget what it is to Live as a New Creation of God.