"Focused On A Distant Shore" December 01 2013

Isaiah 2: 1-5 Matthew 24:33-44 Karlene and Bill Miller in our membership had a grandfather, whose name was Karl Barth in the 1920's – 1950's he was among the most well-known and respected of theologians. Karl Barth described that “We need to prepare for each day with the Bible in one hand and the Newspaper in the other.” Christian Faith must be grounded in Reality! The problem we have is that not only are people no longer familiar with reading the Bible daily, there are not newspapers printed to read! Our Bible lessons reference a Time/Space shift in REALITY, the times we live in, and the times to come. What a pertinent message for today! Because what are all the Reality shows about, if not creating new realities? Whether Inventions, Game Shows or Talent Competitions, Cooking Challenges, or Survival on deserted islands, the goal is $1,000,000 and the challenges to Reality based on what you are willing to do and what $1,000,000 will do to you. What are the political parties, if not opposing ideologies of which reality to create? Why do we have Christmas pageants, if not for an instant to glimpse our child in wings and a halo as being an angel? Jesus' reference point, according to Matthew, is that this is a future reality, different from what we have known, and yet could be at any moment, so we need to prepare. We have not been reading Isaiah, and he is a different kind of Prophet. Both Chapter 1 and chapter 2 begin “The Word that Isaiah the son of Amoz Saw” Isaiah was a High Priest at the temple in Jerusalem, the son of the High Priest, he is a figure grounded in history. But he speaks differently than we do, most often we expect the verb related to what the prophet did related to a word to be HEARD or SPOKE, or Shouted or Sang, but the Word which the Prophet Isaiah SAW is odd, suggesting a different reality. Prophecy is not the reading of Tea Leaves, or the Forecasting of Horoscopes by Astrological Signs; Prophecy is encountering a different sense of reality about the world we know. In Chapter 1, Isaiah describes seeing continued wars in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel. Isaiah sees in the present time, Royalty and Governments so fixated on War, on creating International Realities, that the needs of the poor, of widows and the aged and children, go unfunded and unmet. Up until this point Isaiah could be Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Micah, or the news of our day, whether told by CNN, FOX or BBC, but in Chapter 2 Isaiah sees a different reality to come. Where currently the currents of rivers flow down from mountains, with the exception of The Finger Lakes and Nile, rivers flow from North to South; the WORD Isaiah saw is of all waters and all peoples flowing up to the Mountain of God. English does not translate other languages with the same nuance. Where our translations describe “In the Present Time, and In the Latter Days,” Hebrew describes “the days to come are heavy laden,” the literal meaning is “Time is Pregnant!” Now believe it or not, I have never actually been pregnant. But I have known many who have been, who describe in the months before birth, a sudden awareness that something, a different being/ another reality is moving inside you. Not gas, not stomach grumbling, but a foot pressing outward, a weight lying upon your internal organs, a rhythmic touch from inside. From that moment onward, your life is never the same. Your sleep, your hungers, your worries, your reality has a different point of reference. One of my family's favorite activities in the summer has always been sailing. One of my first memories was after having heard about sailing all my life, one day at the age of three, I was told we were going sailing. I had a new pair of rubber soled shoes. A great orange life preserver was put over my head and strapped round my waist, tied at my chest, and I was lifted from the dock and deposited upon the seat. Where we were told not to move, not to stand up unless told to, that there were no seat belts, so hang on to something even if it is your brother. Initially as we left the mooring we moved with speed and direction, but after a time the vessel rocked very gently and rhythmically almost putting you to sleep. Suddenly the wind came up, the waves began crashing against the hull, and splashing over the deck, even tossing and throwing over each other. As children, we began to look a little green, when suddenly we heard the voice instruct us to sit up straight and point your face into the wind until you could fear the whisper of the wind the same in both ears. Then we were told to look straight ahead and find a spot, some point of reference on the distant shore that would be constant, even though the waves and sky and the boat were moving. With a constant point of reference on the distant shore, with the wind whispering equally in both ears, looking ahead instead of closing your eyes and going with the flow, our stomachs settled, excitement and enthusiasm for what we experienced returned. Living into the Advent of a different Reality requires finding new points of reference to focus upon. New Reality, whether changes in society, economics, technology and culture, or whether embracing marriage and the raising of children, or new careers and vocations in a different place, all are about the Advent of a New Reality. When I counsel couples about getting married, I give them a homework assignment. In part, because as human creatures we learn by establishing new routines, by doing. So if they work at the homework, they may continue this after they move into their new reality. The Homework is to go out on a date together, and not talk about the wedding. To try to have fun together. To try to romance each other and act lovingly. We cannot simply flow along through life, and expect to arrive at a different reality. To prepare for the Advent of a different reality, we must work at it. Beating Swords into Plowshares and Spears into Pruning Hooks, is not about abandoning War to become Farmers. What the Hebrews following Moses and Joshua did not understand and do when they left being Slaves of Pharaoh, when they left being Nomads in the Wilderness, when they came into and took possession of the Promised Land of Milk and Honey, was to work at reforming their tools and identities and relationships for a different reality. There were very clear demarcations. All of the Firstborn were slaughtered, the Red Sea parted for them then closed to seal the fate of those pursuing to destroy. There were rituals and festivals and feasts. There was the Passover, the leaders took twelve stones from the Jordan to place as a cairn marker, they were circumcised for life among a different people. But the people of God did not perceive that they might need to be different in a different reality. I believe we made a horrible and tragic series of mistakes in our past history. At the time of Napolean, when Andrew Jackson was President, and Lewis and Clark were setting out to explore the world, pioneers and settlers floated upon rafts to create a new life here in this new nation. The War for Independence was fought from 1775 until September 1783. In less than 20 years this area at the north end of Skaneateles lake as far distant as Elbridge, Sennett and Marcellus had been claimed as farms and Missionaries from New Hampshire came to evangelize and organize. The first mistake in retrospect, is that we claimed the identity of being the Schaneateles Religious Society. Time and again, we have returned to problems of religion, which separate and divide us, which focus on ritual and curriculum, rather than on our being a Community of Faith, a People of God. We gathered regularly to share as a community in confessing our sins and worship of God, in teaching to read, interpret and apply the Bible, and resolving the conflicts that naturally arise between people as a Court. The second great error that we made was abandoning that identity and practice, to become a church, accepting a legal system of judges and courts of law. Because the original focus of the Courts as the Community was not on who had done wrong, who was going to jail or paying a settlement. The whole purpose of the Courts was to air our conflicts so as to forgive one another. The point of that reality was not on power, or prestige, or rights, but that if we are a Spiritual Communion, if we are the body of Christ then when we do harm when we speak evil against one another, we do so against God. The people flowing to the Mountain of Israel, was for all people to be brought to God. There is a great American Painting, titled The Peaceable Kingdom, in which Lion and Lamb lay together, and in addition to all the creatures of Jungle co-existing, the Iroquois and Pilgrims are trading. Would that we could create a new work of art The Teachable Kingdom with all people learning from one another about God.