"Like Trees Walking" September 13, 2015

James 3:1-12 Mark 8:17-38 One of the greatest problems for having faith is there are so few surprises for us. We look forward to the release of iPhone 6 or Windows 10, or the season's recycling of plots in new television shows, seeking to be surprised, amazed and awed, to have something new and different to imagine. The 8th Chapter of Mark is the center of these 16 Chapters, the critical turning point of the Gospel. When we get to the 8th Chapter we are supposed to be on the edge of our seats, wondering, questioning our hearts, saying to our neighbors “Who is Jesus?” Have you ever asked yourself, or those closest to you, let alone neighbors: Who is Jesus? We take faith, miracles and God for granted; we debate the relevance of Jesus' life and teachings, we argue about whether to go to church … but never question: “Who Jesus is.” He called followers and taught them in parables; he healed: the blind, the lame, the deaf, lepers and mutes; he has calmed the storms and calmed irrational minds; he has fed thousands of people like Moses in the wilderness; he even resurrected a 12 year old child from death to life. We have become so accustomed to acceptance of the identity of Jesus Christ, we have dropped out verb and direct articles to make Jesus' name “Jesus Christ”, instead of the radical declaration of Peter: “You Are the Christ, the Messiah, The Son of the Living God!” Something surprising happened last week, a shocking awareness for me. I preached what I thought was a pretty good sermon, it started off with a joke, had good Bible Study interpretation and application, even a fresh interpretation I had come up with of the meaning of the words of Jesus, that I thought was controversial, as well as applications of Mom spit I thought everyone could identify. But after the sermon, someone asked “That sound! Where did it sound come from?” Knowing full well I asked what sound? And they said “You described how Jesus had taken the deaf man off away from the crowd, spit on his hands, then looked up to heaven and there came a sound I never heard before!” And again, as I believe Jesus did, I Groaned with a deep groan originating in my toes. Hearing this grunt, someone different began describing the depth of their feelings at a recent gut-wrenching experience; another the decision of their adult child to leave everything they knew to pursue a different career and life; a third that they were touched by the circumstance of another person's cancer that they could finally reach out to share their own. Similar circumstances have happened each time when we voiced God's SIGH, and when the Sudanese voiced the sound of Angels YAYAYAYAYA, and when BARKing the Barking Billy stories. My conclusion being that either this is just circumstance that we were fortunate to experience and pay attention to; OR it is people being Surprised that unleashes our willingness to share concerns; OR that rather than a well researched and creative sermon, no matter how well delivered, or the topic, by giving voice to the Holy Spirit evokes something from us different than reasoning and logic. As human beings, even though we are believers, we have difficulty letting go, trusting others. This summer, I have come to realize I have failed you as your pastor. While pride is named as a sin, I take great joy in what this church has done. When asked if we could fulfill the concern of a member to provide a home for older persons in the community, we have fed and housed all who have come for 40 years! We took on successive campaigns to raise millions of dollars, with no one giving over $100,000, and we did so! We have shared our building and resources with the community, and in the process created an identity for the church as a center of exceptional quality music and mission! We have created Health Care in the most military insecure and most food insecure place in the world, where no one else had done so, and we have continued it for over a decade! We have directly addressed domestic violence, alcohol's abuses, terrorism and fear, cyber-bullying, and war, each immediately and with a passion for changing the world, redeeming the individuals, and not casting blame. But over and over this summer, members of our congregation have described the cliques of our kids are perpetuated by adults, we talk to the same people and hold animosities from decades ago. We have preached forgiveness, we have demonstrated compassion and love, but as believers we have been cold and separate from others. I had not recognized it before this, because as pastor I visit with everyone, knowing each personally; but the grace and relationship you offer me is not extended to brothers and sisters and sometimes is quite caustic. This is nothing overt or monumental, but as subtle as the movement of a rudder, or the pulling of a bridle which determines our direction. The professors and experts have described this healing of the blind man at Bethsaida as the only occurrence in all the Scriptures where a miracle takes two efforts to become realized. However, I think perhaps all the miracles take multiple efforts! Usually Jesus tells persons to tell no one, but go present themselves for acceptance at the Temple, or to go to wash themselves. There is the grace of God being extended and there is belief in the possibility. When Jesus touches the man's eyes, Jesus offers possibility, but the man's own inability to believe means that even with grace all he can see is people as if creatures, trees walking. When they try again, the man is able to see beyond the creatureliness, to see the divinity in people. The emphasis of the Gospel of Mark, the earliest of the Gospels, is that Jesus is fully human, the son of Mary and Joseph the Carpenter, firstborn of his brothers and sisters. In the Baptism, in the Temptation in the Wilderness, in the Healings and Miracles, Jesus is personally wrestling with what it means for him to be the Messiah sent from God, and whether he can do this. We play this game with our children, asking what they will be when they are grown. Will you be a Prize fighter, a Fire fighter, a Teacher an Engineer, a Mom or Dad? While we imagine what we could be, and we work toward those accomplishments, few of us can perceive what questions and challenges will come to us by accepting these vocations and identities. When we were preparing to have a child, I imagined holding that child, loving them, feeding them, their going to school and graduating, their wedding days,... I never imagined being proud of them as adults: one being a Veterinary nurse and farmer in Brooklyn, one being an Engineer proving Global Warming and the threat to world defenses. Being a pastor, I envisioned hours of study and counseling and meetings, never traveling to S.Sudan. But my experience of a mother dying in delivery and their experience of 50% of their mother's dying in delivery was a sudden connection that allowed the Holy Spirit to work. We who have always known the story of Christianity wonder why Peter and the others were so dense. But the expectation for hundreds of years had NOT been that there would be a crucifixion and resurrection; but rather that in triumphalism, the Savior would come to overthrow the Empire. Like the Calvary rushing in, or Luke Skywalker in StarWars, the Savior would Save the Day. They individually and communally experienced miraculous wonders. They had witnessed the rise and fall of empires and cultures as part of human existence, where we observe the struggles of Greece and Syria, reacting to what we can do to help refugees. They speculated: perhaps Jesus was like an Old Testament Prophet, who would announce the coming destruction of the Romans. The replies of the disciples that “Some say Elijah and others one of the prophets, still others John the Baptist raised from the dead,” was belief that before the coming of the Messiah, before the coming of the Judgement Day, first Elijah would return, or Jeremiah or Nathan, one of the Prophets or Judges of Old. There was recognition that John the Baptist had been something special, but exactly what was uncertain, and still today, we are unclear what to make of John. Peter makes this enormous leap, that his friend, Jesus the Rabbi, the Preacher, the Miracle Worker is more than a prophet, more than any leader who has come before, he is the Christ, Divinity personified, The Son of The Living God. To which Jesus says YES AND what that means is Jesus' need for atonement for all the sins and suffering of the world, to bring reconciliation. Jesus' acceptance of being the Christ, is that Setting the captives free in a new Exodus, miracles of parting the Red Sea, destruction of the oppressors (Be that Pharaoh or Caesar and the Whole Roman Legion and Roman Senate) would never suffice. September 11th, 2001 happened, it was a horrible event, the loss of tens of thousands of lives, the devastation of families, the undermining of our economy, a change to culture... but 14 years later, September 11th happened and we went on as if any other Friday. What is mandated is to redeem the world, not only one empire, or people. To pioneer and perfect a different relationship between people and God, between People and People, and between us and all Creation. What Peter head was suffering and suicidal self-sacrifice, what jesus described was a Sacrifice of atonement that never needed repetition or ratification, once and for all. With all the miracles we have witnessed, do we see the world as a continuation of what has been, dimly reflected as if Trees are Walking; or do we see God present with us? Do we sing Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee, as a lovely old hymn, or recognize that the mountains and flowers and all creation, even you and I, can sing God's glory together?