8-14-2005

Celebrating the freeing, supportive presence of God. So your experience of God may become your experience of life. It is wonderful what God can do!

"Faith to Move Mountains"

Gospel: Mark 11:20-26

Epistle: 1 Corinthians 13:2b

August 14, 2005

Good Morning!

    Some people look at the grandeur of a mountain and proclaim its beauty and majesty. Other people look at the height of a mountain and are inspired to climb it. Engineers look at a mountain and are challenged to tunnel through it or build roads around it. Our role models in the Scriptures look toward the mountains and proclaim that it is from there that our help and strength comes, giving way to the phrase, “mountain-top experience.” Some artists wouldn’t dream of drawing or painting without the backdrop of mountains or rolling hills. The best position for battle in war is the highest place, no matter how much effort is required to reach it.

    We have so many beautiful mountains or rolling hills in Western New York which are particularly evident while driving east when I am returning to Perry by way of Route 20A. I am always thrilled to be traveling over some of the most beautiful country that I’ve seen anywhere.

    There is this one stretch of highway as one heads east out of Wales Center where one is at a high precipice and looking down to a very low area, while also looking in the distance, can be seen an even higher point. There’s a stirring in my heart at that point because I know I am about to embark a magnificent adventure of traveling from one peak to another which might appear very difficult if not for the well paved road.

    Then there are those sections of road where we can not even see the road ahead because of the upward winding bends and turns. To the human eye, the road seems to disappear into the woods, either off to the left or the right. We travel by faith fully expecting the road to continue when we arrive at the point of its visual disappearance. Even though we might not be able to “see our future,” we go about it trusting in God.

    Of course for a person with a smaller size engine such as mine, it becomes an adven-ture also to feel the car itself continuously changing into lower gears and seemingly struggle to pull itself up as it inches its way toward the goal at the top. This particular stretch looks like one long road upward from the bottom to the top, but while traveling it, one discovers that there is a section not seen from the first peak which provides relief from the climb. It actually has two brief sections where the road heads downward before its inevitable climb back up to the top.

    Not all mountains are literal. In life, we continuously encounter “mountains” of other varieties. There are financial mountains we must climb. There are mountains of illness we must travel. There are mountains of separation or loss which must be travailed. There are mountains of trouble in so many areas of our living that must be overcome. There are mountains that would seek to prevent us from doing what God wants.

    Almost everyone, at some time or another in their life, looks toward a “mountain” of difficulty with raw fear and troubling uncertainty because they think they see the clear evidence of a seemingly insurmountable obstacle. They fear that they will not reach the pinnacle, let alone the other side.

    But just like that special stretch of highway on 20A, what appears to be a long stretch of never-ending upward stress, is also accompanied by times of comfort-able leveling off, or restful downward travel. These stretches of relief come to us in the form of God’s presence in the person of the Holy Spirit. They come to us in the presence a person who is a beloved family member or friend who seeks to bring a sense of relief. And when actual presence is difficult or impossible, there is always the presence of voice, card, letter, or email.

    In our Scripture today, Jesus talks about the power of prayer and the power of faith to accomplish amazing feats. He wants to be very sure that his listeners understand that the very things that appear to be the hardest, or the most impossible, are the very things that can be overcome with God’s power and our faith.

    In order to illustrate this, Jesus uses the non-literal example of a mountain being cast into the sea. We know from the illustration that he is not suggesting that we waste our time struggling to cast literal mountains into literal seas for no rhyme or reason. Rather, Jesus is referring to the equally frustrating and heart-rending “personal mountains” in our lives.

    Jesus’ use of the word ‘mountain’ is to illustrate the power or big-ness of the obstacles with which we are confronted in our lives. For example, Cancer most always appears to be an insurmountable obstacle; but the earlier we put our attention to detecting it and treating it, the earlier we discover the options and possibilities of overcoming what we previously thought to be insurmountable.

    When we are first confronted with the power of the pain-and-loss resulting from physical death, it strikes us as an insurmountable obstacle to our continued living. It isn’t until we are assured by trusted friends and loved ones, that the world has not come to an end, but rather that they will be there for us during this ‘time’ of bereavement and beyond to help us re-shape and re-purpose our living.

    Well, even an empty house located at the end of roughly-hewn parking lot can appear to be an insurmountable obstacle to a congregation seeking to be a beacon of faith to itself and its community. It may have appeared as an immoveable eye-sore, but faith in God and God’s purposes has overcome that particular mountain for us.

    Jesus says “believe and it will come to pass.” Those are powerful and amazing words—words that really do require a profound exercise in faith. Jesus also says in this passage, “Forgive, if you have anything against anyone so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you.” This is because as a Christian community, we must be in harmony with one another, forgiving one another of our offenses. This does not mean that we will always agree, but rather it means we must treat each other as Jesus would treat us.

    Perhaps the words I once heard from a pastor-friend of mine might also be helpful here: “Plan the work, and work the plan.” In other words a little human intelligence goes a long way in helping God to bring about the surmounting of an obstacle.

    So, in conclusion, it seems to me that we have a three-point lesson here. First, we must pray for God’s Will over ours, and believe that all things are possible in God’s Will—even the moving of mountains!

    Next, we must be in Christian harmony with one another, forgiving one another of our offenses. This then becomes a special environment in which the Holy Spirit can work more effectively.

    Third, if we plan the work ahead of us, as best we can, and then if we work the plan, there should be no insurmountable obstacle that cannot be overcome for the sake of our Christian witness to the community and for the sake of our individual and collective faith experiences.

    For those having a difficult time remembering three points, perhaps I can summarize it for you with two. As we travel our roads of life and encounter our obstacle “mountains,” reach out with this hand and take a hold of the hand of God in faith. Then reach out the other hand and take a hold of a neighbor—a fellow believer in faith. Now with having a hold on God with this hand, and a hold on a Christian friend with this other hand, let us now walk boldly and confidently together in faith, believing that God and our fellow Christians will help us overcome all that stands before us—even the “mountains” in our lives!

Amen.

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