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“Now when John in prison heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples, and said to Him, Are You the Expected One, or shall we look for someone else?” I am ready for Camp Beecroft to close. The novelty of living in the den under a mound of blankets, huddled around the fireplace has worn off. Our house, like many others, remains without power. No power means limited light, heat, communication, and cooking. This week we have lived off the hospitality of others, cold-cut sandwiches, pop-tarts, and chips. Lisa and I have taken turns going to coffee shops to power up our phones and the laptop, thus keeping open our lines of communication and allowing the kids to watch a DVD on the computer before bed. Through all of the craziness of the past week, we have become acutely aware of our almost total reliance upon electricity for the living of our lives. On Wednesday morning it was my turn to run out for coffee before the caffeine headache arrived. Even the most basic essential like a cup of coffee is impossible for us without electricity. So I crawled out of our pull-out bed and into my muddy sweats, threw a cap on my head, stepped over the kids curled up on the floor in front of the fireplace, and headed to Starbucks. It was nice to get in the car, turn up the heat, and listen to the XM radio. When I arrived at Starbucks and took my place in line, I saw Dr. Miller, the pastor from First Pres., a few places ahead of me. He looked better than I did, more so than usual. He was wearing a suit and overcoat, obviously heading into the office. I looked more like an unemployed lumberjack off a three-day bender. He guessed from my appearance that we were without power. He felt sorry and offered to buy our coffee. Knowing that those Presbyterians have money, I quickly accepted the offer. We talked briefly about the ice storm and I asked if their church still had power. He said they did. I told him that we would have to cancel services that evening because the church was dead, it had no power. He gave a wry grin and said that was the truth. The church is dead, it has no power. This was not a reference to lights and heating. Nor was this a reference to Grace or First Presbyterian, or any specific church for that matter. Rather, it refers to the growing absence of that which gives life and power to the church. The church is given life and power by a single source, its electricity if you will. Without this electricity, the church is dead, it has no power. So what is it that gives life and power to the church? Read the rest of this entry »
Thanks to Will Willimon, an unwitting and innocent accomplice, to the language and direction of much of this sermon.
And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
Several weeks ago Megan saw a rabbit in the sky. Don’t worry; we didn’t give her too much cough medicine. The rabbit in the sky was a cloud formation that actually looked like a rabbit to her. Do you remember gazing up into the sky and bringing clouds to life with your imagination? The shifting, billowy shapes would take a form and you would speak it into existence—“look! A rabbit.”
In the book of First Kings, a single cloud serves as a sign of blessing. There had not been any rain on the land in over a year. This was a judgment from God on the idolatry and wickedness of the people. Elijah then confronts and defeats the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. After these false prophets are slain, Elijah tells the evil King Ahab to prepare for a deluge of rain. And a cloud as small as a man’s hand forms in the distance, which then grew into a blackening sky that brought rain on the parched land. This cloud served as a sign of God’s blessing.
But clouds are not always promising. They can bring violence and destruction. We know this well. We live in Oklahoma, after all, smack dab in the middle of tornado alley, home of the ever threatening funnel cloud.
There are other clouds of destruction as well. At 8:15 in the morning on August 6, 1945, an eyewitness looked up into a Japanese sky and said, “The sky was serene, the air was flooded with glittering morning light…. The sirens and also the radio had just given the all-clear…. A blinding flash cut sharply across the sky…. I raised my head, facing the center of Hiroshima…. There I saw an enormous mass of clouds… it took the shape of… a monstrous mushroom” (Lifton, Death in Life, 18-19).
Jesus speaks to us this morning of particular cloud that will come on the day when the “powers of heaven will be shaken.” This particular cloud will bear the Son of Man with “power and great glory.” Will this cloud bear God’s blessing? Will this cloud restore life on a parched land? Or will this cloud be a dark, threatening funnel cloud of death and destruction?
