“Listen to Him”                             February 19, 2012                                                       Mark 9:2-9

In his book, Colors, John Aurelio tells a most intriguing story. Upon the birth of his son a certain king instructed his royal gardener to develop the most magnificent flower ever grown. This magnificent flower would one day be presented to the woman the king’s son would choose to be his bride. The royal gardener began at once. He decided that he would focus his attention on the most regal of all the flowers – the rose. His would be a rose of beauty beyond description. Over the months and years he experimented, blending his roses to create all manner of interesting blooms. The prince did not marry for a long time, so the gardener continued with his work, growing old and feeble in the process. At last, the good news came. The young king had chosen a bride and the date for the royal wedding was set. The gardener was very old now but his lifetime of experimentation had paid off. He had produced the most beautiful rose ever grown. He named it the Rainbow Rose.

On the day of the wedding the newlyweds entered the royal garden. They made their way immediately to the rose bush the old gardener had cultivated over such a long time. The new queen came close and picked a blossom. Then she turned and faced the old gardener. But the rose she held to her face was not his magnificent Rainbow Rose at all but just a common, ordinary red rose. The old gardener was shocked and then humiliated. But wait! Suddenly he realized why the queen had passed over his rose. She had revealed the one fatal flaw of his prize rose. It had no scent. For you see the new queen was blind. To her a rose without a scent was no rose at all.

Bear with me now while I draw a parallel to the world of faith. To some Christians faith that does not include an element of mystical experience is no faith at all! It is like a rose that has no scent. Have you noticed that many people today seem to be hungry for an experience of the supernatural? There are no angels or sorcerers in today’s Scripture, but I think this story does suggest a longing in us all to go beyond the merely rational. [Text]

There was a news story sometime back. Marybeth Strobel, an artist from Jersey City NJ, explains why she wears a large chunk of quartz on a strap around her neck. “It puts a circle of power around you that keeps you feeling protected” she says. Well, different strokes for different folks! You and I may scoff, but many people grab onto such beliefs in an uncertain world.

Think about the rapid growth of independent Pentecostal churches today in contrast to the shrinking of mainline churches. I read this week that the Assemblies of God Church (the largest Pentecostal denomination in the U.S.) started 380 new churches last year – that’s more than one a day. We Presbyterians are still counting our losses from last year. The standard reason for their growth is that mainline churches are too cerebral and not expressive enough – too much emphasis on the head and not enough on the heart. For some Christians, faith that does not include an element of mystical experience is no faith at all! It is a rose without a scent.

Mystical experience is very much a part of our faith story whether we acknowledge it or not. Jesus and three of his disciples go up on a mountain and the disciples awaken to see Jesus arraigned in a dazzling white garment and they hear a voice from heaven, “This is my Son the Beloved. Listen to him.”

Later in the New Testament Peter writes with deep feeling about his experience on the mountain with Jesus: “For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the Majestic Glory, This is my beloved Son with whom I am well- pleased and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven” (2 Peter 1: 16-18). Something very strange happened on the Mount of Transfiguration – something outside of ordinary experience and it had an amazing impact on Peter, James and John. Recalling this experience years later gave them unusual power, unusual confidence, unusual authority to proclaim the newly born Christian faith. Throughout history until the present day many of the greatest Christians who ever lived have reported mystical experiences that are outside the realm of rational experience.

It is said that a friend wandered into Handel’s room just as he was finishing the last notes of the Hallelujah Chorus. He found the composer with tears streaming down his cheeks. The magnificent work lay completed on the desk in front of him. “I think” Handel explained to his friend “I saw all heaven before me and the great God himself.” What do you make of an experience such as the one Handel reported? Is he speaking symbolically? Or did he really see heaven?

Frederick Buechner – a much respected Presbyterian pastor and writer – tells of a most unusual experience he had. A friend of his – an Englishman – had died very suddenly. [No offense Tony] A short time later Beuchner and his wife were staying with the man’s widow overnight. In the night Buechner had a dream about his friend. He dreamed his friend was standing there in the dark guest room looking very much like himself in the navy blue sweater and white slacks he often wore. In his dream Buechner told his friend how much he missed him and how glad he was to see him again. Then Buechner asked, “Are you really there, Dudley?” Buechner wanted to know if this was just a dream or was it real. His friend answered that he was really there. “Can you prove it?” Buechner asked him. “Of course” his friend said. Then his friend plucked a strand of wool out of his sweater and tossed it to Buechner which Buechner caught between his thumb and forefinger. Then Buechner awoke.

The next morning at breakfast Buechner told the others his dream. When he finished his wife said that she’d seen a strand of wool on the carpet as she was getting dressed. She was sure it hadn’t been there the night before. Buechner rushed upstairs to see for himself, and there it was – a little tangle of navy blue wool. What can you say about such an experience? A wishful imagination or authentic experience? What should we say about the role of such experiences in our faith? Should we talk about them to bolster our faith and the faith of others? Let me offer some thoughts for you to consider.

The first thing to be said about mystical experiences is be careful. The human brain is tricky. It can see things that do not exist. Francis Caponi, a Roman Catholic priest, is a kind of expert on the apparitions of Mary and Jesus Christ and even Elvis Presley that people often report. He notes an interesting phenomenon: “These figures are discerned in pieces of toast, billboards, refrigerator rust stains, and strangely shaped vegetables.” What should we think about such things? Be careful. Our minds have a tendency to organize reality in a way that does not always fit the facts. You can toss a bag of marbles on the floor and, by selectively ignoring certain marbles, find almost any pattern you wish. Our eyes and our minds can play tricks on us. We can also see that tendency displayed in the obsession some Christians have with numbers.

Chuck Swindoll tells about a lady in Kansas City who went to court to get her license plate changed because it ended with 666. She stated that her fellow church members were shunning her. As you may know, the mark of the beast in the book of the Revelation is 666. Swindoll goes on to note that the 666 stuff can get downright ridiculous. The fact is that those three digits can be uncovered in almost anybody’s name, if you’re willing to work at it hard enough. Using the code A=100, B=101, and so on, Hitler adds up to 666.

By adopting the so called devil’s code (the alphabet is numbered backward from zero; Z=0, Y=1, X=2) and multiplying each letter-value by 6 (whew!) almost any name can add up to 666. Jerry Falwell’s last name was said to equal 666. Even Billy Graham’s name is not exempt. His initials are WFG. (William Franklin Graham). Using the A=1 code, the letters add up to 36. The sum of the counting numbers from 1 through 36 is 666. Maybe you find all this fascinating, maybe not. There are some people, though, who are very susceptible to such logic. And there are unscrupulous people who look for these susceptible people to manipulate others to their own ends. Often they do it in the name of religion. Be careful. If you wonder why most Christian churches put more emphasis on being true to the historic faith than on any one particular subjective experience, this is why. We know feelings are subject to distortion and manipulation. It may make us seem dry and unexciting at times, but we know that when we are faithful to the Scriptures, we cannot be misled by passing fads or sensations. Be careful.

But also be tolerant. We don’t know how God may choose to work in other people’s lives. It is the height of arrogance for any of us to declare that God can only work in ways that we can understand or that God can only be found in groups that we are familiar with. Most of us would be thrilled to go up on a mountain and hear God’s voice audibly, but we may live a lifetime and never experience any more than a lump in our throat or a warm assurance in our hearts. If that’s all we experience, that will be enough. God knows exactly what we need. If other people shout and dance and speak in tongues, then who’s to say that God doesn’t know what they need. Pray that none of us – whatever our experience of faith – will be judgmental toward those whose faith is not like ours. Be tolerant, Christian friends.

Here’s the crux of the matter: the test of faith is not MY EXPERIENCE or your experience, but listening to Jesus and doing what he says. “The fruit of the Spirit,” says Paul, “is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Gal. 5:23). Take a walk around and check out the Sunday School doors and you will see that this is true. Does your religious experience make you more loving, more joyful, more humble? If it does, then no matter what your experience you can’t be far from the kingdom.

There is a legend of a wise teacher who had a strange experience while walking through an orchard on a windy day. Coming to a fence which divided the grove from an adjoining forest, he imagined hearing the different types of trees talking to each other. Boastfully a maple tree said to a nearby fruit tree, “Why don’t your leaves rustle in the breeze like ours so that you can be heard from a distance?” The fruit tree replied, “We don’t need such useless fluttering to draw attention to our presence; our fruit speaks for us!”

That’s the lesson from Mark’s story of Jesus’ Transfiguration: LISTEN TO HIM and the fruit of your life will do the talking. People experience God in different ways. Therefore, the test of faith is not MY EXPERIENCE or your experience but listening to Jesus and doing what he says. Are we bearing fruit? If we are, our faith is as valid as those three disciples who went with Jesus up the Mount of Transfiguration and had a memorable and moving mystical experience. The key for us is the same as it was for them. Three simple words: Listen to him. Amen.