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In the mid 80’s I was a part of the Academy for Spiritual Formation, a two-year intensive experience of prayer and community. Once every three months I would drive 11 hours from Ohio to Alabama. When I went the first time I did not know anyone. I so wanted this experience, to seek God and healing for my inner heart. But when it came time to actually say goodbye to my family and get in the car and head south, I found myself not wanting to go. My children were preschoolers and I loved the way they would run into my arms for a hug, how we would gather for bedtime prayers, and how we would build backyard playground equipment and tree forts. My 15-year-old daughter, Lauren, told me last week that the only memory she has of our life in Ohio is of a zip line I built for them. Being in Alabama was a very good experience for me, but I missed my family. I would even make audiotapes of the kids playing just so I could listen to them while I was away. Do you ever have similar feelings when you are apart from those you love? There is a necessary tension between being together and being alone that is important for our spiritual growth. It applies to our families. It applies to our relationship with God. Jesus often responded to his need to be alone with God by hiking up a mountain. Do you have "mountains" in your life…places you go to retreat and be with God? Maybe you are in a stage in your life when you’ve got more alone time than you can handle right now. But most people are in a very busy stage of life. Children are involved in all kinds of activities: school, sports, projects, church. Parents feel the obligation and privilege to support them in activities that help them grow up to be intelligent, responsible, and caring people. So where is there time to be alone with God? I’ll be honest and say that there are times when I do not want to be alone with God. To retreat to a place where I no longer have the distractions of family, TV, email, phone can be a frightening place. Jesus experienced glory on the mountaintop, but what would I encounter? There is a kind of stripping away of all that gives us comfort that can occur when we are alone with ourselves and with God. We are stripped of our pretenses, the many ways we pretend to be Christian, the false images we have of ourselves. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you? Do you know about your false selves? One of my false selves was that of super Dad. When the kids were very young I can remember being with the kids and hearing Kim’s car return. Instinctively, I would flip off the TV and grab a kid. When she walked through the door I wanted her to see me with a child in my arms. I didn’t want her to see me watching TV with no kids around! What lengths do you go in order to maintain one of your false images? A man was looking for a job and he noticed that there was an opening at the local zoo. He inquired about the job and discovered that the zoo had a very unusual position that they wanted to fill. Apparently their gorilla had died, and until they could get a new one, they needed someone to dress up in a gorilla suit and act like a gorilla for a few days. He was to just sit, eat and sleep. His identity would be kept a secret of course. Thanks to a very fine gorilla suit, no one would be the wiser. The zoo offered good pay for this job, so the man decided to do it. He tried on the suit and sure enough, he looked just like a gorilla. They led him to the cage; he took a position at the back of the cage and pretended to sleep. But after a while, he got tired of sitting so he walked around a little bit, jumped up and down and tried a few gorilla noises. The people who were watching him seemed to really like that. When he would move or jump around, they would clap and cheer and throw him peanuts. And the man loved peanuts. So he jumped around some more and tried climbing a tree. That seemed to really get the crowd excited. They threw more peanuts. Playing to the crowd, he grabbed a vine and swung from one side of the cage to the other. The people loved it and threw more peanuts. "Wow, this is great", he thought. He continued to swing on the vine, getting higher and higher -- and then all of a sudden, the vine broke! He swung up and out of the cage, landing in the lion's cage that was next door. He panicked. There was a huge lion not twenty feet away, and it looked very hungry. So the man in the gorilla suit started jumping up and down, screaming and yelling, "Help, help! Get me out of here! I'm not really a gorilla! I'm a man in a gorilla suit! Heeellp!" The lion quickly pounced on the man, held him down and said, "Will you SHUT UP! You're going to get both of us fired!" Sooner or later we all get found out. Sooner or later we all blow our cover. It is only a matter of time before who we are and what we really are becomes obvious to everyone. Any attempt to conceal our true nature will eventually be futile. In some stressful, off-guarded moment, who and what we are will surface. There is no point in pretending. Lent is a time to look at the costumes we hide behind. We can see with spiritual eyes the "costumes" we put on every day with our friends, family, and co-workers. The beauty of this process is that we learn that God loves us without our costumes, without our masks. We don’t have to pretend. We don’t have to play games. We can be real and God will still love us. That is what grace and transformation is all about. Jesus experienced transfiguration on the mountain. You and I can experience transformation, which is a life of joy and peace and fulfillment. But we must admit there is an element of fear in being real, in seeking an experience of glory with God. Look at Peter’s response to this awesome moment on the mountain. Peter has just experienced one of the most profound visions of his life. Moses and Elijah are right there in front of him talking with Jesus! Jesus’ clothes are glowing with a heavenly color Peter has never seen before. So what does Peter do? He wants to do something! "Hey, let’s build three little buildings for you guys." Poor Peter! Luke writes that Peter "did not know what he said." Have you ever been in a situation so emotionally or spiritually powerful that you didn’t know what to do? But you felt the need to "do" something? But often what you did came across as awkward or out of place? Death is one of those events where we often don’t know what to say. A story is told of a man who went to a funeral home to pay his respects to a family whose father had died. At the close of their brief conversation the wife said to him, "Thank you very much for coming." Without thinking the man said, "You’re welcome. The pleasure was all mine." Why is it that when faced with a new or different or uncomfortable situation, we are tempted to speak or do something? Why can’t we just be silent? Why do we try and fix things? During a high speed boat race there was an accident. One of the boats flipped over and the driver was propelled deeply into the water. At first his reaction was to swim as fast as possible to the surface. But he was disoriented. Which way was up? Then it occurred to him. Be still. Don’t do anything. And in that moment of stillness he was aware of a new direction. The buoyancy of his life vest was lifting him to a place of safety. Do you ever feel like you have been thrust into a strange, scary place? Ever feel like you can’t breathe...that you are going to drown in a sea of stress? Why not discipline yourself to be still...to stop thrashing around...to allow the Holy Spirit to point you in the direction where life is real? Perhaps it was fear that forced Peter to say something in the midst of an incredible spiritual experience. In verse 6 we read, "He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them." Do you see the pattern? We experience the light and love of God. But we can’t just accept the experience for what it is. We have to understand it, analyze it, study it. Sometimes it is our pursuit of truth that motivates us. Sometimes it is pure and simple fear. We hide behind our intellectual reasoning. We hide from God by doing things. Then we find ourselves surrounded by a cloud. We can’t see and the fear intensifies. This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of a 40-day period of Lent. Lent is a time to journey with Jesus to the cross. It is a time to discover the false selves masking our true self. It is a time to search for our true heart. For many it is a time to give up something that brings us comfort. It is a time when we can hear with Peter the words of God, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" Listen to Jesus. This is the message for us today and this six week period of Lent. Be still, don’t talk, listen to Jesus, take off a mask or two and experience the joy of knowing your true heart. |
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03.02.03 - Lent: A Time to Take Off the Masks (Mark 9:2-9)
