Faith Is What Happens On Our Way TO Somewhere Else

Sermon-Year B-Proper 8-4thPentecost June 28, 2009
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
When I was 15, I got sick with a mysterious illness. I spent a year not feeling well, and finally wound up having surgery. But it meant that I missed a good sized chunk of high school. Also, I was pretty shy. So when we went back for my 40th class reunion last week in Kansas City, I didn’t feel like I knew very many people from “the old days”. We went to t wo reunion events , and both times I felt pretty disconnected from my class. Some pictures were posted online after the reunion, I am not making this up, and Debby and I were shown seated at a table with this caption underneath the picture: “Debby Hagan”. Period. No mention of the guy with her. Thank God she was there.
But besides the reunion, we had a chance to spend time with cousins and friends that I hadn’t seen in many many years. We stopped along the way and I was reconnected with a lot of people that were from a long time ago. It was a very good vacation, but not because of the reunion. But I’ll get back to that. This is my point today, Faith is what happens on our way to somewhere else, to do something important.
If you remember from last week, Jesus crossed the Sea of Galilee in a terrible wind, into the land of the Gentiles. He and his disciples went through the storms and faced a crisis of faith before they could get to the people who were foreigners to them.
This week they have come back to the Jewish side of the lake. But the same problems persist. People are in trouble, people are sick, people are struggling- unable to find God. People keep getting in the way of the gospel.
Jesus gets out of the boat and is immediately beset by a father with a sick daughter. This father, Jairus, (whose name means, "he who will be awakened or he is enlightened") is desperate. He does not come to Jesus in faith-he comes in anguish. Have you ever had someone who is near you who is near death. YOU WILL TRY ANYTHING, ANYONE if they have a chance to help. This is Jairus. My daughter is dying, HELP HER. And so Jesus starts towards the ruler’s house. Then, the story takes a detour. Jesus gets distracted, The crowds around Jesus are growing, and yet suddenly he feels someone touch his robe. A woman has been hemorrhaging for years, suffering. And now a second person is in trouble. Jesus is on his way to help one person, and now someone else has reached out to him. How old is the little girl? The woman who touches Jesus, how long has she been bleeding? Both are women, both associated with the number 12, both “contagious” in Jewish law. The woman had been using physicians for many years, the little girl’s father was the leader of the synagogue. In other words, people of authority and power had tried and failed to help. Both the woman and the little girl, are anonymous-we never know their names. Jesus simply calls the woman, “daughter, and Jairus’ daughter he calls, 8 0little girl”. So many things tie these two females together in this story. Jesus heals the woman who had been bleeding, and then hurries to the child. When he arrives at the house, he is told that the young woman is dead-perhaps if he hadn’t been held up on the way, been “distracted” , things might have been different. But he goes in, takes her by the hand, and bids her to rise. And she is revived. “According to theologian Barbara Brown Taylor, Jesus then preaches the "shortest sermon of his career: 'Do not fear,' he says to the grief-besotted man, 'only believe.'" Do not fear; only believe. Taylor says this sermon was not just for Jairus' benefit, and not just for the early church Mark addressed, but for "all of us who suffer from the human condition, who are up against things we cannot control." "Healing Powers," Kate Huey, Weekly Seeds, i.UCC.org, 2009. Faith is what happens on our way to somewhere else, to do something important.
All the stories in this section of Mark are about the Kingdom of God, and they revolve around the things that separate us or drive us from that kingdom. Today’s stories are about fear. So were last week’s. And the week before that. This part of Mark’s gospel recounts stories about the things that get in the way of our faith, that undermine us, and divert us while we’re on the way to someplace else, preparing to do something important. John Lennon had a famous quote once, “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.” That line jumped out at me more than once over the last couple of weeks.
On the way to our reunion, we stopped one night to see a cousin and his wife that we hadn’t seen in years. We had a great time, and in many ways it was like we had never been apart. The next night we drove 150 miles farther and again stopped to see a different cousin and his wife that we hadn’t connected with, we guessed, since the last family funeral many years earlier. Again, we had a lot of fun. After a few days we went and stayed with an old buddy of mine and his wife. At one time he and I had been very close, but then I had let the friendship lapse. We picked up where we had left off over 25 years ago. Again, it was wonderful. But none of these had to do with my school reunion. I was on my way somewhere else, and these things just happened.
Jesus is on his way to preach the good news to his own people. But a little girl is sick and he is detoured. And on his way to see her, a woman in distress reaches out to him. And his visit to the little girl is delayed. We hear this over and over, while Jesus is on his way to do something important, life gets in the way and it always feels like the gospel is diverted. Except it’s not. “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.”
Today’s gospel is called sandwiching, a story within a story. We hear of a story, it’s interrupted, and we hear of a second story. And Mark does this to make a point. It can get a little frustrating. But it always turns out that the goal is achieved “in spite” of the deflections. In other words, the gospel happens. The good news is preached, the kingdom is moved closer. After awhile it20starts to dawn on us that the gospel doesn’t happen regardless of the distractions-maybe the gospel IS the distractions.
I have found this to be so true in my life that whenever I have something really big coming up, like say, a 40th high school reunion, I start looking for the diversions, the distractions-and watching for them. You know we’re always on our way to something important, and something else gets in the way? Maybe that thing that gets in the way was the lesson the whole time. I went for a reunion with classmates, and instead was reunited in a wonderful way with friends and family. And because I was pondering this gospel, I knew something like this would probably happen. Faith is what happens on our way to somewhere else, to do something important.
Listen for how often Jesus teaches that the opposite of faith isn’t doubt, but fear. Fear gets in our heads when we believe that what we want and what is happening, are two different things. Like our health or the health of someone we love. Or a reunion. Or being separated from those we love. Or losing someone. We become afraid that life is spinning out of control. And our faith and trust in God is undermined. We start out on a road of faith, and life gets in the way. And we become afraid. We might not reach our goal, we may lose the thing, the person, whose important.
Life is a sandwich. We have a purpose, and other things get in the way. If we listen, and watch closely enough, I think, we learn that it’s the things that get in the way that turn ou t to be our real purpose, our real goal. I went to a reunion and wound up being reconnected with old friends. Jesus was on his way to preach the gospel, and wound up preaching the gospel. A child dies, and two people get healed. We are working on something that is crucial, maybe even something holy, and life gets in the way. Faith is what happens on our way to somewhere else, to do something important.


Mark 5:21-43
21When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. 22Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 23and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.”
24So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. 26She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” 29Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?” 31And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, ‘Who touched me?’” 32He looked all around to see who had done it. 33But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
35While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” 36But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” 37He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 38When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39When he had entered, he said to them, “Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.” 40 And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” 42And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. 43He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

Marking the Date

Sermon-Year B-Pentecost May 31, 2009
The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen."
Last week I told you part of a sabbatical story. I had begun my sabbatical in Ireland walking with my son Kyle. He returned home and I spent a few days on the island of Iona, and then I began walking the 62 mile trip across southern Scotland called, St. Cuthbert’s Way. It was the first day walking from the little town of Melrose. I got lost even before I got out of town. It rained. And within minutes of leaving the village I had to immediately begin climbing a steep hill. I was wet, cold, alone, and very soon I was lost again. Then I ran into women, who I had met that morning at breakfast me, and they walked with me that whole first day. I felt rescued. I told you all this last week. As the first day ended, they were going on-but I was stopping at my B&B for the night. These two angels had saved me, and now I was alone again. And I felt sadder and lonelier than before I had even met them. That’s where the story ended last week. I still had 50 miles and 5 days of hard walking ahead of me. I had “no one to walk with, and I had this propensity for taking the wrong path. I was worried. And a little scared. I was 2 weeks into a 13 week sabbatical (right at the beginning), in a foreign country, I was alone and for the most part, lost.”
That’s how I started my sermon-and ended my story-last week. And here’s what happened next-after they left. I went to my B&B that evening, the first day, and the owner sent me to a nearby restaurant for dinner. I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, had walked 18 miles, and I had terrible leg cramps. The only other people in the restaurant were a couple about my age. They were from Australia. It turned out that they, too, were staying in the same B&B as I was, and they, too, were walking St. Cuthbert’s Way, also for the next 50 miles. They asked if I wanted to walk with them. And I had company, and I had guides, and new friends, and for 5 days, again, angels rescued me.
This may not sound like a dramatic story to you. The hard moments in our lives seldom sound dramatic when we try to explain them to others. All we know is how it felt. A little coincidence here, a happy accident there. Most of the time, we never realize the power that something has in our lives. We look back and say, “boy, was that lucky,” or “what a fluke that that bus was late and I met my wife” or whatever. We look at something in our lives and think that the small things that happen to us, the tiny incidents that occur, mean little, or were fortunate chances. We don’t realize that there is a power constantly working in our lives to change us and help us and guide us. First we have to be aware that God is working, then we become inspired to act with courage and hope. And we mark our lives with dates, anniversaries, remembrances-because we believe that we were one person before-and a different person after.
I was with a bunch of clergy this week, talking about today’s lessons, and someone asked, “what is your definition of the Holy Spirit?” (hold on to this question for a while)
Pentecost or the Festival of Weeks was a Jewish harvest festival celebrating the barley crop. It was supposed to happen 7 weeks after Passover. Centuries later in Judaism Pentecost became associated with the giving of the Law to Moses. Again, the Passover that Jesus and his friends were in Jerusalem celebrating at his crucifixion was the great remembrance of God saving the Hebrew people, and Pentecost was the celebration of God communicating his will to the people through the 10 commandments.
The disciples, gathered in the upper room 50 days after the resurrection, to celebrate the Jewish Pentecost-the feast of weeks. They gathered with people from all over the Ancient Near East. They were in mourning. They were uncertain . They were unclear what to do, where to go, who to be. Jesus had left them for a final time 10 days earlier as he ascended into heaven. 2:2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
They weren’t expecting it, they didn’t ask for it, they didn’t even know what it was. All they knew was that they could understand each other, where before they couldn’t. All they knew was that something had happened and they were different. All they knew was that God was acting, and they were witnesses. These tired, scared, alone disciples left that upper room in Jerusalem and went on to change the world. And they marked this date. Pentecost. The great scholar N.T. Wright says that the greatest proof of the resurrection is the change that happened to these close followers of Jesus. 11 of them went on to die for their faith. Read the gospels. Nowhere do you see leadership or courage or great hearts in the disciples while they were following Jesus. But suddenly they are transformed, and they take the story of Jesus to the ends of the earth. They were different. They felt rescued. They understood that God was alive and active in their lives, and they were inspired. And they remembered when this happened-the 50th day after the Resurrection.
Last year I told you a couple of interesting dates. 7900 BC. Anyone remember what happened that year? (and no, I wasn’t there when it happened). Scientists believe it was the first time fire was actually used by human beings-harnessed by humanity for heat and cooking. First time. How about 3000BC? The first time that Egyptians used wind to sail boats. Fire. Wind. Both had been around a lot longer than 10,000 and 5000 years. But until they were channeled by humanity they were just forces of nature. Suddenly they become power that could be used to bear fruit, to improve the world, to change lives. Fire and wind. Just scary mother nature-until we realize how they connect with our lives, how they can be used, how our lives are different with their existence. We remember these years. We were one way before-we were different after.
Power means nothing until it connects with who we are and changes us. Until that happens, it’s just stuff we observe. But then, something happens, and we start becoming altered, new. Sometimes we don’t even realize it, most of the time we don’t expect it, we very seldom ask for it, we may not even know what it is. But all of a sudden we realize that we are different people than we were before. There is something new in our lives, and we are changed. And we try to remember the date-because we were one person before-and we had a different understanding of life-and ourselves-after. Who were we before July 4, 1776? How about the day we were born, the date of our marriage, How about 9-11?
6 days in Scotland, walking with 2 different groups of people who helped me, I started understanding that no matter what happened , I would not only make it-but that I would be ok. Everyone knows this, but there is a deeper realization, a more profound awareness, that God is working, that I can do what seems overwhelming to me at the time. We realize that the power is working in us.
Disciples who were in a room, grieving, alone, discouraged, felt a new wind and tongues of fire-and believed that their faith could bring light to a darkened world. They understood each other-and they understood that God was working, and that they could face and conquer the overwhelming challenges in their lives. And we celebrate their new understanding by remembering the day.
Fire and wind mean nothing until we realize that they can be harnessed and used, until we understand them and know that they can help us and change our lives.
What is my definition of the Holy Spirit? That power of God that I see and understand working in my life, that helps me to realize that God is moving-and that inspires me to face and conquer my fears and challenges. Just hearing about it, just watching others, just reading about it, is like seeing fire before 8000BC or feeling the breeze before 3000BC. Nice, but irrelevant. The Holy Spirit is power that changes me. Me. My life. That is when I write down dates, that is when I remember events-when I am changed.. That is when I begin measuring my life. I was baptized 46 years ago, married 27 years ago, came to Trinity 23 years ago. Why do I remember those dates? Because that is when I realized that the power was working in my life, and I felt strengthened and inspired, when my direction, my life, became different.
Today is Pentecost. It is the 50th day after Easter. Jesus was raised 7 weeks ago, but it was on this day that disciples changed, understood, realized, were inspired. On this date that disciples, the word meaning followers became apostles-meaning those who are sent out.
Today, Pentecost we realize not just that there are angels in our lives, but that there is fire and wind, that there is power moving to help us understand, to show us that God is active, to inspire us to act and to change. There is a Spirit alive in the land. Maybe we will remember this date, Pentecost 2009. Maybe we will say someday, at least to ourselves, this was the date that I understood that God was active in my life, this is the day that I felt God’s presence, on this date, in this year, I felt the power, I understood it, and I was changed. What is the date you will look back on and say, I was changed that day, I became new?
Acts 2:1-21
2:1 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.
2:2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
2:3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.
2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
2:5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven living in=2 0Jerusalem.
2:6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each.
2:7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, "Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?
2:8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?
2:9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes,
2:11 Cretans and Arabs--in our own languages we hear them speaking about God's deeds of power."
2:12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, "What does this mean?"
2:13 But others sneered and said, "They are filled with new wine."
2:14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, raised his voice and addressed them, "Men of Judea and all who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and listen to what I say.
2:15 Indeed, these are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine o'clock in the morning.
2:16 No, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
2:17 'In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
2:18 Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.
2:19 And I will show portents in the heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and smoky mist.
2:20 The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the coming of the Lord's great and glorious day.
2:21 Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be sav ed.'