Read: Gen. 17: 1-7, 15-16 Psalm 22: 23-31 Romans 4: 13-25 Mark 8: 31-38

J. Paul Mullen
Scarboro United Church
Calgary, Alberta
March 8, 2009

God Knows . . . Your Name

It may not be the best of times. It may not be the worst of times. It may not be the most certain of times. It may not be the most uncertain of times. It is certainly an uncertain time. It is, in so many ways, a time like any other time, and yet a time so different than any other time.

The Telegraph reports: Officials in Europe say the trade in fake Viagra is overtaking cocaine as a lucrative product for drug pushers. Criminal gangs are switching to fake versions of the potency prescription drug because it's said to be 2,000 times more profitable than cocaine. But buying illicit blue pills from pushers is dangerous since they are made from a jumble of prescription medicines. Recently four people died in Singapore after taking fake Viagra.

Macleans magazine asks: Is the First Lady flashing her toned triceps as a way to get Americans to the gym? Let's just cut to the chase about what's really fuelling Sleevegate: the primary reason America is up in arms, so to speak, about Michelle Obama's penchant for sleeveless clothing has less to do with decorum than the fact it's her one look most of the nation can't imitate - or at least imitate and look good doing it. Sure, women can buy knock-offs of her oversized pearls or order some of her more affordable outfits from J.Crew. But, as any woman over 35 knows, the First Lady's arms didn't sculpt themselves. It takes daily discipline and countless reps to achieve that kind of definition. And there's nowhere you can go to order it. No cosmetic surgeon has yet figured out a procedure that offers the same effect (and whoever does will be set for life). So who can blame the First Lady for wanting to show her toned triceps off?

The article goes on to question whether this is a sign of unbecoming vanity in the President's wife or is it an assertion of women's equality - and a timely one at that with this being International Women's Day. Who would have thought, though, that the President's audacious policies of hope and the campaign for change in America would be eclipsed by attention to the First Lady's dressing habits?

Uncertainty is the order of the day today just as it always has been - even for Abraham and Sarah, even for Peter and the disciples. Like them we cling to the certainties of the past. There is nothing particularly wrong with that. It is hard to let go of what we have been sure of and what leads us to expect more of the same in the future. That is not a judgment but a fact. No matter how open we are to the future we crave predictability. Part of the reason we crave predictability is that predictability is rare. Another part is that predictability is comforting.

Abraham was comforted by the predictability of siring an heir through his wife's servant, Hagar. Here was a son who would inherit Abraham's possessions and leadership. Life, once threatened by their inability to conceive, could now unfold as it should.

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God, who has a penchant for disrupting the very order we crave, appears on the scene making a very strange statement. "Walk before me," God says, "and be blameless." Say what? I thought we were supposed to follow God! If we ever thought that God wants us to follow in a way laid out before us then here is the first challenge. We are called, if we identify at all with Abraham, to step out into an uncertain future not with God before us, but with God behind us. Here we have one of the first indications in the Bible that God's promise is not to lead us into a perfect, sinless, secure, suffering free life. God's promise is to be with us, behind us, if you will, and ready to steady us when we stumble and help us up when we fall.

God, who has a penchant for disrupting the very order we crave, then announces an everlasting covenant, including a promise of a multitude of descendants - we who worship here this day are testimony to God's everlasting faithfulness to that word. Through Judaism, Islam and Christianity, Abraham has a multitude of descendants.

God, who has a penchant for disrupting the very order we crave, announces an impending pregnancy and new names for the proud, if somewhat shaken, parents-to-be. As the story continues beyond our readings for today both Abraham and Sarah laugh at God's audacious hope. It is simply too much uncertainty to be grasped quickly. Dramatic change is often greeted by denial, derisive laughter and outright anger.

Jesus' disciple, Peter, and we are all somewhat like Peter, has a similar reaction. Witnessing Jesus' extraordinary activity - profound teachings, remarkable healings, miracles, challenges to the religious leaders, wise sayings - Peter has come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah promised of old. As everybody in Judaism knew, the Messiah would be a mighty Messiah, coming in power and might to take on and overthrow the hated Romans and restore the throne of David. It is written. This is it. He and the others are to be a part of history, their future. Lieutenants in the army of the Lord they would share in the spoils of victory. As he is savoring these precious thoughts, now spoken out loud for the first time, he hears Jesus talking about the suffering and death coming.

For Peter, this is unheard of. This is not the way it is to be. This is not the kind of Messiah that everyone knows is coming. Impetuously he begins to rebuke Jesus for getting the agenda wrong. Jesus interrupts with force! "Get behind me, Satan! You're hung up on the human story, not on the divine imperative" Peter, who started life as Simon, and just a moment ago was given the name Petros - Rock, Rocky if you will - is now given a new name, Satan - the diabolical confuser, seducer and traducer of old.

Get behind me, Satan - sounds cruel, doesn't it? Remember, though, what is in front, leading us into temptation? Remember in the wilderness Satan appears before Jesus, tempting him with earthly ways of resolving problems? Remember what God tells Abraham? "Walk before me and be blameless." Walk before me.

If Jesus is walking before God, then Jesus is telling Peter to get where God is - behind him. From that point of view, looking through God's eyes, Peter will see from a different point of view. He will see a different Jesus and a different future. He will begin to understand a different kind Messiah, a Messiah of healing and peace, a non-violent Messiah who will stand over and against what everybody knows.

So, does this have anything to say to us as we face the uncertainties of this day? I think so. I think these stories tell us that the future will always be uncertain. They tell us that as much as we crave order and security, as much as we plan carefully and act wisely, this is not what we can count on. Life will simply not unfold the way we expect or even demand that it should. That is the bad news.

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The good news is that God is behind us ready to steady us when we stumble and help us rise when we fall

The good news is that God knows our name and knows it better than anyone in this world.

The good news is that we have been given an inheritance pure and undefiled, this good earth and all that it contains.

The good news is that we are not alone, especially when we pick up the cross, when we go public with our faith and face the jeers and derisive laughter of others.

The good news is that their jeers and derisive laughter may just be the first step in moving the sneering ones from denial to acceptance of faith. We will be scorned for being faithful. Life will not be easy just because we are faithful. We may end up in poverty whether we are faithful or not.

The good news is that even in poverty we can enjoy wealth beyond the imaginings of the scornful.

The good news is that when we lose our lives we will find them. When we give up on all that we cling to we will find an abundance that will cling to us and will not let go. Our souls will be fed.

The good news is that there is no shortage of good news.

Parker Palmer writes: Time after time we choose against wholeness by slipping into a familiar pattern of evasion.

- First comes denial: surely what I have seen about myself cannot be true.

- Next comes equivocation: the inner voice speaks softly, and truth is a subtle slippery thing, so how can I be sure of what my soul is saying?

- Next comes fear: if I let that inner voice dictate the shape of my life, what price might I have to pay in a world that sometimes punishes authenticity?

- Next comes cowardice: the divided life may be destructive, but at least I know the territory, while what lies beyond is terra incognita.

- Then comes avarice: in some situations, I am being rewarded for being willing to stifle my soul.

Palmer concludes by saying, "This pattern of self-evasion is powerful and persistent."

(as found in 40-Day Journey with Parker J. Palmer, Henry F. French (Ed.), Augsburg Books, Minneapolis, 2008)

I invite you to think on these things:

- Where is your God - in front or behind?

- What images, conceptions, ideas of the certainty of old can you risk letting go of if you know God is behind you, ready to steady you when you stumble and help you up when you fall?

- Are you ready to take the risk of being more visible in your life of faith even if it means uncertainty and possibly rejection, scorn and derision?

- What can you let go of right now to feed your soul?

Amen