“Moving and Climbing”

Date:  September 27, 2009

Script:  Acts 16; 2 Kings 2:1, 6-12; Matthew 17:20b

Revd William F. Meier    ~   First United Methodist Church, Saint Cloud, Minnesota

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“I went to America to convert the Indians, but, oh, who shall convert me?  Who, what, is he that will deliver me from this evil heart of unbelief?  I have a fair summer religion.  I can talk well, nay, and believe myself, while no danger is near.  But let death look me in the face, and my spirit is troubled.  Nor can I say, ‘to die is gain.’”  —John Wesley

Those words are spoken by our own John Wesley as he reflected upon his faith (or lack thereof) after his failed missionary attempt in the American colony of Savanna, Georgia.  He wanted to go to the frontier and work with the Native Americans.  What he discovered was that he was ill-prepared for that task; the Anglos wanted him to do their bidding, and a romance that fell apart because (like all young American males) he had a fear of commitment. 

After his return he entered in his journal, “I have a fair summer religion” indicating that when things are going smoothly it is easy to believe in a loving God and feel centered, but when the midnights of our lives is upon us… failure, fear, heartbreak… what then?

What is this thing called faith?  Where does it come from?  How is it that sometimes we can feel it, live inside of it, live out of it, while other times it seems as distant as a dim star in the night sky, and as useful?

There are people who have faith for the tough times.  I think of Paul and Silas who went to Philippi and met a wealthy woman minister named Lydia.  Then they extended the gospel to an ex-slave girl and suddenly you have a church— a beautiful unity and diversity that is threatening to others.  Paul and Silas were arrested, imprisoned, and the Book of Acts tells us that at midnight they were praying and singing.  They had a faith to conquer their midnights…a trust that things would work out.  They based their hope in a future that was not yet, and operated out of that reality.

That is what faith is on one level: trust.  Otis Moss II claims that,

Faith is hoping for things that can’t be seen.  Faith means feeling the warmth of spring, even in Minnesota, on winter’s coldest night.  Faith means seeing the flower bloom before the seed is planted.  Faith is seeing the baby laugh and cry before the child is born.  Faith means to hear the bird sing before the egg is hatched.[1]

Midnight will come, Otis suggests, to us all.  Midnight will come… no matter your color, back account, age, address or religion…midnight will come to us all.  Do we have a faith to master our midnights?  What kind of faith is that?  Mountain moving faith.  Jesus said, “…if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there”, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.’” 

We need a kind of faith that will energize us against the seeming hopelessness of our struggle against evil and injustice.  Some mountains need to be moved; mountains of racism, poverty, cycles of abuse, injustice, hunger and environmental harm.  Mountains of greed, preventable disease and violence.  Some mountains need to be moved, and we need a faith to hold firm to the task.  Our church needs a faith to hold firm to this task amid our transition to a new location too.

Nelson Mandela’s autobiography tells of a faith to persevere.  He wrote most of it in jail and it was smuggled out of prison.  The authorities tried to destroy it, but other copies were made of it.  It was held in safety until he was released to complete it. 

The story he wrote tells that when he went into prison, they gave him short pants to wear (like a boy, not a man).  They issued him a class D (the lowest in prison).  Yet his faith sustained him in all those years.  There was never any doubt in his mind that he would be released.  When they offered him a conditional release (that he not speak or work), he refused.  He refused an escape offer too.  After 27 years he walked out of prison to be president of the country that imprisoned him.  He invited his jailers to the inauguration.  When asked, “Aren’t you bitter?” his reply was, “No, if I was, I would still be a prisoner.”  He mastered his midnight.  Mountains were moved… Apartheid gone.

Some mountains need to be moved.  Other mountains need to be climbed.  Faith is needed for both of these tasks.  Climbing mountains…If you want to be an engineer, you have to climb the mountain of calculus.  If you want to find peace and reconciliation, you have to climb the mountain of forgiveness, as Nelson Mandela did.

Our Church has already climbed some tremendous mountains.  In our 152 years, countless mountains have been overcome by faith and hard work…sacrifice and trust.  Just think of the mountains!— when we voted two years ago to pursue relocation, we had no money and no one on the horizon interested in buying a used church building…only hope in an unseen future!  That could have been a dark midnight hour for us, but faith helped us climb that mountain.

When we voted earlier this year to sell this property we had no idea of where we were going!  That takes faith my friends.  Faith and hope open doors.  We’ve seen those doors open, and open, and open (sometimes with surprises inside, twists and turns, but surprises that bring possibilities).  Together, we are climbing mountains.  But we are not doing this alone or under our own steam to be sure.  So, faith— where does it come from? 

The Prophet Elijah was worn out.  Fighting the enemies of God— moving mountains— had taken its toll on him to the point where he wanted to run away and hide in the mountain.  He did.  In the sound of “sheer silence” or the “still small voice” he was energized to push on.  Eventually he found it was time to be done and so he took his understudy, Elisha, across a river and passed his mantle and a double share of his spirit to him.  Then he was taken up in a chariot as of fire.  Elisha then carried on his work of moving mountains and climbing others— empowered by Elijah’s spirit, he continued.

Likewise, we find faith in those who have passed on the mantle, spirit, and faith to us; our parents, grandparents, our forbearers in this place, our teachers and faith-mentors, the great cloud of witnesses who encouraged us to trust God ourselves just enough to know it just might be true…just might work.

In addition, we find our faith enriched and empowered by the Elijah’s of our congregation’s life; a Methodist Church in what is known as “Pantown” merged with us years ago.  The First Methodist Church of Sauk Rapids also brought its energy, and our life together and faith were empowered.  Now we find the gracious spirit of the New Horizon’s congregation, (our Elijah), passing on more than a double share of its spirit by giving us such wonderful people to be part of our fellowship… and such resources to open new doors for is (and beyond)! 

Where does faith come from?  It is a mystery why some are given it and others seemingly not, and our own volition— willingness to trust and try faith is a part of it to be sure—but partly, faith is given in its passing from one spiritual generation to the next, one fellowship to the next, one mantle giving to the next. 

So we come to today where we will need to draw upon that faith once again.  Venturing forth to a new place, without knowing all that we would like to know, takes mountain climbing faith!  Yet, stepping out in faith constitutes one of the most thrilling moments of our lives.

"When you come to the edge of all the light you know, and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown,

Faith is knowing one of two things will happen:

There will be something solid to stand on

or you will be taught how to fly." —Barbara J. Winter 

John Wesley continued to wrestle with his faith, as we all do, but eventually he found a faith to sustain him in his midnights.  His journal entry for May 24, 1738:

“In the evening, I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to the Romans.  About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed.  I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

Faith to conquer our midnights, move mountains, climb others…  May we allow God to water the mustard seed within our congregation, empowered by the faith of others before us, to enter a new day.  Amen.