Coming Down the Mountain

 Psalm 99, Matthew 17:1-9

Transfiguration Sunday

            I think the disciple Peter wanted to avoid experiencing what a Princeton seminary professor has identified as “Ascension Deficit Disorder.”[i]   I said, “ascension” not “attention.”   I’m not referring to the psychological condition in which a person becomes very easily distracted and is thus unable to pay attention to details that help organize and prioritize their life activities.    I’m referring to the other side of Lent and Easter, to the report of our Risen Lord’s body being lifted up into the clouds.   

             What would it have been like to stand there in that moment?   I imagine mouths gaped wide open in wonder as all eyes gazed upward.    I believe this likely went along with an undercurrent of anxiety about what was to happen next.    But if you or I had been there, we also would have received a holy message calling on us to have complete trust that Jesus was still going to be present with all his disciples through the Holy Spirit, that the promised future with him was firmly set in place and divinely guaranteed.   We’d have been told to get on with being witnesses to his redeeming love to the ends of the earth.   So paying undivided attention to the ascension is all about being disciples free to faithfully concentrate on the here and now no matter what we are living through.

            But throughout the centuries countless disciples have instead experienced a deficit in their attention to the ascension.   They’ve been unable to hold fast to the anchoring, empowering vision of God’s promised future in Jesus Christ.   Instead of living faithfully courageous lives trusting in that this is real and in the process of happening, they have instead lived anxiously.  They’ve felt lost and alone, without hope, “stymied and stressed, straining to make sense of the future’s cloudy uncertainty.”[ii]   

            I believe there are many times we can count ourselves in this crowd.   Afflicted with this spiritual ADD, we succumb to the tendency to act as though the future God has planned and promised in Jesus Christ is more a “fairy tale.”  The ascension therefore can seem “more like the floaty exit of Glinda the Good Witch in The Wizard of Oz” than the holy view of our Lord’s redeeming reign over and upon the earth as it is in heaven.  

            This brings me back around to Peter as he stood atop the mountain on the day of the Transfiguration, on the day when the ultimate vision about the glorious, victorious power of Jesus as Lord of all the past, present and future was on full, radiant display.    This was a holy preview of life beyond the resurrection and ascension.   It was meant to prepare and give Peter courage and confidence for the very tough journey with Jesus that lay ahead, the journey of coming down off the mountain, the journey of sacrifice and suffering on the way to the salvation of the world.  

            It seems, however, Peter’s initial inclination was to stay put and keep his head in the clouds … to stay camped out in the comfort and security of this resplendent vision of Jesus’ power.   It seems he wanted to prolong avoiding what was necessarily going to happen after coming down the mountain.   It’s helpful here to recall how Matthew’s Gospel recounts that Peter had been right to confess Jesus as the Messiah, but very wrong in his panicked resistance to Jesus’ telling him how this was to be fulfilled.   He likely wanted to dodge having to deal with the inner and outer sinful conflict to come, especially with his being unable to stay faithfully focused on trusting in the transfigured, transcendent glory of Jesus.  

            But then the voice of God the Father boomed from beyond the clouds saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.  Listen to him!”   And then this was followed by the carpenter’s son from Nazareth -- all changed back to sand-covered clothes -- giving a reassuring touch to Peter, James and John in their state of panic while commanding them to, “Get up, do not be afraid.”    They knew it was time to go.  There would be no getting to the glory without first trudging through the trenches of sin.    And they knew they were expected to have steadfast hope, courage, and radical trust in Jesus every step of the way, to hold fast to the vision of God’s peaceful, beautiful future in Jesus even as the world actively worked to kill it.

            And as they were descending, Jesus, in effect, told his closest disciples – “Now, don’t go telling everyone about how you got a glimpse of my glory.   They won’t understand until after Easter.   I’ve got to first show the world what my kingdom is about.”   And that he did on down the mountain, showing himself again and again as the ultimate lover of justice, establisher of equity, forgiver of sins.

            As we enter this holy season of Lent, we need to be reminded that Jesus is absolutely Lord of all.   It’s healthy to move ahead through the next forty days with a mountaintop vision before us.   Where there is no prophetic vision we people perish, right?  (Proverbs 29:18)   And by all means, Lent should be a time to hold any Ascension Deficit Disorder within us in check – by doing so we can securely enter this season of delving ever more deeply into and repenting from the sin within ourselves and across this world.  

            Yet, like Peter, isn’t our first inclination to want to delay or even totally skip this part?   Aren’t we more comfortable camping out with the Easter Jesus than struggling to walk with the Cross-heavy weight of sin alongside the Lenten Jesus?    With singing “Jesus Christ is Risen Today” without having to hum along with “Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley”?  

            Yes, I believe so.  This is all the more reason to pay serious, close, prayerful attention to the sacred, somber journey ahead.   Greater understanding of all that Jesus rescues us and the all of Creation from builds our hope and trust in the vision of how he transfigures it all and keeps transforming the world with his redeeming love.   We’ll gain a broader perspective of why we are Christians and what it means to be a congregation.    Here in worship, especially through special candle lighting litanies, we will do so by exploring themes of resistance, trust, responsibility, repentance and forgiveness.  

            Today we begin this descent from the mountaintop by sharing in our most holy meal together, hosted by our Lord dressed in pure, dazzling white.  Our sharing in his Supper will strengthen us for our Lenten journey.   It will fill us with a tangible reminder that we not only walk with Jesus, but through the Holy Spirit we are his body and blood on earth.    So let’s come on down the mountain together.   Glorious vision is before us to secure us in our sojourn to Easter morning.    Amen.

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[i]http://www.ptsem.edu/uploadedFiles/School_of_Christian_Vocation_and_Mission/Institute_for_Youth_Ministry/Princeton_Lectures/2010_Dean_Ascension.pdf

[ii] ibid.

Only God Gives the Growth

Deut. 31:27-32:6; 1 Cor. 3:5-9

            At the start of last Monday’s meeting of your Session, I shared a word of witness from the streets of Rio de Janeiro.   It’s a word about some of the twenty-five million street children in this second largest city of Brazil.   A group of these kids regularly got together in one spot to share their fear and anger.   They were hosted by a group of Christian adults -- a Presbyterian, a Methodist, a Lutheran pastor, and a Catholic priest.   Also present was a non-Christian priest of the Umbanda faith.  

            One day, one of the boys declared, “I want to be baptized.”   “In which church, then?” asked one of the Christians.  The boy looked around the street and at his congregation gathered in the usual spot.   Then he replied, “Which church?”  Another of the Christians turned to him and asked the question with more clarification.  “You’ll need to choose a church building in which to be baptized.  Which one would you like to go to?”   Understanding but protesting, the boy said, “Building?  No, I want to be baptized here among us on the street.” 

            The church representatives looked at one another.   Next, one bluntly remarked that he wouldn’t be able to issue any kind of official baptismal certificate.  Another commented that it would be problematic to perform the sacrament with the help of the Umbanda priest.   The boy again firmly expressed his faithful desire.  Finally, the Protestant pastor reached for an old wooden board, laid it atop two plastic milk crates, and filled an old boot with water.   The young man was then ritually welcomed into the Christian family.  

            By the grace of God, growth in the Body of Christ happens wherever and whenever vulnerable seeds are gathered and sown in one spot.  It happens when they are then watered by faithful acceptance and compassion.  It happens as healthy green shoots break through the asphalt coverings in Christ’s kingdom -- coverings chiefly loyal to humanly constructed buildings and institutional rules than to the Creator of all.

            The Apostle Paul wants to know who you belong to as a Christian.    If your answer is something like “the Presbyterians” or if you are inclined to name one particular Christian leader or another … then be prepared to hear a word of faithful reproof.  If you find yourself thinking about Jesus Christ first in terms of the differences found in denominational boxes and believing church is what happens chiefly within institutional buildings … then be prepared to be called spiritually immature, a mere infant in this faith.   

            My goodness, I remember how in my younger days I’d occasionally hear the words, “Oh, don’t be a baby.”   This chiding was a common but less than empowering way of pointing out that I was acting immaturely for my age … that I’d managed to fail the expectations of some older “authority.”    I never liked this one bit.   I remember feeling embarrassed and ashamed.  

            So when I read the Apostle Paul telling the Christians of ancient Corinth that they are behaving like babies … I get a bit defensive.   But then I read about the immature behaviors their founding pastor was calling them out on.  Jealousy was jumping all over the place.   Quarreling created conflict across the congregation.  Boasting about loyalty to different church leaders fenced in factions.   These were not behaviors that reflected, honored and helped spread the loving, accepting, egalitarian spiritual teachings of Jesus.  These were not the behaviors of those who had matured in knowing that they belong to God alone and in God they all belong to one another.  These were not the behaviors of those living as humble, faithful servants relying on the grace of God for their personal and congregational growth.

            So Paul pulled no punches.   He held them accountable just as honestly and powerfully as Moses had done to the stubborn, rebellious ancient Israelites he had led.   Then Paul told them in a couple different, easily identifiable ways what it means to be spiritually mature in Christ together.  It meant eating and sharing the solid food of selflessness, not the pablum of self-serving pride.  It meant being the spiritual building God was building them to be. It meant being equal co-laborers with distinct tasks working in the field of faith where God alone was bringing about growth.  The infants in faith clearly took these words of Paul to heart, for that early church didn’t fall down and go boom.   

            God keeps growing the Body of Christ throughout this world.  Do we trust that God is graciously, steadily, and perhaps surprisingly growing the Body of Christ through FPC? 

            Here in 2014 in this corner of American culture, we know well the limitations and frustrations of first and foremost trusting the traditional ways of institutional expansion an social influence.  We can’t just put a new sign outside identifying our denominational affiliation and expect potential new members to show up every Sunday.   We can’t fully expect folks to come here first to learn about Jesus when there are many wonderfully inspired and solidly academic insights about Christianity from all over the world being instantly communicated through devices most people have in their pockets.    And for many years the main model for church was believing, belonging and serving.  People gathered around the doctrinal beliefs defined through institutional belonging and then went out into the world to serve.    But nowadays, more church growth happens through serving, belonging and believing.  As people serve the needs of others in many organized ways, they gain a sense of belonging to a community that truly cares, which then may lead to new or deepening belief in God.   

            We know well the impact of well over a decade of denominational decline.   And we know how much our church family is grieving our congregational losses due to long-time members passing on to glory, moving on to live in other places, or just not being around so much due to other life changes.    It all can weigh so heavily on our hearts and minds.    This is all the more reason to keep renewing our trust that God is always blessing us with growth.    It can’t be precisely measured by human statistics.  But it can and should be measured by our words of witness, by sharing the stories of how Jesus’ love has touched us through the ways we support one another, worship together, are called and equipped to co-labor for Christ near and far.  This spiritual growth is happening as we carry on and support long-standing ways of being FPC as well as let some go in order to initiate and establish new ones.    

            So maybe there is a new Bible study God wants us to lead over in that new private conference room soon to be available at the Starbucks in Chester.   Perhaps the number of youth and adults going on the Appalachia Service Project through our partnership with the Big Youth Group will continue to blossom as it did this year.   I personally feel a holy call to cultivate some needed growth in addressing real and tough social issues impacting our local families, such as how prescription pill sharing is leading to hardcore drug use and criminal records.   I also see some growth happening as we work with sister churches in our community to honor and support veterans, as we did this past Veteran’s Day.   And just as God has created new growth across our denomination through new kinds of worshipping communities and a new form of government that allows more freedom and flexibility on our local level, I can hope the FPC bylaws and handbook currently being revised will make us more organizational vibrant and creative.

            The Body of Christ here and everywhere is being grown by God alone.   Let’s endure any and all growing pains, trusting we’re being made stronger … that we are always growing up into a fuller stature in and for our Savior.   Amen.  

           

Rock Salt

Psalm 18:1-2, 21-31, Matthew 5:13-20

            There’s a fun story about a man who walked into a little mom-and-pop grocery store and asked, "Do you sell salt?  "Ha!" said Pop the proprietor. "Do we sell salt! Just look!" And Pop showed the customer one entire wall of shelves stocked with nothing but salt -- Morton salt, iodized salt, kosher salt, sea salt, rock salt, garlic salt, seasoning salt, Epsom salts, every kind of salt imaginable.   "Wow!" said the customer.   "You think that's something?" said Pop with a wave of his hand. "That's nothing! Come look." And Pop led the customer to a back room filled with shelves and bins and cartons and barrels and boxes of salt. "Do we sell salt!" he said.  "Unbelievable!" said the customer.  "You think that's something?" said Pop. "Come! I'll show you salt!" And Pop led the customer down some steps into a huge basement, five times as large as the previous room, filled wall, floor, to ceiling, with every imaginable form and size and shape of salt, even huge ten-pound salt licks for the cow pasture.  "Incredible!" said the customer. "You really do sell salt!"  That’s when Pop gave the exasperated reply, “No, that's just the problem! We haven’t sold any salt! But that salt salesman, Hoo-boy! Does he sell salt!"

            It sure would be a waste for all the kinds of salt in our world to not be used for all of their necessary purposes.   Let’s see what you know.  What’s your guess?    Across our country, is there more salt used in our food or on our roads?    Fact check:  17% of salt is used as rock salt and only 6% used in food.   What’s your guess?   How many cells in our bodies use salt?  If you guessed every single one, then you are correct.   Our brains need salt to fire off signals to the rest of the body, especially when it comes to regulating our heart beats and the balance of fluids in our systems.   What’s your guess?    How is salt made?   If you guessed that this is a trick question, you are correct.    It’s not made … it’s a natural resource like water and air that is harvested, mined, and extracted.     What’s your guess?  What was the only way for people in ancient times preserve food, especially meat?    I know we all guessed correctly – they used salt!   

            One more.   What’s your guess?    What did Jesus call all of his followers?   Since you were listening carefully to the Bible reading, you’ve got this.   Our Lord calls us the salt of the earth!    We are each very valuable, vital part of how Jesus seasons this world with saving grace.  

            Jesus and his first followers knew the symbolic significance of salt very well.   They fully understood that salt is not useful to itself.   Its value comes from its purpose as part of other things.  The essential value of it was noted throughout their Bible, which is our Old Testament.   A quick survey reveals that the prophet Elisha sprinkled salt into a spring at Jericho to purify the water (2 Kings 2:21.), that eating salt with another person was a sign of loyalty, sort of a passing of the peace pipe, a breaking of bread (Numbers 18:19.), that temple priests strew salt on sacrifices and seasoned incense with salt, and, get this, that parents rubbed salt all over their newborn baby’s body as protection against all kinds of ills (Ezekiel 16:4.)”[i]     

            To be Jesus’ salt, His followers understood this meant being part of His purifying presence in the world, peaceably loyal to Him and to one another, and making faithful sacrifices for the sake of protecting the most innocent and vulnerable.    

            This is, of course, what it means for us modern day disciples as well.    And if you need further clarification about what Jesus meant by calling us the salt of the earth, read what Matthew quotes him as preaching right before He said so.   These verses, commonly known as the Beatitudes, inspire and instruct us to be part of our Lord’s highest ideals of mercy, humility and compassion.   These poetic words about blessedness are truly beautiful and “bring out the true flavor of what it is to be truly alive,” to be “life-givers to others.”[ii]   Jesus calls us to mix ourselves “right into the middle of life, adding some zest and making a difference.”[iii]

            But honestly, it can be very challenging to go out and be the salt of the earth.  Tossing words about meekness, mercifulness, and purity of heart is not at all easy to do in this world stewing in sorrows, sinful stubborn pride, injustices, persecutions, and warfare.    To shake this radically divine love out for others, we have to first fill ourselves into constant awareness of all this darkness and our part in it.  

             Jesus understood this difficulty.   He personally experienced it.   But in verse thirteen we read how he kept the bar set high.   To be his faithful followers, to be his sacred seasoning, he made it clear that we mustn’t lose our taste for the Beatitudes holy flavor.    If ever we do, we are, to quote Jesus, “no longer good for anything.”   

            Given that we just had our eleventh snow storm of the season, I’ve been thinking a lot about the tons of rock salt that’s all around.   While I’m rather tired of it being all over my shoes and encrusting my car, I know how necessary and valuable it is.   I’m thankful for it and all the good folks who’ve been working hard to spread it around.    I’m not the only preacher in this tri-state area whose been mulling over the symbolic meaning of rock salt.  A Presbyterian colleague in New York City not only gave this good thought, but he came up with a beautiful reflection on it that’s well worth fully quoting.   I invite you to faithfully listen to these words of Pastor Andy James –

            “Just as salt works to give us traction when things are slippery, as salt of the earth we can help others to regain their footing in times of uncertainty. Just as salt works to melt down the mounds of ice around us these days, we can be the salt of the earth to help melt the hardened hearts of our world. And just as salt takes a little bit of time to take effect and clear the path, so as salt of the earth we may need a little time and patience to join in God’s work of making a way amidst the challenges of this world.”

            Building on these faithful words, let me ask -- when times are tough here on earth, when they are like what we read in the Beatitudes, in what ways do you serve Jesus?    Help folks find secure footing, melt any hardness of heart, patiently wait for God to open up a way forward when the path isn’t clear?   In what ways do you humbly witness and enact your love for Him as your only true strength, refuge and rock?  

            I joyfully believe that every one of us had been gifted by the Holy Spirit with the ability to be the salt of the earth.    We just need to take the time to inventory our inner-salt stockpile and realize that there is an endless storehouse of ways our Lord works through us to bless and transform this world.   I was very glad to learn that this was discussed in last week’s Sunday School class.  The kids did a little experiment which showed how well things stick together when everyone is applying their spiritual salt, their God-given gifts.   

            Yet it’s very natural for all us to have times when we feel as though we’ve lost our spiritual saltiness, our sense of holy purpose in this world.    During such moments, pray.  Pray for restoration of a deep trust that you are what Jesus calls and equips you to be.   Also read the Bible.  You don’t have to understand every word — let the Spirit sprinkle insight and season your faith as you study and reflect.   God promises that the Spirit will move through your prayers and your reading and strengthen you.    You should also keep getting to know your soul--- If music speaks to your heart, find a way to listen to hymns or allow praise songs to lift your spirit.  If seeing God in nature blesses you -- then set aside time to look and see the goodness of God all around you in the snowy landscape and watch for signs of spring.    God has also given us each other on the journey of life — so if you feel washed out spend time with other Christians who you know bring faithful flavor to the world.  You’ve done so today by being here.  Jesus is your rock and you are therefore rock salt.  You have a sacred purpose.  Especially through life’s storms.  Let’s all make every effort not to stay stuck on a shelf!    Amen.   

           

             

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[i] http://www.beatitudessociety.org/blog/195-be_salt_and_light

[ii] https://www.goodreads.com/author_blog_posts/5672311-weekly-sermon-illustration-the-salt-of-the-earth

[iii] http://www.beatitudessociety.org/blog/195-be_salt_and_light