"Faith Beyond Faith" June 21, 2015

I Samuel 17 Mark 4:33-41 This morning the Bible and current events, instruct us to talk together about Fear and Faith. There is a great deal to be afraid of today, according to popular television shows, there are Aliens, Zombies and Walking Dead, there are Tsunamis waves off the coasts, depending upon the news we watch, we are told to fear the Democrats or fear the Republicans, there is Al Quedda and Isis, and some new plague we have yet to discover. That in the House of God, after listening and praying at a Biblestudy for over an hour together, someone would beginning lynching 10 people because of the color of their skin. That because so many companies have left the North East, when our local company announces growth and expansion by merger with another company, we would fear layoffs and closure. I have a brother-in-law who went to Wharton Business School and works in the Satellite industry in Washington DC, he has gone to the same office for over 20 years, yet he has worked for over a dozen different companies, because his job is to expand the company until it can be bought by new ownership, whereupon he expands another project in the same business. Fears, some are very real, some are not. But we, are never alone. As many times as we have read the story of David and Goliath, as often as we heard reference to this, the point was always how small little David the Shepherd boy was against the 9' tall Philistine Giant Goliath, underscored by how Goliath was covered in armor, with Javelin, Sword and Shield, the head of the spear weighed 20lbs. where David only had a sling shot and stone. This was a comforting story, that no matter the obstacle, having a child's faith and innocence, the little guy could surpass overwhelming obstacles. HOWEVER one of my first Sundays in Skaneateles, I recall telling this story at the Children's moment, when one of the 6 year olds stood up protesting that he read this story every night at bedtime and we missed the overkill, “You stopped before David ran to the fallen Goliath, taking Goliath's own sword and cut off his head, carrying it back to Jerusalem and everyone else was afraid.” That morning, I realized comforting stories child-like innocence of faith, might no longer suffice. In recent years, with Al Quedda and Isis, there have been present day videos of decapitation executions. As horrific and gruesome as this is, I am told the viewing of these on the internet has been as popular as Cat Videos! There is something in human nature that cannot turn away from a Sacrament of Violence, Demonstrations of terror so traumatic as to inspire fear, intended to paralyze and demoralize opposition. There is an intended irony to the setting for this narrative in Mark's Gospel, that Jesus did not Call as disciples: shopkeepers, bankers and carpenters, the Messiah called Fishermen here asking them to go across open water to the otherside. These experienced sailors, had grown up on the water, knew the power of storms, they knew what to do in danger, how to balance, adapt and how to survive. In these first three chapters, Jesus has instructed the disciples and the community of followers, with parables of faith as Mustard Seed and Leaven, where the tiniest amount is sufficient. He had taught the parable of the Patient Farmer, who watches and waits through rain and sun, day upon day, night after night, until the harvest comes, and it does. Jesus had shared the parable of the Sower sowing seeds of faith, which are scattered in overflowing abundance, and what matters, the only thing is whether we are receptive; or whether we are shallow, or hard, or corrupted with weeds. When they get to the other side, after the storm, Jesus will provide miracles of healing, a soldier so terrorized by war that his psyche is a Legion in Battle, a woman who has been bleeding for 12 years, a child who was dead brought back to life. But in between, in this dark night, these disciples of Jesus, these fishermen, were terrified with fear. Cancer survivor Reynolds Price, in his book, Letter to a Man on Fire, describes a 3rd year Medical Resident who himself was suddenly diagnosed with Cancer. Jim described “I want to believe in a God who cares... Because suddenly I may meet God sooner than I thought. And I think, I am at the point of believing there is a God. But I am having a hard time believing God could/would care about me.” In between the parables told on one side of the lake and the miracles witnessed on the other side, there was a storm, a storm whose waves were larger than the length of the boat was long. More than waves, more than a storm, they were in the midst of chaos... That primordial Deep in the dark of night. Before God created, when the wind blew upon the face of the waters it was not rippling the glassy calm but the Spirit of God was in the midst of a battle between crushing waves, a battle between wave upon wave, wind and water. Here, the little boat with twelve fishermen and Jesus laying asleep in the hull was tossed like an innocent bystander. Filled with terror, the disciples woke Jesus, crying “We are going to die, Do you care?” And Jesus did not rebuke them, the Savior did not say to the disciples There is Nothing to Fear! He rebuked the wind, and calmed the chaos. At which point, the Gospel names that the men went from fear to a FEAR BEYOND FEAR. Rather than fearing the wind, or drowning, or the chaos of the sea, they could not control; Rather than fearing that Jesus cared so little, while they were in terror of dying, Suddenly they witnessed that Jesus rebuked the wind and calmed the sea, which only God had ever done, and that, at the dawn of Genesis. It is only then, that we glimpse the overkill of this story, not only that Jesus cares about our suffering, cares about us, Not only that he has the power of God to calm the storms that threaten us and rebuke the wind that buffets us, but that as Christians there is CHRIST ASLEEP IN EACH OF US! From Genesis onward, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, have each affirmed that God cares! The Creator knows every creation, knows every creature by name and loves us. While comforting, that is also overwhelming. Theologian Diogenes Allen describes that “Understanding we are not the center of all things gives us perspective. But what we often forget is our dual nature. We are Material beings, subject to physical laws of the universe, vulnerable to injury, illness, decay and death. We are also Spiritual beings, created by God in the likeness of God.” When Job hears God in the whirlwind, as we did in the Call to Prayer this morning, JOB who has been reduced to nothing, has had his business destroyed, his home and property wiped out, his children, and his very flesh killed, suddenly has the conviction that no matter what else happens: He belongs to God. On this Father's Day I am reminded of all the nights of our children's nightmares. When we would rush into their room to take them in our arms, wiping the wet locks of hair from their foreheads, drying their tears and saying “There is nothing to be afraid of, no reason to fear.” The problem our children learn eventually is there is a difference between things we need to fear and things we do not. Aliens and Walking Dead, are fantasy, but there are also very real and appropriate fears. Instead of dismissing there is nothing to fear, I wish we had said “It is all right, you are not alone, fear not, God loves you.” There needs to be a Reformation in the Church today. In the early Church, there was identification of there being TWO Baptisms, a Baptism of Water the Baptism of John, and that there is a Baptism of the Holy Spirit, as John professed the coming of one into our lives the very bow of his shoes we are unworthy to untie, faith planted as a Mustard seed, a tiny bit of leaven that matures into a Tree of everlasting Life, the breath of God that came upon the Apostles in the Upper Room to go out and live faith. The corruption of the Church is that we have made the Sacrament of Baptism into Affirmation of the innocence of Children. Everyone and everything is to be Baptized, as infant or adult, happening only once, never to be repeated. You are claimed by God, loved by God, no matter what. That is true and vital, but just like telling a two year old “NO!” that vow of Love needs to be accompanied by growing awareness of the results of our actions, otherwise Baptism would be License that whatever you want to do was blessed by God. However, the problem being that the maturing of our leaven, the faith beyond faith, the awakening of Jesus Christ in us, comes at different times in life, and can come repeatedly. Most often at the most troubling times in our lives. When we are most vulnerable, when we are risking differently than we have ever known others to do, so to make a religious scene of this is at best impractical. Generations ago, in order to graduate High School, in addition to reading Dickens, The Lord of the Rings, The Odyssey and Iliad, everyone read John Bunyan's book Pilgrim's Progress, an allegory in which the main character is named Christian and he is traveling through one struggle after another. The final obstacle before he can reach the Garden of Paradise, before he gets home, is that he and his companion named Hopeful must cross a body of water. They wade deeper and deeper, until the waves are washing over Christian's head, he cries out “Does no one care that the wind and waves will take his life?” And his friend Hopeful responds: “Be of Good Cheer brother, I can feel the bottom and it is good, we will get through this together!”