December 15, 2019 Snow in Deaf Ears

December 15 2019 Matthew 11.2-11 “Snow in Deaf Ears” Pastor Jacqueline Hines

If you will give me another chance, I will share some snow humor with you!

What do cool snowmen wear on their heads? Ice caps

Where do snowmen go to dance? Snowballs

How do snowmen travel to the snow-field? By icicle

Reflecting on snow reminds us that snow comes from God, so says Job 37.  Snow in deaf ears, shocks us into understanding that God has ways of helping us to hear.

Matthew’s scripture tells us that John the Baptist was in prison for sharing the gospel. [slide #  1 John in prison] What is good news for those being saved is often bad news for practicing sinners. As a prophet, John’s calling was to speak the truth in love, but no matter how kindly you tell someone how immoral or unjust they are, their first thought is not likely to be to celebrate or send you a thank you gift. Fear and anger is the more common response. So when John dared to point his finger at some very private relationship matters in which the Herod was involved, rather than humble himself and pray, Herod was determined to kill John the Baptist, and he did just that.

Like John the Baptist, Jesus attracted enemies as well as friends when he shared good news. The friends built the church. The enemies built systems of persecution, torturer, and murder.   

Those who joined the ranks of the persecuted were folks like Dietrich Bonhoeffer a Lutheran pastor who pretended to be a supporter of Hitler in order to sneak Jews out of Germany before there was an opportunity to send them to the gas chamber. Bonhoeffer was hung for acting on his faith; his brother Klaus, a lawyer, was shot for his participation in the circle of Anti-Nazis.

The Circle also included Dietrich’s brother-in-law, Hans von Dohanyi also a lawyer appointed to Germany’s Supreme Court and leader in the armed forces. He was married to Dietrich’s sister Christel. Two others who joined the circle of Anti-Nazis in order to uphold their Christian values were Hans Oster – son of a preacher and soldier in the German army, and Ludwig Beck. Both worked to keep Hitler from taking over the army and invading other countries who would no doubt become victims of the same insane purging of those considered to be unwantable and inferior human beings – how ungodly is that? They were deaf to the word and will of God.

Eleanor Isaacson author of Dancing from Darkness [ slide  # 2  Eleanor’s book] was born in the USA to her German-born mother, but circumstances sent them both back to Nazis Germany. Eleanor’s mother abandoned her and returned to the US. Nevertheless, Eleanor felt the presence of a loving God in spite her Godless experience, for Hitler did not allow religion, especially Christian. Though through his mother’s faith, Hitler was baptized and confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church, he left home at the age of 18 and never went back. He wanted to create a national church and failed, but was able to intimidate folks enough to squelch the singing of Christmas songs. After all, Jesus was just another Jew to be exterminated.

Though Eleanor grew up in a culture void of hearing conversations about church and God, she was not deaf to God’s voice. Christmas time was still special. She describes the snow as a wonderful symbol, even the sound of hope and beauty in the midst of terrible times. [ slide  # 3  beautiful snow scene]  Even though Christmas had its painful memories, she listened and obeyed the voice of God directing her and comforting her in miraculous ways. Our BUS – Bethel Senior group heard Eleanor’s fascinating story when she spoke at Brownback, and they have read her book.

Our Christian Faith encourages us to listen for the good news all the time, even in the worst of times. Whatever time it is in our lives, God helps us to hear the good news. [slide  #4  good news] John was incarcerated when Jesus sent him some good news.  ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: ⁵the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. ⁶And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’

Jesus is with us and Jesus brings us good news. Healing and help and health and holiness is everywhere. [slide  # 5  God…everywhere] Despite our being captive by the enemy of ill health, loneliness, isolation, unwillingness to look at God’s will and walk in Godly ways, poverty, or our eagerness to devour each other with weapons and words of contempt, there is still good news. Somebody is doing the right thing all the time. Someone is reaping the good that they have sown everywhere. That is why we can say that God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good! [slide  #  6 God is good]

God’s constant goodness is seen in snowflakes. Snowflakes are dust that get a hug from water. Water - H ₂ O,  two molecules of hydrogen and one molecule of oxygen, always, join together consistently, and predictably to form a hexagon when they freeze. [slide # 7  snowflake] That’s how God designed them.

The process of snowflakes forming six sides is just one of millions of processes that God has designed. God’s designs are a heavenly reality, a divine destiny, a supernatural system, a powerful display of that which is far above our understanding and control.

In the ancient world, the six pointed star, the Star of David, [slide # 8 star of David] the shape of a hexagon, is said to originally symbolize God’s protective shield and military might granted to King David. But, any symbol can be quickly usurped for evil purposes, such as occurred with the gestapo as well as those who practice witchcraft and sorcery, trying to put a hex on people.

Amazingly, God designs and creates in the midst of evil and chaos. The atmosphere where snowflakes and stars and the rest are made is turbulent. There is plenty of drama and never a dull moment up there.  That is why each snowflake is different; even though they all have six sides, their journeys are all different. They are shaped as they shimmer and shake while traveling the 10,000 feet from heaven to earth, falling at a rate of 3 to 9 miles per hour. God creates and designs all kinds of wonders among the turbulence of humanity. The human condition from the mind to the womb is a place where chaos and turbulence recur, but that does not stop God from creating. God creates at a greater rate than we can destroy.

The challenge is that in the worst of times, we may not want to hear anything except that trouble has ended. Most of the time we hear only what we want to hear anyway. As we prepare for Christ coming into our lives, it is good to begin to hear in fresh ways.

We can all envision what space looks like [slide #  9  outer space] but it is the radio astronomer who thinks about what space sounds like. Did you know, the sun sounds like a fire roaring and crackling, Jupiter sounds like a pop of corn popping, Saturn sounds like a hail storm, and a star or pulsar has a sound of beat after beat after beat?

Though it is weird to think of listening to space, radio waves reveal things like how large and how far away a planet is. Just as doctors learn things by listening to our hearts, our lungs, our arteries [slide # 10  stethoscope] we also learn something when we listen to our pets or strangers or persons from other backgrounds and languages, or persons with different ways of communicating sounds – like melodious grunts or gregarious groans that come without words.

It’s true the more we listen, the more we hear. Hearing is a “we” thing; one listens, another is heard. What a blessing to be heard. To be heard us to be understood, to be loved and cared for and respected, to be like the God who designed us to listen and to be heard. Only the Holy Spirit can enable us to hear each other, to understand, to love, care, and respect each other. Such moments are indeed sacred! Such moments stir up an atmosphere of healing through mercy and justice.

I heard a doctor say that we can manage our health – physical, social and otherwise - when we stop doing the things that destroy our health. Otherwise, we are keep mopping the floor while neglecting to turn off the faucet as the sink is overflowing.

The difference between illness and wellness [slide #  11  illness vs wellness] is the difference between “I” that is living life isolated and alone and “we” that is living life in holy connection with one another, or as one United Methodist mantra goes: See All the People. Stop trying to fix the church. Just nurture holy relationships.

Perhaps most importantly of all, the Holy Spirit helps us to hear ourselves and the God who lives in our hearts. I was at an Advent retreat recently and we spent time being still and meditating, taking time to listen to our inner thoughts and waiting to hear God’s voice. We were reminded of the value of connecting to ourselves, feeling our own pulse and sensing God’s presence as we positioned our bodies to focus our minds and spirits.[slide #  12 thumb and index finger] Here, touching the index finger is said to touch our consciousness and touching the thumb is to connect to and share authority – which relates to scriptures that call for anointing of oil using the thumb – which I use for the distribution of ashes, oil, and water baptisms.  Praying with palms together [slide #  13  praying hands ] exemplifies the connecting of our total being in in intense petition and gratitude with the humility of being all in, surrendered and dependent.

Posturing ourselves in order to listen to our bodies, to ourselves, to God to each other brings wonderful, even miraculous results, proving once again that God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good. May the snow always be in our ears reminding us to wake up and hear the sound of miracles of justice and mercy in the making. For they bring healing all the time. [slide #  14  proof of God…] Amen. [slide #  15  let it snow..]