Pastor Hal Low
October 11, 2015
Before reading the excerpt from this past Sunday’s sermon, close your eyes and take a moment to think about something that is troubling you, really troubling you, perhaps a sin you are struggling with or some deep grief or regret, and hold it a moment in your mind’s eye. Then when you open your eyes take a series of three deep breaths, and then read the amended lyrics from this popular song, and think of Jesus and let the words penetrate you:
When you’re weary,
Feeling small,
When tears are in your eyes,
I will, I will dry them.
I’m on your side, really I am on your side…
when times get rough and friends, they just can’t be found…look around, look around!
I’m sailing right behind,
I’m standing right beside,
I’m hovering right above – Like a bridge Over troubled waters, I will ease your mind.
Hovering like a bridge Over troubled waters – I will ease your mind.
It is written: “And the earth was without form, and was empty; and there was a darkness upon the face of the waters. And RUAH – the Spirit, the breath, the will, the mind – of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God opened God’s mouth and the Word came forth saying, ‘Let there be light.’ And there was light” (Gen. 1:23).
Sometimes life is hard. I don’t mean like when you’re having a particularly rough day, or when your spouse or best friend forgets your birthday. I’m talking about that mind-wrenching, soul-searching, physically painful, deep down into the core of your being kind of hard.
The hardness of deep grief, of tremendous regret, of sin…
Grief – ripping at us like a hawk darting down with its talons open wide and snatching up a squirrel, lifting it up to a perch then prying open its head to devour the soft moist warm brain…Regret – like a razor sharp knife that slices through your finger; at first you don’t even feel it but suddenly blood is spurting everywhere…
Sin – like a boat that hits a small but jagged rock that cuts a tiny hole in the hull, and the water starts to slowly flow in; slowly the boat sinks deeper and deeper. Or sin – that is crouching behind a bush waiting patiently for that moment of weakness to leap out and take hold, like a python wrapping itself around you tighter and tighter till you can’t breathe any longer.
That’s the kind of hard I’m talking about…
In our 1st reading (Hebrews 4:13) we heard “before him no creature is hidden, all are naked and laid bare.” We are known by God both for WHO we are and WHAT we are. Who are we? In truth, children of God. What are we? Sinners – that is what we have made of ourselves, in our weakness, in our fear, in our bitterness. We who were, and are, created in the image of God, called to be God’s representatives, have in great and small ways re-created ourselves.
How can that be if we were, are, in fact created good? Kahlil Gibran wrote, “Of the good in you I can speak, but not of the evil. For what is evil but good tortured by its own hunger and thirst? Verily when good…thirsts it drinks even of dead waters.” To make my point more clear let me quote from the Philokalia (a collection by some of the great spiritual guides from the Greek rite of the church): “Evil does not exist by nature, nor is any man naturally evil, for God made nothing that was not good. When in the desire of the heart someone conceives and gives form to what in reality has no existence, then what he desires begins to exist. We should therefore turn our attention away from the inclination to evil and concentrate it on the remembrance of God; for good, which exists by nature, is more powerful than our inclination to evil. The one has existence while the other has not, except when we give it existence through our actions.”
Oh but how do we do this in our fear and brokenness? Our 1st reading goes on to tell us, “we have a great high priest…Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16). So how do we do this?
First, with Jesus, he is on our side, his Spirit hovers about us like a bridge over of our troubled waters.
Second, by “holding fast to our confession.” What is our confession? Let’s look at the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in the Holy Spirit [that is God’s living, active, presence in our lives], the holy universal church, the communion of saints [that is we are not alone in the journey we are together in Christ], the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting [this is everything – our confession – that we are forgiven, that we are promised new being and new life]…”
What is grace? It is the hovering of God’s Spirit. To hover is “to hang fluttering or suspended in the air, to keep waiting near at hand.” Grace is God’s Spirit, hovering, always present, waiting near at hand, to lift us up to who we are!
Think of the hymn “Amazing Grace,” two lines from it; “twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.” What does that mean? It’s the two faces of grace; it convicts and then it forgives, it renders the diagnosis then offers the cure.
Look at today’s Gospel reading: a man who, since he was young, has done everything right but still wants to know how to have eternal life… “Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ What is the one thing he lacked? Why is it so “hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God?” (Mark 10:21). What is the one thing he lacked?
In the Gospel of Matthew it is written, “blessed are the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom of God.” What is poor in spirit? It is to know we are nothing, to place all one’s trust in God alone. That is why it is easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter into God’s life (Mark 10:25), because they, we, trust in ourselves, in our possessions and resources and abilities, all of which are dust. What is the one thing the man lacked? TRUST, trust in God, trust in the One God sent – Jesus, that’s why in answer to the man’s question he says “follow me”…
…According to our 1st reading from Hebrews it is through Jesus that we are able to “approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Jesus is for us, always, there for us in our time of need, weakness, brokenness, and hardness, to relieve, empower, connect, enable us to be who we are – children of God.
When the apostles heard Jesus say, “it is easier for a camel to go through the needle…they were astounded and said to one another, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’”
That’s it folks – the great high priest, the hovering Spirit over our troubled waters – troubled by grief, by regret, by sin, the stormy sea within – the key is so simple we find it hard to believe, hard to accept – the key is to trust in the One, the only One who is trustworthy, the One who created us in goodness and who seals us in goodness…to trust in the One who reverses things for “many who are first will be last, and the last will be first…”
“…For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”