2009.09.20: Rev. Mary Wilder Cartwright

			Rev. Mary Wilder Cartwright September 20, 2009 “The Notices of God” Mark 9:30-37 Last week, Pastor George left us with three questions. Hopefully, you received those questions printed on a key tag. If not, we still have key tags which can be picked up at the church entrances. On one side are the words “Changing Tempo.” On the other side are the questions George posed: “How have you noticed God this week?” “How have you noticed God leading you this week?” “How have you or how will you respond to God leading you this week?” The language of “noticing” is deliberate. We cannot respond to God unless we notice God’s presence. We cannot follow God’s leading unless we notice that God is giving us attention. We cannot be led by God if we don’t even notice God in the first place. We believe in God, but most of the time, we don’t really give God much attention. We are not unlike the disciples who are walking down the road chatting, and Jesus says, “By the way, I’m going to be betrayed, they will kill me, and three days after being killed, I will rise again.” They continue on down the road, chatting, arguing, and debating about how the group is going and who will end up as top dog. You want to stop and say, “Wait a minute! Did you hear what he said? What does that mean?” They didn’t really notice, and too often, we don’t notice either. I have a friend who notices. It is a common practice to greet someone with the words, “How’re you doing?” I have a friend who never fails to respond to that question with the words, “I’m blessed.” If you were to ask my friend why he says that, he would be quick to respond, “It’s my way of reminding myself that I am blessed. Each and every day, I discover the blessings of God, and I am covered with the blessings of God. I want people to know that I know that. Some days, I get so angry that I can hardly stand it, or something doesn’t go the way I think it should, and I get frustrated, but the practice of recognizing my blessings keeps my struggles in perspective, and I can offer grace to the people I meet. I am blessed.” My friend notices God in his life. He arranges his life to notice God. He takes his rhythm from the practice of thanksgiving and blessing. God puts out all kinds of notices, and some come in more secular forms. The Glass Castle is a memoir by Jeannette Walls who tells the story of growing up in Arizona and West Virginia with two severely dysfunctional parents. Her father was an unreformed alcoholic, and her mother was a narcissistic free spirit who was wealthy in land ownership but who nearly let her children starve. The memoir tells the story of the worst but also the best of her parents. Although totally undisciplined and plagued by his addiction to alcohol, when he was sober, her dad taught the kids physics, astronomy, mathematics, and geology. When the family eventually moved back to West Virginia where her father was raised, Jeannette began to work for the school newspaper because there was no uniform or instrument to buy or no dues to pay. You didn’t have to have money to work on the newspaper. There she met her dad’s high school English teacher. Her dad told Jeannette that this teacher was the first person in his life to show any faith in him. She thought he was a talented writer and encouraged him to submit a poem to a contest. When he won and someone questioned that any “son of lowlife alcoholics” could actually write something, he almost left school. Ms. Jeannette Bivens convinced him to stay in school and earn his diploma. Several years later, he named his daughter after her. It is this same teacher who encourages Jeannette and gives her the confidence to believe that she can escape and make it out of poverty into a life in New York City. It is one of those stories in which one notices God if you have a mind to look. A quiet, unremarkable woman notices the gift of her student. The father was not ultimately able to fulfill the promising use of the gift that he had, but 15 years later, his daughter finds her way into Ms. Bivens’ orbit. Once again, she notices a young girl. She has her working on the paper in seventh grade, and she becomes a talented journalist and writer. We marvel at the recognition that in the tragedies of this young family, God works good in and amongst the struggle, betrayal, and severe poverty to give light and hope to a young girl through this teacher. We can notice God in amazing instances of good coming forth in the midst of incredibly difficult circumstances. Indeed, we can marvel at the mind and memory of God who makes connections for us that we can hardly imagine and can never plan. This teacher took her rhythm from the practice of affirmation and encouragement. She noticed. A theologian and Presbyterian minister, James Torrance, tells the story of visiting California and walking along the beach. An elderly man approached him and asked him who he was. When he heard that Torrance was a Presbyterian minister, he said, “How astonishing that I should meet you.” Then, he poured out his story that his wife of 45 years was dying of cancer, and he didn’t know how to face the future without her. This man’s father was a Presbyterian minister, and he had been brought up in a godly home but had drifted away. He said that he’d been trying to pray but couldn’t. Torrance writes: Did I tell him how to pray–throw him back on himself? No, I did not. I said, “May I say to you what I am sure your father would have said to you? In Jesus Christ, we have someone who knows all about this. He has been through it all–through suffering and death and separation–and he will carry you both through it into resurrection...You have been walking up and down this beach, wanting to pray, trying to pray, but not knowing how to pray. In Jesus Christ, we have someone who is praying for you. He has heard your groans and is interceding for you and with you and in you.” Amazing, isn’t it that these two found each other on a desert beach and struck up a conversation? This Presbyterian minister and scholar took his rhythm from the practice of thinking carefully about prayer and worship, and the words were there when they were most needed. Jesus tries to teach the disciples the rhythms of what it means to follow him. They pass through Galilee for the last time, and he says to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” They didn’t understand and were afraid to ask. Instead, they contented themselves with argument and debate. Jesus notices them, and he asks them, “What are you arguing about?” They were silent, ashamed, and embarrassed because they had been arguing about who would be in which leadership position. Who would be the first one noticed? Who would be given privileges? Who would be noticed for the incredible contribution he was making? Jesus doesn’t criticize them for having ambitions and goals, but he shifts the rhythm of the conversation. He turns things upside down and says, “Whoever would be first must first of all be last and must be a servant.” He took the least, most unnoticed member of society - a child. “You want to be a leader? You want privileges? You want to make a contribution? Welcome this child in my name. Whoever welcomes this child welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me, welcomes God who sent me.” Hospitality is really about noticing God, noticing what God is doing, and sharing the story. Hospitality is about living one’s life knowing that one’s contribution is made not for the glory of being first but out of concern for the whole group. You want to lead? Make sure you serve the whole group. You want to be a follower of Jesus Christ? Make sure you have in mind the great good news you are sharing - the good news that the One you worship gave his life for us and gives attention to the least as well as the greatest. It is not about optimism. There are many reasons not to be optimistic. My friend who says he is blessed struggles with discouragement on a daily basis. Jeannette Walls’ memoir makes no bones about the destructiveness of her mother and father and their inability to think about anyone but themselves. There are many battles to be fought as we seek to be the body of Christ. The society we live in isn’t all that interested in living a life of grace. There are internal struggles that are as weighty as the external ones. Paul wasn’t kidding when he said that creation is groaning with labor pains. Giving birth to the glory of God is full of struggle, wrestling, and at times, weariness. Many things keep us from being optimistic. It is about being hopeful. Jesus recognized his disciples for who they were. Jesus called his disciples to be the servants who would gather the Church, who would tell the story, and who would notice God. His disciples were called not just to notice but to catch a glimpse of where God was leading and respond. So what about us? Will we notice? Will we catch the vision? Will we respond?