Fourth Sunday of Lent -- March 15, 2015

Going to the Other Side

Guest Preacher:  Reverend Sharon Stewart

Isaiah 43:14-21

God’s Mercy and Israel’s Unfaithfulness

14 

This is what the Lord says—

    your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“For your sake I will send to Babylon

    and bring down as fugitives all the Babylonians,

    in the ships in which they took pride.

15 

I am the Lord, your Holy One,

    Israel’s Creator, your King.”

16 

This is what the Lord says—

    he who made a way through the sea,

    a path through the mighty waters,

17 

who drew out the chariots and horses,

    the army and reinforcements together,

and they lay there, never to rise again,

    extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:

18 

“Forget the former things;

    do not dwell on the past.

19 

See, I am doing a new thing!

    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness

    and streams in the wasteland.

20 

The wild animals honor me,

    the jackals and the owls,

because I provide water in the wilderness

    and streams in the wasteland,

to give drink to my people, my chosen,

21 

    the people I formed for myself

    that they may proclaim my praise.

Mark 4:35-41; Mark 5:1

Jesus Calms the Storm

35 That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

5:1 - They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes.

Jesus said, “Let’s go to the other side: going to the other side.” This can mean many places - the other side of the lake; the other side of the street. In Pittsburgh we know a lot about going to the other side of the river; more than 29 bridges cross the three rivers. If you cross a bridge in Pittsburgh, you will experience a different venue, on the other side; a different type of landscaping;  homes and neighborhoods…You begin to see life from a different perspective. That is what it was like for the disciples. They were called to a new experience as followers of Jesus. They were going from a predominately Jewish area to a Gentile region, the Gerasenes.

In this story from the Gospel of Mark,  after Jesus spoke with the crowds he said, “let’s go to the other side.” The disciples trusted him; he was their teacher and they knew he was tired. So they began to take care of the rowing as Jesus slept in the back of the boat. Many of the disciples were experienced fisherman so they knew the sea well. Suddenly a storm came upon them. Remember when you were a child and you could hear the thunder and wind; it shook the house and could be very frightening. In the similar way, the disciples were in this thunderous, explosive squall as the wind was blowing and the water was splashing into the boat. Yet Jesus remained asleep on the soft cushion; they wondered, doesn’t he care; why is he not helping? They woke him up.

So Jesus stood up; he rebuked the demonic fury of the wind and waves. Then, what followed was a dead calm.

It was so profound that it sucked the life out of the chaos and it restored order to the sea. This dead calm had a life of its own. After the waves were coming into the boat and the wind tossing them to and fro, there was quiet. We can imagine that it was so quiet it must have been unnerving. Instead of celebrating the calm and order that came from Jesus rebuking the sea, the disciples were terrified. The Greek work used here is fo-be’-ō - to be struck with fear.  Why was this calm so unnerving? Perhaps there is another window into the story that we need to see today.

Maybe we need to reflect on his questions to the disciples: Why are you afraid? Why are you now afraid? 

Remember Jesus’ disciples were very accustomed to storms/the chaos.  Almost half of them have been fishermen their whole lives. The storms were disruptive to their flow of rowing across the sea yet they had experienced these kinds of storms before; what they were not familiar with was this kind of calm.

Jesus seemed to get that they were reflecting on what just happened. There was the storm and then this sudden calm. He asked them, “Why are you terrified, don’t you have faith?” The calm came suddenly, there was no more frantic rowing, the wild crazy winds were gone. Notice that it was after Jesus calmed the wind and waves that they were terrified. Often times we have the adrenaline rush and the intuition to deal with the chaos, the storms but it is in the reflecting about the storms and the chaos that can be unnerving. In the calm and quiet time of reflection we think about how we reacted, we begin to breath and recover. In the calm, we begin to grow from past experiences.

As Jesus and the disciples went to the other side, they were given a time of calm; a time to recover and a time prepare for the next thing. They were going to a place to learn, cross ethnic barriers and to experience the work of the Lord in another culture. 

Today, I want to share a story about modern day disciples or apostles who were also sent to the other side of the ocean to be with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We were sent during the calm; calm from months of civil war in South Sudan.

In January of 2015, five pastors and one young adult  traveled from Pittsburgh to Washington, DC to Dubai and finally to Juba South Sudan in Africa, it took 24 hours to go to the other side.

In the scriptures we read about Sudan. It is referred to as Cush, Nubia and Ethiopia. Cush is a term for the people descended from Cush; the grandson of Noah, and it refers to the country immediately south of Egypt along the Nile.

We hear about the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 who was the treasurer of Queen Candice who ruled in present day Northern Sudan. He traveled to Jerusalem to worship. When the Eunuch met Philip he interpreted the scriptures from Isaiah that the eunuch was reading; then Philip Baptized him.  He became a baptized Christian convert. We see here that back in the 1st century, God was doing a new thing. The history of the Christian church in Sudan began in AD 37 with an Ethiopian Eunuch.

The church in Sudan grew steadily, and in the third century many coptic Egyptian Christians fled to Sudan to escape the persecutions of the Roman emperors. Strong Christian communities were flourishing in Sudan (Cush). By the 6th century, Christianity had become the official religion of these Sudanese kingdoms. Archaeologists have unearthed over a hundred churches dating back to this period. Many of these churches have elaborate Christian paintings on the walls. Sudan contains the oldest community of Christians in Africa - who have suffered some of the worst persecutions in the world.

As the scriptures state in Isaiah 18:2, The Sudanese are a tall people, a smooth skinned people, with a violent history. The Christians in Sudan have been longing for independence; to be free from persecution and most recently from Islamic, Sharia law.

      

In 2011, the people of South Sudan finally achieved independence after years of struggle and warfare. As a result of the peace agreement, hundreds of thousands of Sudanese were forced to leave their homes in Khartoum and other parts of north Sudan in order to come back to their “ancestral homeland” in the south. They were not allowed to take much property with them, and they arrived in an under-developed land with little infrastructure and very few  resources. The world’s newest country was among the world’s poorest countries. But they had hope; they had religious freedom and they were away from oppression. For 2 years, there was growth and joy in South Sudan, the beginnings of a plan for self-governance and a longing to emerge into a more developed future.

However, in December of 2013, a political conflict developed into a clash within the South Sudanese military. The ethnic and tribally-based violence erupted into a full-scale civil war. Within months, two million people were displaced from their homes. And although the situation has improved enough for us to visit, the fighting continues even to this day in different parts of South Sudan.

So, why, why did we go to the other side to a place where there has been years of stormy chaos? Perhaps it was because, just like the disciples needed to go to the other side of the Lake, we desired to expand our relationships; develop relationships with our brothers and sisters on the other side of the ocean; to love one our brothers and sisters in Christ from different ethnic groups. In South Sudan there are 74 ethnic groups.  We met with the pastors from several ethnic groups all from the South Sudanese Presbyterian Evangelical Churches. For a long time Christians in Sudan felt alone and abandoned. We heard them say, “We are a hidden people fighting a forgotten war.” It has been so important to let them know: You are not alone. You are not forgotten. There are people who are praying and who care enough to have sent us to be present with you.

Most of these pastors came from the North Sudan; recently they had to build new churches with new congregants; then when the tribal war broke out in December of 2013, they lost these buildings, homes were looted and many friends and relatives died.  Thousands of displaced people sought shelter at the U.N. South Sudan Mission in Juba; Many of the displaced fear going home even though Juba has been relatively calm.

Some of the pastors we were with have not been out of the UN camp since the war broke out in December 2013. The purpose of our trip was to spend time with leaders and mission co-workers in worship, retreat, celebration, and listening. We invited them to go with us out of the city into a to place where there was calm, a retreat center called RECONCILE in the town YEI.

During our week at the retreat center, we learned that many of the pastors living in deplorable conditions in the UN Camps had very little privacy. All day long they hear the sounds of discontent children crying; restless teenagers, frustrated parents and there is very little to do. Most of them did not feel well; malaria, colds and stomach pains are some of the concerns that spoke to us about.

Our brothers and sisters in Christ have experienced post traumatic stress; the pastors struggled with talking about their past; what they have seen and experienced. Thinking about the past was too painful. It many ways  it was terrifying. One of the workshops that we went through was about Post Trauma Stress. Watching the looks on the faces was so telling; there was pain yet amazing hope. During free time, they began to talk about the fighting that has occurred between tribes, what has caused the conflict; how to solve it; they talked and laughed into the night. You could see relief and joy in their faces. Hope for the future; hope for a peaceful nation where there is freedom to preach the gospel. During this calm on the other side we heard our brothers and sisters talk together; they were breaking down barriers as these pastors from different tribes were developing deeper relationships and beginning to trust each other.

At one point, I said to the general secretary; My heart aches for tall of you; so many of you have lost your homes; families need to live in another country; and you have experienced such trauma and suffering. He said,

We are grateful that you are here to stand with us; to listen to our stories. You need to remember that this is our sin; we need to learn how to get along with each other. Our tribes are fighting; we are using this time of calm for God to teach us; for us to learn about each other. Thank you for giving us this calm space to talk and to heal. We need to teach our church, our community; pray for peace; pray that we may have peace.

Not only are they dealing with their own brokenness but they have the pressures from many countries trying to control and influence them. There are many other nations interested in their oil and other resources.

Yet, Philip did not blame others; he was able to name the chaos of his country. He said, it is our sin; we are fighting; it is our doing; we need to learn how to get along. We are recognizing our own sin and talking about it together; owning our part in the storm.

During this calm at the retreat center, it was a sacred time of sharing. It was a time to build relationships, cross tribal and ethnic barriers and begin to see ways of reconciliation as a nation. You must understand, the Christians in Sudan have experienced years and years of warfare; the current generation in South Sudan has never lived without war. Yet, they are strong; they have learned to have faith; a faith that drives out fear. They are learning to break down the barriers between ethnic groups; to talk and to listen to each other. It was a time of reconciliation and healing.

How refreshing! As we got to know our brother and sisters on the other side, we realized how much we can learn from them. In one way or another we all experienced transformation in South Sudan. As areas in our personal lives were awakened that week; some of us began to see areas in our own lives that need healing; in the calm we were reminded that ALL are broken; all of us have areas of fear during the storms and during the calm times in our life.

As we returned to North America, we could not help but ask; what is God saying to us now? Do we have our own version of ethnic and tribal wars? What kinds of barriers do we need to cross for reconciliation in our family? In our neighborhood? In our church? In the denomination? In political parties?

As Jesus’ disciples we can be assured that Jesus is with us during the storms. We are also called to listen during the calm. As individuals and as a community we can ask, what is on the other side for us? Are we willing to be unnerved by the calm and to get clarity about ways to break down barriers? Are we willing to seek reconciliation; to seek forgiveness and to forgive? What is on the other side for you? Will it be freedom from a burden; a relief?

Jesus said, I am with you. I will show you the way! Jesus said, get in the boat and let’s go to the other side! Be Still; be quiet..Do not be afraid. Have faith. I am with you!

Third Sunday of Lent -- March 8, 2015

 A Forgetful, Forgiving God

Guest Preacher:  Ruling Elder Keith Mihelcic

Exodus 20:1-17

Then God spoke all these words: I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name. Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.

Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

1 Corinthians 1:18-25

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

                                   

John 2:13-22  The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking of the temple of his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

I know, I know. You’re thinking what is up with three readings - in a row! You ought to thank me, I almost put the Psalm reading in there too! Trust me, I think I know what I am doing! I wanted them to all come at you like that. Boom -boom-boom! I guess I just wanted to try to recapture the effect that it had on me when I read these passages.

Do not get me wrong, it’s not as if when I read these three passages I immediately had an idea for a sermon pop into my head. That hardly ever happens. Usually one passage will pop out at me I will let that marinate for a bit. I will kick it around in my head, re-read it a few times a day. Usually, something will come to me - an idea, a theme, a general outline - something that I believe I can work with.

Sometimes it comes relatively easy. Sometimes not so much. This week was neither hard, nor was it easy. I was just a bit lost, I suppose. I read the passages several time, but nothing was really jumping out at me. I guess I could have forced something, but usually when I do that I end up throwing away an almost written sermon, at the last minute, in order to go in a different direction.

Usually, like most people who preach. (notice I did not call myself a preacher; I just think of myself as someone who preaches sometimes. Think of it this way, just because you can bake a cake that does not make you a pastry chef!)

But I digress, I usually, like most people who preach, pick two passages from the lectionary readings. Out of those two I will typically focus on one and maybe, manage to work in the other reading as well.

This time it was different. As I mentioned, I could not come up with any one idea that I really liked. Then, as I was reading through them all again, in order, just like we heard this morning, it hit me. I think I know why this sermon wasn’t coming so easily.

Let me preface this by saying that no one likes to be told all about themselves. You know that moment. It’s awful. We have all had moments in our lives when someone - a wife, mother, brother, sister, friend, etc - has taken us to task. However, what makes these moments worse is when you know, in the very depth of your heart and mind that the other person is right. All that you can do is listen.

I think that is what God is doing in these three passages. He is telling us all about ourselves. I believe that we should listen.

Let us start with the Exodus passage. The Ten Commandments. What exactly are the Ten Commandments? Sure, obviously, they are commandments. Well, duh. I mean, commandment is in the title.

This is an instruction manual. A behaviour manual for the human race, if you will. We obviously were not then, and are not now, going to figure it out for ourselves. I mean, think about it. Have we really come that far from those days? Sure technology has advanced the way we break the Commandments, but it hasn’t changed that fact that we still break them. Constantly.

We don’t bow down to actual golden calves these days. Instead we bow down to and create idols of a myriad of other things. We sit in front of a box and let it entertain us, we bury our faces in our phones and our computers. We make idols out of all of these things we have. Things that really do what? Distract us. Amuse us. Make us feel good. At least temporarily, they do. Where does that get us?

Think about some of the ways that the Lord’s name in used these days. If that is not taking his name in vain what is?

Consider this: when is the last time you truly rested on the Sabbath?

Have you heard the way that some kids talk to or about their parent’s these days? Very little honor there.

We don’t kill each other with rock any more. We have bombs and guns for that.

People still commit actual physical adultery these days, for sure.  Why do that? Get all the lust you want by turning on the TV or getting on your computer.

People still steal, but now people can steal with a few keystrokes.

We all still lie and we all still covet, Oh my, how we all still covet.

God knows how people are. When I say the way “are” I don’t mean he knows how we are in this day in age. God knows man and what is in him on a level we can’t comprehend. He knows that we need to be told how to not behave badly. We need reminders of what bad behavior is.

I have heard  many preachers divide the  the Ten Commandments divided into two parts. 1-4 are about how our relationship with God should be and 5-10 are about how we should interact with each other.

These are reminders from a holy God as to how we are to interact with Him and with all of those around us. Think we don’t need reminded these days? Turn on the news or read a paper.

Then we get to Paul in 1st Corinthians. At it’s heart it is a really affirming passage. It speaks of the power of the cross of Jesus Christ to save. Read it a little closer, though. Between the lines if you will.

There is a huge difference in the thought process of God as opposed to the thought process of man. Verse 25 says it all, “For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength”.

While this passage is mainly comparing believers and unbelievers, are we that different from the Jews and Greeks that Paul is talking about? We think that we are pretty smart sometimes. I know I do. I also believe that we rely on our own strength way too much. Especially when you consider that the creator of everything is on our side and in our corner. Paul tells us we have Jesus. The power and the wisdom of God on our side. Yet we still don’t trust God’s wisdom. We still don’t rely on his strength.

Then there is the John passage. What a passage. Angry Jesus. But first, a word from the prophet Malachai. (More Scripture!)  “ I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years”.

What a passage! That describes Jesus perfectly at the temple. Who can stand when he appears. Apparently, no one can! This picture of Jesus has always stood out in my mind.

Here is Jesus so mad that a harsh rebuke will not suffice! He makes a whip! He is flipping over tables! He is confronting those in positions of authority and telling them all about themselves. Why at this time? Why at this place? What was going on here that caused such a visceral response from the person who extols living peaceably and turning the other cheek?

Well, to be certain Jesus had the right to do what he was doing. I have read in a couple of commentaries and study Bibles  that Jesus was showing his authority here. That is, he was putting people on notice. He was doing a task that only he had the proper authority to do.

Yet, I think there is more to this. I always picture Jesus as very frustrated during all of this. The reason why? These people are just not getting it. If I may quote my study Bible directly, Jesus “has a zeal for God and keeping holy ordinances holy”. Why does he feel so strongly about this?

This is his Father’s house. It is not a place to be abused. This is a place to draw near and worship. A place to be still and know the Lord. We need that. We need that holy place we can go to. Now, I am not talking about a building. If you really read the text Jesus was not talking about a building. We all know that now. In hindsight even the disciples knew it. Jesus, when he was talking to the leadership of the day, made a direct correlation between himself and the temple because that is the place where the Holy Spirit now rested. That was the only temple that mattered in the long run.

But Jesus knew how important that relationship with himself, with God, is. That is one of the reasons, in my opinion, that he is so heated about this. Jesus knows what we need. We need as direct a path to God as we can get.  We need not to encumber ourselves in that journey. This can be done when we put obstacles in our own way, or when we trip over the ones already there.

Jesus knows what we really need and this day at the temple he had enough of seeing people clogging the path to God.

When you think about it I guess it can get a little depressing. I wrote an outline for this sermon and I had these section heading for each of the readings labeled as such. Mind you this is from God’s perspective, at least in my opinion.

Exodus - This is how you people need to behave

Corinthians - This is how you people think

John - Just stop it already!

Like I said. Kind of depressing. I think that the main thing is that we have to keep this in perspective. Yes, we are sinners. And, yes, we are good at it. Yet we are forgiven and loved beyond measure.

My older brother, being a typical older brother, believes that he know a lot more than me about various topics. One of his favorite sayings, usually when we are talking about music, is “I have forgotten more about music than you will ever know”. God can say a similar thing.

God has forgotten more about us than we will ever know about ourselves.

We were made for relationship with God. Each and every one of us. Jesus knows this.

We were not made to hate, kill, envy or lust. But we do. We always have and we always will.

All of this talk of commandments, and the way we think, and what we really need in our lives, do we really need to be reminded of all of that?

I believe we do need to be reminded.

Not that we should dwell on our own sins or dwell upon all of the evil in the world. But we must think about it. We need to think about the ways we all go astray and the things that get in the way of us deepening our relationship with God. To paraphrase Paul, we need to start thinking like Jesus. We need the mind of Christ.

What is the end result of all of this? What if we obeyed the commandments just a little better, individually and as a society? What if we started thinking just a little more like Jesus? What if we all tried to remove just some of the clutter in our spiritual lives? Where do you think that would leave us? Where do you think that would leave the world?

I know where it would leave us. It would leave us in a much better place. It would leave us really meaning it when we prayed “on earth, as it is in heaven” because we would be actively trying to make that happen, bit by bit.

Second Sunday of Lent -- March 1, 2015

How Jesus Ruins Everything

https://soundcloud.com/emsworthup/march-1-2015-11-25-05-am

NOTE: Sermons are aural events; they are meant to be heard, not read. The text below -- which was not delivered exactly as written -- may include errors not limited to spelling, grammar and punctuation of which the listener might be unaware and with which the preacher is unconcerned (h/t: Rev. Slim Wilson)

Mark 8: 27-38 

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” ²⁸And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” ²⁹He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” ³⁰And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

³¹Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³²He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

³⁴He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

So if you were sleeping on Thursday night, like a normal person, you might have missed the latest controversy to blow up the Internet. 

It wasn’t your standard Internet scuffle.  The controversy wasn’t over war or peace, Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal.  It didn’t include the usual suspects like politicians, climate change or immigration policy.  Those squabbles are child’s play in comparison to the debate that began percolating on Wednesday afternoon and morphed into a full blown, international controversy on Thursday night.  The latest Internet-fueled controversy to divide families, friends, co-workers and even members of the U.S. Congress had to do with a dress. 

The debate was over this question:  Did the mother of the bride wear black and blue?  Or gold and white? 

A few days after a wedding on the Scottish island, a member of the wedding party was posted a picture of a dress on the Tumbler website and asked her followers for their feedback.  The photo soon was posted on Buzzfeed, Facebook and Twitter.  At its peak, more that 670,000 people were simultaneously viewing the photo.  Every one had an opinion, it seems, about the color of the dress.  And everyone was convinced that he or she was right. 

At the heart of this silly on-line debate was a curious mystery – how could different people see the same article of clothing so differently?  Like many questions, the answer hinges on the question of perception, how people interpret the world through different lenses.  But in the case of the dress color, it isn’t about ideology, or politics, or race.  Whether you see the dress as black and blue, or gold and white, has to do with how your brain processes visual information.  Every human being’s brain is wired differently, and the dress controversy certainly illustrates that fact. 

You and I look at the same photo of a dress.  I say it’s white and gold.  You say black and blue.  Which one of us is perceiving reality and which one of us is not?  The answer, as best as I’ve been able to figure, is this:  what did the creator of the dress intend the color of the dress to be?  I’ll save you the trouble of going to the Google when you get home.  The dress designer says it is black and blue.  Then again, that’s the perception of the designer.  Maybe the designer got it wrong as well.

This is all slippery, unsettling stuff.  What makes blue blue?  What makes gold gold.  Is color only in the eye of the beholder?  And it’s exactly the same kind of question being considered in our scripture this morning.  What makes the Messiah, the Messiah?  What does the Messiah look like? What is the Messiah supposed to be and do and behave?  In our text today, Peter thinks he knows what he’s seeing when he looks at Jesus.  Peter’s brain has been trained and wired in such a way that his perception of The Messiah is one thing.  And he is soon to discover that Jesus’ perception is quite different, in a way that will soon unsettle all the disciples.

Just remember what Peter has witnessed in his time with Jesus up to this point.  What Peter has seen is Jesus at his most dazzling. The gospel of Mark provides a narrative in the first eight chapters that seems to go out of its way to highlight Jesus’ amazing power.  Jesus has going head to head, toe to toe with Satan and emerging victorious.  Jesus casting out demons, calming a storm, healing countless sick, giving sight to the blind, raising a girl from the dead, feed 5,000 people with some scraps of bread and fish, and walking on water. Wow.  For the first eight chapters of Mark, what we see when we see Jesus is power, power, and more power.  Power over sickness, power over death, power over Satan. 

Peter sees all powerful stuff happening when Jesus is around and he is pretty sure that he has figured out the puzzle.  Peter is pretty sure that he knows exactly who Jesus is and says it out loud.  – Jesus is, indeed, the Messiah.  The hope of Israel.    Peter thinks Israel has finally gotten what they’ve been waiting for since forever -- a successful, powerful Messiah. 

But what Jesus has in mind for the future of his ministry is very different from what Peter is anticipating.  Because Jesus perceives with the mind and eyes of God, and Peter has the mind and eyes of a human being.  And Jesus tells his disciples that, from this moment on, their lives will be lived in the shadow of the Cross. 

Sigh.  Big sigh. Jesus has ruined everything.  What once was a beautiful picture of a light-filled and powerful Messiah has been transformed to black and blue suffering. 

Jesus paints a clear picture. No parables this time.  No folksy metaphors for what is about to happen.  Jesus speaks clearly about suffering, rejection and death.  Over and over again from this point on in the gospel of Mark.  And at every point, the disciples don’t see what Jesus sees. 

And how could they? In the disciple’s religious imagination, the Holy One of Israel should be about accomplishment, glory, wisdom, and above all, power.  Power to defeat the Romans, not to be killed by them.  Power to be the living breathing hope of Israel, not a dead criminal on a cross.  The disciples are scandalized, confused, maybe a little embarrassed.  Probably even angry.  Wasn’t the Messiah supposed to save them?  What good is a dead Messiah?  All of Jesus’ gloomy talk is going to completely destroy this ministry.  Doesn’t Jesus know that?

 And Jesus tells Peter to get a grip.  This is how its going to be. 

Jesus turns to the crowd that had been following him around and says, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.  For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake and the sake of the gospel, will save it.”  Jesus is very clear about what it means to be his follower.  Suddenly, following Christ isn’t about power, power, and more power.  Suddenly, following Christ isn’t about success and glory and accomplishment and wisdom in all the ways we think about it as human beings.  Suddenly, following Christ isn’t about solving problems and making life easier.  Following Jesus is about complicating your life in ways you never imagined.  And it begins by being willing to lose everything.

You know that question – how do people make it through life without faith?  After hearing what Jesus has to say, maybe a better question is – why would anyone want to go through life with faith?  At least in this guy.  Because what Jesus is promising to the disciples in this text doesn’t look very promising.  In fact, you wonder why anyone would want to follow Jesus at all. 

The first half of Mark’s gospel is all about how to live.  Throughout the first chapters, Jesus gives instruction of one kind or another on how to best fashion our lives.  And then, at this moment, Jesus makes the turn and begins to show us how to die.  Playing it safe is no longer an option, says Jesus.  There is sacrifice expected.  Death stops being a reality to be feared, but one to embrace.  Now that we have been given new life in Christ, Jesus shows us how to give it up or give it away.  And much to the crowd’s disappointment, and maybe to our own, Jesus points to the cross and insists that it is the only way we will be saved.

Jesus could not have chosen a more vivid and terrifying image than the cross.  In first-century Palestine, the cross meant one thing – death, the cruel tortuous death that awaited anyone who dared threatened Caesar’s kingdom.  The Romans put up crosses like billboards advertising Caesar’s supremacy and the fate of anyone who dared to challenge it.  Jesus’ hearers knew exactly what taking up the cross meant.  In 6 AD, they had watched the Romans crucify 2000 Galilean insurrectionists.  Imagine the impression that must have made on the disciples.  Imagine the impression this must have made on young Jesus. 

This invitation to lose one’s life is a terrible slogan for the Christian church.  Nobody is much interested in dying or picking up an extra burden for the sake of the gospel. What Jesus is saying here is not going to attract flocks of people to our sanctuaries. At least, not people who would join a church because it makes them feel good or confirms their own way of living or doesn’t require much of them in the way of change or growth or sacrifice.

If the church were really following Jesus, we would say that if you’ve been viewing your faith as a security blanket to make you feel warm and cozy, it’s time to give it up.  If you’ve been using your faith as a weapon to judge and exclude other people, stop it.  If you have been coasting on something you once believed a long time ago and are not currently wrestling with your whole heart about what it means to follow Jesus, you better start struggling.  If your goal as a church is merely to survive, give up that idea right now.  Jesus embodies a different logic --the logic of the cross that says it is only in suffering and struggling and dying that we will be saved.

That sound you hear in the gospel text today as Jesus makes the turn to the cross is the ideal of a powerful Messiah crumbling.  Some of the sounds we hear in the pews these days are the sounds of our perceptions of the church of Jesus Christ beginning to fall apart.  And that is good news. Because when our beliefs begin to unravel, we learn to quit worshiping our own beliefs, our own experiences, our own community, and finally begin to worship God alone. 

Jesus ruins everything for Peter because Peter’s perception of who Jesus should be, blocked his ability to see Jesus as he is.  We are also guilty of this.  We assume that we know what we know about God’s intention for us, so much so that even a powerful word from Jesus cannot dissuade us.  We still live as people blinded by our prejudices and preconceptions of the way we think things should be for us.  We think if we are faithful enough, our lives will run better.  We think if we are smart enough, our church will get better.  And Jesus comes along and ruins everything.   Thank God.

Because we have so much more to learn.  Because the God revealed in Jesus Christ shows up not in our successes, but in the broken places.  Like Peter, we are often disappointed that we do not get the God we want, the God we’ve been taught to worship, or the God we believe we have a right to expect.  Like Peter, we want to hang out with a winner who attracts the popular crowd.  Not a suffering servant who very may well get us killed as well.

The good news is that the Jesus we get is the Messiah we need.  The Messiah who lowers himself to join us in our earthy, stumbling humanity.  The Messiah who sheds every bit of heavenly glory to enter the little hells we have created.  The Messiah who abandons all the trappings of power so that God can get close enough to embrace us and redeem us at our places of weakness and brokenness. 

Perhaps this is what Jesus meant by saying that those who want to save their life – along with all our expectations for what Messiah should be – will lose it and those who are able to shed those expectations and the lives they’ve built around them will find life.  True life.

In the last paragraph of his great book entitled Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis has these important lines:  “The principle runs all through life, from top to bottom.  Give up yourself and you will find your real self.  Lose life and it will be saved.  Submit to death – the death of ambitions and secret wishes.  Keep nothing back.  Nothing in us that has not died will ever be raised from the dead.  Look for Christ and you will find him, and with him, everything else thrown in.” 

Let it be so for us.  Let us keep nothing back.  Let us look for Christ in own lives and in the life of our church.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

Lent at Emsworth U.P. Church

Wednesday Evenings During Lent

February 25, March 4, 11, 18, 25

6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon

Come and gather with our brothers and sisters at Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon for an evening of dinner, worship and study.   The topic of our study during Lent will be, “The Jesus Creed,” based upon the book by Scot McKnight.   

The Jesus Creed is based upon Jesus’ words in Mark 12:29 – 31.  The words Jesus speaks are taken from the Shema from Deuteronomy 6 –

“Hear O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”

We will study what it means to follow the Jesus Creed – in our writing, learning, praying and living. 

Some weeks, the program will be intergenerational, with everyone together.  Other weeks, we will separate into age-specific activities for children, youth and adults. 

Brochures with more information are available in the narthex, or talk with Pastor Susan.

South Sudan Trip Information

You have three upcoming opportunities to learn more about Pastor Susan’s trip to South Sudan with five other pastors from Pittsburgh Presbytery.

Monday, March 2 at 6:30 p.m. at Pittsburgh Presbytery.  All six team members will be making a presentation to the International Partnership of Pittsburgh Presbytery.  Also of interest will be an update on Malawi, including a report on the recent flooding as well as an update on the trip scheduled for this summer, 2015.

Sunday, March 15 at 11:00 The Rev. Sharon Stewart will be our guest preacher and present her perspective on South Sudan and what she experienced there.

Sunday, March 22 at 11:00 a.m. Pastor Susan will be discussing the trip as part of our regular worship service.

Worship Schedule for March/April

Sunday, March 8         Elder Keith Mehelcic preaching at 11:00 a.m.

                                    (Pastor on Spring break from March 5 – 15)

                                    Sunday school at 9:45 a.m.

Sunday, March 15       Rev. Sharon Stewart preaching at 11:00 a.m.

                                    (Rev. Stewart is one of the pastors from Pittsburgh Presbytery who

                                    traveled to South Sudan in January.)

                                    Sunday school at 9:45 a.m.

                                   

Sunday, March 22       Prayer group for Emsworth U.P. at 9:15 a.m.

                                    Sunday school at 9:45 a.m.

                                    South Sudan Worship with Pastor Susan at 11:00 a.m.

Sunday, March 29       Prayer group for Emsworth U.P. at 9:15 a.m.

                                    Sunday school at 9:45 a.m.

                                    Worship at 11:00 a.m. (Palm/Passion Sunday)

Thursday, April 2         Maundy Thursday/Good Friday supper and service at 6:00 p.m.

                                     (Community Presbyterian Church of Ben Avon)

Sunday, April 5            Easter worship at 11:00 a.m.