CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD (09/18/16) Scripture Lesson: Mark 4: Thessalonians 5:12-22

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1 Scripture Lesson: Mark 4: Thessalonians 5:12-22 CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD (09/18/16) Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise the words of prophets, but test everything; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil. (1 Th. 5:16-22) There is a problem with our September church newsletter. Not everything that is printed in it is accurate. After giving this matter a lot of thought, I have concluded that the information that Cheryl transmits through the newsletter can be no better than the information she receives. A few weeks ago as I sent Cheryl information about the Sunday morning Bible study group and the Tuesday afternoon spiritual exploration reading group, I must have had a senior moment. I told Cheryl (and, by extension, you) that we hadn t decided what we would be reading in these groups. In fact, we had at our last meeting in early June. I just forgot. Or perhaps I really didn t forget. Perhaps deep down I wanted us to read something else. Although I claim to be a strong proponent of the democratic process, deep down I may have more than marginal dictatorial propensities. Perhaps I would like you to decide what we read, but I would like your preference to coincide with mine. But this isn t the time to engage in a psychological analysis of your pastor. It is a time to set the matter straight. Last year in our Tuesday afternoon group we read and discussed the bestseller When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, a provocative study of death from the perspective of a neurosurgeon s struggle with his own mortality. At our last meeting we decided to read and discuss another New York Times bestseller--being Mortal by Atul Gawande. This is a book about the medicalization of aging and death, the treating of a normal, natural process of life as a clinical problem. If you are old, or if you are getting old, or if you plan to get old at some time in your life, I think you will find this book enlightening and extremely helpful. In our Sunday morning Bible study we decided to read Neal Donald Walsch s account of his own spiritual journey entitled Conversations With God. The book begins by asking the following: Suppose you could ask God the most puzzling questions about existence questions about love and faith, life and death, good and evil. Suppose God provided clear, understandable 1

2 answers. Walsch maintains that this happened to him. He quite unexpectedly found himself able to enter into a conversation with God. This book is the record of those conversations. I have not yet read this book, though it has come highly recommended by one of our parishioners. I do confess, however, that I am skeptical of people who claim to have received a special revelation from God. I doubt that many of these conversations took place or that it was actually God who was speaking to the author. My caution arises from the fact that many of these special revelations have resulted in the establishment of religious cults that bring immense wealth to the founder while they lead naïve followers down a dangerous path. And yet, the more I think about it, the experience of highly sensitive individuals who receive a revelation from God, who suddenly, unexpectedly, unaccountably find themselves talking with God or who hear God talking with them is the basis of almost all organized religion. The ancient prophets had this experience. The apostle Paul had this experience on the road to Damascus. Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, and Christian mystics throughout the ages have had this kind of experience. I believe that we, too, can have this kind of experience. So I am going to try to be open to this book, and I encourage you to join us as we read and discuss it. One last word (no, this will probably not be my last word) we Christians have a special way to evaluate the legitimacy of a reported religious experience or theophany. We have Jesus. Bottom line if the reported conversation or teaching is not congruent with my understanding of what Jesus taught, I am not interested. If it is not compatible with what we know of Jesus, our encounters with Jesus in prayer, and our relationship with Jesus, I am not interested. At our study group this morning we began by reading a short spiritual tract as an introduction to our theme of conversations with God. The spiritual practice of Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection has been particularly helpful to me in my own spiritual life. In the seventeenth century, Brother Lawrence, a Carmelite monk, developed a spiritual discipline that he called The Practice of the Presence of God. Though he was not an educated man, Brother Lawrence became a spiritual giant solely through the practice of this spiritual discipline. The practice is actually quite simple. It is something each of us can do. Brother Lawrence encouraged us to be in constant conversation with God or Jesus. He maintained that this is really the only spiritual discipline and the only type of prayer that we need to practice. 2

3 The heart of our Christian faith is not what we believe about God and Jesus. Faith is more of a relationship than a belief system. Our faith journey as Christians is the process of deepening our relationship with God through Christ. It begins with our awareness of God s presence within us. Our conversation with this spiritual center, this presence, shapes and deepens our soul. As we open our heart and our mind to God, as we both talk with God and listen, we allow God to create us. Then, through us, God creates a new world. Ann Landers, the newspaper counselor, was once asked if there was one problem that predominated in the thousands of letters she received every week. Without hesitation, she replied that the one problem that stands out above all others is the problem of fear. Ann Landers said that many people are afraid. They are afraid of losing their health. They are afraid of losing their wealth. They are afraid of losing their loved ones through divorce or death. They are afraid of change, even when their present situation is intolerable. Many people in our youth-oriented culture are afraid to grow old. They are afraid of the physical and mental afflictions that can accompany old age. They are afraid of death. They are afraid that at the moment of death, when they look back over their life, they will see to their horror that it has been wasted. Many people are afraid of life, of the storms of life, the storms from without and also from within that each of us will experience. It seems to me that people who suffer from this kind of fear, this kind of generalized anxiety, are facing life without being conscious of the loving presence and guidance of that God who dwells within. They are facing life without Christ. I find it interesting that many of the people who suffer from anxiety claim that they are Christian and may even be listed as members of a church. I wonder how many of them talk with Jesus in their daily life. I suspect that most of them do not practice this spiritual discipline. The gospel lesson this morning, the account of Jesus calming the storm, is included with only minor variations in all three synoptic gospels. This indicates that it was an important part of the oral tradition that had been passed down from the disciples to the three churches out of which the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke were written. If the calming of the storm happened literally, it would demonstrate that Jesus had a certain degree of power over nature. The disciples were amazed that even the wind and the rain 3

4 obey him. This protective aspect of God s love would be especially comforting to people who lived in a time and a land that were especially vulnerable to the forces of nature. However, the scripture passage could also be read as metaphor, as a story that contains a powerful message for us both psychologically and spiritually. If we read this passage of scripture as metaphor, it suggests that in our journey through life we will encounter unexpected storms, storms that threaten to capsize our little boat. This is what happened to the disciples. They felt overwhelmed by forces beyond their control. Their fear was exacerbated by their belief that they had to go through this trial alone. Jesus was in the boat with the disciples, but it took them a while to remember this. It was as if he were asleep. Perhaps the disciples were the ones who were asleep in that they were not conscious of his presence. This is why they were filled with fear. The disciples reacted just as many of us would do in such a situation. They panicked. They despaired. Then the disciples remembered something. They remembered that Jesus was very near to them. If only they could awaken him, the storm would subside. They talked to him. He awoke, and they once again experienced the calm of those whose lives are centered in God. I don t know if Jesus literally stilled a storm on the lake. He could very well have done this. As my father used to say when we would discuss a passage of scripture like this, if there was one person in the history of civilization that could have stilled the storm or walked on water, it would have been Jesus. Jesus may or may not have stilled an actual storm. However, I don t have a lot of evidence that God goes out of his way to manipulate nature, to make life safer or easier for us. I don t have a lot of evidence that God sent Jesus into the world to remove or eliminate obstacles. I believe that God in Christ is there to comfort us, to guide us, to strengthen our faith that we might not only carry our burdens, but that they might shape our soul. I believe Jesus presence calmed the inner storm, the inner fear that overwhelmed his disciples. During the stormy times of our life, and there will be stormy times, we need to remember that Jesus is with us in our little boat. All we need to do is awaken him. Perhaps it is more accurate to say that we need to awaken to him, that we need to become conscious of his presence. How do we do this? We do this by talking with him in our worship service and in our daily life. When we do this, we become conscious of his presence both with and within us. 4

5 Brother Lawrence tells us how we can do this. All we need to do is practice the presence of God. We begin by opening ourselves to Christ s presence within us. Then we can talk with him and listen to him. Whether we picture this spiritual presence as God or as Jesus, what is important is that we talk to him and that we listen. This is the deepest kind of prayer. And it is this to which the apostle Paul calls us when he tells us to pray without ceasing. As we do this in our worship and in our spiritual devotions, we strengthen our awareness of our Lord s presence and our ability to draw comfort and guidance from him in those times when we are buffeted by the inner and outer storms of life. F. W. Boreham, the Christian missionary, tells about an incident that occurred during the early days of his ministry in Australia. He went to call on one of his elderly parishioners. Entering the room where the old man lay, he noticed a chair pulled up beside the man s bed. I see that I am not your first visitor today, said Boreham. The man told him that he was. Boreham then asked about the chair. The man explained that when he was a small boy he had difficulty praying. His pastor suggested that he place an empty chair next to him when he prayed and pretend that Jesus was sitting in that chair like an attentive friend. The old man said it worked for him as a child, and that he had maintained the practice ever since. Boreham stayed for a while, prayed with his parishioner, and then left. A few days later, the man s daughter came to tell him her father had died. I was out of the room only for a short time, said the daughter. When I returned, he was gone. There was no change in him, except I noticed that his hand was resting on the empty chair. When the storms of life arise, put your hand in Jesus hand. Talk to him. Listen to him. Let him calm the storms of your life, or at least give you the strength and courage to bear them. When you do this, you are practicing the deepest kind of prayer a conversation with God. This is what we will be exploring in our Sunday morning Bible study and also in our Sunday worship throughout the coming year. A sermon preached by the Reverend Paul D. Sanderson The First Community Church of Southborough September 18,