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February 27, 2005
Discipleship Rocks
Exodus 17:1-13
Two scenes. Both involve the same people and their leader. One's a scene you'd as soon forget. The other's one you'd want to tell your kids about. Both indelible.
In the first scene people are tired, thirsty, frustrated, complaining openly and bitterly to their leader, about their leader. They've lost track of why their doing what they're doing. The wilderness their in, always harsh at best, has turned unbearable. Their leader, weary of their complaining, exasperated is ready to throw in the towel. Anger mounts. The people get what they want. Made Moses so mad he hit a rock so hard it cried. Things are never the same after that.
In the second scene three of their leaders are outlined against the horizon. The people are in the valley, locked in mortal struggle with an enemy that stands between them and the whole reason for their being. Among the three leaders, they look to one. The very one to whom and about whom they'd complained so bitterly. So long as he stands tall and erect, hands upraised, they do well; when he grows weary and shrinks in their sight they begin to lose the day, and their whole future. At journey's end, there's no choosing between them. No saying one happened and the other didn't. The character of people and leader have been forever stamped by both.
Our journeys stamp us. In the film "Deliverance" Four Atlanta business men decide to test their mettle in a wilderness weekend which turns into a frenzied retreat from horror. The canoe trip starts out peacefully enough. At the end of the first day, the set up camp and one of them shows off his outdoor prowess by shooting a trout with a fishing arrow. You learn later that night that another may not be the fearless man of the woods as he pretends to be as he moans in his sleep while having nightmares.
The drama increases the next day as two of them encounter two mountain men with sodomy on their minds. One of the four trekkers shoots one of the mountain men with an arrow, killing him, while the second man runs off into the forest. The canoe trip becomes a fight for survival. The four adventurers end up as three, having to bury one of their own in the river. The second mountain man who is stalking them is also killed and buried in the river. One of the weekend adventurers says what they all know in their hearts: "Oh, God. There's no end to it."
Journeys continue. Near Topeka are places where slaves escaping to points north made their way via the "underground railroad." This past Summer Judy and visited in Auburn, NY, the home of Harriett Tubman, inspirer of the "underground railroad." The simplicity of her home and the elegance of her commitment gave transparent testimony to her life. The journey begun by those who took the "underground railroad" continues. We're still resolving issues that made it necessary. It's a journey we'll continue on together.
When the Israelites' trip's done, when the people have finally made it into the promised land, and Moses doesn't make it with them, the memories abide. If one scene shows people who'd forgotten what they were about, and the other people strong enough to face down whatever stood between them and their destiny, both show clearly they had constantly to be reminded of God's purpose for the journey.
You're on the way to a new day in the ministry of your congregation. Before you know it, you'll be calling a new pastor. You'll have just begun breaking in the newly renovated Sanctuary and allied space when your new pastor comes on the scene. Probably more than few think that's when things will really begin anew.
You've already had a remarkable history. Many of the church's struggles and triumphs have been forgotten. The ones best remembered are those you've lived through yourselves. They've marked you. Memories of them will accompany you across the thresholds now before you. The key to the Israelite's future was remembering why they were on the journey.
I'm new here, so I really don't know except second-hand about your journey. But I wonder if these two scenes may bear pondering as you approach thresholds. How thirsty are you? What will satisfy that thirst? What will you do to get that thirst quenched? What stands between you and the destiny you believe God is calling you to?
When the Israelite's thirst became unbearable, they turned on their leader. The way it hit him, he thought they'd completely lost their faith, not only in his leadership, but in God's whole purpose for them in setting out on the journey. The way we handle things in the moment have to do with more than just the moment.
You have great hopes for when you move into your new Sanctuary. You're thirsting for that time. It's more than just new digs. It's everything that goes along with it. Your hopes for your church's future. What will you do if that thirst is not quenched when you want it to be?
Some of you imagine that lots of people will come be part of your church when all's said and done. Beautiful new Sanctuary; new pastor; new day. Will the thirst be so great, the pressure to have it quenched so strong, it'll cause the stones of your building to cry?
Moses had more than one "mountaintop experience." The big one, the one we remember most, is the time he went up on Mt. Sinai to get the Ten Commandments, the law that gave some dimension to the relationship of God with the people of God. Here he is again. This time with an Associate Pastor and the Clerk of Session, cheering on the Israelites doing battle with people who stand between them and their having the "promised land." So long as Moses holds his arms aloft, the Israelites do just fine; when he grows weary and his arms drop, the Israelites droop. The Associate and the Clerk spot the problem. They set Moses down on a nearby rock and hold his arms up. And, as the writer puts it in one translation, "Israel mowed Amalek down." We'll look into the violence of it all another time.
The question now: What stands between you and getting to where you believe God has called you to be? Wouldn't it be nice to have some clear-cut enemy you could go out to fight, and a pastor to cheer you on? Blaise Pascal, that astonishing French philosopher, mathematician and author of brilliant reflections on discipleship, once observed about the Israelites Exodus from Egypt, that they thought the Egyptians were their enemies. In the wilderness they learned that their enemies were their sins. Cartoonist Walt Kelly on a poster for Earth Day in 1970 pictures his favorite character, Pogo, with companion, Porky, standing in a trash-filled swamp: "We have met the enemy and He is us!"
For a while now, a lot of your focus has been inward: getting this renovation project underway and now completed. Add to that looking for a pastor. It's enough to make you turn inward. You're also on the way to being a church that is a "magnet for ministry." You'll need to look outward, beyond yourselves for that to happen. It's good to remember why your on this journey, anyway.
I doubt there's a family alive that have taken a vacation trip who are unfamiliar with the refrain: "Are we there yet?" One of my favorite cartoons shows an Arab dad and a couple of kids astride a camel making their way across the desert. The dad, doubtless with that familiar tone of exasperation, is turning, saying to the kids: "Stop asking if we're there yet. We're nomads for crying out loud."
Maybe I've told it before, but it bears repeating, something I remember writer Reynolds Price saying about stories. "There are only two kinds of stories: a stranger comes to town, or you're on a journey. The gospel intertwines those two kinds of stories. The one who has come into our midst, the very Lord, is strange indeed. And the Lord has set us on a journey. The new Sanctuary will be a wonderful oasis, and grand place to which to come, and from which to go in service of the Lord. The journey's more than getting to that. The journey's more than the stranger you'll be calling into your midst in the months ahead.
Why are you on the journey? On the way, we can let our thirsts get hold of us. We can cause a lot of hurt and damage. Maybe when you get moved in and your new pastor comes, some will be tempted to put the squeeze on. You may get what you want; but chances are things won't be the same after that.
Maybe when you get moved in and your new pastor comes, you'll be more about offering strength and encouragement. What's good for your church is good for your pastor, and vice-versa. You will succeed as your pastor succeeds. Holding up the arms of your pastors and other leaders is the way to help. On the way, we can uphold one another.
We know about two rocks of discipleship. One cried. The other was for encouragement and strength. Discipleship rocks.
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First Presbyterian
Church of Cedar Rapids
310 Fifth Street SE Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
Phone: 319-364-6148
E-mail: church@fpccr.org
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