patrick h wrisley

Sermon:        Lessons from the Wilderness – We Must Overcome Our Inability to
Adapt
Scripture:     Joshua 5.9-12
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Date:             March 31, 2019

            Turn in your Bible to Joshua 5.9-12.  It is a text about crucial transitions in the life of the community. At first blush, the text comes across as very benign and it might even raise the question on our part as to why the lectionary even includes this reading in the Season of Lent. It doesn’t seem very Lentonish. Let me provide the context of our reading.

Moses has spent an entire generation, forty long years, cat-herding the Hebrews through the wilderness.  The Hebrews were feeling the pain of their Egyptian task masters and God spoke to Moses from the burning bush to tell of his plans.  This loosely affiliated group of ragamuffins were being forged into a people who leaned on and worshipped the One true God.  Listen to the Word of the Lord!

Joshua 5: 9-12

⁹ The Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt.” And so that place is called Gilgalto this day.

¹⁰ While the Israelites were camped in Gilgal they kept the Passover in the evening on the fourteenth day of the month in the plains of Jericho. ¹¹ On the day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain. ¹² The manna ceased on the day they ate the produce of the land, and the Israelites no longer had manna; they ate the crops of the land of Canaan that year.[1]

Why is our text included in the lectionary readings for this Sunday in Lent? It’s because it describes the story of starting over.  It’s a story for taking what the people have learned in the wilderness and applying those learnings into a new way of life and being in community. So, what has changed for the Hebrews?

First, Moses is dead, and they have a new leader named Joshua. For an entire generation this one man served as God’s leader in the peoples’ midst. Moses has had an entire generation to prove the metal of his relationship with God and that of the various Hebrew tribes. It was a relationship forged out of the blood, sweat and tears of their mutual life together in the wilderness.  Now a new leader was lifted up for the people named Joshua.  Moses and Joshua were the same in that they were chosen by God to lead the people.  Moses and Joshua were different, however, in the way they led their people. They had different sets of gifts and graces to draw upon to lead the people in the way they should go.

Second, they have shifted their way of life. They are no longer nomads who wander in the desert. For an entire generation the people have wandered about the wilderness moving from place to place wherever the resources were abundant enough to support the entire group. It’s not a very settled life. But something has changed. Now that they have crossed the river and have taken possession of the land, they are no longer nomads drifting from place to place; on the contrary, they are settlers. Nomads and settlers have very different ways of living and behaving. They have moved from being nomads to agrarians or farmers; their provision has adjusted from having God give them Manna to eat every morning to learning how to become farmers who grow their own sustainable source of food in their new home. Their way of life has shifted; their culture changed.

Third, we see a very subtle change for the people. It’s what they are called.  We almost miss this if we are not careful. They are no longer called Hebrews but now are called Israelites. No longer are they a loose group of wandering tribes and clans being led by Moses; on the contrary, their forty-year journey has forged them into a unified nation who follow the same leader and God.  No longer vagabonds, they are now a nation whose people have shared ties, experiences and stories with each other. They have become the nation of Israel and God is their King! Once they were slaves and nobodies; now they are the nation of Israel.

Friends, our Story today shows us how a community’s life and transitions shape their identity. When a community shares certain experiences together, they are forged into a tighter community because of those shared experiences. It’s a Story that reminds us that change is inevitable and transitions in life occur and if we don’t adapt to those changes and transitions, the community will not grow but will slip into a slide of slow death through the swirling whirlpool of stale status quo. Changes in circumstances, environment, leadership, membership in the community shapes who and what that community becomes in the future.

I wonder if there were people who crossed the Jordan River with Joshua to attain the Promised Land who grumbled about it. They were tired and liked being nomads; they did not want to learn how to do new things and express themselves in new ways.  They complained about having to get wet in the water as they crossed.  Their new type of life would require them to draw upon new insights and skills they hadn’t had before, and it was going to be hard to learn how to adapt.  They grumbled to Joshua, “Moses never did it that way; why do you want to go shake things up?”

Beloved, our text today is perfect for our wilderness preparation in that it reminds you and me, this group of people called First Pres, that change is real and is not a bad thing.  It reminds us that change and adaption occur, not because the old way was bad and the new way is good; rather, it’s because the circumstances and environment demands new ways of doing things. The wilderness challenge is that it confronts us with the fact we don’t like to change and find it much easier and simpler to remain as we are and not venture to what God is calling us to be. Part of our struggle as Christians is that we don’t like to change and resist it, sometimes violently. Lent is a time for us to identify those ‘sacred cows’ in our relationship with the Church that we need to butcher and let go of so we can become a new people. What has worked for this church in the past may not necessarily work for us now.  What we took for granted in the past, all that manna from God, is gone and we have to learn to fend for ourselves with the resources we have.  What worked as a nomad will not work as a settler. Friends, Broward County and metropolitan Fort Lauderdale is not the same as it was15 to 30 years ago. The ministry we did in the Beninger, Neumann and Cromey years may not be the same as it is will be in the Wrisley, Merchant and Masten years. Why? Is it because our way is ‘better?’ No! It’s because this church is in a new missional country and land that we are being asked to claim for the Kingdom of God today. What made sense as nomads no longer works for settlers.

Beloved, this year First Pres has a new leadership team of Wrisley, Merchant and Masten (sounds like a law firm!) that God has called to walk with you as together we come and claim this mission field for Christ. As we move into this new missional field and reality, it will require all of us to adapt to a new way of life and doing things. It means leaving some old ways of doing things and tools behind that will not serve us well in the new land God is giving us. It means discovering our new identity as a community of faith and as a people of God known as First Pres.

This past Thursday at our Session meeting, the elders agreed to begin the process of looking at our identity as a church. We are no longer Hebrews wandering about; we are what exactly in this new era? Your elders are committing to go on a spiritual advance in April to get away and begin this process of discernment. Your lay leadership realizes our missional country has changed and so we need to retreat for a few days of praying, planning, and discerning where and what we are to do and where we are to go. It’s an exciting time!

But it requires your prayers.

It requires your ability to say no to old ways and being able to say yes to new ideas and methods.

It requires all of us to get wet as we cross the river.

It will require some of you to step up into called leadership as elders and deacons when the call is put out.

It requires us to relinquish our sacred cows in the church and as Bill Esaum says, make them into gourmet spiritual hamburgers! Amen.

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder
First Presbyterian Church
401 SE 15^thAvenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 3330

© 2019 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida and may not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission.   All rights reserved.

[1]New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Sermon Series: Wilderness – It’s Not a Good Thing to Assume What God is Doing
Scripture: Luke 13.1-9
Preacher: Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location: First Presbyterian Church Fort Lauderdale
Date: March 24, 2019

Turn in your Bible to Luke 13. We are going to read a Story that only appears in Luke’s Gospel. It addresses an issue that has a fancy .50 cent name to it; the word for the day is theodicy. As you listen, you will note two stories and a parable. Listen and see how they go together! Hear the Word of the Lord!

Luke 13:1-9

13.1 At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 4Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”
6Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ 8He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

Several years ago there was a popular book written by Rabbi Harold Kushner that dealt with the issues of bad things that seemingly happen to good people. Its title was often misquoted which was a problem because if you change the title of the book, the focus of the book changes entirely. People referred to the book by the title, “Why Bad Things Happen to Good People.” It’s not a bad title and it would be an interesting book to read, however, it was not the title of the famous Rebbe’s book. The book is actually called, “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” Can you hear the difference in the questions each title asks?

On one hand, if you ask, “Why bad things happen to good people,” you will get mired in the questions of, “Why did this happen to me? Why would God allow this to happen to them? Why, if there is a loving God, would people have to endure the pain of treatment for their disease?” Why questions force you to ponder and think. Why questions have the tendency to place the one asking the questions in a defensive posture with regard to the one who can answer the question. Asking why is speculative.

On the other hand, if you approach the issues of evil and misfortune, not so much with a question but with a statement of certainty, your answers change. When you and I remove the speculation that bad things will happen to seemingly good people, we move from raising our fist at God and begin to walk alongside God in order to discover the meaning in the mess. You see, it’s not a question if bad things will happen to good people; it’s a question of when they will.

For the longest time Christ-followers have had this Pollyannaish attitude that once you start following Jesus, life is going to be all peaches and cream. Your kids will be smarter and better looking, your business will be successful, you’re naturally liked and loved by all those you meet, and your health is stellar. This is the challenge many Prosperity Gospel preachers proclaim; they say that if you love Jesus, live a good life and pay your tithe to the church, then you will be materially blessed as proof that God loves you. Frankly, this is what Jesus was dealing with in the first century in our Story as well.

First century Judaism had its own form of prosperity gospel of sorts. People during Jesus’ day believed that if you lived a good life, followed the Law, treated people fairly, paid your religious dues, and was a good member of the Jewish community then God would physically or materially bless you. However, if you sinned, then God would punish you and give you destitution and a bleeding ulcer or some other ailment. One’s moral conduct was equated with how smooth your life was sailing. If life is going well, I’m in God’s favor; if life really is stinking to high heaven, then God is punishing me. This leads back to the speculative question of “Why bad things happen to good people.” The problem is, Jesus is not having or buying any of that nonsense. He is telling his disciples to move from speculative questions to making declarative statements. He is asking the people to move from asking “why” to declaring that life is difficult and is hard at times!

People were scrambling to ask, “Jesus, you’re from Galilee. You heard about those Galileans that Pontus Pilate had killed and mixed their blood in Roman sacrifices…do you think they were worse sinners than others?”

Jesus didn’t take the bait. He replies, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.” And then Jesus ups the ante. Jesus tells them, “Let me do you one better: What about those people here in Jerusalem who died when the tower of Siloam fell on them? Were they worse offenders of the Law and sinners than all the rest of the people in Jerusalem?” Once again, Jesus answers the question himself. “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will perish as they did.”

In other words, bad stuff happens to seemingly good and decent people. It’s the world we live in and it has been that way since our first parents broke relationship with God back in Genesis. Then Jesus shares a Story.

Once upon a time, a man went out into his vineyard looking for some fruit to eat. Sadly, he did not find any. He did find the caretaker and told them, “Look here, for three years I have been coming out looking for something to eat on this fig tree and for three years it has produced nothing! Cut the thing down as it’s wasting both the soil its planted in and the water that is poured upon it.” The caretaker replied, “How about this: let’s leave it alone one more year. What I will do is to work in fertilizer all around the tree and make sure it is getting enough water. Let’s see if it can still bear figs. If not, we will cut the thing down.”

This is an interesting rebuttal Jesus gives the people. They ask a deep theological question about why there is evil in the world and whether its tied to their behavior and he talks about something else entirely. The people want to talk about “Why bad things happen to good people” and Jesus shifts direction. He does not want to talk about speculative questions; rather, Jesus tells a parable about how one day, each and every one of us will have to one day deal with the “When” question of when we die, when the tower falls on those we know, when we get a horrible diagnosis, when we get the call no parent ever wants to receive…

Beloved, Jesus is asking us to move from meaningless speculation as to why and urges us to prepare for the inevitable when misfortune comes or our time on this planet is over. You see, when we prepare for the when, we attain what the Bible calls, Peace. Have you ever heard of the Latin phrase, “Memento Mori”? It’s a saying that means, “Remember, one day you will die.” This is Jesus’ way of telling you and me, Memento Mori. Jesus is reminding us that we can ask God all the speculative questions we want but unless we turn back around (the meaning of the word, repent) and embrace the relationship God wants with us, then our lives immediately lose their meaning and we live the rest of our days bitter at best and lonely and isolated at worst; we will die emotionally and spiritually alone.

Our culture does not like the word ‘repent.’ It sounds so, so churchey and for us Presbyterians, it sounds just a little too baptisty for us. But here it is right smack in the middle of our Lenten wilderness journey in today’s text. Jesus is calling for an end of our speculative questions to God as to why and instead make a declarative change in our life by turning back around to God through repentance. You see, another way to understand repentance is to think of it as falling back into the arms of someone who loves your dearly. When you fall into their arms, the questions melt away and you just want to be lovingly held by your beloved.

In the act of repentance, in the act of falling back into the outstretched arms of God, we will see life’s pains, mishaps, and tragedies for what they are: sad but expected actions of life in our fallen, created realm. The difference, however, is we no longer see God as some Divine Killjoy or a mean heavenly Judge; we no longer see events in our life as bad karma and payback to us for not being good enough. No, we begin to understand that what we have experienced happens to the upright ones as well as to the broken ones. The lesson is not so much “Why did God let this happen to me?” as it is where is God with me in all of this pain, disease, and ill-fortune? The promise is that if we use this season of Lent and preparation to repent, i.e. turn back around and falling into the loving arms of God, we will experience that God is not “out there somewhere” but is actually embracing us even now. God is right here.

So as we close, humor me a moment; repeat after me: Bad things happen to good people like me…And it stinks!

Now say: I repent and fall into the waiting arms of God. Amen.

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder
First Presbyterian Church
401 SE 15th Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
patrickw@firstpres.cc

© 2019 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida and may not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission. All rights reserved.

Sermon:        Series #1: Lessons from the Wilderness: What are the lessons we are to
learn?
Scripture:     Luke 4: 1-13
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church Fort Lauderdale
Date:             March 10, 2019, The First Sunday in Lent, Year C

It has taken three chapters for Luke to build up to today’s launching of Jesus.  All the birth narratives are behind us as is Jesus’ baptism and family genealogy.  The first three chapters have duly announced the coming Messiah and now in Chapter 4, he is launched.

Our text comes from Luke 4: 1-13 and is often referred to as “the temptations of Jesus”.  Jesus is returning from the relatively lush Jordan river valley and as he heads up the long dirt path, the Spirit of Baptism compels Jesus to go bushwhacking; in other words, the Spirit has Jesus leave the obvious road and head off into the wilderness.  The wilderness in Judea is not like the lush wilderness of the Appalachian Mountains; think instead of the timeless Black Hills of South Dakota. Think of the red, rocky Martian landscapes the Curiosity Rover sends back of the Red Planet.  We are talking remove, rough, wild and exposed.  This is where the Spirit leads Jesus.  Listen to the Word of the Lord from Luke 4: 1-13:

Luke 4: 1-13

^4.1Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, ²where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. ³The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” ⁴Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’” ⁵Then the devilled him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶And the devilsaid to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. ⁷If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” ⁸Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God,  and serve only him.’” ⁹Then the devil ^c] took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ ¹¹and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,  so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’” ¹²Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ¹³When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.[1]

            Jesus’ ‘first act’ of Messiah was to take his spiritual LSAT and Bar Exam; i.e., he had to pass the Jewish law exam.  If he was going to inaugurate a new kingdom, he had to demonstrate to his Heavenly Father that he was up to the task.  Jesus was confronted with the same evil in the world you and I have to face each and every day; yet the stakes were much higher for the Messiah.  The late Catholic priest/author, Henri Nouwen spoke about these temptations in his thoughtful book entitled, In the Name of Jesus:  Reflections on Christian Leadership[2]. Nouwen believes that Jesus was given three tests to determine the mettle of his spiritual depth. 

By turning stones into loaves of bread was the temptation be become relevant.

By forsaking God to rule the world was the temptation to have power.

By throwing himself off the Temple’s pinnacle was fighting the temptation to be spectacular.  Nouwen is absolutely correct in that leaders have to fend off those temptations to be relevant, to be powerful, and to be spectacular.  The reality is, as Luke’s story continues to unfold in the Luke-Acts narratives, we will see Jesus confront earthly leaders who have succumbed to the exact temptations he overcame in our story today.  Whether Roman officials or members of the religious and social leadership of Jesus’ day, each of them failed – from Pilate to Caiaphas – and fell victim to the temptations to be relevant, powerful, and spectacular.  It was imperative for Jesus to get this right before he began to do and execute God’s work in earnest.  It was vital that Jesus follow the path to and through the wilderness as his ancestors did.  The wilderness exposes you and your weaknesses.  The wilderness pushes you to reach down into yourself and find the true essence of who you are.  The wilderness is the place you and I get to road-test our faith in very real ways.

Wilderness has always been important in the lives of God’s people. Ironically, it’s often in the most god-forsaken places and times the resplendent light of God shines most brightly!

It was wandering in the wilderness Abraham and Sarah were given the promise of a great nation.

It was in the isolated wilderness Jacob wrestled with God and saw angels descend and ascent to and from heaven.

It was only after the Hebrews left the safety of what they knew in Egypt and entered the inhospitable environment of the desert did they learn about God, learn about sin and waywardness, and learn about trust and obedience.  It was in their wilderness time their character as the people of God was formed and expressed.  It was in the hardship of wilderness where they received the beautiful Torah of God, the Law of God.  It was in the wilderness they were uniquely shaped as God’s chosen people.  This is why Jesus had to go to the wilderness.  God shapes his people, his children, in the wilderness!  It was the time Jesus could demonstrate his fealty to God.  It was the time he could prove he wasn’t on some Messianic power trip. It was a time he demonstrated that he completely trusted God would do what God promised.

Friends, this past Wednesday, we began the season of Lent – the forty-day spiritual gymnasium whereby we, just like Jesus, head into the wilderness and determine how spiritually “fit” we are.  We are invited to walk into the wilderness and risk becoming exposed to the elements at best, and the fears and temptations of evil at worst.  Lent is the time we become vulnerable to God and let it all hang out with what we struggle to believe in.  Spiritual wilderness, beloved, is barren but it doesn’t have to be scary.  Remember, Jesus did not go into the spiritual wilderness alone as he was lovingly led by the Holy Spirit.  The evil one may trick us into thinking we are abandoned by God and left all alone, but let’s remember our story:  The Spirit led Jesus there and didn’t abandon him.  What a wonderful reminder for each of us!  The very wild, remote wilderness is the place God journeys into with us!

Poet/Mystic, Thomas Merton once wrote, “The desert becomes a paradise when it is accepted as a desert.  The desert can never be anything more than a desert if we are trying to escape. But,” Merton says, “once we fully accept it in union with the passion of Christ, it becomes a paradise.”[3]    In other words, my friends, even in the midst of our spiritual deserts and wilderness experiences, the embryo of God’s Spirit and presence is there!

For those of you who don’t know, I suffer from chemical depression induced by PTSD.  I personally know what emotional, spiritual deserts and wildernesses feel like.  I also know that the wilderness is the best University of the Holy Spirit there is to matriculate in as well.  You see, in the depth of my pain in my emotional, spiritual wasteland, at the place I felt most abandoned by God, the Spirit revealed to me something beautiful.  It taught me that in the midst of my darkness and gloom, I was actually being given a gift. You see, I learned form the Spirit in my desert that in my deepest pain, I could feel the very tears of God that God felt when Jesus was tried, beaten and killed.  Feeling the tears of God in the midst of pain, my desert had been transformed into paradise – the place of Eden where God dwells.

My sweet church, let the Spirit lead you into the wilderness where you spiritual roots can be stressed and yet strengthened.  The wilderness has as lot to teach us, bestow upon us, share with us if we accept the wilderness for what it is:  A place to walk with God.  A place to affirm what Jesus himself affirmed:  Jesus affirmed that God will meet my particular needs.  In the wilderness, Jesus affirmed there is no God but One – the Lord Most Holy.  In the wilderness, Jesus demonstrated that we don’t have to test God but to simply be aware of the Most High’s companionship on the path that feels like it’s leading to the Valley of Shadow and Death.

Are you willing to head off the routine way and be led into the wilderness this Lent and learn, discover more about God and yourself than you have before? Then come on! You’re not going alone!

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder
First Presbyterian Church
401 SE 15th Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
patrickw@firstpres.cc

© 2019 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale Florida and may not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission.   All rights reserved.

[1]The New Revised Standard Version.

[2]Please see availability on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Name-Jesus-Reflections-Christian-Leadership/dp/0824512596/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=In+the+Name+of+Jesus%3A+Reflections+on+Christian+Leadership&qid=1552417411&s=gateway&sr=8-1

[3]This quote was written in a notebook.  I cannot attest from which of Merton’s works this came from to accurately cite it.

Sermon:        Now is the acceptable time!
Scripture:     2 Corinthians 5.20-6.10
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL
Date:             March 6, 2019, Ash Wednesday

 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:1

²⁰ So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. ²¹ For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

^6.1 As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. ² For the prophet says (Isaiah 49:8):

“At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
and on a day of salvation I have helped you.”

See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! ³ We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, ⁴ but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, ⁵ beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; ⁶ by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, ⁷ truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; ⁸ in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; ⁹ as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see—we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; ¹⁰ as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.[1]

This evening commemorates each of our willingness to step into a forty-day spiritual gymnasium.  Ash Wednesday as the beginning of Lent is the time we publicly commit to saying ‘no’ to ourselves and shout a declarative ‘yes’ to God. It’s a time when we enter the spiritual gymnasium to reclaim discipline, to exercise spiritual muscles we have let atrophy through neglect, and to reorient our lives to the grace-full, salvific acts of Jesus Christ.

I personally hate the gym. I know that when I leave my body will ache and hurt. I’ll be all sweaty and tired and I know that even after I shower, my heart will still be racing and shall continue to cause me to sweat in this south Florida humidity. The next day I will awake and be rudely reminded how the total knee replacement I had four years ago didn’t take and I will have to pop a few Advil and get on with the day. There’s a cost to being healthy, whether it’s physically healthy, emotionally healthy, or even spiritually healthy.  The benefits of health are directly related to the cost invested in gaining those benefits.

But a spiritual gym?  I thought we Christians were governed by God’s grace in Jesus and all?  Hasn’t Jesus done all the work for our sins and salvation already? Why must I do any hard work?  This feels, well…all too “Catholic” to me! What gives with this forty-day spiritual gymnasium?

Well, let me give you some good news!  First, the Season of Lent actually has 46 days in it and we only do our spiritual gym work on 40 of them!  That’s right! Sundays are considered our rest day from the gym because it’s the Lord’s Day and what do we do on the Lord’s Day? We celebrate the Lord!  Second, the other piece of good news is that what we do in our spiritual gymnasium has no bearing on our salvation and wholeness in God. Our wholeness and salvation is a result of God’s graceful work in Jesus Christ; there’s nothing we can do or not do to earn our merit and favor with God when it comes to eternal things. God pursues us first.

So, then why do we enter the Lenten gymnasium in the first place?  Because it’s a time we show our passion for God and pursue him.  As we follow Jesus’ steps through Palestine and Judea, as he climbs the hill of Golgotha, Lent is our chance to run and meet him there.  Lent is our time to walk along with him and like Simon of Cyrene, we get to carry his cross for a little while.  Do we have to carry the cross of his? If we love him we will want to do it. We want to follow in his steps through the glad places and through the shadowy darkness. Lent is our time we tell Jesus, “I choose to follow you and will go wherever you go!”

Sadly, we are not equipped to do it.  We need to go to the gym.  We have to learn again the stress of stretching our little minds so they can be filled with God’s gracious, large and sometimes uncomfortable and challenging thoughts and ways. We have to learn the discipline of saying “yes” to new ways of living and “no” to ways of living that suck the life out of us. Lent is the gymnasium where we build up endurance for those times when life gets hard or mean; it’s a time we cultivate patience as we will have to wait and see at Easter whether there was any overall effect to our spiritual growth during Lent. Lent is the time we push ourselves to be more like Jesus.  But even here is a challenge:

Our human tendency is to acknowledge the need before us to hit the gym but then we tell ourselves, “I’ll start tomorrow. I’ll wait for a more opportune time to begin.”

We want to train on our terms and conditions.  We want to do it when it’s convenient.  Problem is, there’s no good time to start training because it will always be a challenge and stress us.  So, Paul says, “Church, get on it with it.”  He says in our scripture this evening that now is the acceptable time. “Church, now is the day of your salvation!”  In other words, it means we have to move it and get active.  Use it or lose it. Why? Because it’s what Jesus did for you and me and this whole crazy cosmos!  We are to follow in Jesus’ steps.

When we follow in Jesus’ steps, we show him we love him.  When we follow in Jesus’ steps, we are able, like Paul to build endurance, suffer afflictions, hardships and calamities; we are able to endure beatings, imprisonments, discrimination, riots, sleepless night and hunger.  Following in Jesus’ steps makes us pure and distinct from the world; it gives us knowledge, patience, kindness, and holiness of spirit. It’s only in the spiritual gymnasium of Lent we can learn how to intentionally, inconveniently willfully love those around us – even those we find hard to love.  Beloved, it’s only in the forty-day school of Lent we can truly encounter and experience the power of God and help make others rich in the faith that is ours in Christ Jesus.

When is the acceptable time?  Now is the acceptable time.  Let’s join together in committing ourselves to follow in Jesus’ footsteps these next forty days so that when Easter morning arrives, we will know that we know that we know he truly lives!  And all of God’s people said, Amen!

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder
First Presbyterian Church
401 SE 15^thAvenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301

© 2019 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida and may not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission.  All rights reserved.

[1]New Revised Standard Version (NRSV). New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Sermon:        What do people see when they peek under your veil?
Scripture:     Exodus 34:29-35 (The MSG)
Preacher:      Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Location:      First Presbyterian Church Fort Lauderdale
Date:             March 3, 2019, Transfiguration Sunday, Communion

This morning we are picking up in the Moses Story when Moses is getting the stone copies of the Ten Commandments for the second time.  If you remember, Moses has climbed the mountain once already to receive the Commandments of God but as it took him a lengthy amount of time, the Hebrews at the base of the mountain got a bit antsy. They made a false idol of a giant golden calf and worshipped it.  When Moses came down the mountain, he became disgusted at what he saw and threw the tablets to the ground smashing them.  He has since gone back up to be with God on the Holy Mountain and God once again speaks to him face to face and gives another set of commandments for the people in the valley below. This is where we pick up in the Story.

Exodus 34:29-35 (The MSG)

^29-30 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying the two Tablets of The Testimony, he didn’t know that the skin of his face glowed because he had been speaking with God. Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, saw his radiant face, and held back, afraid to get close to him.

^31-32 Moses called out to them. Aaron and the leaders in the community came back and Moses talked with them. Later all the Israelites came up to him and he passed on the commands, everything that God had told him on Mount Sinai.

^33-35 When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face, but when he went into the presence of God to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. When he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they would see Moses’ face, its skin glowing, and then he would again put the veil on his face until he went back in to speak with God.

I love what John Wesley once said about this passage, “Moses carried his credentials in his very countenance.”[1]In other words, Moses demonstrated he was God’s leader because his very face glowed the glory of God to all who looked at him! Moses grew to become what he loved and spent his time doing: He enjoyed his time in the Presence of God and as a result, he became a reflection of the Divine. There is an axiomatic relationship between time, proximity, and outcomes.

You see, the amount of time we invest in the close proximity of people, things, or ideas produce behaviors and ideology that reflect what we have been spending our time and proximity with in the first place.

Parents, how often have you told your child growing up, “I’d rather you not play with little so-in-so because he or she do not hang out with the best of friends.” Why do we tell our young people this?  Because as wiser adults we have learned to meaning of the old saying, “Birds of a feather, flock together.”

The deal is this, beloved: We become the company we keep. Moses, as imperfect as he was, kept personal company with God and it literally beamed from his very face and presence.  Moses could not be in the presence of God without being changed from the inside out. Close proximity to God changed Moses without Moses even being aware of it. Moses comes down off the mountain and his very face glowed the glory of being in God’s presence.  Moses was not aware of that until he encountered others in the community who could experience it themselves. It’s a wonderful reminder that the benefit of our being in the presence of God is not so much for ourselves as it is to radiate that divine grace and glory to someone else.  Others benefit from our being in God’s presence and we personally may not even be aware of that what we reflect and its impact on those around us.

We in the Presbyterian tradition love our Scottish heritage and our men get to dress up in skirts, i.e. kilts, as often as we can!  I love wearing my kilt!  Everything is so light and breezy! One of the questions I always thought was interesting was getting asked, “So, Preacher, what are you wearing under that kilt?” So, I simply lifted it up and showed them! People in my former town knew that I wore black shorts under my kilt because I would wear my kilt while riding my Harley through town to get to church! In Moses’ case, people would want to take a peek up under his veil and see what was going on with him.

Taking a peek under Moses’ veil would show the face of a man who took time to spend in relationship with God.  The reason his faced beamed was because a person cannot consistently be in the proximity and presence of God without being transformed by God’s glory. What does that mean?

The word glory is the very splendor of God that thrusts itself outward and onto others. It means to bestow riches, blessings, and honor to another person so much so, that the other cannot bear the weight of the blessing itself; it’s too much to hold and carry!  When Moses spent time in the presence of God’s glory, the proximity of that glory physically, materially, dare I say molecularly? impacted Moses.  It changed him and how others experienced him.  When Moses came down off the mountain that second time, there was no doubt Moses was God’s guy and leader.

Michelangelo has a famous sculpture of Moses that depicts Moses with two horns coming out of his head. The Hebrew word for “glowed” or “shone” means to have beams of light emanate from the face; an early scriptural translator described them as horns which Michelangelo artistically used to portray the glory shining from Moses’ face.

Think for a moment with me: Have you ever met someone or have been in the presence of someone where you know that you are in the presence of the Holy?  It’s not their personal holiness you experience but the holiness of God as a result of this person spending time in close proximity with God. It’s a presence, as Thomas Currie writes, whose “beauty disconcerts the other. This glory silences our religious chatter and render us blinking and confused in its light.”[2]  It’s very much what Peter, James and John experienced on the mountain of transfiguration with Jesus isn’t it?  They were overwhelmed by the very presence of Jesus whose countenance shone like the sun and they immediately began talking silly ideas of a building project.

Maybe it was an old grandmother or grandfather you had who spent time on their knees at the bedside in prayer for you.  You get around them and you knew that there was something different about them.

Maybe it’s a colleague at your office that you know that you can go see in the midst of a swirly mess of a day and know she will bring an other-worldly peacefulness to you and you just know it’s going to be okay.

Maybe it’s someone from church with whom you feel the safety, freedom and conviction to be totally and solely your true self with them because they love you deeply from God’s wellspring and love you for who you are.

Let’s burrow a little deeper.  Let’s personally reflect upon what others in your faith, work, school or social community see when they peek under your veil or mine? Does the spiritual tenor of our lives even require us to even wear a vail because we have been in the presence of God and have soaked up the Lord’s glory?

The glow of God’s glory that others see in us can only come if we spend time alone with God. We may not feel as though we are glowing the glory of God but others will see it in us regardless.  But are we even displaying the radiance of God to the world as Moses did with the Hebrews?

Friends, as we come to the Table today and dine with Christ and saints of God, we are being asked to contemplate how often are we spending time with the Lord in devotion, scripture reading and prayer? You see, it’s not about how pious you or I act; our devotion, scripture reading and time in prayer is for our quality of relationship with the Lord God. Do we value God enough to spend devoted time with him face to face? Are we allowing ourselves to sit in the presence of God’s glory for the benefit of others around us as they glean the warmth of the rays of hope and resurrection only you and I can provide?

Come, beloved, to the Table of Glory and Grace. Come, be fed by the hand of the Christ himself the very bread of heaven which is His body. As we eat this bread and drink from the cup, let us be fed and nourished so that as we leave this place, we, like Wesley said, will carry Jesus’ credentials into the world through our very countenance. And all of God’s people said, Amen.

Patrick H. Wrisley, D.Min.
Senior Pastor & Teaching Elder
First Presbyterian Church
401 SE 15th Avenue
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33301
patrickw@firstpres.cc

© 2019 Patrick H. Wrisley. Sermon manuscripts are available for the edification of members and friends of First Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale Florida and may not be altered, re-purposed, published or preached without permission.   All rights reserved.

[1]See John Wesley, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/wesley/notes.ii.iii.xxxv.ii.html. Accessed 2/27/19.

[2]Thomas W. Currie, Feasting on the Word: Year C, Volume 1: Advent Through the Transfiguration.