I received an email this week that ended with the statement, Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass… it’s about learning to dance in the rain!
I have had one of those weeks; a week full of thunder and lightening; full of driving winds, confusion, and pain. In the 10 years I have been a school psychologist, this week has been in the top three in terms of my sadness and frustration at the condition of a student I am trying to help.
I have felt a tremendous burden of responsibility; I have felt the pressure of expectations from teachers, special educators, mental health colleagues, and school administrators. I witnessed a disturbing depth of sadness while sitting with the sobbing mother of this boy.
By Friday afternoon all I wanted to do was escape. I wanted to sleep. I wanted the noise and confusion of the storm to go away.
But, even in such darkness and behind the thickest of vales, the most spectacular dance partner still beckoned me to fall into His arms and start moving with Him. And, in my pain, I began to dance. You should know that I still hurt this morning and I still feel the storm around me. It will be very heavy when I return to work tomorrow morning. But for now may I ask you to pick up your feet and dance with me? Even better, let’s dance a bit with God.
Let’s pray . . . May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to you O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.
This morning, I want to focus on the gospel passage in John and the implications for us as a community who seeks to find the will of God in a very stormy and troubling time. Believe me; I am well aware that we have a variety of challenges in a group a people this size. Nonetheless, I suspect it is very important for us to understand that the pain and challenges may not go away. But, like Jesus shows us with his example, our purpose will be revealed as we offer ourselves up as catalysis for change in troubled times.
If you have them, please open your Bible to John Chapter 2, verse 13.
“When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts he found men selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, "Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father's house into a market!"
His disciples remembered that it is written: "Zeal for your house will consume me." Then the Jews demanded of him, "What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?" Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."
The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" But the temple he had spoken of was his body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.”
In this passage, Jesus raises profound questions and offers radical revelations about who he is and about his ministry.
Imagine with me what this scene looked like. At this time, there were literally hundreds of thousands of people on pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover, the most sacred of all Jewish feasts. Jesus was one of those pilgrims. As I used my imagination, I pictured Jesus traveling among thousands and thousands of people. I wonder if he entered into conversations with complete strangers as he traveled. I wonder if he sensed excitement among the pilgrims. I also wonder if he overheard people talking about the trip out of a sense of duty.
Did these people know who was listening to them? Did they know who they were walking with? Can you imagine if they did? If they had, be assured that their journey to Jerusalem and the upcoming Passover feast would have taken on a different reality.
We know from the previous chapter that Jesus had just performed his first miracle. His earthly ministry had literally just begun at Cana in Galilee about 20 miles from Jerusalem. Verse 11 in Chapter 2 tells us that Jesus “Thus revealed his glory and his disciples put their faith in him.” Basically, his disciples just now understood that Jesus was the Messiah.
For Christ, I think the storm between his humanity and his divinity must have been raging. He was aware that something big was about to happen and that his 30 years of preparation were over.
A spiritual storm was raging in Jerusalem. It was a tempest involving a perversion of Temple worship and the religious system established by God. Specifically, what we know is that the outer courts, “The Court of the Gentiles” was being used more as a marketplace than for its intended design . . . That being the established place where Gentiles could come and worship the one True God.
Jesus probably saw this same scene in the outer court in previous visits to Jerusalem. But this year, he knows he must establish and move in His identity.
The passage begins with him seeing people selling livestock and exchanging money. The next thing we know, Christ is making a whip out of chords. In my minds eye I see him stooping down and binding the strips of rope. I see the veins in his hands pulsing with his effort. I can see sweat on His brow and sense his heart beating faster and faster. Christ knew that serious work was about to be done.
Somehow before time, and yet in that exact moment the Father, the Son, and the Spirit decided how they would get the attention of the masses. And so it began. Jesus started to drive them out. He did not just drive out some of merchants, some of the money changes, or some of the animals, verse 15 tells us that he drove “all from the Temple area.” Because of the size of the outer courts, there must literally have been a stampede. People were probably even injured in commotion. This was a movement of a massive scale not just a few sheep, or cattle, or people.
I read in a book last week that “the most dangerous place in the universe to be is in the center of God’s will”. You want to talk about danger. Jesus was one man among tens of thousands in the court that day. St. Chrysostom writes “but to place himself in such danger was very daring. It was no small thing to offer himself to the anger of so may market people or to excite against himself a most brutal mob of petty dealers by the disruption he caused. This was not the action of a pretender but one choosing to suffer everything for the order of the house.”
Church, when I speak about the heart of God or the center of His will, the words cozy and complacent do not fit. Remember that C.S. Lewis describes Christ as the Hound of Heaven. He is not a fluffy puppy dog. Aslan the lion, is not safe.
So why are so many in the Church complacent? Why are we so cozy? Could it be that we have an imperfect understanding of what ministry should be? Could we begin this morning to look at Christ’s action in a temple as a template for our own action . . .our individual call to enter into the danger and wonder of ministry.
One commentator writes, “Many Christians have experienced the upheaval that results when Jesus confronts elements of shallow religion in their lives. Out of love, Jesus will use extraordinary means to break through our hardness of heart so that we might realize our need and come to him for life.”
Listen . . . not moving, not dancing, not taking risks has implications beyond ourselves. The world needs to see Christians being Christians. Those who do not know Jesus Christ need to see us moving in the manner that we were created to move, in an intimate relationship with God. This will not be easy. For some it will take a massive reorientation.
In his commentary, Calvin asks “Why then does Jesus drive the buyers and sellers out of the temple? It is that he may bring back to its original purity the worship of God, which had been corrupted by the wickedness of man”.
Our Bishop, Bishop Bates says that the workings of the church are not just for some. He wishes that all Baptized believers be engaged in the ministry of the church. What Calvin and Bishop Bates are both saying is that part of the original purity of the worship of God means being involved. Part of a pure worship means making sacrifices.
C.S. Lewis writes, “If our expenditures on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc. is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and con not do because our charitable expenditure excludes them.”
Church, what if we stay put? What if we don’t give? What if settle in and wait for the storm to pass? What if we as a community leave most of the work to the few who get paid or the few who are ordained?
The font page article of the D& C this week gives us a glimpse not of what is in the horizon but what is already happening right here. The headline read: Number of people losing the faith rises” Essentially, it went on to explain that the number of individuals claiming they have no religion has increased from 8% in 1990 to 14% today.
I suspect that the longer we stay comfortable, the higher the percentage will be. If we sit back as spectators or settle in and warm the pews, if we engage at a level of service that is comfortable and manageable then the percentage of those who claim they have no religion will probably rise to 20% before the next decade passes.
What I am talking about is our individual mission, our purpose, the role each of us has in ministry. As we do this, as we realize the role each of us has in the ministry of the church, something magnificent will happen. People around us who are feeling the bite of their own tempests will see an authentic community of servants. They will see a collective movement toward Truth and purpose. This will be wonderful. But this will be dangerous too.
Remember my statement earlier about God’s will, that the most dangerous place to be in the universe is the center of His’ will. The same author who wrote that statement later wishes that the struggle he encounters, the dangerous places, will keep him and the church begging for God’s guidance.
Folks, listen to me, be assured that Jesus is indeed compassionate. He will always be gracious. But after today, I hope you never forget the story of the temple. There is also a wildness, an otherness, about him.
During a phone conversation with my mom on Thursday evening I was reminded of this. My mother is a grief and bereavement counselor for Hospice. And as we spoke she shared about her caseload for the coming Friday morning
First she would visit an11-year-old boy who lost his grandfather a month ago and his mother the very next day. Next she would visit a mother and two daughters who were managing the pain and loss resulting from a drunk driver that had killed the seven-year-old son and left the father fighting for his life in the ICU. My mom’s last visit that day was to10-year-old girl who found her mother hanging dead after suicide.
As I listened, I wondered why there are so many storms. Why is there so much pain? I offered to pray with her after she shared. Most of the prayer was silent. When I finished she was crying. She thanked me and said something I hope I never forget. She said she just wants to be a vessel of service. She said I don’t always know what to do, I just go. At these words, my soul began to sway and move to the music of the universe. God was close. He was very close. We were dancing.
I want to conclude with a story that came in another email this week.. You may have heard it before but I want you to listen within a context of you being in ministry and service for God’s church. I want you to listen within the context of your own personal storms. I want you to listen and see Jesus at work.
As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard.
Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X’s and then putting a big ‘F’ at the top of his papers.
At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child’s past records and she put Teddy’s off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise.
Teddy’s first grade teacher wrote, ‘Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners… He is a joy to be around..’
His second grade teacher wrote, ‘Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle.’
His third grade teacher wrote, ‘His mother’s death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn’t show much interest, and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren’t taken.’
Teddy’s fourth grade teacher wrote, ‘Teddy is withdrawn and doesn’t show much interest in school. He doesn’t have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class.’
By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy’s. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper that he got from a grocery bag. Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume. But she stifled the children’s laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, ‘Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to.’
After the children left, she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her ‘teacher’s pets..’
A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling her that she was the best teacher he ever had in his whole life.
Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in life.
Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he’d stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he had ever had in his whole life.
Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor’s degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer…. The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD.
The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. Moreover, she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together.
They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson’s ear, ‘Thank you Mrs. Thompson for believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference.’
Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, ‘Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn’t know how to teach until I met you.’
Church, I think Mrs. Thompson could have just as easily said, I did not know how minister until I met you. You created a storm Teddy, but now I see that my dance partner wanted me to come alive. He wished for me to take risks and see how worship and ministry are very close indeed.
Let’s pray: Almighty God, help us to be compelled to lean into your wildness and your otherness. Help us know that you are God and we are not. Help us see that our wills need to align with your will. I pray we focus less on comfort and security and more on the danger that puts us smack dab in the center of your will. Church, pick up your feet and dance. Be courageous in the storms and come alive in what you were created to be. You are vessels of service who are beckoned to just go even when you are not sure.
Amen.