Hallelujah! Christ is alive!

(Shuffle papers on the lecture. Look around frantically.)  Well, where is it? I know I left it right here on the lecture – and now it’s gone. Sam, did you move it?  Gary?  Janice?  Did either of you take it with you? I know I left it right here, and it obviously isn’t here now.)  How many of you have every lost something, and you know exactly where you left it – or at least are pretty sure where you left it? But when you go back looking for it, it’s gone, just disappeared?   I think most of us have had that experience – and probably more than once in our lifetime.  It happened to me on Friday when we got in to start the noon service - We have a tendency to live pretty fast lives and especially when we are in a hurry we forget things or lay things down without thinking about it.   

Well, around 30 AD people didn’t live lives as fast as we do today. At least I hope they didn’t. They didn’t have phones ringing in their ears (literally). They didn’t have baseball and TV and movies and theater and Nascar all vying for their attention – taking them away from church and family on Easter morning. Oh, wait; they didn’t have Easter morning either, did they? 

I’m told that many years ago, there were missionaries on a remote island who were teaching a group of natives about Jesus.  These natives had never heard the gospel story.  They were filled with joy and hope as they learned about Jesus, what he did and said.  Then came Good Friday and the missionaries told them about the arrest, trial and death of Jesus.  Not knowing the rest of the story, they went away with     heavy hearts at the devastating loss of this Jesus whom they had learned to love.  Then on Sunday morning they returned to the missionaries under the shadow of death and were (as Paul Harvey would say) told the rest of the story - the resurrection.  Their joy at learning of the resurrection of Jesus was unbounded.  They leapt for joy and danced around singing and rejoicing.  I think we’ve lost that kind of response to the resurrection story.  Yes, we are happy about it, but in a reserved way.  “Oh yes, Jesus died for us, and he was resurrected and that means we will have eternal life.”  Where’s the “Hallelujah!  Christ is alive!”?  

That first Easter morning was the day after the Passover according to John.  Jesus had been buried in a hurry – but they knew he was dead and they knew he was buried and they knew exactly where he was buried – and they had seen the stone rolled in front of the tomb.  So when Mary saw the stone rolled away, she was very confused.  She ran back to the disciples and told them that Jesus was gone.  Peter and John ran to the tomb.  John being younger reached the tomb first and looked in.  The scripture said that he believed – he believed that Jesus was gone. The scripture also says that they didn’t yet understand the scriptures.  Peter went inside to look around and John followed him in.  So being men, they simply decided there was nothing else they could do.  They may have believed that Jesus had risen and gone to the Father, but there was nothing more they could do.  So they let it go, and they went back home.  Not unusual for the disciples, they misinterpreted the meaning of the empty tomb. Since Jesus had risen and gone to the Father, they accepted that they would not see him again.  

Mary wasn’t quite in the same place emotionally as the men. This was something of a devastating loss for her. For many of us, it’s important to be able to go to the place where our loved one is buried. It allows us to feel close to that person – even when we know “they” aren’t there. Sitting by the graveside can become a place where we meet and speak with God about how much this person meant to us. It can be an acknowledgement that we’re going to miss them, that they were an important part of our life. Even though we know they are gone, it helps us to feel close.  

Mary had gone to weep, to mourn - to grieve in the only way she knew how - to be near Jesus even in death.  But now even that was denied her.  And she missed that opportunity to feel close – to grieve at the tomb where his body lay.  She stayed and not being able to accept that he was gone, she asked the gardener, “If you have carried him away, please tell me so that I may take him away.”  She wasn’t expecting to see Jesus – only his body, so when the person she thought was the gardener called her by name it surprised her, but she recognized the voice speaking her name.  

When we are terribly grieved; when we feel all alone; when we are lost and don’t know where to turn; it is then that the Lord speaks to us.  Through the pain and confusion, Jesus calls us by name.  And he says, “I am here.  I will sustain you.  Do not cling, but go and tell others that I live, that I will come to them also, in their hour of need.”  

The message we receive is that because Jesus has risen and has ascended to the Father, he has escaped the prison of this earthly life and is now available to anyone who need him.  There are stories of children who have never been to church, never heard the name of Jesus,` who in a time of great need meet and are sustained by Jesus.  When we feel the most lost, when we are the most hopeless, that is when Jesus comes to us, in our pain, and through our confusion.  He is there.  He is here!  He is risen.

You are called to continue the story – it is your turn to go out and to tell others that Jesus Christ has indeed risen from the dead.  Our presiding bishop, in his address from Jerusalem reminded us that “Because He lives, we can face tomorrow.”  I can face tomorrow!  You can face tomorrow!     Regardless of what tomorrow brings! 

Alleluia!  Christ is risen!

Cleaning house, Jesus style

Listen to the sermon.          

I was cleaning out the fridge this week, and found all sorts of moldy and rotten stuff that had been neglected for too long, and I thought, we really have to pay attention to things or everything goes to hell in a hand basket.  That’s why spring cleaning is so necessary - to get rid of all that ‘stuff’ that has accumulated over the year, or sometimes over the years plural.  

I’m reading a fluff of a book called “The Junkyard Man” and it centers around a hoarder who has collected so much stuff that you can’t even find a pathway through his house or his yard.  It sounds sad, but there are people who are like that.  I look around at our stuff and wonder if we are becoming hoarders.  I mean, I have 4 trumpets and multiple containers in 3 different locations for all of the crafts I have started or want to start.  It’s such a pain to go through all that stuff and decide what to keep and what needs to be thrown away.

And then you read today’s gospel lesson and there is Jesus, clearing out the temple from those who have turned it into a market place.  Oh, and maybe I need to clean house, too!  I believe more than anything Jesus is calling us to spiritual housecleaning.  That’s a lot of what Lent is all about - spiritual housecleaning.

When Moses brought the Israelites out of Egypt, they were in need of spiritual cleansing also.  Moses almost wore himself out trying to be judge for the people who came to him for help.  So God made a way - rules to live by - rules to govern behavior - a covenant with the people of God.  “I am the Lord your God.  You will be my people.”  It is a covenant relationship based on mutual trust and respect.  God sets out in this covenant what he expects of his people based on his own standards of holiness.

In the first part of our service, we/I recited the summary of the Law.   When he was asked what the most important law was, Jesus replied, “The first commandment is this: Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is the only Lord.  Love the Lord our God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.  The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments hang all the law and all the prophets.”  (Mark 12:29-31)

And the lawyer asked him, “well, who is my neighbor?”  I learned a long time ago that communications depends on understanding and defining terms in the same way.  Two people can say the same thing, but if they define the terms differently, there is no communication.  The lawyer wanted to restrict who he could treat as himself, but Jesus busted it wide open when he indicated all people - even your hated enemy. 

Jesus brings the law down to two greatest commandments – this is the lens through which all interpretation is to be understood.  All 630 laws are to be interpreted in light of loving God and loving your neighbor and the 10 commandments.

The 10 commandments boiled down to two – love God – love your neighbor.  The first four commandments help you understand how to go about loving God – don’t have any other gods, don’t make idols out of anything, don’t misuse God's name, and remember to spend time with God especially on that 7th day when you rest from your labors.

The last 6 commandments help you understand a little bit about how to love your neighbor.  Honor your mother and father – don’t steal, don’t commit adultery, don’t murder, don’t bear false witness, don’t covet anything that belongs to another…  Jesus is saying that we should always treat others in such a way that we demonstrate our love of God through our actions toward others.  He even defined that elsewhere in scripture when he said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  As selfish human beings, we sometimes have a hard time with that.  Our human nature wants to look toward our own creature comforts first.

Too often, we see Jesus as this gentle person – soft-spoken and meek – and then we get today’s gospel reading and see him making a whip of cords, and overturning tables and yelling at people – and it shocks our sensibilities.  Jesus sees his father’s house being turned into a market place - the people have taken several of the laws regarding temple worship and figured out how to make a profit from it - changing the Roman coin for the temple coin for the temple tax, - providing animals for sell for the sacrifice, etc.

But Jesus is getting ready to totally overturn the system and offer himself as a sacrifice for all time.  Jesus, in reducing his commandments down to two, in rebelling at the temple system, is not doing anything new – not really.  Other prophets have said before that this system of sacrifice is not what God wants.  We read in Micah 6:8   

`He has showed you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?   To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. 

If we consider that Jesus is prefiguring the end of the sacrificial system, and we look at the timeline, it was another 40 years before the destruction of the temple and the end of the sacrifices.  Jesus’ tirade didn’t really make any difference in the system at that time.  All it really did was irritate the authorities and flag Jesus as being someone to watch – as someone who could be a trouble maker.  And so the countdown began - to Good Friday and the ultimate sacrifice. 

______________________

Ever since Ash Wednesday, Danny has been threatening to put up on the signboard outside, in place of the sermon title, a sign that says, “It’s Lent.  Give it up!”  I know he’s only half joking, but its catchy so I put it up on Facebook today just to see what kind of response it gets.  Quite often in Lent, rather than specifically giving something up, God gives me something personal to deal with.  One year it was to walk with a cousin through his emotional turmoil and to wrestle with my own beliefs.  Another year I had a broken arm, but it ended up being fun because my temporary cast was a deep purple for Lent.  Then I got the real cast on Good Friday.  I had that one done in white and on Easter Sunday all the kids in the church got to sign my cast with brightly colored markers.  Sam and I left on vacation the next day so I got to show off that cast all the way to Virginia and back.  We still have that cast.  

The reason I’m telling you this, is that God has once again given me something to wrestle with during Lent.  Some of you know that I have been going through a series of medical tests for the last month.  I was just notified on Friday that I do have breast cancer, but the good news is that it is stage zero - meaning that it has not spread beyond the duct it started in. 

And I want you to know that through this whole process, God has been so very gracious.  (And ladies, this was picked up on a routine mammogram in a very early stage, so I would encourage you all to keep current on your mammograms.) It had been 3 years since my last mammogram but when the time had come, God spurred me on to get the mammogram so that it was caught early.  At this stage it is both treatable and curable.  He has placed me in a church family here at Grace who have been very supportive and caring.  I know that God is walking with me every step of this journey and that He is as close to me as the air I breathe.

🎶You are the air I breathe,  You are the air I breathe,

Your very presence, living in me.🎵

I am in the very palm of God’s hand and pray that I may continue to be his witness in and to the world.  

Obviously, we are early in this process, so hopefully we will be able to meet with the oncologist this coming week and look at a plan of action.  I am told that treatment should begin within 6 weeks and will probably entail surgery and possibly radiation.  I guess you could say that God is in the process of cleaning my physical house/ my body.  So I am asking you to keep Sam and I in your prayers as we walk down this path, and I will keep all of you in my prayers. 

Amen.

______________________________

Choosing the Fruits of the Spirit.

Listen to the sermon.     

Our lessons are full of symbols (or signs) today – from the rainbow in our Old Testament lesson, to the dove in our gospel lesson.

They give us hope in a world that does not always appear very hopeful.  We often struggle in this world to make sense in the things that happen around us.  And we are not perfect - as much as we would like to be.  We often do not come up with the best solution to the problems that face us on a daily basis.  We often do not react in a Christ like manner when we are confronted by problems that remind us of the past.  More often than not, we react out of our brokenness – the history we try to leave behind, but can’t because our healing has not yet been perfected.

At one conference I went to, the question was asked, how many have gone through some life changing experience that had shaped us and formed our lives.  The reference was to an experience that moved us toward the understanding that ultimately we are not in control of our own destiny.  One man talked about his daughter’s attempted suicide, and how that event had changed him forever.  We have no idea of the things that people around us might be dealing with on a daily basis.  And we need to understand that we are not always in control.  

But going back to our symbol - here in the beginning of Mark’s gospel we see some of the glory and power of God – “the heavens torn apart” and the Spirit descends – but not like thunder or lightning.  The Spirit descends like a dove – a gentleness that is not normally acknowledged in association with God.

But remember Elijah, fearing for his life and hiding in a cave, he hears the voice of God – not in the earthquake, fire or wind, but in the stillness he experienced the gentleness of God.  Or look at Jonah sitting on the hillside overlooking Nineveh, mad at God for not destroying the city.  God takes pity on him and causes a bush to grow to shelter him from the heat of the sun.

And so with Jesus, this same Spirit that descended with the gentleness of a dove, also drives Jesus out into the wilderness – to be tempted and to face his worse fears and nightmares – . . .   And only now, after learning firsthand about the hardships of life and standing firm and trusting on the Lord, Jesus comes through the ordeal and the angels minister to him.  He is ready to partner with God – knowing that it is not his own power, but God’s grace that will carry him through to the end.

It is only after John’s arrest that Jesus comes proclaiming the good news – the message goes on, repent and believe and follow me.  God has drawn near – he has come down - to deal gently with broken and needful humankind – as Isaiah says, “to bind up the brokenhearted, to free the captives, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.”

This Lenten season let us enter into our own period of wilderness experience – inviting God in – to teach us something new – or just to remind us of what we already know – that God himself is with us and is willing to partner with us as we journey through this life.  

I was reminded the other day of Trish Schlegel, who, a number of years ago, said that she chose joy for her Lenten discipline.  Joy is one of the Fruits of the Spirit.  In Galatians 5:22-23 we read, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”  What if each of us chose one of the fruits of the spirit as our Lenten discipline?  How could we, embodying that fruit, have a positive effect on the world around us?  

We (mostly) have no idea of the kind of pain, or anguish, the inner turmoil or hopelessness that any person we meet might be facing.  

It might be dealing with a child who is ill or unruly or failing in school.  It might be dealing with a parent or other loved one who is dying or suffering dementia.  It might be worry over how to provide food for their children that evening.  I can’t even imagine what kind of pain would cause someone to take their own life; or to go into a school or other venue and begin to shoot innocent people.  What if some small kindness could give them pause, to think maybe there is hope in this world; maybe someone does care!

I was surprised earlier this week to have a deputy sheriff pay for my meal at the McDonald’s drive-thru.  I decided to “pass it on” and paid for the person behind me.  The whole experience set the tone for the rest of my day.   An act of kindness does not go unrewarded, even if only in the feeling you get when you have done something to make someone else’s day just a little brighter.  You may never know the difference your kindness might make to another soul, especially when they are sad, or depressed, harried or stressed or just having a rough day.

God calls us to reach out to others in a positive way, to make a difference in the world around us.  Truth be told, if we look around us, to see how we can make someone else’s day a little better, it will often make our own day brighter and our problems seem much smaller.  With a smile or a kind word, some small gesture, the love of Jesus might spread further and wider than this year’s flu.  I invite you to allow God’s grace to flow through you and reach out to others through acts of love, or kindness, or generosity, or patience, or any of the Fruits of the Spirit.  We might not be able to change the world, but with such small measures, we can spread a little joy to the joyless corners of the world - or at least here in Alvin.  So I ask you - What Fruit of the Spirit could you take on as your discipline, and share to help make someone else’s life just a little better today?

Beyond the vision

The Last Sunday in Epiphany is always the story of the Transfiguration.  This year is Mark's version of the story.  They are all very similar differing only in minor details.  So I quite often like to go to the Old Testament lesson which is always different.  If you were here last year for the last Sunday in Epiphany, you heard me talk about a theophany, that is, a vision of God.  Years A and C both center around Moses up on the mountaintop.  Theophanies are not uncommon in the Old Testament.  You might remember things like Moses and the Burning Bush, Jacob's ladder to heaven, the Valley of the dry bones coming to life, the pillars of fire and smoke that led the Israelites out of Egypt.  The Old Testament is filled with these images of God.  This year we get Elijah being taken up in the "Chariot of Fire."  

There’s a story told by the Rev. Dr. Samuel Wells (a professor at Duke University) about a famous preacher who was a bit of a fraud, because the sermons were great but no one ever realized that in fact they’d all been written by the staff assistant. Finally the assistant’s patience ran out, and one day the preacher was speaking to thousands of expectant listeners and at the bottom of page two read the stirring words, "And this, my friends, takes us to the very heart of the book of Habakkuk, which is…" only to turn to page three and see nothing but the dreaded words, "You’re on your own now."

"You’re on your own now." Just what Elisha felt the day Elijah departed to heaven. Just what the disciples felt at Jesus’ ascension. "You’re on your own now." In England they say, "That makes me feel somewhat uncomfortable." In the US you are more likely to hear, "Yikes."  And our Old Testament lesson says that Elisha tore his garments.

Today's lesson shows Elijah and his disciple (apprentice) Elisha on a journey .  They travel from Gilgal, to Bethel, to Jericho and on to the Jordan.  And as they start out on each leg of the journey, and as a test, Elijah tells Elisha to stay there, but each time Elisha answers, "As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you."  They continue on until they reach the Jordan river.  To cross over, Elijah takes his mantle (like a coat or cape) folds it up and hits the water.  And lo and behold, the water parts and they walk across on dry land.  And what does that remind you of?  The Red Sea and the flight from Egypt.  The water parting is the sign of the presence of God.

Elisha asks for a favor - to receive double (twice) the spirit of Elijah.  He wants the elder son’s portion of the inheritance.  But there was a condition on his receiving his desire - he must see Elijah being taken up.  The answer is like saying, "Don't fall asleep, because if you miss it, you lose everything."  Now our lesson ends saying that Elisha tore his clothes.  In that time, tearing your clothes was a sign of great anguish.  But the story goes on... 

    13  Elisha picked up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14  He took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, saying, "Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?" When he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.    15  When the company of prophets who were at Jericho saw him at a distance, they declared, "The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha." They came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.

Elijah's mantle fell back to earth and Elisha picks it up.  He uses it to part the water of the Jordan to cross back over.  Again, this is a sign of the Lord's presence and that Elisha has indeed inherited Elijah's spirit.  This is a grand story about the transfer of power from one prophet to the next.  The fifty prophets who followed them to the Jordan can now attest that Elisha is now the prophet in Israel.

The New Testament doesn't have as many examples of a theophany.  But the gospels themselves present a kind of theophany.  If we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; that he is God incarnate, then the whole story about Jesus is an extended theophany.  We get this vision of who God is and what God is like.  We see his interactions with the people around him.  The things he says are often confusing, but the things we see him do are powerful, inspiring. 

So, here we are, 6 days after Peter blurts out that Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah.  Gosh, I love Peter, because he’s usually sticking his foot in his mouth and saying something stupid.  I figure if he can get it wrong as many times as he does and still be accepted as the rock on which the kingdom is built, then surely my mistakes can be forgiven, also.  

They are up on the mountain, and when Peter sees this transfiguration, and Elijah and Moses with Jesus, he blurts out, "Let's stay here and build 3 dwellings."  It says that he didn't know what to say because he was scared.  How many times do we get scared and start babbling to cover up our fear, or our lack of understanding?  

A cloud overshadows them - I can remember being on top of a mountain in Switzerland and there was a cloud forming over Lake Lucerne down below us.  It began to rise up until it enveloped us, and it was very hard to see the person in front of you as we were traveling along a narrow path to the top of the mountain, and after a few minutes, it had risen above us.  That can definitely make you nervous.  And a voice came out of the cloud - "This is my son, my beloved.  Listen to him."  And then the cloud was gone and they were left standing alone with Jesus.

This was the second affirmation in Mark's gospel concerning Jesus' divinity.  The first time (at his baptism) - only Jesus heard the voice.  Now his disciples also hear the voice.  What we are to take away from this has to do with Jesus, his image and his divinity.  

Our lesson from 2nd Corinthians says that "Christ is the image of God."  I would take that a step further and say that Christ is the only perfect image of God.  We are also made in the image of God, but being human we are imperfect.  That is why Christ died on the cross for us - to complete us by making that sacrifice; to pay the price for our imperfection, for our sin, and only that makes us worthy to stand before God.  

So, what are we to do with this vision of Jesus?  The disciples didn’t really understand any of it.  Following this encounter, they returned to the valley and the city below.  They had this monumental experience and immediately they were met by a man who is looking for healing for his son who is possessed by an evil spirit.  It’s back to business as usual, nothing is changed in the world around them.  Only them.  This is just one of the many things that helps them put together the puzzle of the incredible life they are living as they follow Jesus.  After he is raised from the dead, they remember all these miraculous things they have seen and finally begin to understand their significance. 

God makes his light to shine on us and in us and through us so that all might see his glory and come to the shining of his light.  Therefore, it is up to us to carry that light out into the world, so that others, when they encounter us, will know there is a God alive and active in the world today.

Amen.

Looking for Jesus

Listen to the sermon.      

Today’s gospel picks up Jesus as he leaves the synagogue – if you were here last week, we read the story about Jesus driving the unclean spirit from a man at the synagogue.  Today we see Jesus leave – he doesn’t go very far – just down the street to Peter’s house.  This is a typical Sabbath – after church they go home for the noonday meal and then probably lay around or sit around, telling stories and laughing and generally enjoying the afternoon.  

Oh, yes, and the healing – Peter’s mother-in-law.  She had a fever and Jesus touched her, he took her hand and lifted her up.  She got up and the fever left and she served them.  It was as simple as that.  And now Jesus and his friends are enjoying an afternoon off.

But when evening comes, it’s a different matter.  The Sabbath is over – that means people come out.  When Sam and I were in Jerusalem, we went to Ben-Yehuda pedestrian street before dark on the Sabbath.  There were a few tourists wandering around, n//ot a single shop was open.  It was almost like a ghost town.  As the sun went down, the shop doors began to open and merchants placed their wares out on the sidewalk to attract customers.  Before long it was so packed with people that it was hard to move.  

At one end there was a large crowd gathered and we could hear music coming from the center.  They were watching a group of dancer to performing to typical Israeli music.  An old Rabbi frantically went from one side of the group to the other yelling “messianics” – warning people that these were believers in Jesus – beware of them…  This place had literally come alive from an hour before where all seemed to be deserted.  

So I can see this group gathering around Peter’s house just after dark – shoving and pushing and trying to see who was there and what was going on -- hoping that this miracle worker might do some more --magic.  Bringing friends and relatives who had not been at the synagogue that morning to see this miracle worker.  If Jesus wanted proof of the efficacy – the effectiveness -- of his ministry here, this was it.  This was the proof that what he was doing was good and vital and much to be desired by the people.

Finally, after a very long day, late at night, the last of the visitors leaves and this motley crew, Jesus and his four followers, finally fall fast asleep.  Morning comes, birds singing, sounds of people beginning to stir in the distance – the guys wake up and realize that Jesus is not there.  They look around some and can’t find him.  Neighbors start showing up at the door wanting to see Jesus – but he’s nowhere to be found.

So Peter and Andrew, and James and John spread out a little further looking for Jesus. And eventually they find him up on a hillside overlooking Capernaum.  He’s sitting under a tree – he’s been there since about 4 in the morning.  The NRSV calls it a “deserted” place – but the word heramos really means more than that.  This is a place where one might go when crucial decisions need to be made.  It is a place where you are not only alone, but also quiet enough to hear the voice of God.

We might be tempted to say, crucial decisions?  What decisions?  He’s a hit, a success; people want him to stay – what’s to decide?  Go back down and be their pastor.  But the problem is, success has a tendency to turn one’s head – we get puffed up.  More often than not, when things are going well, we just sort of keep up the momentum – keep moving, why stop when we’re on a roll…   When we do that, we are often operating out of our own power – rather than relying on God’s power.  Too many people don’t think about calling on God until they’ve gotten things into such a mess that the only way they can get out is with God’s help.

But Jesus, at the beginning of his success in Capernaum, goes out to a lonely hill, to talk to God, to pray, to revitalize, to listen to God’s voice telling him where to go – what to do – next.  Jesus doesn’t let success put him over the edge.  He remains focused and he tells the disciples – “We move on.  Others need to hear the message.”

How often do we stop in the middle of our busy-ness and talk to God about what is going on in our lives?  I know for me it’s not really often enough – quite often just enough to get me through whatever it is that is foremost at hand. 

Jesus’ decision here was not between the good and bad.  Our choices seldom are that simple – black or white.  I know that regardless of where I am, God can and will use me to his purpose.  If I were still a school teacher, God would still use me to touch the people where I was.  But I also know that since he called me out of that place in my life, I have touched even more lives in different ways.

Our effectiveness as Christians in this world is directly affected by our continued communication with God.  I remember one course in seminary, it was a one hour ‘lab’ attached to our Old Testament class. The text book was called “The Word is very Near You” and the idea is that a small group got together once a week to practice being in the heramos – listening to God’s voice through scripture and spending that time in silent prayer.

One of the young men in our group was a Lutheran and he was impatient and rebelled at everything the senior leader tried to do.  His comment was, “I don’t have to pray.  My whole life is a prayer.”  Here a number of years later, I remember that remark and think, if anyone at all had a right to say that, it was Jesus – yet, here he is, out in the heramos, talking to his Father, recharging his batteries, deciding where to go and what to do next.

We are encouraged to find some time to spend with God each day.  Out of the three examples we have of Jesus praying in Mark’s gospel, one is in the morning and two are in the evening.  The second time Jesus prays was after feeding 5000 people – he went up on a mountain to pray – following another success – and he walks on water after he finishes praying.  The third time is in the garden of Gethsemane – another decision point – a time of great need – a need for strength to go through his passion.

One of the things that I find, a value or benefit, from morning time with God is that I don’t know what is going to face me on any given day.  People expect certain things out of me – a beneficial word, a comforting word, direction, understanding, whatever.  It just really helps me, to have started my day in prayer, to be able to respond to each person in the way they need.  When I’ve done even the minimum prayer time early, I find that I don’t panic when faced with a situation, I don’t jump to conclusions, I don’t run off in my own direction.  I am able to focus on what God has placed before me and tie into the gifts and knowledge he has given me.

The other thing about today’s gospel that really strikes me – the disciples tell Jesus, “Every one is searching for you.”  This is almost an admonishment – why aren’t you where people can find you?  My co-author wrote a book called “Looking for Jesus” – she said it really surprised her that people were looking for Jesus, because growing up, she thought Jesus lived in their house. 

I think there is a very important point in this idea of looking for Jesus.  We are all looking for something in this life; maybe to help us hold it together, to get past the stumbling blocks of our life, to get ahead, to try to figure what to do, where to go next.  There are many people who are searching for meaning, for love, for significance, for acceptance, for assurance that their life has purpose.  Some people look for it in drugs, sex, alcohol.  Some people are so desperate for attention that they will settle for a poor or abusive relationship or act out because negative attention is better than no attention.

The people from Capernaum saw in Jesus someone who could help them ‘solve their problems’ – but what they may have overlooked was that Jesus was someone who could help them “past their troubles.”  He was someone who could help them move on from the place where they were.

This reminds me of a song that I’ve never actually sung by itself, but it totally expresses what I have grown to know is true; it goes something like this:

Jesus is the answer, for the world today.

Above him there’s no other, Jesus is the way.

Jesus is the answer, for the world today.

Above him there’s no other, Jesus is the way.

If you have some questions

In the corners of your mind,

And traces of discouragement

And peace you can not find.

Reflections of the old past

They seem to face you every day,

There's one thing I know for sure

That Jesus is the way.

The people of Capernaum came` looking for Jesus in the same place where they last saw him – but he’s moved on from there – he knows there are more places to go, more people to help, more demons to overcome.  Jesus doesn’t stay in the last place we saw him – he’s always ready to lead us down new paths – the question is, are we ready and are we willing to follow him.  

Are we like Andrew and Peter and James and John – have we gone out to meet Jesus and to follow him into the world and new adventures?  Or are we still back in Capernaum looking for Jesus in the same old places?

Amen.