Mountain Movers Mark 11:12 14; 20 24; October 21, 2018 By: Rev. Susan L. Genge (in partnership with God!)

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1 1 Mountain Movers Mark 11:12 14; 20 24; October 21, 2018 By: Rev. Susan L. Genge (in partnership with God!) Prayer: Almighty God: faith builder, miracle worker, life changer, we open our hearts to receive your encouraging words of hope and challenge today. Amen. Recently Glenn and I saw the movie First Man, which is playing in local theatres. It s the riveting story of NASA s space mission to land a man on the moon, focusing on American astronaut Neil Armstrong, his family and NASA friends. The movie explores the sacrifices and cost on Armstrong, his wife and children, and his NASA colleagues during one of history s most dangerous space missions. In promoting the American lunar expedition in the 1960s, former U.S. president John F. Kennedy said, We face an extraordinary challenge It may hold the key to our future on earth there is new knowledge to be gained But why some say, the moon? Why climb the highest mountain? We choose to go to the moon and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. And hard it was for Armstrong, who faced so many personal and professional mountains in life. When his and his wife Janet s two year old daughter Karen died at age two from an incurable form of cancer, he was devastated by her death. He felt powerless, and wept an ocean of tears in grief at their loss of this beautiful, innocent child. But Neil and Janet Armstrong forged ahead. Neil became fully engaged in his pursuit of becoming a NASA astronaut. He faced one mountain after another. While being tested as an operator in a high speed, revolving rocket simulator, he passed out from dizziness. When test piloting an airborne, prototype, moonlanding vehicle, he lost control and had to do an emergency parachute ejection. The multi million dollar vehicle crashed and burned up. Armstrong hit the ground hard and was dragged and injured by his wind swept parachute.

2 2 Then, a few years later, when training as an astronaut, he felt shocked and saddened by the deaths of three of his colleagues when their rocket exploded upon take off. It happened again a short time later. While another three astronaut friends were securely strapped and locked in a rocket awaiting takeoff, they were killed by an electrical fire in their cockpit. This was all taking an enormous toll on Armstong s marriage. His homemaker wife felt like a single parent. Raising their boys on her own much of the time was very hard. And she and the children grew increasingly frightened that if Neil was ever selected for a space mission, he might meet the same fate as his some of his colleagues. We all face mountains of difficulty in our lives. Marital strain, losses of many kinds, disagreements with family members, co workers and friends can cause upset. Economic worries grow as the bills mount up, and on the job frustrations or lack of adequate employment induce stress. Health concerns cause sleeplessness, and many other concerns can seem like insurmountable obstacles to peace and harmony in our lives. We need encouragement and hope. And Jesus provides it. Just five days before his death, as he and his disciples were about to re enter Jerusalem, Jesus told them, Have faith in God. I assure you that if you say to this mountain, May God lift you up and throw you into the sea, and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will happen, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. Those are remarkable words! And spoken so close to the time when Jesus would face the cross! We wonder what Jesus disciples thought about those words, especially when mere days later Jesus was betrayed, arrested, tried, convicted and crucified. Understandably, they might have had some difficulty believing Jesus words at the time of his death. But after his resurrection, when they beheld Jesus in risen form before their own eyes, they realized the truth of Jesus words.

3 3 They remembered that he had foretold that he would suffer and be killed, and then rise again three days later. And now the miracle had happened. He had risen from the dead, just as he said he would. which shows us that sometimes we just need to hold onto the truth of Jesus words even though we can t see how they can possibly come true. We need to pray, trust and wait patiently. We should not expect an instant answer. Sometimes, in wisdom and love, God delays. When we hand over control to God and allow God to help us move our mountains, we need to place our trust in God s timing. God is good, and is always working things out for our best, and for others best too. In August Glenn and I faced a mountain in a literal sense when we did a three day hike with a group in the snow capped Andes Mountains in Peru. It was a two hour bus drive up winding mountain roads just to reach the beginning of the Lares Trek at 2,800 metres (9,186 feet). At the start of the trek, strong mules and llamas were loaded with our tents, food and duffel bags, while we began the hike outfitted in warm, winter clothing with our daypacks and water bottles. Day 1 wasn t difficult because we had trained for this. It was just a nine kilometre gradual mountain ascent, and we could easily carry on conversation with the other hikers. But it was cold and the thin air caused us to stop periodically to catch our breath. Why did we do this, you might ask?...to experience the beautiful scenery. We saw llamas and sheep grazing on the mountain slopes, a huge glacier, and mighty waterfalls of cold, mountain rivers rushing down the slopes. We crossed through wide green valleys and marvelled at the high mountain walls towering over us on both sides. We met mountain villagers along the way, and children walking up the trails from their valley schools. At night we slept at an elevation of 3,600 metres (11,811 feet). In our thin nylon tents we slept fully dressed, bundled up and hunkering down in our sleeping bags.

4 4 When we emerged from our tents early the next morning, there was frost on our tent and the ground. Day 2 was very tough, and truly, we had no idea how difficult the trek would be. It was a steep, six hour hike to the mountain summit, from 6 a.m. noon, with another six hours of hiking after that, a total of nineteen kilometres, before we reached camp for the night. The well experienced guide knew what we were in for and he had a pack horse come behind us to carry anyone s day pack if it became too burdensome. The scenery continued to be stunning, as we passed one mountain lake after another and watched cattle grazing on the slopes. The trek was so difficult, the air so thin, that no one engaged in conversation on the hike up. Parts of the trail were snow covered and demanded more careful attention as we walked. We had to stop every sixty steps or so, to catch our breath. Our hearts were pounding. We kept wondering how far we were from the summit, but it was nowhere in sight. One by one, people surrendered their day packs and cameras to the back of the pack horse. It lumbered along behind us under the weight of its growing load. Some hikers in our group were facing altitude sickness in the form of headaches and nausea. We were each lost in our own private thoughts, like, I m facing this enormous mountain voluntarily? We ran out of drinking water and began thinking about taking the risk of filling our water bottles from the mountain rivers, but the guide discouraged us because of possible river contamination. He surrendered his two Power Ade beverages to two of us, to help us rehydrate. When you re cold, thirsty and breathless, and you can t see the end in sight, you begin to think about your options. Should I just turn around and call it quits and go back down? I wonder if I can get any cell phone activity up here? Where s the nearest cell tower? Can I call for an emergency helicopter to come and air lift us off this mountain?

5 5 That s the way we feel sometimes, isn t it, when the mountain we are facing in life seems insurmountable. Just get me out of here as quickly as possible. I m done. I m ready to call it quits. But we didn t call it quits. Jesus words come to mind, Have faith in God. I assure you that if you say to this mountain, May God lift you up and throw you into the sea, and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will happen, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. There must have been a lot of faith, belief and praying going on as the twelve of us and that pack horse trekked up the mountain, because every single one of us made it to the summit. And what did we encounter up there at the peak? a tapestry of Jesus Christ, with his arms outstretched in welcome. What a heart warming, affirming sight! It was a wonderful visual reminder that we never face our mountains of difficulty alone. The risen Christ is with us! He, who faced mountain after mountain of difficulty throughout his life and ministry, understands how tough the mountains are which we face. He walks beside us up and down every steep slope, guiding us past the dangerous cliffs, sometimes taking us by the hand to steady us, always whispering the words of hope in our ears, Don t give up! Don t turn back! I am with you! You can do this! And it s so good to know that when we are facing those mountains of difficulty in our lives, we don t have to face them without human assistance. God provides us with many caring people who help us move our mountains family members and friends, clergy people, therapists and other health practitioners, sometimes even perfect strangers. We re all in this human struggle together. So we team up, we lean upon one another, and we share the load.

6 6 That s what astronaut Neil Armstrong did. He was selected to command the first mission to the moon, and he wasn t alone on the journey. He had two astronaut colleagues on his team to share the load. And God bless her, he had his wife Janet praying for him and his mission back on earth. She stood by him through it all and watched Neil and Buzz Aldrin become the first human beings to step foot on the moon. Upon Armstrong s return to earth he was quarantined for observation behind a glass wall for a time. There s a very touching scene at the end of the First Man movie, when Neil and his wife Janet first set eyes on each other after his return to earth, although separated by that pane of glass. They reach out and place their hands together against the glass. They gaze expressively into each other s eyes, and their eyes seem to be saying, We have faced these mountains together, and together we have moved them. And we will do so again. We will never give up on each other. Friends in Christ, we are all mountain movers! Inspired by the words and life example of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, let us continue to pray to God with believing hearts. God will enable us to move any mountain of difficulty by the grace and strength of the Holy Spirit. Amen.