"Spiritual Amnesia" February 8, 2015

Isaiah 40:21-31 Mark 1:29-39 What is our purpose? What awes and inspires you? What is there that makes you feel alive, aware? Fish were created to swim. Birds were designed for singing and flying. Mountains form the horizons of our world. Trees and flowers provide photosynthesis, pollens for insects, homes for all nature to rest in. What is our purpose? Not only as Christians but as human beings, why are we here? Is our purpose to make money? We spend a great deal of our lives focused on that. Is our purpose to give birth and raise children? Who are we then once they are gone and what of those unable? Is our purpose to rule, to dominate, to war? If so will we ever be satisfied, can we be happy? What is there which awes and inspires you? Do you remember your Baptism your Confirmation? Do you recall your Wedding day? Do you remember the birth of your children? Do you remember when you first came to this church? Do you remember, or have we become so blinded by what's next, accumulating experiences that we forget who we are, who God is, what has been meaningful? The dilemma of not knowing our purpose, is perpetual searching for what might satisfy, what will make us happy, who are we? Not knowing, we add to our stress, both in not knowing / but also in pursuing stressors which can never satisfy. If our goal is to breathe under water, we may become better able to stay under water than anyone else in the world, but still we are not fish. If our goal is to fly, we may find the ability to soar, we may be able to travel round the world and venture into space, but we need to find a place to land because we are earthlings, humans of the humus. Our stress at life, our search for identity and purpose and satisfaction, all relate back to the question what inspires you, what awes you, what is there that touches who we are and yet also surpasses and fulfills. Our struggle with mastery of so many things, is we have developed spiritual amnesia. Having forgotten that there is a God, we have taken on the role of being God to ourselves, and just like choosing to be a fish, or flower or bird, it is a lovely dream but denies our limits and fails to fulfill all that we could be by our nature. In CNY we have developed means of coping with our environment, we plow the sidewalks, we use front-end loaders and dump trucks to haul the snow to the lakes, our blood thickens to cope with the cold, our vision acclimates to discern among the 50 shades of grey, and we learn to take Vitamin D to compensate for the lack of sun, so as to be able to absorb the calcium we need. In the dark of night, when skies are clear and we are away from street lights, we learn to chart our way by recognizing stars and constellations. Because as close as many stars as we can see in the heavens, there are spaces between, voids of waste and nothingness allowing our imaginations to connect the dots of the clusters we do see. In 1990, the Hubble Telescope was put into service, allowing humanity to search the voids, to see what is beyond our vision, to know what is in the blackness. What we learned was that these were not voids at all, but that beyond what we had seen and known were solar systems and galaxies as yet unseen. As awesome and amazing as these images are, we have not found anything else like us. There was a time, in which particularly as Presbyterians we memorized the Westminster Catechism. We did so, not simply as a way of teaching Confirmation Class, or to explain the relevance of God, but to explain who we are, why we are, and what our purpose is in life. The first question of the catechism was “What is the Chief End of Humanity? What is your greatest purpose in life?” The answer was to love God and praise God forever. Our purpose as human creatures is that simple. But having amnesia about God, and amnesia about our need for what awes, what inspires, we have all been searching without finding. Expanding our universe and pushing the edges of knowledge, we still return to the basic question: Do we remember who we are and what is our purpose? The First Testament Prophet Isaiah describes all the things that the nation of Israel had tried, their worship of fads and vanities and idols of their own creation, their seeking after what other nations had and trying to be like other nations. In Chapter 40 God asks “ Have you not known, have you not heard, has it not been revealed to you from the dawn of the universe: God alone is God, God created the world, making Rulers and Princes as nothing. The Lord is the everlasting God, the source of all wisdom. Even youth grow weary and fall exhausted, but those who wait for the Lord renew their strength.” Part of standing outside before worship is serving as Pastor to the whole Village, blessing folks as they go by, greeting those in need. One of the great joys is watching the children who skip on their way to worship, and those who ride their bikes and scooters, those who call out the windows as their families drive in “Good Morning Pastor Lindsey.” Or Pastor Mario in the midst of worship to proclaim “Hello Church!” To love God and praise God for ever, it is just that simple. Most of us in the 21st Century read these passages from Mark rather incredulous. Simon and Andrew bring Jesus to their home, where Simon's Mother-in-Law lays ill with a fever, Jesus cures her and she gets up out of bed to serve them! Jesus encounters a leper, who entreats Jesus “If he cares” he could heal him, and Jesus says “I Care.” But in context they mean a great deal more. Mark's point is not that Jesus healed this woman SO she could serve the men; but rather when she was well, she had the joy of a host welcoming honored guests into her home. Imagine, you are sick with a high fever and there are no antibiotics, no doctor to go to, you endure and you either get well or die! And most people, when they had an infection, any infection, died. Now instead imagine, how you feel when hosting guests in your home, the honor and joy you feel at sharing what you can do with guests. This is the change that happens to her, and it happens because Jesus cared enough to not ignore her, to not leave her as she was, but to risk entering the space of one who was infectious, and touching her, holding her hand. We live in such a sterile world, where we purify everything, coming into the United States we are checked for Ebola, leaving the United States we are checked for Measles. Where we fear who touches us, and how and whether it is inappropriate to be touched. But Jesus took her by the hand, and care her the strength and encouragement to be whole, to be a host in her home. There are few passages in the Old or New Testament which speak directly to the question of God's love and our faith in God. When Moses receives the Name of God upon the Mountaintop, the name “I AM” as if to say, all that is, all that has ever or will ever be, exists because God cares and knows us each. When Jesus comes down the mountain meeting the father of a son and asks him “Do you believe?” and the father responds “Yes, I believe but help my unbeliefs!” And also here, when Jesus encounters a Leper, who following cultural law tells Jesus to stay away, but in desperation speaks out “If you will it, you can make me whole” and Jesus responds “I will.” Awesome, Inspiring? All that exists, from the farthest reaches of space, beyond what we could ever witness in the black voids of waste, to what happens when we are at our most vulnerable and weak, God knows and cares, Jesus enters in touching us being one with us, and we are willed to life. Who are we, we are human creatures inspired by God! Day in day out we each live physical mortal life, rationally pursuing our goals. But there are times, moments out of time when before God we soar like eagles! In addition to those Mountaintop experiences, there are times when we have stamina and strength to run through the finish line. These are not by our strength, our human ability, for we know the strongest humans fail and grow weak. These are inspired by God, and if these, then so also when we walk through life, experiencing all God has in store for us. Who are we, we are touched by God!