2014 08 31 Who Is Present, Holy Ground from John Knox Kirk on Vimeo.
A sermon preached at John Knox Kirk of Kansas City, Missouri, on August 31, 2014.
Romans 12: 9-18, 21
and Exodus 3:1-15
(Click above link for the Scripture texts upon which this sermon is based)
“What we have lost…”[i] Barbara Brown Taylor has written,
“…is a full sense of the power of God
to recruit people
who have made terrible choices;
to invade the most hopeless lives
and fill them with light;
to sneak up on people who are thinking about lunch,
and smack them up side the head with glory.”
Several years ago on a Sunday morning in a large downtown church,
as Tom Long tells the story,[ii]
the pastor had read the scripture lesson and was taking a deep breath
before launching into the sermon when suddenly a man, a stranger,
stood up in the balcony.
“I have a word from the Lord!” he shouted
down to the congregation below
the startled congregation.
Heads swiveled upward to see the source of this interruption.
What “word from the Lord” did this man bring?
No one will ever know…
…for ushers bounded like gazelles up to the balcony and,
before the man could say another word,
they had escorted him down the stairs and out of the building.
Strange, isn’t it?
Each Sunday, countless preachers in innumerable pulpits clear their throats,
and start to preach–at least implying—
–that we have a word from the Lord.
But nobody tenses as she begins to speak.
No heads swivel in alarm as he launches into the sermon.
No ushers suddenly leapt into action as I began here this morning…
…Instead, we crease our bulletins,
silently check our watches,
and settle in for the sermon.
What are we expecting?
A sermon? Yes.
A word from the Lord? Well…
///
Now, I’ve been in your seat,
and I’ve sat through some LONG and strange sermons.
[Please be kind to your pastor as you greet him after the service]
And I’ve been in worship services that have felt as lifeless, at least to me
as a Golden Girls rerun.
Your mileage may vary with that one.
Sorry if that’s your favorite show.
I’ve been in some theatrical type services that seem more apropos
for Broadway than church
And I’ve observed many a traditional choir, or praise band, or soloist
working way too hard to feel, to emote, like they are being genuine.
All of this is to say,
I’ve felt many worship services that don’t feel worshipful at all.
///
And then there’ve been the other times…
when the music has been EXACTLY what I needed
after a horrible week at work,
or that argument I had the day before,
or the news that my friend received at the doctor.
then there are the times when the prayers have enveloped me
centering my spirit and honing my heart
and tuning my soul to penitence and concern for others.
times when the sermon has been so right-on
that I almost bounce out of the sanctuary ready to
bear God’s love and light into the world.
*What are we expecting, when we enter a worshipful space
a sanctuary, or a chapel, or a room set apart with candles and chairs?
*What are we NEEDING, CRAVING when we come to worship the Lord our God?
*What are we hoping happens here, in this space, during this hour?
///
Its not one of our readings for the day,
but over the past couple of weeks I’ve been spending some time in the Psalms
as I’ve been thinking about these Ancient Stories of the Bible,
the stories in Genesis of God’s calling of a people
the God who will be KNOWN because of God’s
RELATIONSHIP with them
this God who is not just any God, no,
but the God of Abraham
and the God of Isaac, Abraham’s son
and the God of Jacob, Isaac’s son.
And now in Exodus, about how THAT God begins to move
in the life of Abraham’s descendants, the Hebrew people
to center THEIR life around a purpose.
I’ve been spending some time in the Psalms as part of my own practice
of listening for God, looking for God, seeking after God.
Yearning for Holy Ground.
This week I’ve landed on Psalm 27.
Here’s how Robert Alter[iii] has translated parts of this Psalm:
One thing do I ask of the Lord
it is this that I seek—
That I dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to behold the LORD’s sweetness
and to gaze on His palace.
For He hides me in His shelter
on the day of evil.
He conceals me in the recesses of His tent,
on a rock He raises me up.
And now my head rises
over my enemies around me:
Let me offer in His tent
sacrifices with joyous shouts.
Let me sing and hymn to the Lord.
Hear, O Lord, my voice when I call
and grant me grace and answer me.
Here, the Psalmist is yearning for Holy Ground, too.
Holy Ground: Some space, some place, some demarcated zone
where we can find and connect and BE with God.
Holy Ground: that space where God is. Presence.
That area where we feel loved, and protected from our enemies
however you understand that—
whether cancer, or bullies at school, or boredom
the location where we can be inspired
and can find meaning and purpose and hope!
Glory!
Holy Ground. The Psalmist yearns for it.
Where? in a TENT, of all places. A mobile piece of fabric and poles
set up hither and yon: that’s where God is to be found?
Well, the Psalmist might look at us asking the question,
here in our sanctuary, one place we might look for God,
with the same sort of incredulity.
Not all places are holy for everyone. We each are different.
What kind of Encounter with God do we expect to find?
And if the Encounter we EXPECT
isn’t the ENCOUNTER we get…was it worth it?
will we keep coming back?
I confess that’s a fascinating question to me.
On the one hand, there has to be enough HERE that is relevant to our lives
that is compatible with our sensibilities
that jives with our worldview
that we can actually experience God
that the story can speak to OUR lives in OUR place in OUR time.
///
This worship service, conducted in say…Dutch,
would be difficult for most of us,
I think.
Now, God could still move among us.
Certain elements might still grab us:
strange hymns maybe most of all
the beauty or the energy of the sermon or the prayers
the taste of the bread and juice on our lips…
But it could be jarring, and our tendency might be to turn off our vision
and not listen for God’s presence in such a space.
On the other hand, I believe that not everything that happens in church
should make us comfortable
should fit with our expectations
should be the way that we want it to be.
The Presbyterian Outlook published a piece last year,
where the author described what he called the 75 percent rule:[iv]
In our congregation we have something we call the 75% rule.
It goes like this:
When we gather together to worship on Sundays,
everyone should be [completely comfortable]
with no more than 75% of what is happening
during the worship service.
Why such a strange rule?
Because we realize that in our culturally diverse congregation,
if you … comfortable with more than 75%
of what is going on,
it most likely means that your personal … preferences
are being dominantly expressed.
So we’ve decided that no one cultural form
will be dominant and
everyone will be equally [uncomfortable] with the worship!
Now, I’ve sat with this idea for a while, and I’m not fully on board.
I don’t think such a precise system helps anyone, really
and I don’t think we ought to be in the business of intentionally being
uncomfortable just for its own sake.
But, I do think that thinking carefully about what makes worship meaningful
what it is we’re seeking, we’re expecting
and being open to NOT having THAT fully set yet
to having GOD find US, if you will
well…that opens our hearts and spirits
to GOD’s movement around us
in ways that might surprise us.
///
One problem, I think, is that we think that encountering God must be so strange
so bizarre
do disorienting
that we don’t really EXPECT to encounter God at all anyway.
Do we think that an encounter with God has to be
something like what Moses experienced?
God’s encounter with Moses was AMAZING, there’s no doubt:
a bush, ablaze and not consumed
and the voice of God striking fear in Moses
and an awareness that he was in the presence of Holy God.
And true: there are all sorts of these vivid images of encountering God in scripture:
visions of hot coals touching tongues
powerful storms and clouds surrounding the people on a mountain
a pillar of fire, the rush of a mighty wind.
I think this is why some theatrics really are exciting in certain forms of worship,
even if other elements that might tune us into God’s story are missing.
But if THAT’s our standard,
I’m afraid none of us will really EXPECT
to encounter God in our worship services. Or anywhere, really.
If you’ve noticed, there’s been no fire up here this morning.
I don’t have plans to set my robe ablaze
for you to get a feel for what Moses might have been thinking
that fateful day out with his flock.
The truth is: God encounters people all sorts of ways in Holy Scripture:
these dramatic, fiery demonstrations of God’s unique holiness
and the still small voice that can only be heard
in the sound of sheer silence.
God can be encountered anywhere, by anyone, at anytime.
So ask yourself: where do you encounter God?
how do you experience God? Where is your Holy Ground?
I once asked my friends on Twitter where they’ve encountered God:
at a Maclemore concert, one said…
on a beach, in moments of tranquility and rest
at a protest march
handing out cards of love and support at a PRIDE walk.
with my friend, at her nursing home.
And a few people replied back, too, that they deeply encountered God in WORSHIP:
In the friendship of the assembled community.
In the rhythm of the church season.
In the challenge of the gospel.
How is it that you encounter God?
///
So Moses is out tending his flocks,
and God seeks HIM out for some conversation, a talk, if you will
about his future, about God’s future
about responding to the hurt and the pain
and the suffering of his people.
God creates out of a MUNDANE moment…an everyday moment
Moses was at work, y’all,
God sets a bush to burn without burning it up
and, doing so, God sets Moses’ heart a fire.
Moses wasn’t seeking out a holy space. Not this time.
But he found one: it was the place where GOD was.
God told him to take note: take take take off your shoes, Moses
you’re standing on a holy ground.
And once he did, once he looked around and SAW that God was there
he could dream about the future, God’s future
and find himself in that story
with the God who will be who God will be. Glory!
I’m convinced that Holy Ground can happen anywhere.
For me, some of the holiest of spaces
have been around my dinner table, watching my kids do their homework
or in a sleeping bag, up on Kitchen Mesa in Ghost Ranch,
Abiquiu New Mexico,
or around a bedside, sitting with a family
during a beloved-ones’ final hours
or yes, in a sanctuary,
where I’ve been moved by the power and love of God.
///
As a child, I used to sit in the pews and wonder what all this was all about.
Why some moments were so … dull
and others were so moving.
I knew these stories of scripture that reminded me of the movies
but we never did any of that fun stuff at the churches I grew up in either.
It took me a while to see God at work.
I’ve told the story before,
but for me the first awareness was during communion,
when I approached down the center aisle of our church
to the table with the generous gifts of bread and cup
and when I closed my eyes as the community sang a song
and I thought about Jesus, and sacrifice
and selfless love,
and overflowing compassion
and my heart…soared.
Where do YOU experience God?
Sometimes I’ve sought it out. Sometimes its found me.
But Holy Ground can happen anywhere. If we’re open to God’s presence.
Even if its not exactly what we’re expecting it to be.
No burning bush, no theatrics required…
///
A friend shared this story this week:
Gracie became a Christian just a year and a half ago.
She grew up without a faith tradition,
found her way in to practicing Buddhism
and ended up at a pastor friend’s church
because she wanted community for her kids and she was curious.
After her first experience in worship, she said,
“We got to the part in the service when the minister says,
‘In Jesus Christ your sins are forgiven,’
and I thought to myself, ‘Can this really be true?
Can it really be true?’
I looked around and people didn’t seem to be have heard.
But this is the BEST news I have EVER heard.”
For Gracie: she found something unexpected. Holy Ground.
God’s Presence. God’s love.
///
One thing do I ask of the Lord
it is this that I seek—
That I dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to be hold the LORD’s sweetness
and to gaze on His palace.
Does everything here, in worship, have to sit with us comfortably?
Wow. I hope not.
The Gospel itself is a challenging thing.
It causes us to look into a mirror
and puts forth a vision of what human beings can be like
that is often hard to take:
praying for our enemies
confronting our own sins
speaking truth to power
subordinating my desires
so that someone weaker can be make stronger.
It asks us to get off our behinds and to act in deeds of love and justice.
It asks us to love, to LOVE, our neighbor. And to LOVE ourself.
And sometimes, both can be so so hard.
And if we sit here, only comforted by that…
no wonder we might not expect a Word from the Lord.
But….
If our hearts and our minds are open to it:
here is a chance to hear and be healed by that challenging word
here is an opportunity to experience God’s love and God’s mercy
and God’s quiet comfort.
here is a community that isn’t perfect
but that leans on God’s perfection as it strives to be loving
and compassionate
here … in the house of the Lord
is a place where God can be encountered
in ways that startle us out of complacency
and into new life.
Here, in this very room
God is here. With love, with challenge, with Grace.
So may we be ready for it. May we open our hearts for it.
May we hope for it. May we live for it. Amen.
———–
Image Credit: “Holy Ground” by Mike Moyers, used under his ministry use guidelines.
[i] Barbara Brown Taylor, “Miracle on the Beach”, Home By Another Way, Boston: Crowley, 1999, p. 38. Opening illustration endebted to a sermon by the Rev. Mark Ramsey, “Today” at First United Church of Oak Park, 25 January 2004.
[ii] Thomas G. Long, “This Has Been Fulfilled”, Logos Productions, First Quarter, 2004, p. 13
[iii] Robert Alter, The Book of Psalms: A Translation with Commentary, New York: Norton, 2007, p. 91-94.
[iv] Corey Widmer “The 75% Rule” http://pres-outlook.org/2013/06/the-75-rule/ accessed 7/7/13.
Leave a Reply