June 23, 2016 - "Taming the Wild Soul" - Palms Westminster

1 Kings 19.1-8; Luke 8.26-33

Two stories of salvation … 

A prophet wild and wonderful … 

A man of the tombs, lost and violent …

The work of God.

Have you ever thought about how hard it must be to be God?

Years ago, reading a book about God … 

Pondering the many stories of the Bible.

How hard it is to be God.

For the first time in my life, I wept for God.

The burdens God carries.

The sorrows of God’s heart.

Because God took a chance creating us.

The flowers and the trees are all good, and give delight to the heart of God.

The soaring mountains and the roaring sea are a pleasure for the eyes of God.

The whole of the universe … billions of years old … distances so vast we cannot comprehend them … 

All of it good, all of it pleasing to God.

And, then, there’s us - the strangest of all God’s creatures … we are dirt and dust, like everything else, and unlike everything else, we are the breath of God.

The Psalmist says: We are created just a little less than the angels.

And speaking of angels, I have often thought of them watching God create the heavens and earth, cheering God on, smiling and celebrating the glories of God’s majesty and the wonders of creation.

And then God said: Let us create humankind in our image.

Did the angels hold their breath?

Wondering about the final drama of creation?

Did the angels offer a word of caution to God?

O God, it won’t work.

Are you sure about this?

Combing dirt and divinity?

What a strange amalgam we are.

The breath of God wrapped up in flesh and bone.

We’re full of will and energy.

We’re finite and mortal, with longings for eternity. 

We dream and desire, yet we’re given to death.

The breath of God within us, yet dust to dust we are.

Created by God to care for the Garden.

Yet so easily misled by the Serpent.

God gave us everything in the Garden.

With the exception of one tree … the Tree of final knowledge, the knowledge of good, and evil.

A tree that belongs exclusively to God.

A tree only God can tend.

But Adam and Eve weren’t satisfied.

They wanted to be like God; they wanted final knowledge.

This one tree.

This luscious fruit.

So Adam and Eve took the fruit, to be like God, and in that desperate moment, the very nature of creation was changed.

Where there was light, there is darkness now.

Where there was hope, there is despair.

Where there was life, there is fear.

Where there was love, there is hatred and blame, scheming and greed, violence and murder and war …

As the story unfolds in the Book of Genesis, we learn that God had second thoughts about everything, and like the song from the musical, South Pacific:

Gonna wash this man right outa my hair …

Don’t try to patch it up.

Tear it up, tear it up!

Wash him out, dry him out.

Push him out, fly him out.

Cancel and let him go.

….

I’m gonna wash that man right outa my hair

The flood, the earth destroyed, but for an ark.

Noah and his family, the animals, two-by-two … saved for another day … when the flood is over, Noah and his family start all over … but it doesn’t take long for the whole thing to fall apart, all over again … the flood created a mess, and it didn’t solve the problem.

Now, what am to do? asks God.

What am I to do?

From the prophet Hosea, these very words:

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?

      What shall I do with you, O Judah?

      Your love is like a morning cloud,

      like the dew that goes away early.

It’s not easy being God.

And though we often say to ourselves, If I were God, here’s what I would do.

But we’re not God, though a little bit like God.

We have wild souls.

We are given to all sorts of dark thoughts and mean deeds.

Put us in a mob, and it’s a mess.

The mob cries for death and war.

Crucify him, crucify him, the mob cries.

What is God to do?

The story of Elijah has alway intrigued me.

Elijah, the prophet of God.

Impetuous, impatient, given to violence.

He loves fire and blood.

And sees to the death of all the false prophets: 450 prophets of Baal; 400 prophets Ashera … all killed, dead and gone.

Victory turns unexpectedly to fear.

Queen Jezebel issues a death sentence for Elijah, and Elijah flees for his life into the wilderness, there to be fed by an angle, to find a cave, and there to hide … Elijah no longer the victor, but now the hunted; he’s bitter, full of self-pity: I’m the only one left, he says … the only one who is faithful. Nobody cares but me.

God pays Elijah a visit … No Elijah, you’re not the only one … I have faithful people all over the place … so get a hold of yourself, take a deep breath, and pay attention.

There was a great wind, so strong it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks, but God wasn’t in the wind.

Then an earthquake, and God wasn’t in earthquake, either.

Then a fire, and God wasn’t in the fire.

Then, after all that noise, all that violence, all that raw power … there was silence … sheer silence, unnerving, disturbing … a deep quiet … and therein was God.

Elijah wrapped his mantle around his face … humbled and saved … his wild soul tamed.

By the cave, in the wilderness, Elijah learns something about life: violence leads nowhere, blood spilled, even in the name of God, is not the way to life … the way of the sword is the way of death … Jesus himself said: those who live by the sword die by the sword.

Elijah was tamed that day by the great love of God, tempered a bit, revived and commissioned again … because work needed to be done … his wild soul needed to be tamed.

The second tale we tell is the man of the tombs, on the other side of the Sea of Galilee … and why Jesus is there at that moment, only God knows for sure, but this much we know, it’s the love of God at work … in a man wild and willful, full of demons … a legion of demons, cursing and screaming.

The man rushes to Jesus and cries out in protest … with mercy and kindness, Jesus sets the man free … to return to his home, no longer a wild man, but a man restored to his senses … with a story to tell of Jesus and his goodness … a story to tell to the nations.

Across the pages of Scripture, dramatic stories to highlight the plight of humanity - and the mercy of God …

To keep the story going … the story of life, hope and goodness … there is work to be done, but not the work of a sword, but the work of mercy and peace.

It’s never easy to do the work of God … and in Christ we see the final outworking of what that means … not a sword, but a cross … Jesus takes upon himself the sins of the world, the sorrows of humankind, not by violence, but with mercy.

All of us here today are beneficiaries of that story … here we are, creatures of dirt and divinity … each us, by the Holy Spirit, souls tamed by the love of God, brought close to Christ and close to one another in the great fellowship of faith.

Elijah was recommissioned that day with work to be done … the man of the tombs was sent back home to share his story.

Souls tamed by the mercy of God.

I doubt if any of us here are quite as wild as Elijah … I’m quite sure none of us here are as the man of the tombs.

But each of us in our way has a soul given to the darker side of things … in each of us, there is something of Elijah, in each of us, something of the man of the tombs.

The Holy Spirit comes to us, with the love of Christ, gently and purposefully, to tame our souls, that we might tame the world.

To the glory of God, and for the healing of the nations. Hallelujah and Amen!

My 12, 2013, "What's In a Name?"

Exodus 20.7; 1 John 3.23-24

Human beings always live in an in-between place … neither here nor there, but somewhere in between … in the middle of moving currents … one pulling us this way, and the other tugging at us for the other … betwixt and between, we say … first one way and then the other … never quite sure who we truly are … 

Are we good?

And if we’re good, how do we explain all the horror of history? 

Are we evil?

And if we’re evil, how do we explain all the good things we’ve done for one another?

Betwixt and between …

Genesis 2 - created in the image of God, shaped by God’s loving hand, filled with the very breath of God … given the garden … called to greatness … all is good!

Genesis 3 - foolish and irresponsible … fear takes hold … quick to blame everyone and everything else for the ills of the day … a shadow falls upon the human race … our story takes a bitter turn … all is not so good any longer … the Garden is lost … humankind begins its tired journey.

Betwixt and between … neither here nor there … who are we?

Today, it’s Mother’s Day … and what a joy it is … we celebrate those who gave birth to us … and those who raised us … and sometimes they’re not the same person … but whatever our circumstance, we’re here … and we give thanks …

We send cards full of loving thoughts … we plan dinners with care … we make our phone calls and extend our love, our best wishes, and wish you were here, if distance holds us at bay.

It’s a good day … our hearts are full of kindly thoughts and dreams …

Yet, who are we?

Are we not betwixt and between?

War and rumors of war plague our world … economies out of whack … lack of health care, safe food and clean water … it seems as if the powers-that-be are incapable of finding peace … and maybe even prefer the state of war, though none would say so … there is something seriously wrong with humankind … something still working its way through our story … and it’s not good at all.

Yet goodness abounds on all sides of the story, too … grace, mercy and peace … faith, hope and love … great advances made for health … justice breaks out in the most expected ways and times … the Berlin Wall is torn down, apartheid comes to an end … sometimes the buses even run on time, and the Expo Line nears completion all the way to Santa Monica.

Betwixt and between …

Neither here nor there …

Darkness on the one side ...

Goodness on the other ...

Betwixt and between … that’s where we are, and that’s where religion is born … 

Born in the in-between places of life … religion comes about when the sorrow of life and the joy of life run side-by-side … when, like Paul, we cry out - Who can save us from this crazy state in which we find ourselves … the good we know so clearly to do, and often fail to do … and the wrong that we despise, we often end up doing … can anyone save us? 

Can anyone put this together so that it makes sense for us, and maybe we can find some ways of moving along to a better place with all of this?

That’s religion … the cry of the heart for something, or someone, to make sense of it all … to bring together all the bits and pieces of life … to diminish the evil and increase the good … to spread abroad the happier message that maybe, just maybe, we might find ourselves and our best purpose, and get things worked out, after all … 

That’s religion … 

And of religion, God’s says, Be careful … my name is likely to be involved … and if my name is involved, be careful … you can use my name; I give it to you, but use my name well.

God knows all too well that religion can go haywire.

Religion can be tempted to use God’s name in vain … those who speak immodestly of God, as if they knew all about God, as if they had all the answers … as if God were on their side in all manner of undertaking … every religion does it - Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism - we all speak as if the gods were our own possession, and  everything we undertake in God’s name is our right, because God said so, God told us, and, frankly, one of the worst things that Christians say far too often, “It’s in the Bible” … 

That phrase, “it’s in the Bible,” has been used to justify just about every crime imaginable … slavery, because it’s in the Bible … subjugation of women, because it’s in the Bible … whipping children, because it’s in the Bible … war, because it’s in the Bible … 

People who pay attention to such things note how religion has declined in Europe throughout the 20^th Century, and continues to decline in influence; people have walked away from the church.

Those who study such things and ask the big questions attribute the decline of religion to religion’s immodesty - religion’s lack of restraint - seen in both World Wars - all the combatants claimed the will of God for their own purposes, sending out soldiers with God’s blessing and hymns, accompanied by chaplains to anoint bombs and bullets.

So confident were the nations that God was on their side … and in the death of millions, the suffering of millions more, people rightly ask, What is this god-thing that some talk about with such ease, and smugness and confidence - that they can willingly send millions to their death and believe that somehow or other this is God’s mighty will and purpose?

Paul Tillich, one of the great 20^th Century theologians wrote: “I speak now of a public use of the name of God which has little to do with God, but much to do with human purpose - good or bad. Those of us who are grasped by the mystery present in the name of God are often stung when this name is used in governmental and political speeches, in opening prayers for conferences and dinners, in secular and religious advertisements, and in international war propaganda” [“The Divine Name” - in sermon collection, The Eternal Now].

God cautions Israel to use God’s name wisely, to use God’s name with care … because God knows how crazy religion can get … immodest religion full of itself, convinced that it has the whole truth and nothing but the truth, and we’ve seen plenty of that in our world.

God reminds Israel to be modest in all things, restrained and tactful … for who can claim to have the final word on God? Indeed, we have much to say, and much to give, but we’re limited, and in our limits, God calls us to be cautious, lest we violate those limits and begin to violate one another, too … when religion loses its humility, religion quickly becomes cruel.

We can only speak of God with restraint … humility and awe … because we don’t have the last word … for now, we can only see through a mirror dimly … we know only in part … and what counts, says Paul, is that God knows us!

That’s what Moses had to learn when Moses asks God for some inside information - Let me see your glory so I can lead this people through the wilderness.

But God says to Moses, No, you can’t see my glory; you can’t have more of me than anyone else can have … but this much I say to you, and I say it to you, Moses, and to all the people: I am with you, I will go with, and I will help you.

Modest religion …  religion with restraint … religion, more often quiet than loud … with a holy silence, respectful of the great mysteries of God …

Job says to his yakety yak friends - Oh, be quiet … If you would only keep silent, that would be your wisdom! [Job 13.5].

The writer of Proverbs says: Even fools who keep silent are considered wise; when they close their lips, they are deemed intelligent [Proverbs 17.28].

And on a more positive note, the Prophet Habakuk says: the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him! [2.20].

The poet Dyer noted, long ago, in the 16^th Century:

The firmest faith is in the fewest words;

….

True hearts have eyes and ears, no tongues to speak;

They hear and see, and sigh, and then they break.

Oh to be careful with the name of God … to use God’s name well … to speak modestly of God, for love is modest and gentle … believe in the name of Jesus, says John, and to love one another … love and belief; belief and love, walk hand-in-hand, quietly … 

A quiet faith is open to life’s most profound emotion - if love is the greatest of all spiritual gifts, the greatest part of love is sorrow.

Jesus comes over the brow of the hill, and when he sees Jerusalem, he weeps … he weeps for all the lost opportunities … all the bad choices the great city makes … the arrogance of faith that claims the power of God for itself … the pomp and circumstance of temple and throne … 

Jesus weeps … it’s a good thing to weep now and then … we needn’t fear tears … tears soften the heart, when our heart is tempted to be hard … tears humble us when we’re tempted to be proud … tears quiet the heart when we’re tempted to shout out with condemnation and pride … tears are the stuff of justice … tears are love’s companion.

With humility … let us put our hands to the plow and not look back, and with faith, hope and love, and great modesty, take up our work.

The high and holy calling of God Almighty … to join with Christ, in the work of building a better world … that mothers everywhere could look upon their children with joy and peace … healthy children, safe children, children with a future.

We take seriously the name of God, because there is serious work to be done … we use the name of God carefully … we speak of God modestly … in matters of faith, restrained and humbly quiet … careful to measure our deeds by the faith we profess; careful to profess a faith that is measured by deeds of love.

Happy Mother’s Day to you, and to all the Mother’s of the World, grace, mercy and peace … rest assured dear ones, there are millions of people all around the world, religious people, and people who choose other pathways, who are all doing good, and God is pleased!

 Amen and Amen!