Courts - Believable

March 30 Psalm 23, *John 9.1-23, Courts – Believable  Pastor Jacqueline Hines

Like the man born blind who was healed in John’s gospel, many of us have challenges with our sight.  We have also experienced help and healing for our sight through corrective lenses, surgeries, eye drops, dark shades, guiding canines, wisdom for limited night vision, and good friends who provide all the help we will ever need.

Most of us are still tense at the thought of losing any part of our sight, but we are less afraid when we experience the goodness of God through help and a healing touch. The Lenten season calls us to trust in God’s love, rest in God’s presence, and to believe that God is working things out for the good of all. There is no way to trust, or rest, or believe without God’s supernatural help.

Supernatural healing happened for the man born blind in John’s gospel. He did not ask for healing. It just happened. Healing is like a river flowing in us and through us. We live in a world where health and wholeness are everywhere. It is God’s nature to shower us with healing love. We also live in a world where brokenness is everywhere, and healing love overcomes the world’s brokenness.

The disciples saw the man born blind as broken, and they immediately became interested in his case. They were ready to learn something important, something that mattered, so they asked Jesus questions since he was the master teacher. They wanted answers to life’s hardest questions. They wanted to know what happened to the blind man and why. Did he do something wrong? Did his parents do something wrong? Did he go to the wrong doctor?

Jesus indirectly responded to their implied accusations. He pointe them in the direction to see no matter what happens, God intervenes to get the glory. Jesus got busy focusing on glorifying God by doing the man some good. Jesus gave the disciples something else to stare at. He mixed dirt and saliva and put it on the man’s eyes. That must have meant that he trusted Jesus and Jesus trusted him. No one puts their saliva on you like that unless they know you, unless they are bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh. No one puts dirt on you unless they are bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh. No one sends you away to wash unless they care deeply about YOU!

Healing happens wherever we are busy focusing on what God focuses on, doing each other some good. No matter how broken our circumstances, God is still a healer. No matter how much we fear we have lost, God is sending someone to do us some good. Healing is everywhere. It is God’s nature to heal.

Buckminster Fuller was a brilliant architect and inventor in spite of physical challenges. He died in 1983. He was president of Mensa  - an organization that gathers the most intelligent people in the world. Mensa is the Latin word for “table” as in round table of intelligent people regardless of race, color, creed, national origin, age, politics, educational or social background. Fuller was expelled from Harvard, not once but twice. His intelligence was not the ordinary kind.

He was granted a patent for the geodesic dome in 1954. [slide #1] This one is from the Epcot Center in Walt Disney World Florida. Has anyone been there? The geodesic dome appealed to Fuller because it was extremely strong for its weight, it was stable, and a sphere encloses the greatest volume for the least surface area. These domes were once used in green houses as well as during the war, to provide early warnings of any sea-and-land invasions.

Fuller tells that his courage to be creative came from a situation in his childhood. When he was very small child, he lost his sight.  He went to bed one night able to see and awoke the next morning blind. Medical experts were not able to explain the cause of his horrific and sudden blindness. There was no reason for it. It just happened. For several years he was blind. Then, just as suddenly and as inexplicably as he had lost his sight, he regained it. Without any indication as to what was coming, one morning he woke up able to see again (sermons.com). The years of blindness challenged him to see God’s world and the many things that could be created if he used his God-given intelligence.

Good things happen. Terrible things happen. Whether good or terrible, we don’t need to know how it happens. We need only to see Jesus working good in the situation. We need to be eye-witnesses. We need to be able to testify that God is good and his mercy endures forever.  We need to watch and pray so that we can learn to do what we see Jesus doing. Our testimony needs to be believable so that others can trust in God’s love, rest in God’s presence, and believe that God is working the situation out for the good of all.

The disciples were judging the man who was born blind. They soon saw Jesus was not judging the man and his condition. They saw that Jesus was joining him, as if he mattered, as if her were very important.

The Pharisees were another story. They did not see Jesus as the disciples learned to see him. The Pharisees saw Jesus as a competitor, an enemy that needed to be tried, convicted, and eliminated. The Pharisees charged Jesus according to the law for healing on the Sabbath. It was illegal to do any work on the Sabbath.

Some of us know about illegal activity on the Sabbath. Who remembers the blue laws? They were set up by Pilgrims in the US colonies and continued up to the 1990’s.They were designed to set up stiff regulations against working, buying, selling, traveling, public entertainment, or sports on a Sunday. The original purpose was to honor God and encourage church attendance.  The scriptures, however, are not like some laws that become more politically rigid than religious. There are many, many ways to honor God. Jesus says the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, or as the Message version puts it - “The Sabbath was made to serve us; we weren’t made to serve the Sabbath. “

The colonial blue laws may have been called blue because they were written on blue paper or because they were so strict as to make people blue. In some stores, all the beer cans were covered with blue tarp on Sundays so they could not be seen for purchasing. We all have different ideas about how far is too far with government laws and religious laws. We debate every day about who should marry and who should not marry. Who should play bingo for money and who should not? Even today in Orthodox Judaism, according to domestic abuse advocate Marie Fortune, Rabbis wrestle with an old law that allows a man to divorce his wife, but the wife cannot divorce a husband without the husband’s permission. The original idea of the law was for a man to take responsibility to love his wife like Jesus loves the Church. Any interpretation of a law that allows less, allows abuse, and that’s not good.

The Pharisees refused to see the good Jesus was doing. They would not acknowledge or testify that God was good and his mercy endures forever. There is none so blind as those who will not see. They ignored God. The Pharisees would rather not see ANY man healed and helped, if it meant Jesus got the glory instead of them. They had a different agenda; they were up to no good.

Lent is a reminder to check our agendas, to be willing to get close enough to Jesus to hear his heartbeat, to go wherever we are sent to be washed – to church, to the poor, to a family member, to a neighbor near or far, to make a pledge, to start something new, to stop something old.

The man Jesus healed was told to GO to the pool of Siloam. [slide #2] The word Siloam means “sent.” Siloam was a pool developed 700 years before Jesus, King Hezekiah built it. He wanted to protect a water spring that was located just outside the protective Gates of Jerusalem. It was called the Spring of Gihon. The king built a secret water tunnel, hidden from the enemy. It was dug 1800 feet long through solid rock, an engineering marvel. The water from the spring was hidden as it flowed into the city into the pool of Siloam [slide #3]. Jesus sent the man to this awesome pool and his life was changed forever. Wherever Jesus sends us is awesome. Wherever Jesus sends us has special meaning and roots in something very important. Surely, the blind man trusted God’s love. He found rest for his soul in the presence of Jesus.  He believed everything would be alright, and he helped others to believe it too.

It’s not easy to believe. A young girl was suffering from anorexia. Her counselor assigned her the task of drinking a glass of milk, but she just could not bring herself to do it. AS she stared away as the milk lay on the table, the doctor walked in and asked her if she knew the story of Jesus healing a blind man after putting mud on his eyes. She said, “Yes.” “Do you believe it?” asked the doctor. She said, “Yes.” “Then drink your mud.” (Preachingtoday.com)

Amy Grant is an award-winning singer of Contemporary Gospel music. She has extraordinary gifts from God. It seemed so easy for her to record albums and go platinum. Her life appeared glamorous and perfect, but in the 80’s her marriage was shipwrecked when she discovered her husband’s cocaine addiction.

"For a few days,” she says, “ I just stayed in bed and mourned my life. The only hope I could seem to see was just junking it all, moving to Europe, and starting everything all over again. It was then my sister, in a last-ditch visit, marched up right beside my bed and said, Fine, go to Europe, leave it all behind, start your life again. But before you go, tell (my little girl) how you can sing that Jesus can help her through anything in her life, but that he couldn't help you.' "(sermons.com) Amy got up and began to put her life back together.

When our greatest fears become a living nightmare, we can trust, rest, and believe that God will be our healer. Amen.

March 23 2014 Courts - Arguments

March 23 Romans 5.1-11, * Exodus 17.1-7, Courts – Arguments Jacqueline Hines

Moses was a superhero. He remains a superhero for all Christians, as well as in the hearts and minds of our Muslim and Jewish friends. Moses was the key character in God’s plan to rescue people from a sad situation. Amazing things happened when Moses followed God’s guidance. Waters were divided to make a path for them to get away from Pharaoh’s army.

Every now and then, our circumstances seem to warrant a superhero’s rescue. It is safe to say that all of us have at one time or another been catapulted into very distressing seasons. It is also safe to say that God has been like a superhero and has rescued US in one way or another.

When Moses led God’s people out of THEIR sad situation, they did not go straight to the good life. Their first stop was not easy street. Their first stop was a wilderness, the Wilderness of Sin – short for Sinai. If we had OUR way, all our days would be trouble-free. When trouble does come, we want to be rescued as soon as possible.  

During this Lenten season, we take an inventory of our troubles, especially the trouble caused by our own sin. We hope for God to be a superhero, but just like those who followed Moses discovered, we discover that being rescued from trouble may not mean going straight to Easy Street. After our deliverance, we may find ourselves in a wilderness, on our way to the Promised Land. We may have to do the hard work of repenting and some wrestling with challenges before we can relax and enjoy the land that flows with milk and honey, peace and prosperity.

The main complaint about the wilderness was that there wasn’t enough water.  Physiologists tell us that a person can live 40 days without food but only 3 days without water. It had been three days for the Israelites. Persons deprived of water could experience 3 stages of thirst - eudipsia, "ordinary thirst," hyperdipsia, "temporary intense thirst," and polydipsia, "sustained excessive thirst" that drives one to drink anything, salty water, etc. etc.

In our land of plenty, we enjoy indoor taps with clean water, for drinking, recreation and every necessity. God has sent us engineers who enforce regulations that provide the water we need to survive. There is work to be done and a price to be paid. Someone had to do the work of digging a well and the water had to be piped in. It has all been arranged and taken care of for us. It is unimaginable that we could ever spend three days without water.

Not everyone is blessed with water in this world, yet. According to UNICEF, 768 million people still do not have access to clean water. One third of these people live in only ten countries, including China, Pakistan, Kenya, and India. Fourteen hundred children die every day because of a lack of water. It was a blessing to hear one of our young people at Bethel say that he had taken action to help develop a water well in another country that needs it.

Without water, the people of God began to argue out of great frustration.They argued about whether their superhero had actually made the best decision to leave Egypt or had used the most strategic route. They argued about the timing of the departure and the adequacy of the preparations.

What do you argue about? A study found that most American couples argue about money. They debate about what a “need” is as distinguished from a “want” to justify their spending. Their arguments prove again and again, that the weaker the arguments, the stronger the words. Very few, however, said they took the time to actually sit down and discuss their ideas in a loving, rational and adult manner. Results of another study showed that couples who knew how to fight fair, had the longest and healthiest relationships.

We all know that story of the sun and the wind arguing about which one of them was stronger. At last, the sun said, "Look at that traveler down there. Let's see which of us can get him to take off his coat. I'll let you begin." While the sun hid his face behind a cloud, the wind began to blow; but the harder he blew, the more firmly the poor fellow held his garment tight around him. Finally, the wind gave up. Then the sun came out and shone so warmly that the man soon removed his coat.

When the people of God realized that water was nowhere in sight, they probably felt there was nothing left to say. That conversation would not help. They were so thirsty that they probably did not want to talk to God at all. It seems their resentment had grown greater than their faith, like weeds grow greater than a vegetable garden, and cause the fruit to diminish. Perhaps in their heart of hearts their faith was such that they were demanding a relationship where God would do all the work and they could sit in the shade and enjoy the benefits.

Not long ago, they had been rescued with superhero strength, now they were asking “Is the Lord with us or not?” It is understandable that they had doubts and questions, but still one had to wonder, “Where was THEIR faith?”

It is a natural tendency to complain and gripe in the wilderness, but when our complaints are louder than our thanks, we risk real problems. Educators suggest our conversations should have nine positive affirmations for every one negative comment. Doing so sweetens our waters; coming short of that goal, pollutes the system.

Moby Dick is inspired by a true story of thirst that resulted after a shipwreck. The first mate wrote in his journal, "The privation of water is justly ranked among the most dreadful of the miseries of our life. . . The violence of raving thirst has no parallel in the catalogue of human calamities."  (Allen Perkins. sermonCentral.com)

Witnesses (Nathaniel Philbrick) describe weeks without thirst as more intolerable than hunger. Not knowing how long it would be before they were rescued, they rationed half a pint of water per day, barely enough to keep the mouth moist.  The throat raged with fever, saliva thickened and tasted foul, the tongue would cling irritatingly to the teeth and the roof of the mouth. Even though speech was difficult, sufferers complained ceaselessly about their thirst until their voices become so cracked and hoarse they could not speak. Finally, the tongue swelled and hardened, leading to a brutal end. After being shipwrecked they were surrounded by salty sea water. Those who could not resist drinking it quickly became dehydrated and subject to hallucinations, which were “contagious. “

Moses’ followers were without water for only three long days, not three months like those at sea. They were at risk for losing their health and their wellbeing. They were uncomfortable, afraid and angry. The scriptures say they began to quarrel, to argue with Moses. Arguing with each other can be the exact same thing as arguing with God. Theirs was not a healthy debate. Nor was it a helpful dialogue. No, this was a session of nagging and scolding. Their complaints, criticisms and challenges outweighed their courage, kindness, contentment, and comfort. Their egos got the best of them. You know EGO stands for Easing God Out.

They got up in God’s face. They collected evidence for their case against God being with them to help them in their time of greatest need. They shouted at God and to Moses, “Is the Lord with us or not?”

That is a question we have all asked at one time. When relationships flounder, we ask “Is the Lord with us or not?” When arthritis flairs up with searing pain, we ask “Is the Lord with us or not?” When disease strikes taking more than its share of time and money, we ask “Is the Lord with us or not?” When someone fails us or disappointment distracts us, we ask “Is the Lord with us or not?”

It wasn’t long before God did provide water in superhero style as only God can do.  Verse 6 tells us Moses hit a certain rock as God directed him and fresh water was released.

In this Lenten season, we are reminded that the Lord IS with us, that we can expect to be rescued again and again, one way or another. For this we give God more thanks and praise than complaints, for this we give each other more thanks and praise, than complaints. Let it be so. Amen.