God of the Mountain and the Valley

 

Do you remember the fuller brush man? As a child, I remember this door-to-door salesman that sold brushes and other cleaning products. I thought that the name Fuller had to do with the fact that the company sold cleaning products.  (Actually the company name was from the Founder, Albert Fuller.)  Fuller is an occupation—or at least used to be. The person who was a fuller was responsible for cleaning and bleaching fabrics. A Fuller cleansed cloth of oils, dirt and other impurities. I share this with you because in the translation which I just read, the word fuller isn’t translated. In verse three we read about Jesus’ appearance, “his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them.” The Greek actually says, “such as no fuller on earth could bleach them.” Even those who were responsible for bleaching cloth couldn’t have made it as dazzling white as what Jesus robes looked.

         Here on this mountain top, with just the three special disciples, Peter, James and John, Jesus’ appearance makes clear who he is—He is divine. If his appearance weren’t enough, there are Elijah and Moses with him. These two had seen God face to face. Moses was one of the most revered of Old Testament figures and Elijah who was taken up into heaven without dying. Here Jesus stands with these two and it is clear WHO Jesus is—he is the divine one.

         Now, whatever we think about how this took place, clearly the disciples—as typified always by Peter—are not sure what to make of it. We are told that Peter did not know what to say, because they were so terrified. Now, this fearfulness wasn’t just ‘afraid of the dark.’ This was flat out terror like from watching a horror movie.

Most of us when that terrified are struck silent—we can’t think of the words to say. But, not Peter. Now, I believe a good rule of thumb, if you don’t know what to say, don’t say anything! But that is not Peter. Peter is never one to waste an opportunity to say something inappropriate. What Peter says next as NOT the right thing at this time. Peter wants to build dwelling places—for all the heavenly figures here. But, then the voice comes from the sky, “This is my Son, The Beloved. Listen to him.” In my mind, I hear God saying, “Peter, you don’t know what you are talking about. Please, just listen to Jesus!” And the next thing Jesus said to the disciples was to keep this experience to themselves until after he had risen from the dead.

         When I look at this story as a whole, there are a couple of messages that I take away from it. The first is that when we experience Jesus’s divine presence, we can be so overcome by it, that we fail to really listen to what Jesus is saying. We’d rather build a memorial – a dwelling place and just gaze on the spectacle of Jesus rather than live out the words that Jesus has said. And the other message is probably the more important to me right now: the Jesus who stands on the Mountain in dazzling white robes, is the same Jesus that walks down into the valley with us.

         Our temptation, like Peter’s is to believe that we are only close to God when we are on the mountain top. And so we have to try to build dwelling places where that divine God can stay. If you have seen pictures from the Holy Land, or traveled there yourself, you know that there are elaborate, beautiful structures that have been built in the places where Jesus was. The church of the Nativity is built where Jesus was thought to have been born. The church ofthe Holy Sepulchre is built on the spot where Jesus was thought to have been crucified and then buried. When we so enshrine Jesus in a sanctuary, we may be so overcome with Jesus’ appearance, that all we do is gaze at the portrait of Jesus that we have made. We no longer LISTEN to him. We can be so concerned to prove that Jesus is divine that we don’t live into who Jesus has called US to be.

     I would venture to say, that the vast majority of Christians have not had the kind of experience that Peter, James and John did. We have not seen Jesus standing before us in dazzling white robes. If that is what it takes to believe that Jesus is divine than we are all lost. Yet, it is often more in silence, and not spectacle that Jesus reveals himself to us. This knowledge of Jesus as the Divine, the Beloved of God, is something that comes to us when we most need it. The Jesus who stood in dazzling white robes didn’t come down the mountain looking like that. Jesus came as one of the common people. Jesus lived among those who were most forgotten in his time. Jesus wasn’t just the God of the Mountain, he was the loving savior in the valley.

      In my own spiritual life, there have been moments, that I might call spiritual mountain top experiences. But, those have been far fewer than the valleys that I have traversed. My valley experiences far outnumber the mountain top ones. Most of us live our lives in the valley. Yet, we really want to live on the Mountain, don’t we? Recently, I read about a young woman’s experience climbing a mountain. She was prepared for it. She had trained for it. She had dreamed of doing it. But, ultimately, the conditions were too difficult and she had to abandon her climb. That made me think about how few mountains I have climbed. Getting to the top of a mountain is not easy and it does take training and practice.

      In our spiritual lives, this is probably true as well. We have to practice our faith—spend time in bible study, in meditation and in prayer, in listening to God, in worship. When we practice our faith, we are draw into those mountain top experiences. However, most of us don’t live on the mountain. Our day to day living is mostly spent in the valley. For most us, the valley is where we live. And that is where I experience Jesus the most.

      Sometimes, we think of the valley as a dark and sad place. We think of the words from Ps 23 which says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.” The valley isn’t just about suffering and death. The valley just happens to be where most of us live.  Now there are deeper valleys at time, where we feel that we have fallen into a pit. At those times, we might feel abandoned by God. We might find ourselves struggling to get out of that place. And in those times, it is not very often that the dazzling Christ that stands before us. Rather, it is then that we can listen again in silence for the whisper of Jesus telling us of God’s love. It is the Jesus on the mountain, who walks with us in the valley. Whether you are finding yourself on a mountain top, or in a valley, I invite you to listen more closely for Jesus.

     We are about to begin the season of Lent, this is a time of spiritual listening and practice. May you find a way to truly honor the 40 days with a practice that brings you close to Jesus by listening for his voice.

     I want to close with some of the words from a contemporary Christian song—you may have heard it. God of the hills and the valleys.

I've walked among the shadows
You wiped my tears away
And I've felt the pain of heartbreak
And I've seen the brighter days
And I've prayed prayers to heaven from my lowest place
And I have held the blessings
God, you give and take away

No matter what I have, Your grace is enough
No matter where I am, I'm standing in Your love

On the mountains, I will bow my life
To the one who set me there
In the valley, I will lift my eyes to the one who sees me there
When I'm standing on the mountain aft, didn't get there on my own
When I'm walking through the valley end, no I am not alone!
You're God of the hills and valleys!
Hills and Valleys!
God of the hills and valleys
And I am not alone!

 

YOU ARE NOT ALONE!

Let us pray:  Loving and Merciful God, who does not leave us alone, help us to feel your presence whether we are on the mountain, or in the valley.  Thank you for the mountain top experiences when we feel your Holy Spirit and see you before us so early. May they nourish our spirits in such a way, that we are empowered to walk through every valley. Lord, help us to remember that you are the same God, whether we are in moments when we feel close to you, or at the times when we feel far removed. Draw us closer to you each day. help us to truly feel your presence in the darkest days.

         Lord, we lift before you all those who are experiencing times of hardship and stress. We pray for those who are sick and suffering today whether it is in body, mind or spirit. May they know your healing touch restoring them to health and wholeness. We especially pray for those who are grieving may they find comfort in your spirit. Loving God, we know that you know the concerns which we each carry in our hearts. Help us to lay these before you that you might be at work in our lives. We ask this in Christ’s name and pray as he taught us saying

Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this Day our daily bread.  And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

All Things to All People: a sermon on 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

 ¹⁹For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. ²⁰To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. ²¹To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. ²³I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

How many of you have purchased an article of clothing that was sized as “one size fits all”? I’m sorry…. I don’t believe there is such a piece of clothing! I appreciate the ones that read, “one sizes fits most.” I have a little bit of a show and tell to illustrate sizing. This robe right here is an Alb. I purchased this robe about 30 years ago. I weighed much less than I do now. And yet, look at this robe…. (it is a fairly large white robe). It is a size SMALL—I think we can safely say that this is NOT a small in women’s sizes! In fact, this other robe, this is one that I purchased a few years ago—it IS a robe that was made to my measurements at the time. It is an XL.  (When you hold them up, you can see that the Small is LARGER than the XL.) One size does not fit all. And sometimes even when it has a size, it doesn’t fit right either!

One size does not fill all in more than just clothing. If you have ever been a parent or a teacher, a youth leader or even a cub scout leader, you know that every child is different and what works with one doesn’t always work with another. My father always liked to say that he could just look at my sister and she would cry, whereas for me… it took a little more.

         All of us are different and it takes a different approach to reach us. That is part of what Paul is saying in this passage from 1 Corinthians. In fact, in the last few lines of the scripture I read, Paul sums up for us what he has been trying to say, “I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some.”

         The scripture reading today actually continues with themes from last week's reading which was from one chapter earlier. If you remember, in that part of the letter Paul was speaking about eating meat that was sacrificed to idols. Yet, the overarching theme throughout this letter continues to be about love and community. The message Paul conveys is about what it means to be a household of faith and live as Christ's followers especially when they are a very diverse group of people.

         Paul begins by describing his own authority to preach but then he moves into speaking about what we can call his Adaptive Missional Strategy. This is that he has become a Jew to those that are Jewish. He has become as one under the law, to those under the law. He has become weak to those who are weak. He ends with that summary statement. “I have become all things to all people.” To us, these words might seem strange, because we like to say “you CAN'T be all things to all people.” However, when we say that, we mean that you can't please everyone all the time.

Paul is saying something different here. Paul’s overall message has to do with creating unity within the body of Christ. He is saying that in order to achieve such unity,

we have to be willing to give up our own selfish prejudices. We have to be willing to see things from the perspective of others. If we are to share the Gospel with others, who are not like us, we must transcend our own finite opinions, upbringing and prejudices.

We have to see what life looks like from someone else's perspective.

This may be one of the most challenging things that any of us can do. We all see life from a certain perspective. Some of us recognize our bias—like knowing that anyone that graduated from our favorite school has to be smarter than that “other team.” We joke about that bias. Paul might have written, I have become an Auburn fan even though I grew up loving Alabama, but if it will gain one disciple for Jesus, I will do this.

         We have biases that we know and understand, but we all have biases that we cannot easily see. It is because we are rooted in our perspective on things. I am sure that there are things that I have said and done while living in the South that those of you raised here would say, “well, she’s just a Yankee.” And yet, I don’t recognize those things in myself. It takes a conscious effort to see beyond the biases that we don’t even realize we have. I highly recommend taking an implicit bias quiz to help you discover the things about which you might have bias. You can google that and find several—implicit bias or unconscious bias test.

         In order to effectively share the grace and love of Jesus with others, we have to understand our own biases. If we are going to meaningfully invite others into the fellowship of the Body of Christ, than we have to see how this looks from their perspective. In other words, sometimes we can think we have the best of intentions but if we are only seeing from our perspective, we might not be really offering what we think we are.

         Several years ago now, I had the opportunity to preach at the Church of the Reconciler in downtown Birmingham. For those of you who might not be familiar with this congregation, on any given Sunday morning, a large portion of the worshiping congregation of this church will be men and women who are unhoused. I was there to share about the hunger ministries of Society of St. Andrew. After the service I was approached by one of the worshipers, who wanted to talk with me. In his own unique manner, he questioned me as to why people thought that it would be helpful to give him soap and shampoo from hotels when he had no place that he could bathe. He was basically saying that people didn't understand how he lived if they were giving him such items.

         We have to see things from someone else’s perspective, if we want to effectively share God’s grace. Paul understood this. It most certainly wasn’t about changing the gospel message. Sometimes people think that is what you are doing when you adapt to a new situation. I would say that Paul was not adapting the Gospel. He was adapting himself to embody the message. If we are truly following Christ’s self-emptying example, we are empty ourselves of the pride that our way of seeing things is the only or the best way of viewing the situation. How can the message of God’s grace be received by others, if we do not embody that message of grace. We have to be willing to be like Christ-to be willing to sacrifice our own goals and priorities and preferences for others.

Part of Paul’s concern through this letter is the conflict that is happening among the Corinthian Christians. Just like the issue of eating meat offered to idols, there were differences among the members of the church. If we think of Paul’s words in light of conflict between persons, we can see how the conflict changes when we see one another’s perspectives. If the Church were a place where people learned to be gracious to their opponents, what a beacon of hope the Church could truly be.

Think about how divided people are right now. Too often, we sit in our own echo chambers—only listening to, reading or watching people with the same viewpoints we already have. I am certain that there are people with differing political views in this congregation. I am certain that there are people with differing theological views in this church. What happens when we try to see the other’s perspective?

         I knew of a father who would have conversations about various topics with his daughter. These might be serious topics about God and faith, or they might even be as trivial as whether she could have another ice cream cone. But, in the midst of the discussion (or argument as the case may be), the father would say, “OK, switch sides.” The daughter then had to argue the opposite of what she wanted and believed. In this way, she learned to see both sides of an argument. She began to gain perspective.

         When we can see someone else’s perspective, we gain a greater understanding of our own. When I learned a French and Latin in high school, and then Greek in college, I learned more about English than I had ever known. By learning foreign languages, I came to understand English grammar in a way that I had never before understood it from only learning English! When we study a different perspective, we gain a greater understanding of our own. If we close ourselves off from even wondering, “why does he think that?” we may be closing ourselves off from the opportunity to share God’s grace.

         In chapter 10, verse 33 of 1 Corinthians, Paul writes, “I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, so that they may be saved.” Too often we think that people who like Paul are trying to please others simply have no backbone, or we call them people pleasing. But, what Paul is saying is that he is trying to please others NOT so that they will LIKE HIM, but so that he can reach as many people as possible.

         God calls us to move beyond our limited perspectives so that we can walk in someone else’s shoes and see their perspective. If we do this in authentic ways, we begin to LIVE the gospel and not just preach it.  There is not a “one Size fits all” way to share the Gospel. People need the robe that has been tailored to them. People learn and understand in different ways. If we as a congregation want to reach more people for Christ, we must begin to broaden our perspectives so that we can see and understand the experiences and perspectives of others. Paul invites us to enlarge our understanding so that we might truly EMBODY the gospel message.

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