Above the Storm

Matthew 17:1-9

I like to climb mountains.  Oh, not the big ones like Denali or Everest.  Smaller ones.  Like Superstition Mountain in Arizona, or Harney Peak in the Black Hills of South Dakota.   There is something about the effort it takes to make the climb and the reward of the view from the top when you get there that I find exhilarating.    In my various climbing experiences I’ve gotten lost, taken a few tumbles (none serious), and failed to reach the top a couple of times.  Once, I reached the top of a climb only to discover a parking lot…  I could have just driven up there!  Three times, I have reached the top of a climb only to discover an approaching storm.

One of those experiences was on Harney Peak.  My wife, daughter, a friend and I had made the two hour climb to the top where there is a stone observation tower.  From the tower, you can look down into the valley below.  On most days, it is a stunning view.  But, on that particular day, a thunderstorm was slowly making its way across the valley.  We were above the storm, looking down at its billowing tops and we watched in wonder as the lightning fell in bright flashes and jagged patterns on the green valley below.  It was truly beautiful…  until we realized it was heading right for us!  That was a little scary!

The view from the top of Mount Tabor, the traditional site of the Transfiguration of Jesus, is just as stunning.  I had the privilege of going to that mountain top in 1990.  (We took cabs, but that’s another story).   One can easily imagine Jesus, Peter, James and John trudging up the steep climb to reach the narrow, flat top.  But, when they got to the top. a cloud surrounded them and suddenly, the stunning view wasn’t in the valley, but right before them:  Jesus’ divinity revealed.   The presence of Moses and Elijah.  The voice of God from the cloud telling them to listen to their master.   When it passed they headed back down the mountain.  Back to their final journey to Jerusalem.  Back on the way to the cross and to death.

Sometimes it helps to get above the storm for a while.  Sometimes we need to stop and get some perspective.  Sometimes we need to climb a mountain and to stop, and look, and listen to the voice of God.  Moses did.  Elijah did.  Jesus did.  Peter, James and John did.  The view can be stunning, exhilarating, beautiful, and yes, a little scary at times.    It can renew us and reform us. 

Of course, we don’t all have mountains to climb close at hand.  But, weekly, the community of Christ’s disciples gathers around Word and Sacrament, in prayer and praise, to ask for mercy and hear the proclamation of God’s grace.   In those weekly gatherings, Christians stop to look and listen for the voice of God.  To get above the storm for an hour or two or three.  To be strengthened and encouraged for the journey.  To see Christ transfigured and to hear how he transforms us so that we might face the storms that rage in our lives and in our world.  Those gatherings take place on mountain tops and in valleys, on city street corners and rural crossroads, under the trees and in great cathedrals.  If you haven’t been for a while…  I invite you to join us on the way.  

Peace,

Bishop Mike.

Please continue to pray for peace, with justice, in our nation and in God’s world. 

Thanks for reading.

For the Love of Enemies

Matthew 5:43-48

My Junior year in college I attended my first national Lutheran Student Movement Gathering.  The “hot button” question that year was whether the Lutheran churches (the predecessors of the current Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) should divest from South Africa in order to pressure that country into ending apartheid.  During one of the business sessions, two young men got into a heated debate over the issue.  One was passionately for divesting, the other equally opposed.   Voices were raised.  Invectives tossed.  Harsh words exchanged.  Neither one budged.   Following the session, the assembly moved into worship.   As we prepared to come to the Lord’s Table for Holy Communion, we shared God’s peace with one another.  As I shook hands in the aisle, I saw the same two men embrace. 

“The peace of the Lord be with you.”  Said the first. 

“And also with you.”  Responded the other.

And it was clear that they meant it.  In spite of their intense differences, these two young adults recognized and welcomed one another as brothers in Christ.

“Now this,”  I thought to myself, “Is a church I can belong to!”

Today, our nation stands deeply divided on any number of issues:  the recent presidential election, immigration and refugees, interfaith relationships, health care, race, the environment and climate change, and on and on.  Within our churches there are people who feel just as passionate about these issues as the two men  at the LSM gathering did about divestiture.  Yet, sometimes I wonder, as divided as we are, can we still pass the peace with one another?  Can we still see the image of God in each other’s eyes?  Can we still welcome one another as brothers and sisters in Christ while at the same time fervently and faithfully wrestling with the issues of the day?

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches his disciples (then and now) to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us.   No easy task, especially when there is so much at stake in our world.   But then, Jesus originally spoke those words to people who lived surrounded by the tyranny of the Herods and the oppression of the Roman army.  He spoke those words to people who walked past their crucified neighbors daily.  I imagine some of his listeners made the connection.

By teaching us to love our enemies, I don’t think Jesus was teaching us to ignore injustice, wink at evil, or  tolerate suffering caused by human hands.  Instead, I think Jesus was encouraging us to keep at it when we disagree.  To keep looking for ways to build bridges, work for reconciliation, and seek for peace with justice in the midst of complex, difficult and divisive issues.   To keep looking for God’s image in one another, even as we debate and struggle and disagree mightily about the concerns of the day.   I hope and pray that’s still the church I belong to. 

Hating our enemies only breeds more hate, brokenness and fear.  Loving our enemies in the way of Jesus may be the first step toward making them friends.

Peace,

Bishop Mike.

Thank-you for reading.  Please keep praying for the healing of the nations, and of God’s world. 

Relationships Matter

Matthew 5:21-37

The Meyers-Briggs Personality inventory says that I am an “ENFJ”, (Extroversion, Intuition, Feeling, Judgement). One of the descriptions of the “ENFJ” personality type I’ve read suggests that people with this kind of personality tend to value preserving relationships over being right.  Guilty as charged.  I do value that characteristic in myself.  It underlies my interests in mediation, peacemaking, conflict transformation, bridge building between people, team building, collaboration and many other things.  But it also means I tend to avoid confrontation, am slow to take “positions” on issues (even those I feel strongly about) and am prone to being indecisive.  That’s me.  I share that so you understand how I come at Jesus’ teaching in the “Sermon on the Mount” (Matthew 5-7).

When I read Jesus’ Sermon, I see the importance of relationships all over the place.   Some, when reading Jesus’ teachings in Matthew 5 throw up their hands and say, “How could anyone be that righteous?!”  To which Paul would say, “There is no one who is righteous, not even one.” (Romans 3:10)   But, to simply see Jesus’ teaching as impossible tasks meant to shame us into admitting our failure at meeting God’s expectations, makes it too easy for us to dismiss them as irrelevant in any practical application.   But, I think there is more going on here than just that (if, in fact, that is going on at all).   Throughout the Sermon, Jesus is concerned about how we tend to our relationships with one another and with God.  In the Beatitudes (at the beginning of the Sermon) he calls those who live lives of mercy, compassion and peacemaking blessed.  In what follows, he shows us just how far we need to go to live lives like that.

It is true, we get angry and have deep disagreements with one another, we have lustful thoughts, marriages fail, and we make promises we don’t keep.   When those things happen they cause pain, shatter relationships, and tear at the fabric of human community.  As imperfect human beings, and as followers of Jesus, we need to work hard to address those things that divide us, even going beyond what the “world” might expect of us.  That, I think, is Jesus’ point.   Reconciliation, and generosity need to lay at the heart of the Christian life.

Jesus’ life and ministry shows us how that can be done and the cost it can exact.  Jesus shows us a God who is always in the mix working reconciliation, forgiveness, mercy and new life among us.  But, even more, Jesus reveals a God who values relationships so much that God was willing to come and walk with us through the messiness of human relationships and carry us through to the other side.   In the freedom of that hope and promise, we can strive to live out of the vision and values for human relationships Jesus lifts up in the Sermon on the Mount.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thank you for reading.  Please keep praying for our nation and for our world.