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“The Mystical Aspect of Change” Sermon Delivered By Rev. Dick Stetler – August
27, 2017 Centenary United Methodist Church
Romans 12:1-8; Mark 8:27-30 As our Gospel lesson opens, Jesus was walking with his disciples
in Caesarea Philippi, a Greco-Roman community filled with numerous
temples dedicated to various deities. This setting evoked Jesus'
curiosity. He asked, "What
are people saying about me?" Without hesitation his disciples answered,
"We have heard that you are John the Baptist who has come back to life.
Other people believe that you were once Elijah or at least one of the
earlier prophets." (Mark
8:28) Jesus asked, "What do you guys think?
Who do you believe that I am?"
Peter answered, "We believe that you are
the Messiah." In the earliest
Gospel to be written, Mark wrote that Jesus neither confirmed nor denied
Peter's answer. While Jesus
was silent about the matter, he told the disciples not to share
such thinking with anyone. No matter how we interpret the concept of
a Messiah, the image and
character have always been associated with
a liberator who would save
his people from destruction.
For thousands of years, Christians have given Jesus the labels of
The Messiah,
Savior, Son of Man and
Son of God.
We have been taught that by
Jesus' death on the cross, we have been
saved from our sins.
No theologian, however, has ever offered an explanation of how
this was accomplished. This morning, we are going to explore what
insights about our personal
salvation came from Jesus and the Apostle Paul. There is
little evidence to suggest that the emotional nature of humankind has
changed since Jesus' death.
According to early tradition, shortly after Jesus' crucifixion,
one by one the disciples were martyred.
The only disciple to make it into his retirement was John who
survived in Given the experiences
that many of us have today, does the concept of
personal salvation seem
relevant? We live in a
society where individual freedom is highly valued. More of us are
economically self-sufficient.
The Internet gives us instant access to anything that we want to
know or own. We can even
earn advanced academic degrees on line without ever leaving our island. Do people still resonate with the lyric of the Gospel song, "Give
me that old time religion, it is good enough for me."
If the words of this song are still true for the masses, why are
the pews in our churches becoming increasingly empty?
What is it about our
faith that no long touches, affects and influences the way people are
living today? To get the answer to these questions, we need to turn to the
Scriptures rather than to the theology of the institutional church and
its influence over those who were transcribing the Scriptures.
There is quite a difference between what Jesus and Paul taught
and what the church has taught for centuries. Jesus did not
teach that
salvation would come as a result of the activities
of a
Messiah.
He taught that people can be saved from the illusions
and delusions of life's many cyclical dramas when they change how they
think, feel and interpret their life-experiences.
There can be no question that people do need to be saved from
becoming enslaved by the issues of this world. This understanding is what Jesus was trying to teach Nicodemus.
He said, "Once you experience a spiritual awakening, the changes in your
life will be so dramatic that it is like being
born again. This happens when
you let go of your self-taught and learned responses and replace them
with creative and loving attitudes that will enhance the quality of your
life in all circumstances. (John 3:1-12)
The wife of one of my former parishioners became gravely ill. He
stood up in church each week and asked for prayers. John contacted other
congregations to pray for her.
Daily, he pleaded with God for the healing of his wife. In spite
of his efforts, his wife's health steadily declined over a number of
months until his life-partner of 35-years died. John's faith bubble
burst. His response was disillusionment.
His felt that he had been betrayed and abandoned by God. He
refused to trust what he once believed.
As a pastor, I was of little value to him other than to remain an
active listener if and when he wanted to talk to me.
He quit coming to church. He visited his wife's grave every week.
He would bring expensive bouquets of flowers and sit in front of
her headstone and cry bitter tears. He was so consumed by her death that
he began to ignore a number of his responsibilities. His life was
spiraling out of control. He became unreachable. During one of these moments at the cemetery, he had an experience
that dramatically changed his life in an instant.
When John suddenly appeared entering my office, I knew
immediately that he had regained control over his life.
He was glowing and he
had a spring in his step. He
could hardly wait to tell me about his encounter. As best as I can
reconstruct his story, this is what he said: I was sitting in my
usual place, having a monologue with Dorothy.
Suddenly, I felt a warm, love-filled presence surrounding me.
Inside my mind words began to form that were not mine.
'John, what are you doing to yourself?
Before my cancer arrived, we had
34 years of a very fulfilling marriage. We reared three beautiful
children. They are doing
well and have moved on. You
are stuck mourning my death.
John, listen to me, I was liberated from a body that was never
going to get better. You have to
let go of me. Stop bringing
flowers. Stop crying. Stop coming here. I am not here!
Please John, do this for me.
Allow the loving man that I know to start living again. Prepare
yourself to find another wife. Listen to me now. Our kids will
understand. My dear, John,
I wish I could describe for you what life is like where I am, but there
just aren't the words. I am
going leave you now. Please follow through on what I am asking you to
do. As his wife's presence faded, John was left with the result of
having had a mystical experience.
He was born again.
His bitter attitudes were gone in an instant. The one thing about
having an experience like this is that no one can take those moments
away from him.
Salvation came in an instant
and it had nothing to do with Jesus' death on a cross.
He had just received
a taste of life continuing.
There was no doubting that his wife had just visited him from
beyond the grave. The Apostle Paul had a similar encounter.
He was the nasty, self-absorbed, angry Saul of Tarsus that was
highly motivated to bring Christians to
justice. Saul's spirit was
radically changed in an instant because of a mystical encounter with
Jesus. (Acts 9:4-5) Paul, who wrote his letters before any of the Gospels were
written, composed his famous love chapter in First Corinthians 13:1-13.
Later Paul wrote in our first lesson this morning how others could
experience what he did. He wrote, Do not conform
yourselves to all the values
that you find in this world, but let God's presence transform you
inwardly by a complete change of your mind.
Then you will be able to know the will of God and discover how to
extend and share your loving energy with everyone.
(Romans 12:2) Paul described what
salvation looked like for him once he made the transition from being
a person who had conformed to the standards of this world to becoming
a spirit-being.
Few people can explain
how human transformation takes place other than that this change happens
once people reverse their energy flow.
This shift happens when "This is what
I think.
This is what I believe.
This is my truth.
This is where I draw
the line. This is
where I stand."
becomes, "How can I help you?
"Would you like to talk about this over lunch?"
"Have you considered this as an opportunity to grow?" "Have you
tried letting go of thoughts that are keeping you depressed and
frustrated?" Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone was born into a wealthy Italian
family in 1181. He grew up
surrounded my wealth. He learned from
his friends to believe that
it was fun and liberating to drink heavily, live without a care in the
world and become a party animal.
His enthusiastic and encouraging
friends benefited from his generosity.
During his
all fun lifestyle, Giovanni
was captured and confined by criminals until his father secured his
release by paying a ransom. During his confinement, Giovanni had a mystical experience of
God's presence. Just like my friend, John, the change was immediate.
Today, we know him as St.
Francis of Since we
cannot manufacture our own spiritual awakening, how does such an
experience happen?
When we reach a point in our lives where we realize that
there is more to life than what we have settled for, we are poised for a
spiritual awakening. This experience happened to Jesus at his baptism. Jesus had
provided for his mother and his brothers and sisters.
Now, he was poised to move on to something more fulfilling.
At his baptism, Jesus had a mystical encounter with God and he
never looked back. Paul gives us a key for understanding
salvation when he wrote, "Do
not conform yourselves to the values of this world."
We have become ready for an instant change, a total
transformation of spirit, when we realize that none of the life-issues
that cause us to feel unfulfilled are useful when we leave this life.
Unhappy people
become that way by building their attitudes one response at a time.
They have allowed themselves to be conformed by their
interpretation of their world-view through responses to issues that do
not exist anywhere else.
Even George Lucas had this awareness when in his first
Star Wars movie, he had the
voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi say, "Use
the Force, Luke. Let
go, Luke." Talk about a
mystical experience that spoke volumes to movie audiences.
This experience of letting go was akin to what my former church
member, John, heard from his wife, Dorothy.
The moment we let go, we are released from what does not serve us
and we become useful, compassionate and resourceful role models for
everyone. We are able to carry
ourselves with attitudes that produce peace, harmony and laughter. This
is what Jesus and Paul were teaching long before Jesus' crucifixion and
long before the first Gospel of Mark was written. Some Christians might call this experience
being saved.
Another way to understand this transformation is what happens to
us once we have learned never
to allow the issues of this world to become
ghettos in our minds.
It is much better to be at peace
than to live with unhappy thoughts and negative emotional feelings
generated by issues that do not exist in any other world but this one.
CONGREGATIONAL PRAYER Loving God, thank you for creating us with the ability to experience
your guidance. Each time we turn to you during moments of uncertainty,
you help us to translate those times into possibilities.
When we feel life has forsaken us, you invite us not to judge or
cast blame.
When we try to
convince ourselves that life is not working, you invite us to make
different choices.
Sometimes our greatest freedom comes when we embrace change without
fear.
Guide us to
understand that new horizons appear when we are willing to let go of the
old ones that often imprisoned us.
Amen. THE PASTORAL PRAYER Loving and ever-present God, long ago a
Psalmist wrote, "And what of humankind that Thou, O God, should be
mindful of them?" And the same writer answered, "You made them a little
lower than the angels; you crowned them with glory and honor and made
them rulers over all things." How is it, O God, that often we come to
you with many requests for the very issues you have given us the power
to solve? We want peace in the world, yet we frequently hold
ill-thoughts about our neighbors. We need to experience forgiveness, yet
it remains a challenge to give away the very thing we want from you. We
come to you for help with one of life's dramas, as though we have
forgotten how to take risks and be creative when life presents us with
the unexpected. While we cannot know the outcome of
anything we experience, enable us to grow in trust and confidence that
our storyline is unfolding for a purpose that we may not understand. As
we live with that awareness, may each of us become a disciple who
represents your presence in all occasions, all circumstances and to all
people. We pray these thoughts through the
spirit of Jesus, the Christ, who taught us to say when we pray . . .
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