July 15, 2018 "Never A Quiet Moment"

2nd Samuel 7: 1-14 Mark 6: 30-34 & 53-56 My parents owned a summer house in Northern Michigan, on a lake identical to Skaneateles. While many have questioned that anything in the world is like Skaneateles, there is no mystery in this, as my parents grew up in Syracuse and Fulton, spending time at Skaneateles, so when they went looking to build a house they went searching for something like this. Beginning the day we first saw the property, Mom kept a Journal of what happened each day, each year. We often chided her that every day during the summer included water skiing and sailing, picking strawberries and playing games long into the night. But as time went by, and there developed confusion what happened which year those Journals became known as The GOSPEL ACCORDING TO VIRGINIA. This morning Virginia’s Gospel, seems a lot like The Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, which over a three year period without saying May 31st, describe Jesus met Nathaniel who questioned if anything good could come out of Nazareth, July 1st met Fishermen on shore of the Lake, Simon and his brother Andrew, James and his brother John whose father was Zebedee; July 2nd Jesus healed a Leper, July 3rd he told a Parable about a man with two sons, July 4th a Parable about planting Seeds, On the 5th he touched 7 Lepers! July 12th Jesus healed a 12 year old and also a Woman with Bleeding for 12 years, July 13th Jesus sent out his Disciples in pairs as Apostles. Once my brothers and I grew up, the House at the Lake became a site for “BASHES”. These were annual occasions for “Home-Comings”, as we brought friends and eventually girl friends to become wives, and our own children, and late into the night Family stories would be told of the time this happened and that, as well as updating, what transpired in life’s journeys. After 30 years of these, my parents described hoping that in the future we might each return to the House separately with others, because as much fun as the Family parties were, they did not have the chance to spend time with any of us, because all of us were there. Now that the parents have been gone several years, and the Lake House sold, what Nathan described to King David seems especially appropriate, that while we thought our Family were building a Family House, installing Garbage Disposals, putting in the Dock and Boats, planting trees and flowers; what God did over those decades was to build a House of our Family. Throughout the Centuries there have been countless works of art, depicting nearly every story of the Bible. The old old Bibles had Lithograph line drawings of The Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve being Ejected and the Angel with Sword in hand; Elijah and the Contest on Mount Carmel; Warner Sallman created a familiar image of the Long-haired White robed Jesus in a lighted Garden, knocking at the knobless door to our Hearts. In another Church, a former Pastor had caused a controversy because one family had donated an 8 foot tall framed picture of the bust of a Blond-haired Blue Eyed Jesus that they wanted to be hung on the wall behind the Pulpit, and the former pastor moved it to the Library, which made the family quiet upset. When I came, I found the picture oversized for the small Library, so had it rehung in the Gathering Space as you came in and out of worship, which seemed a minor thing, but the right place and made everyone happy. But in all the Artwork, I never have seen a portrayal of the Return of the Apostles. Imagine on the shores of the Lake, an immense tree covered in hues of green leaves dancing in the breeze, and beneath the tree, eight of the apostles laying in the grass and sitting down in pairs, while the others are returning, with Jesus seated at the center rooted against the tree. Each are exhausted from their journeys, but aglow with their experience. These were fishermen who had spent their entire lives, for generations living and working on the same lake, who suddenly had seen the world! They had preached and told parables exactly as Jesus had taught, they had exhorted demons and diseases, they had witnessed miracles; and the world opened in faith! Just to the right of the canvas storm clouds are brewing, the sea beginning to churn, down low in the foreground are the fishing sailboats that brought the disciples and Jesus, across from the other-side. As you look, the Apostles each are animated in their talking, all at the same time, all trying to tell their own stories for him to hear. Instead of looking at them, Jesus is looking off to the other side. On the other-side of the Canvas, there are crowds of thousands coming, carrying those who are lame on stretchers, leading those who are blind, walking beside those hurt, seeking Jesus. If it were up to me, I think I would title the painting “Distractions” because the apostles are each distracted by their lives, the crowds are distracted by their needs, the storm clouds coming distract people with fear, Some are distracted by how to feed thousands on the hillside, AND JESUS is watching, attentive to each. We are so distracted by our own lives, by all we try to accomplish. I would go so far as to say “We each try to accomplish, to workout, our own salvation without need for God”. I am told that a new cultural tradition has begun in China, that whenever asked the Greeting question “How are you?” The polite response is to say “I am very busy.” Being Busy has become the measure of happiness and success. Whether every minute of every day, you are doing something, trying to accomplish something, rather than getting away to a quiet place by yourself. There is a wonderful old fable, that reminds us the foundational truth: How God formed every element of Creation not out of nothingness, but out of the waste and void. At each stage, God called life into being. God named what was to be and declared “AND IT WAS SO” and it was so! After all the developments, God created Man and Woman, and God was most pleased with these, because they were the most like God of all God’s creations, but also because God had breathed God’s own Spirit into them, and most of all because being in relationship to God made God happy. But the humans stopped listening, they became pre-occupied with everything in their lives, all that they wanted to do and to control as legacy to their accomplishments. Because they were not listening, it seemed that God stopped talking, stopped Creating, stopped Calling life into being. Then one Day, God vowed to speak One Last Word. All Creation became attentive, because if God was only going to say one word for all the rest of time, what word would that Be? And God spoke the name “Jesus”. And the Word became Flesh and dwelt among us. To some it was a word of folly, an outdated idea that seemed without meaning; but to others the name Jesus embodied boundless: Compassion, Empathy, Love, Grace, Mercy, Communion and Truth.