2.4.24, "Fly, Run, Walk" - Westminster Presbyterian Church, Pasadena, CA

 Isaiah 40:21-31; Mark 1:29-39

Those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Some of the most eloquent words of hope and assurance ever written ... 

To comfort and console: 

Fly as high as you can, run your very best, and if you can only walk, then walk … 

And I will add: if you can only crawl, then crawl … and if you can’t take one more step, than stand still, sit down, lay down … the LORD is there, too … 

In the bright light of a good day, in the dreary shadows of loss and defeat … no matter the hour, no matter the moment, the LORD of time is there … the LORD of life and the LORD of death, all around the turn of the clock and whatever the time may be … I will never leave you nor forsake you …

You’ve heard me say it before: the Bible is a trustworthy book because it was written by folks on the hard edge of history, a time of terror and loss … war and pestilence … political chaos and military defeat.

These gifted writers, philosophers, prophets and priests, farmers and shepherds; the high and the mighty, the low and the meek … worked overtime to figure things out … 

To put together a way of life when all the usual elements of life have been stripped away … their words are written with sweat, blood, and tears … anguished prayer, cries of lament … fatigue and frustration … far away from home in the distant lands of exile.

There are no accusations, no demands. The only expectation is that one does not relinquish hope.

How in the world do they do it?

How do they still talk about the faithfulness of God?

When God’s faithfulness is not evident?

But they do … and that has inspired the world … 

Millions of believers and non-believers, folks from every persuasion and faith, have found inspiration in these ancient words … the power to persevere … to stay the course, to love and hope and dream, and not give up.

Even when God:

Is hidden from our eyes, intangible and silent ... 

Always the question: Where is God? 

God is present … in ways mostly beyond our immediate perception.

Perhaps only in retrospect … 

Looking back in time, we might be able to say:

It was you, wasn’t it? All along the way, it was you!

Your hand upon me in the valley of the Shadow of Death ... 

Your silent presence of love opened a door I couldn't see until it was open ... 

Your Holy Spirit, your breath, the wind of creation, blowing where it will, gave me the opportunity I needed, the comfort for which I longed, the love I sought, the hope for which I reached …

it was you LORD, all along ... and I had to wait for you ... 

Those who wait for the LORD …

One of my favorite Bible stories - Moses … upon whose shoulders rested the future of a people ... a troubled people, on their way from bondage to freedom, from death to life, from nothing to something, from despair to hope ... 

I want to know more about you, says Moses to God, so I can tell the people who it is who's called me to this task ... 

God says, I am with you. 

Moses says, that's not enough. 

OK, says God, here's the deal. I'm going to put you into this cleft in the rock, and when I come toward you, I'll put my hand over the cleft, and you won't see me coming toward you, but only after I pass, I'll remove my hand, and then you'll see my backside.

God puts a hand over our eyes, in terms of the future ... 

it's best that way … 

if we could see what God was going to do, we'd rush in and add our two cent's worth ... 

we'd offer suggestions, ideas, criticisms, excuses, and advice ... 

in other words, we'd muddle it up!

So God obscures the work … for the time being, all we have is a promise, I am with you ... 

The promise echoed by Christ to the disciples at the end of Matthew’s gospel … I am with you always, to the end of the age.

Those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Encouragement to stay the course, to not give up … to hope, and to love … to pray and to care … to practice the fine arts of mercy and compassion … to pursue knowledge and wisdom … to explore the interior contours of our soul and mind … to pay attention to the world around us …

Remember dear friends: A winner is only a loser who tried one more time! 

The bowler, the dancer … the engineer, the philosopher … the carpenter with a hammer, the housekeeper with a broom …

From the greatest of our leaders, to anyone of us, the power of perseverance … 

Perhaps old dogs can’t learn a new trick, but people can - we have an incredible breadth of mind and heart, to keep on learning, growing, developing, moving … if not with our flesh and bones because they’ve grown weak, then in the spirit; if not literally with our bodies, then in our imagination. At work, at home, at play … in the darkest of nights, in the brightest of days, God with us … in all times and places … this is my Father’s world …

Dr. Henry Bast, who taught preaching for years at Western Theological Seminary, said near the end of his life:

In these troubled days when men’s hearts fail them for fear, when nation rises against nation, when violence and conflict increases within our own nation, we need to remember that the living God is on the throne. He has not abdicated. 

I learned this lesson well when I was a seminary student, says Dr. Bast, in the days of the great depression. The year that I graduated the banks were closed. I had hoped to do graduate work, but all scholarships were wiped out. It was doubtful whether many of us would even get a church to preach in. 

About that time a man moved into town who started a new restaurant with simple food, simple furnishings, and low prices. The students flocked there. It was about the only place we could afford to eat, but what impresses me most now about those days is the cash register. Just above the line that registered the cash sales, there was a cardboard sign, “God is still on the throne.”

That simple statement of faith helped bring me through a very difficult time in my life, and in the lives of many others. 

To each of you this day, and from the Holy Spirit of God:

Those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength!

Hallelujah and Amen!

February 22, 2009 - "Clear"

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

Two young boys were spending the night at their grandparents.
At bedtime, the two boys knelt beside their beds to say their prayers when the youngest one began praying at the top of his lungs, "I PRAY FOR A NEW BICYCLE. I PRAY FOR A NEW PLAYSTATION. I PRAY FOR A NEW DVD..."
His older brother leaned over and nudged the younger brother and said, "Why are you shouting your prayers? God isn't deaf."
To which the little brother replied, "No, but Gramma is!"

That little boy knew exactly what he was doing.
He was crystal clear in purpose.
He wanted Gramma to hear what he wanted.

Clarity is a good thing.

Can we be clear?

About a few things … we have to be very clear.

To be a Christian, to be the church of Jesus Christ … to be a Presbyterian congregation … to be Covenant on the Corner …

To embody within ourselves something of Christ … his purpose and his passion, his grace and his goodness.

Purpose
Passion
Grace
Goodness

Such things must characterize the life of the church that bears his name … each of us must embody these things, in some form or fashion, because we are, as Paul describes us, ambassadors of Jesus Christ.

Purpose
Passion
Grace
Goodness

As for purpose: simple! To the point and on target!
It’s all about love.

Love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.
Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.
Don’t judge one another.
Get the log out of your own eye before you mess around with the speck in your neighbor’s eye.
Forgive one another, and forgive one another many times over.
Pay attention to one another – see people around you: the woman at the well, Zacchaeus up a tree, blind Bartimaeus by the side of the road – there’s a world of hurt out there, a world of sorrow and pain, and we can do something about it; so pay attention; don’t be in such a hurry that you pass by one another with little heed and skimpy regard.
Honor God – God is, and God will always be, the guarantee of a life larger than life itself.
We’re all tempted to live small lives.
Life reduced to want and need.
Reduced to “my comfort and my consolation.”
But God won’t allow that to happen … at least not the God of Isaiah, Hosea and Amos; the God of Peter, James and John – a very large God, and when we let God into our heart, God begins remodeling – old walls torn down; little rooms expanded; additions made – the house of our mind and the rooms of heart grow large, to make space for a very large love!

When the disciples shoo away the children, Jesus invites the children to sit on his lap.
When the disciples want to call down fire from heaven and burn up a few towns, Jesus cautions them to show love and kindness instead.
When the disciples don’t get it, Jesus chides them, because Jesus knows full well how easily we pretend ignorance, how easily we let old ideas prevail; how we feign confusion.  When in fact we really DO understand, but would rather not.

I hear Jesus saying, “You DO understand. You know full well what all of this means and where it’s all going. Don’t feign ignorance.”

It’s all about love … and sometimes, tough love.

Religious systems self-absorbed; Jesus overturns the tables.
The uppity self-righteous; he tweaks their nose.
The powerful showing off their authority; he ignores them and shows them something better.

It’s all about love – that’s his purpose; and it has to be our purpose, too!

The next word is passion …
Full-out engagement!
Christianity is no armchair philosophy, but a life lived in the love of God for the sake of the world!

Jesus always calls for our engagement.
Jesus requires a piece of our life!
Sacrifice … not all the time, but some of the time.
Jesus wasn’t born with the cross on his back, but he carried the cross when needed, and when needed, he didn’t run away!

Sometimes the cross is needed.
That critical moment when someone has to speak up … stand in the breach and bear the burden of faith, hope and love.

A prophetic voice:
To trouble the kings and queens of the land.
Those who live in the power and glory of self-made importance – they need to hear a clear reprimand and a reminder of what life really means!
The subtle and not-so-subtle racism that still plagues our land … every form of exclusion and discrimination … anything that closes a door and deprives people of a fair and honest chance to make something of themselves.

Someone has to shine the spotlight of God’s love on these dark corners – these stinky places, as Jesus puts it– whitewashed tombs – all clean and pretty on the outside, but full of corruption within.
Bernard Madoff’s 50 billion dollar scam.
Allen Stanford’s banks and homes.
Millions spent lobbying Congress.
Over-the-top CEO salaries, protected by self-serving boards of directors, manipulated by fast-talking money-managers … too many MBAs looking to make a fast buck rather than make a living.
I suspect Madoff and Stanford are just the tip of the iceberg …
By the way, philosopher and all-around curmudgeon, W. C. Fields said: “You can fool some of the people some of the time - and that's enough to make a decent living.”

We have unleashed the horses of greed and desire …
We have worshipped at the alters of excess and glamour …
Everything bigger and everything better … on the backs of workers and at the expense of our nation’s health, and the impoverishment of millions of children.

Someone has to speak up:

For a living wage for LAX hotel workers.
For healthcare.
For better schools and a more equitable tax system, where everyone really pays their fair share!
For a way of life that’s more restrained and thoughtful, rather than driven by want and acquisition.
For politicians who are transparent and global in outlook, rather than secretive and nationalistic.
For business leaders who care for their employees and tell Wall Street to take a hike.
For religious leaders who build bridges rather than big buildings, who proclaim inclusion and welcome rather than separation and judgment.

There are those moments in life when we have to speak up and join together for the life imagined by Jesus – a world that’s true and right, good and fair.

“But preacher,” you say, “that’s impractical.”

Is Jesus impractical?

If anything is impractical, it’s our present world!

Look at the results; immeasurable suffering … wars and rumors of war … death, sorrow and sadness on every hand – the scorecard is in – our present world and the values we live are not practical at all.

Jesus is practical!
Jesus is the most practical reality in all the world.

His world and his way are the truth and the life.
It’s not that Christ has been tried and found wanting; rather Christ has been tried, and found to be hard!

But why so hard for us?
Why so hard to make the change?
We’re smack dab up against a sorrowful mystery.
The Bible calls it sin – the unyielding spirit of self-interest!
An even deeper mystery:
A world perishing will often choose to perish rather than live … blinded by the gods of this world, as Paul says.

If the church is to be of any real value at all, we have to offer an image of something better!
Look, we’re all in this together, and we’re not going to build Utopia – but can we do better?
After all Jesus prays, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Can we lift up for the world an image of justice and peace?
Can we link arms with folks of faith all around the world?

It’s not a matter of “if we can.”
I think it’s a matter of “we have to!”

And if you leave here today with only one idea firmly fixed in your heart: let it be this:
Jesus is the most practical reality in our world … 

And it’s our pleasure, our joy, our task, our burden, to embody his purpose, and to live his passion!

And sometimes carry the cross.

Now comes grace … amazing grace we all it!
A friend of mine said, “We call it amazing, because it’s such a rarity, but for God, grace is standard operating procedure.”

Can we make grace a little less amazing, and a little more common?
Religion can easily and often become anything but gracious.
In the last forty years, we’ve seen a hard brand of fundamentalism emerge from the backwoods of our nation to main street attraction – a hard-faced evangelicalism … a conservative movement harsh and unyielding in its denunciation and its judgments – tailor-made for TV and the fast-paced world of religious publishing.
We’ve seen the rise of what I call “bedroom religion” with a sexual fixation, anti-choice bias and a swift and certain condemnation of gays and lesbians …
A fundamentalism associated with wealth and power, big numbers and expensive ministries.
“My Bible verse is bigger and better than your Bible verse.”

How different the works of Jesus.
Of big buildings and expensive ministries, Jesus says, “None of them will last.”
But your love for one another – that’s what counts … 
Grace is the power of God to make all things new.

Grace abounding, says Paul.
Grace for the masses, for the lost and the lonely.
A place at the table for everyone.
Especially for those rejected by the usual suspects of power, wealth and religion.
The grace of our LORD Jesus Christ … and to work all the harder for grace – to make grace less amazing and much more common – a day-to-day thing in our life, the way we think and talk, the way we deal with one another – grace, plain old grace, to welcome and to accept, to encourage and to help – grace for the moment, and grace for the long-haul … grace today and more grace tomorrow – standard operating procedure.

The last piece - goodness.
To be good …

Micah put it well: God has shown us what is good: to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with God.

To be faithful to something other than ourselves …
To grow constantly and grow beyond ourselves.
To pray often and pray deeply.
To be content and patient.
To be faithful in hard times and even more faithful in good times.
To search the soul diligently and seek the love of God.
To speak out and to speak up.
To defend the cause of the widow, the orphan and the stranger at the gate.
To be sure that the balance scales are accurate and there are no bribes in the land – that kings and queens govern with kindness, relying less on military prowess and more on economic justice.

Can we be clear about such things?
Of course we can … we have to be clear.

In the name of our LORD Jesus. Amen and Amen!