"Variations on a Theme", April 22, 2012

Luke 24:13-48 Acts 3: 12-19 Next Sunday, we have the honor of debuting an original musical composition for Handbells from a world renowned composer! As I understand, our Bell Director was moved by a Call to Worship, we had shared, about Invitation to Worship, Invitation to share at Table in the Company of God! Composer Kevin McChesney was then inspired to create variations on the theme of that Invitation which, I had repeated from a poem by Tom Troegger. Many of the world's great compositions are Variations on a Theme. I am told that Franz Liszt, Brahms, Rachmaninoff and Benny Goodman all created individual works of art as variations on a theme from composer Paganini. One way of thinking about life is that we are perpetually responding to and creating variations on themes of what has happened in our lives; and also that these then become the basis for others to go forth creating variations on our themes. The basis of psychiatry is understanding the variations of our story, and the root cause beneath all the various themes. The great disconnect of the 21st Century is that all Creation is repeating dominant themes of fear. What do we do when leaders are caught in scandals? What do we do if Planes fall from the skies, and skyscrapers come tumbling down? What do we do when businesses too large to fail, fail? When Blue Chip investments are filled with red Ink? In a society where 50% of marriages end in divorce, will our love last? When Empires as old as Greece collapse, what are we to do? All these various themes seek climax and conclusion. We said the great disconnect of the 21st Century, because the recurrent underlying theme of Creation is that the God of Adam, the God of Noah, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and Jacob, the God of Moses, the God of Love and Covenant Commitment, known to us in Jesus of Nazareth cannot be stopped, cannot be prevented from loving us. No matter what! This is a theme without resolution, the theme of love keeps playing over and over again. No power, no government, no height, nor depth, not angels or monsters, or terrorists, or economies, can ever resolve or separate us from the love of God. The counterpoint is these two themes working themselves out. God loves us, God will always love us. And our continual variation of fears, attempting to dominate and control and seek nice neat resolution. After hearing and living with the Covenant promise, not just for years, or for Centuries, but as measured in the rise and fall of Empires. From the time of King Tut's Great Grandfather, at the height of the Egyptian Empire, through Generations of being Nomads in the Wilderness; through the time of the Jebusites and Hittites and Amorites of the Canaanite Empires; through the rise and fall of Israel's King Saul, and the Dynasties of David and Solomon in all his Glory, through the conquering invasions of the Assyrian Empire, then the Babylonians, the Medes and the Greeks and the Romans under Caesar. Through all this time, Israel had heard the recurrent theme of God's love, God's never failing love. When suddenly came the incarnation, the physical reality, of a common man, a Carpenter of Nazareth, who demonstrated the reality of that love, that never failing love. Crowds heard him preach, and teach, and saw the reality of healing. But as leaders do, the leaders of his time were filled with fear. What happens if we lose power? What happens to our power, if greater powers than we become afraid of him? The fears of society had him arrested for inciting people. He was tried and put to death for claiming to be a King, not of this world, but of having power and truth this world did not understand. The world saw this man of promise die. Being lifeless his cold dead corpse was taken down and buried. In the silence, we hear the recurrent variation of the theme of love. John and Simon Peter heard it in the silence at the tomb. Mary Magdalene heard the tune of never failing love in Jesus calling her name. Two among the company had said, I need a break! I need to get out of town! I am going for a walk, riding a bike around the lake, let's watch a game, how about a swim, wanna go to a movie, shopping? Emmaus is Avoidance. What ever we do, to get away from it all. To let our minds rest, to recoup and gather strength for facing the ever recurrent dominant themes of this world. Yet even when trying to get away from it all, on the way to Emmaus, they were accompanied by Jesus, the incarnation of God's love.The funny part about musical compositions, is that at times, it seems we get lost in playing with the variations, we become so caught up with where we are, we forget to recognize the underlying theme. Suddenly in the breaking of the bread, later that evening in the upper room, they saw Jesus. Simon Peter, who himself had knuckled under to the dominant themes and denied Jesus not just once but over and over three times, developed his own variation on the theme of never-failing love, a recurrent theme that named denial, named betrayal and persecution and death, in order to work itself out. In response to the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, Peter had begun to preach this theme, and in response 3000 people were converted in a single day. This day, Peter and John who had been the two running to the tomb the morning of the Resurrection, who had been the two who had heard and believed the theme even in the silence before it had been repeated by Mary and the others, these two had been out walking. It was weeks after Passover, days following Pentecost, they were in Jerusalem, walking along beside the Temple to God built by Solomon, met a crippled beggar who asked for help. The variation that happens here, is that Peter recognizes it was not his power to make this man whole. It was not the power of the water, not any power other than the one the people of Israel had known all along. The God of Adam, of Noah, The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and Jacob, the God of Moses, the never failing covenant love of God known to us all through Jesus of Nazareth had healed this man. Everyone, the Government, the leaders, the people themselves, including Peter had all denied God, had all denied the ever recurrent theme of love. Yet here was evidence that despite the denial, despite all the dominant themes of fear, all the competing themes trying to work out their own business and control, still there was the love, the never failing love, known to all creation in Jesus Christ.