February 22, 2009

Mark 9”2-9

Stick Your Head in the Clouds

 

            It was just six days before that Jesus took his three favorite disciples up to a mountaintop with him. He had talked with them for the first time about what his future would be like. He would not be the military hero they expected, nor would he be a popular hero who healed the sick, nor would he be an earthly king of great power. The world as they knew it would come crashing down on them. He would undergo great suffering, rejection, and be killed and after three days be raised up by God. This was too far fetched for them to get a grip on. This was too far out of their experiences and reality.  

You know, most of the time we can only see what our thinking tells us to expect to see. Our thinking effects how we see and hear the world around us and, subsequently, how we live in that world. We create our own reality by seeing through our special glasses. If we believe our world around us is one where people always lie, cheat, and steal, then we will be on our guard with everyone we encounter and expect the worse. It just takes one little incident to prove we are 100% right about it all.  

So how was Jesus going to change his disciples’ thinking and perceptions? They would need a transformational experience. He took them up on a mountaintop and had them stick their heads into a cloud and have God tell them, “Listen to Him.”  From this time of his transfiguration to his crucifixion, he daily impressed upon them the cost of discipleship and the suffering he would undergo and that they, too, would undergo because they loved God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and their neighbor as themselves. And even with all of this, it was still hard for them to hear and understand until it all came to pass.  

There is a story about an older fellow like me, whose name was Jack, who believed that his wife was getting hard of hearing. He called a doctor to make her an appointment and the doctor wanted him to do an experiment with her before they came in so he could understand the degree of hearing loss in the home in which he lived.  "Here’s what you do," said the doctor. "Start out about 40 feet away from your wife, and in a normal conversational speaking tone see if she hears you. If not, move 10 feet closer and moving closer until you get a response." That evening, Jack’s wife was in the kitchen cooking dinner. Jack was in the living room, about 40 feet away. "Let’s see what happens," he muttered to himself. Then in a normal tone he said, "Honey, what’s for dinner?" No response. So, Jack moved 10 feet closer. "Honey, what’s for dinner?"  No response. Then Jack moved into the dining room, another 10 feet closer. "Honey, what’s for dinner?" Still no response. So Jack walked to the kitchen door, only a few feet away. "Honey, what’s for supper?" But still, no response. Finally Jack walked up right behind his wife and said, "Honey, what’s for dinner?" Finally he heard her say, "For Pete’s sake, Jack, for the 5th time…chicken!" 

I’m sure this was a transformational-type experience for Jack.  You and I do get these kinds of experiences in our lives, but we are so full of ourselves that we usually can’t hear and see them. But every once in a while God breaks the glasses we wear and gives us a moment to see clearly – often times what we had wished to have understood much earlier.  

Erma Bombeck wrote a humorous newspaper column from the 1960s to 1990s describing life in the suburbs. How funny was she? I’ll share two quotes and let you be the judge. "Insanity is hereditary. You can catch it from your kids." And also, "My second favorite household chore is ironing. My first one is hitting my head on the top bunk bed until I faint."   

In her last years she developed a kidney disease and after dealing with a long, but losing fight she wrote a poem entitled, “If I Had My Life to Live Over.” In it she shared with us her transformed eyesight and said, “If I had my life to live over, I would have talked less and listened more.  

I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was stained and the sofa faded.
I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.
I would have cried and laughed less while watching television - and more while watching life.
I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding pattern if I weren't there for the day.
Instead of wishing away nine months of pregnancy, I'd have cherished every moment and realized that the wonderment growing inside me was the only chance in life to assist God in a miracle.
When my kids kissed me impetuously, I would never have said, "Later. Now go get washed up for dinner."
There would have been more "I love you’s"… More "I'm sorry’s" ...
But mostly, given another shot at life, I would seize every minute... look at it and really see it ... live it...and never give it back.” 

I believe that so much of our time we keep our nose to the grindstone, our eyes on the ground right before us, and our ears busy listening to noise. How about looking up for a moment and smelling the roses and listening to the sound of the leaves as the wind blows. It is time for a super reality interruption – Ahem, we are not the center of the universe.  Do you know that this week astrophysicists witnessed a gamma ray burst in space that equaled 9,000 dying suns (we call each one of them a supernovae) exploding  at the same time? Did you see it? It was just 12.2 billion light years away. Just to refresh your memory, our sun is 8 light minutes away and Pluto is 12 light hours away.  There are about 1,000 of these kinds of energy bursts a year in the universe (of which this was the strongest ever observed). This rate of exploding dying suns would equal a burst every 100,000 years in a single galaxy. They say there are hundreds of billions of galaxies in the universe of which our Milky Way is just one. And all this is what God has to attend to.  

Please listen carefully now.  Our creator God in all His transcending glory is made known through His creation; is intimately shown to us by His Son, Jesus; and testified to by our human bodies and lives. I do not know of any other thing or being in the entire universe that can apprehend and testify to his presence and glory. A rock, a tree, a star, a bird, or our wonderful pet dogs and cats, cannot conceptualize or understand or testify of a creator. We bear the image of the living God in us whether white, black, or yellow; rich or destitute; US citizens or North Koreans. God has told us that his light shines within us and we are a light for others. Someone helped you see this. Do you understand the enormity of our witness? Do you grasp the importance of our telling others about this loving, creator God who gives us the ability to see and hear and understand his purposes?   

Now let’s return to our little muddled reality. You can't have a mountain top experience if you don't climb the mountain. I invite you to climb the mountain and stick your head into the clouds and hear what God has to say to you. Perhaps your glasses could use a little … cleaning? You have got to want to see more; you have got to seek it out. God does provide those transforming moments for each of us. Take a journey with Jesus during the 40 days of Lent that begins this Wednesday evening at 6:30 with our observance of Ash Wednesday. It will hold more of the possibility of a transforming experience than an hour of mindless TV.   

Brenda will educate us on the practice of fasting at Noon the next day and how this practice can enable our bodies to work with our spirits for greater understanding of God’s presence with us. Then we will have for the next five weeks a Thursday noon luncheon lecture series on “Discerning the Will of God for your life.”  I know you have asked God for this understanding, and I promise concrete steps for you to take.  We will follow on Holy Week with the observance and understanding of Jesus’ last days and experience the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday, the Crucifixion on Good Friday, and the glorious resurrection of our Lord on Easter Sunday.  Take the journey. It will not take more than a light second of your time, but it might illuminate you for eternity. Stick your head in the clouds.