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Sunday, January 24, 2010
The Road
Part 2 - How Will You Get There?
By Rev. Jerry Herships
Mark 16:20
20And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.
We are in week two of a four part series called, The Road. This week we are going to look at what you need to get to where you’re going. What are the things that make the trip worthwhile?
We see in our scripture today that the disciples took a trip as well. Actually they took many trips to just about the four corners of the earth. According to third century historian, Eusebius, Peter sailed to Italy, John ended up in Asia, James traveled as far as Spain and even doubting Thomas went all the way to India.
This passage is at the very end of the book of Mark, the first gospel written. Many scholars believe that Mark’s Gospel ends at 16:18 while others believe that the last two verses were lost and might be reconstructed from elements in the endings of Matthew and Luke. Regardless, for me it is the order of the words that are interesting and I will look at that later. Let’s get back on the road.
I think a big piece of figuring out your Road is trying to decide what kind of trip you are going on. When you figure that out, you will figure out what the best things are to take with you.
When it comes to any trip, we have to figure out what kind of vehicle we are going to use to get us there. You might be a live fast, die young sort of person. You might be a Porsche person. These type of people love to live life to the fullest. The challenging piece is the “die young” part. My Aunt in Las Vegas had a picture in her house of an old gnarly cowboy. The caption read, “If I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.” I think that speaks to a lot of us.
There are also a number of us who “take the safe road.” These are the Volvo people, always taking the safe route. This is a fine route until you find yourself on the autobahn of life and you are not prepared because you are driving a ’74 Pinto.
The Porsche driver can run into the reverse problem. He, or she, wants to open it up, has the horsepower to do so, but has been put on the road of 25mph, children playing, minivan driving suburbia. This is commonly referred to as the midlife crisis.
There are other cars as well; the comfort of a Mercedes, the excitement of a Jeep, the good times of the Mini Cooper. It doesn’t matter which car you’re in. You just need to know, for your own sanity, don’t go off roading in a Volvo! Don’t jump behind the wheel of a Jeep and expect the comfort of a Mercedes. The truth is…all these cars know who they are. Their companies spend millions branding them.
So the question is what brand are you? Who are you? You might find yourself starting out in one car and end up in something totally different when you get to the end of the road. Knowing who you are is important. Author e.e. cummings said, and I’ve quoted this before, “To be nobody but yourself, in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you just like everyone, means to fight the greatest battle there is to fight, and to never stop fighting.”
Once you know the wheel you are behind, you have to figure out how to keep it running. What kind of fuel are you going to put in it? When and how are you going to do maintenance? I see three main things that can help keep you running: Prayer, Worship and Service.
First prayer. Prayer is at the cornerstone of keeping your life running smoothly. It doesn’t have to be fancy. Author Anne Lamott says she has two prayers that get her through most things. They are “Help me, Help me, Help me and Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.” In some way, dialogue with God, however you believe God to be. It is amazing how it can help. At St. Andrew we say we don’t know how prayer works…but we know prayer works.
The second piece is Worship. Find some way to gather together with other people and be in a worship community. Can you be a Christian without it? Absolutely. Would I recommend it? No. Life is hard enough. Why would you want to go through it alone?
The last piece is Service. Not a worship service, but acts of service. I am preaching to the choir on this one. Most people who come to AfterHours know that this is the core of who we are. This is the Core of our identity. Go out into the world and find your passion. When Mother Teresa was asked how people could serve like she did, she said, “Go find your Calcutta.” We all need to find that thing that makes us Sad, Mad or Glad. Then go do it.
So we have a way to get down the road, we have the fuel to get us moving, now the question becomes, how do we get from point A to point B without having some idea of where we are going. Without a guide, we are going to get lost. I have been lost many times in my life. I am starting to feel like I am headed in the right direction but I know part of being able to get there is the compass I have with me.
These days, that compass is the Bible. Now I think I know what some of you are thinking, “ah jeez, not the Bible.” I felt the same way for a long time. Still feel that way sometimes. But nowhere in my life can I say that the more I got to know something, the less useful it became. 90% of that has happened in the last 5-7 years. It really is an amazing book.
I will also tell you that we don’t see the Bible as a book that is factually true. As Marcus Borg tells us in his book, The Heart of Christianity, “the Bible is true, and some of it actually happened.” For me the key to seeing the bible is to see the truths that are in it that are deeper than factual data. It is a GUIDE BOOK. It is a wild ride full of adventure and excitement (okay not Leviticus but otherwise). It is a book that speaks about the relationship of God and people. People like you and me.
The final canonization (a fancy church way of saying “making it official”) of the 27 books of the New Testament wasn’t completed until 367 AD…THREE CENTURIES AFTER THE FIRST GOSPEL was written! THREE CENTURIES AFTER MARK! Having said that, it is not a book you look to for the facts. It is a book you look to for the things you lack! (I think that rhymes, Laura doesn’t.)
Go get a good version of the Bible. We have talked here about the fact that we use the NSRV or New Revised Standard Version. The Message is good because it is in modern language but is not a direct translation. Get something and start to explore it.
Finally, the compass isn’t the only way we know where we are going. When I was about Hudson’s age, my dad and I went to Mount Rushmore. He thought it would be good to have an educational vacation. On the way out there we started seeing signs. THIS WAY TO WALL DRUG….WHERE IN THE HECK IS WALL DRUG….WALL DRUG OR BUST. We not only didn’t care about Wall Drug when we started out….we had never even heard of it. I have since learned that we were some of the few. Metro riders in Paris have seen the signs. Rail commuters in Kenya and bus passengers in London have seen them. In their heyday, there were 3,000 highway signs. You couldn’t miss them.
Roads signs aren’t always like that. They are useful if you keep your eyes open. They can be very useful getting you where you want to go if you are looking for them.
God’s signs are like that as well. You have to keep your eyes open. You have to stay alert. They are not Wall Drug signs. God’s signs are like road signs in another way….you can’t see them from your living room. You have to get on the road and start the adventure. It is like that in the scripture we read today. Mark Batterson points this out in his book Wild Goose Chase. He says signs follow decisions and I think I agree. The scripture says, 20And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following.
We have to get moving down the road and then the signs start to appear. For years I thought it was the other way around. I thought, “I’ll do something as soon as God gives me a sign.” Nope. God will follow you and show you are on the right track….but first you need to set foot on the track!
Get on the road, any road, at whatever speed you are comfortable going. Use the right fuel and have the right compass to show you the way. Then keep your eyes open and look for the signs. Mark tells us…signs will be following….then we are to follow the signs. In the next couple of weeks we will we will be taking a look at what we will pack for the trip and what we are going to leave behind.