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“Love
Wears Many Disguises” Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – December
10, 2017 Centenary United Methodist Church
Isaiah 40:1-11; Mark 1:1-8 This morning we are going to talk about the message of loving
energy that Jesus delivered to the world.
As tiresome as some church-based
thinking sounds, all forms of loving energy along with all their
numerous disguises will never go out of style for humanity.
When we ask ourselves what inspires all the research and
development that is taking place in the world right now, we would never
suspect that loving energy is the source of all of it. A number of people today are busy trying to create new ways of
thinking, new ways of living, new and more refined ways of
communicating, of storing information, of improving the safety of our
cars, of securing our assets from those who have chosen to confine
themselves to the boundaries of this world.
Regardless of our theological background and religious beliefs or
the lack of such ideas, there is a source of creative genius at work for
those who have tuned into their imaginations.
People want to unravel the mysteries of life that are surfacing
everywhere. Rather than
aligning with any particular ideology, people from all walks of life are
asking, "How can all of us benefit from growing beyond our perceived
human limitations?" Without thinking much about it, our life-expectancy today has
been enhanced by twenty years from what it was sixty years ago. We have
developed immunizations for a number of diseases like polio, whooping
cough, mumps and measles.
Through robotic-assistance, we are creating ways that will allow people
with highly impaired conditions to become mobile again. We are living so
close to these advances that we scarcely notice their presence. Even in the area of Biblical translations, change is constant.
Many scholars are translating more than words.
They have begun to translate what they believe the words are
saying. Eugene Peterson, through his creation of
The Message, has created a
version of the Bible that has brought remarkable clarity to the
scriptures for many people. In our lesson
today, Isaiah is saying: God said, "Someone
is shouting in the desert, 'Get the road ready for the Lord; make a
straight path for him to travel. Fill in every valley; level every
mountain. The hills will become a plain, and the rough country will be
made smooth. Then
the glory of the Lord will be
revealed, and all people will experience it together.'"
(Isaiah 40:3-5) Mark used portions of this Isaiah passage to suggest that the
prophet was predicting the arrival of John the Baptist eight-hundred
years in the future. Like with many scriptural references, this
understanding was Mark's interpretation of what was written by an
earlier well-known prophet.
Did Isaiah really foresee John's arrival or was he referencing something
far more universal for all humanity than the arrival of another
Hebrew prophet? To modern ways of thinking, the Isaiah passage could be
translated to mean that before more of God's created order can be
understood, more layers of the
onion need to be peeled. Isaiah was not talking about literally rearranging the real
estate by filling in valleys or shaving off mountains to make them
smooth. He was describing
metaphorically that before the gigantic puzzle of creation can be better
understood by we mortal beings, more of its pieces need to be in place.
We are adding those pieces every year. Scriptures can be applicable in every generation just as Mark was
doing over two thousand years ago.
Wisdom and understanding come to every generation because certain
values are timeless, and their recognition cannot be limited by social
pressures or other religions. We are alive during one of the most remarkable periods of human
development ever known in history.
Change has accelerated so rapidly that students have only a hint
of what to focus on in their studies. The fields that appear to be the most promising for our future
are those that are so new that only a few people are certain that they
will actually open doors to the exciting
promised land of the future.
How far will artificial intelligence reach into our lives?
What is in store for us in the areas of robotics, nano-technology
and androids? Who knows how
many new products will result from a process called 3-D Printing?
When most of us were younger, we relied on encyclopedias,
dictionaries, and scores of reference books.
Today, we have little
gizmos that sit on our desks that have access to a vast accumulation
of information that once filled books.A person just needs to speak to
these personal assistants and
they instantly supply what is needed. Who could have fathomed such
devices even a decade ago?
Christians can easily get stuck on their need to interpret
correctly Jesus' teaching
that the Often, we do not associate Jesus' metaphors as those that
describe what people have springing from their imaginations.
Jesus could only tell his listeners that, "One day you will be
able to create much greater things than what you have seen me
accomplish." (John 14:12f)
Today, we are experiencing the results of his words. Jesus knew that once
the genie was
liberated from the bottle of humanity's creative
imagination, no one would ever put it back into the confines that kept
it obscured for thousands of years.
Without recognizing its origin,
people everywhere are discovering what Jesus was teaching.
The treasure they are finding is providing millions of people
with untold levels of convenience, wealth, prosperity and happiness.
As more people enthusiastically embrace their inner worlds, the
faster our species will accelerate the growth of change that is taking
place. While this number is
not exact, we are adding approximately 4,000 new words every year to the
English language. Do we
really understand what our experiences are telling us? The
temptation is to remain
blind to the evolutionary process taking
place because we want Jesus' words to apply only to images of how
our exclusive
faith helps us to manage the spirit by which we
live. We
quickly forget that the love Jesus lived and described wears many
disguises. The
onion
of the created order
is being peeled as the mysteries of life slowly
surrender their secrets.
Within the next few years, re-engineered genes will be attached
to cancerous pancreases and bring many patients into remission.
For the first time, in 2017, scientists have isolated a compound
called NAD that repairs DNA. The decline of NAD is what causes our
bodies to age. The claim is being made that within five years, we will
be able to slow dramatically the aging process by adding NAD to our
diets. A pharmaceutical company has found a medication for the treatment
of depression that may be the
magic bullet for which the medical community has been searching. In
clinical trials, patients have remarkable results within days of taking
their first dose. Eighty
percent of them go into complete remission.
The miracle is that side-effects are extremely rare. Our creator designed us with imaginations that never rest.
Our minds are always inquiring, always stretching and always
eager to find the next big thing.
We were designed to
make the world more civilized, more humane, healthier, more kind and
compassionate. In spite of
the headlines to the contrary, this is happening more easily among
people than between world leaders and our governments. However,
this morning we are celebrating a highly specific form of loving energy.
Without understanding it and
holding on to the grounding
it provides, many forms of loving energy initially spring forth from
people very innocently.
However, once instant wealth and accolades begin to enter people's
lives, they often experience unintended consequences more associated
with blind ambition. Jesus gave future generations an insight that we can easily
sweep under the carpet as
being unimportant and unpopular.
Jesus gave a specific form to a loving attitude of being, i.e.,
how we present ourselves everyday to other people. Jesus called them together and said: Rulers and leaders
have complete power and control over vast populations.
However, if one of you wants to
make a difference in this world, you must remain a servant to everyone
else. If one of you wants to
be first, you must be content to be last in
the social pecking order.
Even the Son of Man did not
come to be served. He came to serve and to give his life so that others
might discover the truth about living a life that will
glow in the dark here as
well as in heaven. (Mark
10:42f) We
can easily forget that in spite of how aggressively we pursue and
produce remarkable results in our world from our knowledge and
understanding, not one result of our accomplishments
on earth will exist in the world of spirit.
When we eventually discard our bodies, what we will take with
us is the quality of spirit that we used during the process of
creating what we have left behind.
Throughout
history what has appeared as
a servant
who has deliberately chosen to leave
no
footprints of recognition
in the sands of time is none other than the Creator
of the universe.
Only the eyes of other servants will see and understand the
disguised trail that allows
them to discover their role in the material world.
These are our saviors
that point to what it is like to make visible our spiritual identity
during each moment of our present lives. A lot has resulted from Jesus'
three years of ministry that took place in one of the most obscure parts
of the world. This is why we have lighted the second Advent candle
representing love this morning. CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER Thank you, God, for these moments of reflection. Amidst all the rich
pageantry of our traditions, gatherings and remembrances of a stable in
PASTORAL PRAYER Loving God, how quickly our week has gone by and we find ourselves
having lighted a second Advent candle, reminding us that we are closer
to Jesus' birth. The words of the Prophet Isaiah remind us that we
have to prepare our minds, hearts and spirits to what love enables us to
become.
Sometimes we are
more attentive to the movement of sale prices in our department stores
than to the coming of love into our world in a form that we can
understand. During the days that lie ahead, inspire us to desire less of what this
world offers and more of what would teach us understanding.
Inspire us to be less judgmental of how people behave and more into
encouraging them with our friendship. May we dwell less on the headlines
of our troubled world and spend more quality time on brightening the
corner of the world where we live. Inspire us to remember that
worry is expending energy on what we cannot control or change.
Inner peace comes by trusting that your will is unfolding
according to your design.
As
our Advent season continues, enable us to be less absorbed with our
wants and needs so that we can truly represent the disciples your Son
invited us to become. Thank you, God, for offering us a fresh
opportunity to change our futures every day that we live. We pray
these thoughts through the loving spirit of Jesus, the Christ, who
taught us to say when we pray . . |