Month: January 2024

Revelation!

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Mark 1:21-28

The Man with an Unclean Spirit

21 They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. 22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24 and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.” 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! Hecommands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” 28 At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.                  

Several years ago, it actually seems like ages ago now, even lifetimes…my family moved to Pasadena, CA where I went to seminary to finished my masters in divinity degree.  It was a great season of adventure and new experiences almost every week.  I went to seminary a bit later in life so I had a young family.  I had received great advice from a professor at my seminary to not only study, but to enjoy this season.  Our family still remembers fondly going to the beach most Sundays after church for picnics, hiking in the mountains surrounding Pasadena, weekend trips to Yosemite, Joshua Tree, San Luis Obispo, King’s Canyon, Mexico, and simply being in LA and experiencing the beauty of the diversity in thought and culture that was seminary and being in Pasadena.

One experience, one story, fits with our discussion on “revelation”, or something being revealed to us and being astonished or overwhelmed.  

I was in a seminary class one day.  I got to class late, which is probably not a surprise to some already here at Westwood First, if not, I’m sure it will at some point, although I am much better these days..  Getting to class late, I had to sit in the back row of this class with a friend of mine Igors who was from Latvia.  The desks in the back where not comfortable and had the small pull out desk spaces…too small for my laptop (this was before the iPad!).  Igors was a good friend, we climbed Mt. Whitney together with some other friends.  He had lived through Soviet rule in Latvia.  This guy was not afraid, which is important to remember.  

Our class had a visiting professor from the UK.  He was an accomplished scholar with a great wit about him.  He had some great stories to share, and, on that day, he experienced another event that would make a great story.

As we were sitting in class, the room began to move, the windows behind our back row desks began to wobble in ways that they were not created to do…the frames around the window looked like they were turning into jello.  Everyone in the class jumped underneath their desks, Igors and I jumped up, we looked at each other, and realized that we had no cover because of our small desks because we were late and that no one else wanted…meanwhile our professor, with his British accent, yelled “earthquake” with a kind of question mark and ran out the door…

This earthquake, apparently a 5 or 6 point something, lasted a few moments with its epicenter just a few miles away from Pasadena.

After it stopped, we joked a bit, looked around for damage, remarked about how LA really is prepared for this sort of thing, and we all left class as our professor decided to cancel it after he came back in the room.  As I was walking home a few blocks away, I looked up in the mountains around me, and was overwhelmed with a sense that I had just experienced something that was overwhelming, that could bring down buildings and these mountains.  I also thought about a revelation that overwhelmed me to the point of tears:  God’s power, this supernatural “other” that causes things to grow, to create, and in the words of the psalmist, can cause mountains to tremble.  When I got home, I found my family safe, but they too had some amazing stories to share.

Our gospel passage this morning gives witness to a powerful God, to an experience that caused those witnessing it and experiencing it to tremble and marvel.  There is a man who has been demon possessed, he is out of his wits.  Some would say he had a mental illness or dismiss it as a possession, either way, he was not healthy and in need of healing.  

In the book of Mark, the author has a theme of painting Scribes and Pharisees, those who were scholars and priests, as folks concerned with power.  They had a system, a way of life, that they wanted to maintain.  Any threat to the status quo, their transactional way of living that kept them at the top of the social structure, they would try to squash through all sorts of power plays, arguments, bullying, social threats, and even physical threats.  They were afraid of Jesus.  His presence and stance on loving others, especially those on the margins that the Scribes and Pharisees wanted to keep on the margins, threatened them.  Jesus was bringing these “other” folks into the synagogues, inviting them to the parties that “they” all attended, including those who were hard to love.  He was inviting folks to question, and even change the system that was in place that prevented folks from experiencing growth.

The “people” in this passage, as it says in verse 22 were astounded by Jesus’ teaching.  He had authority that the Scribes didn’t have.  He had relationship and was  practitioner of loving actions, whereas the Scribes didn’t and were not.  They were amazed, but they still don’t necessarily believe.  Oftentimes we are amazed, but we still have disbelief, we have to ask ourselves, are we looking to be amazed even today?  Or do we want to keep the status quo, stay comfortable and in some sense of control?  As we talked a bit about last week, the Hebrew language has a lot of words for “marvel”…do we want to marvel, to have awe in our lives?

If there’s one thing that the pandemic and many of the cultural events of our lives has taught us, it is that even when we think we are in control, things happen…and just like that earthquake, can shake us to our core.  Something may even be revealed to us in a deep way.  Do we have the courage to embrace this moment, or the revelation that God wants to give us?  It can be scary, but those scary moments, if we stay curious, can open new places of growth within and around us.  

Jesus also had power, power that can penetrate even the darkest places in our lives and in our world…power that even the demons recognized.  Jesus calls out what this man is experiencing.  The demon possessed man can’t hide, and neither can the demons.  Jesus demonstrated a deep sense of who he was and is, rebukes the demons, silences them, and then banishes them from this man.  Jesus has power over even the supernatural, things we don’t see or understand.  Jesus is in effect making a statement, that he embodies the very power of God.  That power is present in all things, all people, even in the darkest places of life.

In those days, and we can relate to it today, folks who had diseases, were possessed with demons, had illness or some kind of physical issue were often labeled and stigmatized by others.  They were to blame for their ailment somehow, or God was judging them.  Folks on the margins were “unclean” and any proper, believing person would not come near them or it would make them unclean as well.  

Yet, as it says elsewhere in Scripture, that was not the case, that Jesus was indignant towards systems that oppress and limit folks.  Jesus came along and healed folks, and as demonstrated throughout scripture, restored folks into community, into relationship with others.  Jesus does come near, does enter into the uncleanliness of our lives, and the opposite happens, through our relationship with God, we are made clean.  There is no place in creation that is not sacred.  No life that is not sacred..  Jesus says to us that God is more powerful than our circumstances, God wants to bring healing, restoration, and growth…oftentimes in ways that we can never truly understand.  

Jesus heard this man’s cries, this man’s prayers.  God also hears our cries and prayers and enters into our lives, is present, and wants to reveal to us a deeper power, more powerful than earthquakes even.  

That power of God’s Presence that called us into being, that rescued/saved us, and that sustains, carries, forgives me as we live this life God’s given us and that we have the privilege of sharing with one another.  Let us attempt to live in this revelation, as best as we can in what comes our way, knowing that God is with us, all of us! 

Fulfilled this Day.

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Mark 1:14-20

The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

In a little over a week, we have had a great…and amazing start!  As I was telling Mary Ellen, and others, I can’t give a word to what I’m experiencing, other than this call and getting to know Westwood First has been good, so good!  Mary Ellen had a great comment, instead of trying to give it a word or define, it, just experience it.  Love it!  Friends, we are experiencing a great new story that is emerging at Westwood First…it is good, and it has a great foundation, a history of those that are here now and those that have been with us in the past!  And, in the midst, we are already trying to figure out who we are as a church in this changing world, and who are as people and how we are getting connected and experiencing a stirring within our hearts, our very being.

In life, I oftentimes, maybe too much, try to figure things out.  I want to “know” and to work towards something.  My doctorate was in missional leadership to continue to understand church and how the church is shifting and growing.  You also may be picking up that I’m constantly working on myself.  I’m big on trying to figure out how I operate.  Which, can be good, but it really is simply allowing things to emerge, or to be birthed within me…and to live in awareness, or presence, of my self and others.   I think that’s part of my understanding of myself as being in God’s image and growing in my understanding of my gifts and talents and how God animates and even redeems them.  

I think it’s also part of being present, faithfully present, with myself, others, and seeing how God flows in and through all things.  Presence is a big deal.  When Jesus talks about Kingdom of God, or Heaven, or God’s reign as he does in this morning’s passage, he’s not talking about a nation or another place, he’s talking about  God’s Presence that is with us now, everywhere.  That God’s kingdom has been fulfilled and it’s our task to seek it, to live into it, and to try to be present with God as God is present with us.  We don’t build the kingdom, we live in it’s reality and let it emerge within and around us.  

One of the tools that I’ve used in counseling and in spiritual direction is the Enneagram.  The Enneagram is a model of human personality which is principally understood and taught as a typology of nine interconnected personality types.  It has been around for hundreds of years, and has evolved over the years.  My personality type on the Enneagram is a “3”.  That’s often called the “achiever” of the “effective person”.  I value getting things done essentially.  I’ll work towards whatever measure of success that I have for whatever I’m doing.  There is a lot of good to that, but there’s also some darkness with that.  The good is that I feel pretty confident in who I am, it’s not arrogance, I genuinely like being me.  The bad is that I can base my value on what I achieve rather than who I am.  I can also be a workaholic, just ask Debbie!

It’s important for me to be able to take time off.  That’s why it’s really hard to get a hold of me on Fridays, my day off, especially in the morning.  It’s also why I periodically go to the Abbey of Gethsemani in KY, just like I’m doing for a couple of days this week.  I need Sabbath rest.  I need quiet.  It helps me to cultivate this sense of presence, of seeing God’s Kingdom presence in me and around me.  It’s especially important to me in this season of transition. I want to stay present to myself, to creation, and to you…  

And I get it, it’s scary slowing down and simply “being” present.  Oftentimes, when left on our own, we begin the hard stuff of questioning ourselves, we see the dark places in our lives and in the lives of those around us, and we don’t want to go there.

WB Yeats wrote this:  “It takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your own soul than it does for a soldier to fight on a battlefield.”

I also think that it’s important for us to ask these questions collectively as a church.  We have to slow down, listen to each other, our communities, and to God.  That’s why I’m really curious and hopeful for what we are learning during this post pandemic world and with so much political and social unrest.  How are we growing? 

As a church, we’ve done a lot of stuff, a lot of it is pretty amazing actually.  But, I’m sure we also realized before the pandemic, that we needed to change, we realized that what we’ve done, doesn’t work.  The pandemic was a struggle, a lot of suffering, but it’s also forced me, and all of us, to ask some great questions.  

As we ask these questions, Jesus invites us, just as he invited his disciples, to be fishers of others, to invite others to live differently in this world, to be present with one another, to a ask deeper questions.  

I found this statement from our Presbyterian Book of Order of all things that I think resonates well with this morning’s message.

In Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all creation, the Church seeks a new openness to

God’s mission in the world. In Christ, the triune God tends the least among us, suffers the

curse of human sinfulness, raises up a new humanity, and promises a new future for all

creation. 

…a new openness to the sovereign activity of God in the Church and in the world,

to a more radical obedience to Christ, and to a more joyous celebration in worship

and work; a new openness in its own membership, becoming in fact as well as in faith a

community of women and men of all ages, races, ethnicities, and worldly conditions,

made one in Christ by the power of the Spirit, as a visible sign of the new

humanity; a new openness to see both the possibilities and perils of its institutional forms

in order to ensure the faithfulness and usefulness of these forms to God’s activity

in the world; and a new openness to God’s continuing reformation of the Church ecumenical, that it might be more effective in its mission.

Our scripture passages this morning give testimony to God’s Kingdom being made known and lived.  In our gospel passage, it says we need to repent.  We do.  The Greek word for repent is “metanoia”.  It means to change one’s mind.  We need to change as persons, we need ask hard questions.  We also need to do that as a church.  If we do repent, if we do change, together we can bear witness to God’s Kingdom around us and in us, God’s Presence rising up all around us. 

My bet is that if we do that, then others may want to join us…even in a world that does not join things as much these days.   Others may see the beauty within us and around us and contribute to that beauty.  It happened with the disciples…those nets!  Overflowing!  They had trust…a friend of mine told me once that an organization will grow, in some way, as fast as the speed of trust.  Well, if this past week is any indication at Westwood, then watch out!  We’ve handed over trust to one another and to God’s flow in a short time.  Thank you!  So, if the first couple of weeks is any indication, then fasten your seatbelts friends!  We may find ourselves in a place of Presence, of awareness, and of a different kind of growth as we become the persons, and the congregation, that we’ve always wanted to be…the one God created us to be.  Amen?

Come and See.

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John 1:43-51”

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49 Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” 

Come and See.  Invitation.  It’s always good to be invited to something isn’t it?  We want to feel included.  It can also be a bit scary to accept an invitation or to come and see?  Yet, when we do, even thought we may not know what to expect, new things can bring growth.  

I’m sure we can all relate to new things…especially today, you have a new pastor!  Probably some of you even this morning are sitting here thinking, “Who is this new person?  What is this year going to be like?  Will it get better than 2023?”or “what is this sermon going to be like?  And how long will it be?  What is going to emerge at Westwood First Presbyterian this year?  What things can we depend on?  Where are we going as a community?  As a church?  What am I being asked to be a part of?”  

Well, trying something new or “experiencing” something different can be scary…it can also be deeply good as we allow others to see us and we want to see others.  Being open and vulnerable takes risk and willingness for growth and change. 

And, sometimes, change is necessary.  When I was first approached by Lisa Allgood, our general presbyter, and asked if I was open to a new call.  I told her I did not think so.  But, as time went by, I began to realize that I needed a change, that I needed and wanted a disruption that would take me out of something a bit comfortable and into something new.  As Westwood First opened up, and I opened up to a new invitation, I began to experience a deep sense that this invitation was one that I wanted to say yes to and to be curious and courageous about.  

Throughout our lives, we have invitations.  The question is do we say yes.  I was raised in the church and in my church upbringing, there was a lot of no.  It seemed like church was defined more about what we said no to instead of yes.  We did not want curiosity, we wanted comfort.  I remember thinking, as a kid, there has to be something more.

In high school, I was invited to a new campus ministry that was starting at my high school.  I was the president of our Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Good News Club at the time and I was first approached about helping to start this new thing.  At first I wondered what the catch was and I was hesitant.  But, when we started meeting at my best friend’s house, and I saw so many of my other friends who never went to church show up, I thought there was something to this.  I started to come alive through others seeing me and me being allowed to see them.  Not just a visual seeing, but really an invitation into deeper friendship.  

In short, I didn’t know what I was getting into…but I really enjoyed it and kept going back to this weekly club.  I had many more adventures and by the end of my senior year, I knew that my life was somehow dramatically changing!  It actually changed the trajectory of my life…I went into youth ministry the very next year while at UK and went on to seminary eventually and becoming a pastor…then some other adventures and misadventures in life and in the church…a doctorate and several lives later, here I am with you and Westwood First!  And I am so grateful.  In a few short days as your pastor, I have felt seen and have seen many of you and we are already on to a pathway of deep friendship.  

In our Gospel story, Jesus goes out and personally invites Phillip to hang out with him, to follow him, to enter into deep friendship.  That’s the only time that happens in the New Testament where Jesus personally invites someone.  Pretty wild.  This guy Phillip was kind of a reluctant guy, an over thinker at times, always trying to figure things out (I can relate).  Yet Jesus sought him out.  He was from an area called Bethsaida, not a local boy to Jesus, yet Jesus crossed over this boundary…Jesus seemed to always be crossing the cultural boundaries we’ve constructed…Jesus stayed curious about the “other”…  

Well, Phillip starts following this Jesus guy and starts to get his friends to come along.  Kind of like what many of you do, when you see something good…you may not completely understand it, yet you know you know it is good and want to extend invitations to others.  One friend in particular was Nathaniel.  Phillip goes after Nathaniel and brings him to meet Jesus.  At first Nathaniel wonders if anything good can come out of Nazareth where Jesus was from.  Now this isn’t a put down on Nazareth, it’s probably more like a community rivalry thing.  Kind of like Westwood…or name a neighborhood in Cincy…sometimes there is a bit of hesitation, but we can all come together when there is something curious that we know that we need to check out.  Yet Phillip persists and simply says “come and see”.  In this story, these words are what we call “imperatives” in the Greek translation, a command or invitation.  In this case, it is simply an invitation.  You see, Jesus never forces himself on anyone or tries to sell them on something, he simply invites people to check out what he’s saying and experiencing, what he’s about.

So, Nathaniel does.  Nathaniel was a good guy and Jesus comments on that…but, here’s the kicker, Jesus and Nathaniel had never met.  When Nathaniel asks Jesus how he knows him, Jesus responds that he saw Nathaniel under a fig tree.  Now, Jesus is not some kind of stalker, Jesus wasn’t at that tree.  Yet, he simply noticed Nathaniel from a distance and knew things about him.

This was a BIG indication to Nathaniel that there was something more about this Jesus guy.  It drew Nathaniel in…he didn’t understand it all, but he knew that Jesus was something special.  After Nathaniel’s statement of belief, Jesus says something else, in effect, you haven’t seen anything yet!

Jesus sees us…not just some sense of seeing us from a distance, like when we see a neighbor walking our way…but, really notices us, sees the deeper parts of us…and is drawn to us just as we are drawn to something deeper in Christ.  

You see, what Jesus was inviting Nathaniel, and all of us throughout history, is to follow him into a deeper understanding of ourselves, others, and our communion with the world and one another…we are all a part of the body of Christ, and the church is called to be an alternative community in the middle of the world’s systems.  We are connected to one another and, really, all of of humanity, all made in God’s image, all loved by God and called to live in God’s presence, God’s reign or Kingdom if you will, even as we live within a world dominated by narratives that are more about power, control, or even violence.  My hope is that we will “come and see” this year together what Jesus is doing in our lives and in our community, with our neighbors.  God has already noticed you.  

God wants be with you in the struggle of life…and to “abide” with you in more experiences than you could ever imagine, no matter what age we are…  Friends, I know that this church has taken lots of risks over the past years.  Well, I’m asking us to take some more risks, calculated risks where we are all openly communicating, being transparent and vulnerable and open to one another, to be curious, and to “come and see” what God has in store for us.  Even in our weariness of this past year, and the current events that we find ourselves, let’s take a risk of deepening our relationships with one another, and with a God who is with us and won’t give up on us and has invited us to journey together…and, as we journey together, being open to seeing greater things than we could have ever imagined come to fruition!