{"id":1453,"date":"2009-06-29T00:00:27","date_gmt":"2009-06-29T00:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.brethren.org\/news\/?p=1453"},"modified":"2018-08-31T21:09:02","modified_gmt":"2018-08-31T21:09:02","slug":"sermon-how-deep-is-your-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/2009\/sermon-how-deep-is-your-love\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon: “How Deep Is Your Love?”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"223rd\u00a0Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren
\nSan Diego, California — June 29, 2009<\/h4>\n

Scripture readings: Mark 12:29-30; John 21<\/em><\/h6>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Nancy Heishman<\/strong><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was three-and-a-half years into our experience living in the Dominican Republic that we headed out on a hike up the side of a mountain, thinking we knew what we were getting ourselves into.\u00a0 After several years of living in the Dominican Republic, we felt fairly comfortable setting out on new adventures, navigating the culture, growing through each experience as we went.\u00a0 When friends came down to visit over Thanksgiving, we decided to explore the central mountainous region of the country.\u00a0 Early Saturday afternoon we planned to hike to the famous Salto de Jimenoa Uno, a beautiful 40-foot waterfall cascading down the side of the mountain.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve seen the movie Jurassic Park, it\u2019s the waterfall featured in the opening scene or so I\u2019m told.<\/p>\n

We expected to hike up by ourselves, but the local policeman insisted we take a local guide with us.\u00a0 Reluctantly we agreed and started negotiating a price with him.\u00a0 \u00a0We were shocked when he proposed his asking price. \u00a0We weren\u2019t hiking up Mount Everest after all.\u00a0 \u00a0It surely couldn\u2019t be that strenuous a hike.\u00a0 Even for a typical \u201cgringo price\u201d it seemed high.\u00a0 After the customary negotiation to what we thought was a fairer price, we set out.\u00a0 The hike began over a series of rickety, narrow suspension bridges, seemingly held together by string and duct tape.\u00a0 This should have been our first warning!\u00a0 But at that point we weren\u2019t alarmed.\u00a0 After all we were on flat ground and any fall couldn\u2019t be that far down.\u00a0 Soon, however, the guide led us off the marked path directly straight up the side of the deeply-forested mountain.\u00a0 Where in the world were we headed, we wondered?<\/p>\n

It was about at the point when we were\u00a0a third\u00a0of the way up the mountain that some of the more faint-hearted of us made the wise decision never to look down under any circumstances.\u00a0 This decision came in quite handy especially when carefully stepping around 50-foot sheer drop-offs with no railings.\u00a0 While jumping across cavernous canyons that any responsible adult would advise against, we made our way forward, literally pulling ourselves up muddy hillsides by means of grabbing onto tree roots and vines.<\/p>\n

After what seemed like an eternity of climbing, we found ourselves faced with a massive field of boulders.\u00a0 We could hear that just behind the boulders was a very impressive-sounding waterfall.\u00a0 After one more hair-raising climb around a high pumping station just east of the falls (again with no railing) we reached the foot of the falls, with water crashing down so powerfully that the mist and spray reached you way before your arrival.\u00a0 It was magnificent!<\/p>\n

This was all well and good until we remembered that we had to return by the same treacherous route!\u00a0 After briefly enjoying the freezing waters of the pool below the falls, we started down the slippery slope, across the same gaps and above the same ledges (with no railings) now on wobbly legs and with shredded sneakers held together with handy rubber bands.<\/p>\n

When we finally reached the bottom, we gratefully paid the guide the full price and more for his troubles and patience with us.\u00a0 We\u2019re sure he had lots of stories to tell about the group of\u00a0six crazy gringos he had hiked with.\u00a0 For our part, we concluded together that we would never trade the chance to have climbed to those falls. But the grown-ups, at least, would also probably never do it again in our lives.<\/p>\n

We had not had any idea whatsoever that the journey up the mountain would involve such a strenuous, poorly marked trail, fraught with difficulty and questionable risks. The tour books described it as a bit hair-raising but we thought surely we knew better.\u00a0 The trail signs certainly didn\u2019t warn us.\u00a0 The guide didn\u2019t seem fazed.\u00a0 He\u2019d taken the journey before. We started the climb with no idea of what would lie ahead.\u00a0 It was only in the midst of the journey that we realized that this would be a hike like no other that we had attempted.\u00a0 Only in the midst of the journey did it dawn on us that there would be discomfort, pain, great effort, and a bit of danger involved.<\/p>\n

Could this be how we might describe the spiritual journey of the apostle Peter?\u00a0 He started his journey quite na\u00efve and self-satisfied, and only as Jesus worked a transformation in him did he begin to realize that the spiritual journey would involve a suffering kind of love.<\/p>\n

Peter\u2019s first step on the journey was when Jesus invited him to give up fish-fishing for people-fishing and he impulsively said, \u201cAbsolutely!\u00a0 Count me in!\u201d\u00a0 Did he have any idea what he was in for at the beginning?\u00a0 I would imagine not.\u00a0 In fact for most of his life as a disciple of Jesus, he was not only impulsive but unprepared and a bit clueless about the real nature of this journey.<\/p>\n

Peter takes a second step on the journey of transformation when Jesus tries to help him see that the journey would involve suffering.\u00a0 There is the story of the Transfiguration in Matthew 17 where Peter, chosen with James and John to experience this holy moment, blurts out a plan to build monuments to the\u00a0three dignitaries appearing on the mount.\u00a0 Jesus is interested in the paradox of glory and suffering. \u00a0But to paraphrase T. S.\u00a0 Eliot, \u201cPeter had the experience but missed the meaning.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus was trying to tell Peter that glory and suffering go hand in hand.\u00a0 Peter wanted the glory but not the suffering.<\/p>\n

The third step on Peter\u2019s journey of transformation is the story of Peter\u2019s great confession of Jesus when he confessed, \u201cYou are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”\u00a0 This story is followed closely by Jesus\u2019 pronouncement of the inevitability of pain and suffering as part of the cost of discipleship. Matthew says, \u201cFrom that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.\u201d\u00a0How does Peter respond?\u00a0 He is shocked and repulsed.\u00a0 He rejects Jesus\u2019 words about suffering.\u00a0 \u201cGod forbid it, Lord!\u00a0 This must never happen to you,\u201d shouts Peter.\u00a0 Jesus chastises him as a satanic stumbling block to the gospel with a mind clearly still focused on earthly matters.\u00a0 Peter wanted to be associated with a powerful Messiah not a rejected, suffering one.<\/p>\n

And finally the most important step on Peter\u2019s journey of transformation culminates in the story that takes place the night before the crucifixion.\u00a0 Peter is warming his hands around the fire, hoping no one will associate him with Jesus whose life hangs in the balance.\u00a0 Three times he is accused of being a follower of Jesus.\u00a0 Three times he denies having anything to do with the Teacher he loves, who is about to enter into unspeakable suffering.\u00a0 He desperately wanted to be close to Jesus but not so close as to have to share in his sufferings.<\/p>\n

All his life so far, Peter has tried to deny that suffering is part of the cost of following Jesus.\u00a0 All his life as a disciple, he shows that he prefers the simple, quick, impulsive solution rather than the costly, painful, suffering one.\u00a0 Who can blame him?\u00a0 Who among us gladly chooses or welcomes suffering on behalf of others as an integral part of life?\u00a0 Nothing in the culture around us encourages this choice.\u00a0 How many advertisements do you see or hear daily trying to entice you to adopt a sacrificial, suffering existence for the good of others?<\/p>\n

This kind of thinking is completely counter-cultural but that is exactly what Jesus is advertising\u2026 a life of such profound love that one is willing to make sacrifices and even to suffer for and with others if necessary.\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus modeled it for us.\u00a0 Jesus sacrificed everything on the cross because he loved the world so much.<\/p>\n

This is the Jesus who came to see Peter one more time.\u00a0 This was the pivotal moment in Peter\u2019s transformation.\u00a0 We see Peter, the one who had denied Jesus three times around that fire in the courtyard.\u00a0 We see Peter, the one who wanted to be close to Jesus but not so close as to have to share in his sufferings.<\/p>\n

And so Jesus builds another fire.\u00a0 He fries some fish on it and invites Peter, again, to choose a life of sacrificial love, even though loving God and others would cost him great suffering.\u00a0 Peter had denied Jesus three times.\u00a0 Peter had said no to suffering love three times.\u00a0 Jesus now graciously and lovingly gives him yet another chance, three opportunities to say yes to love.<\/p>\n

\u201cSimon, Son of John, do you love me more than these disciples?\u201d\u00a0 Simon, son of John, do you love me?\u00a0 Simon, son of John, do you love me?\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the resurrected Jesus speaking, the one who had sacrificed everything on the cross.\u00a0 His love was so powerful, so compelling.\u00a0 Something deep and powerful finally clicked and came together within Peter.\u00a0 He gave himself fully to Jesus, even accepting the life of suffering to come for the joy of being close to Jesus, for the joy of finding what it means to live a life of love for others.\u00a0 This was THE pivotal moment in Peter\u2019s transformation.<\/p>\n

For each previous tragic \u201cI don\u2019t know the man\u201d of Peter\u2019s betrayal, Peter has the precious opportunity to say, \u201cYes, Lord, you know that I love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the midst of Peter\u2019s anguish at being pressed three times for an answer, he was really being graced with the chance to reaffirm his love for Jesus and to receive the commissioning words, \u201cFeed my lambs…tend my sheep…feed my sheep.\u201d\u00a0 All doubt surrounding Peter\u2019s acceptance into the leadership of the disciples was erased with this interchange.<\/p>\n

What Jesus does next is to pull together all the threads of Peter\u2019s struggle with the concept of suffering love.\u00a0 In the next few moments Peter would be taken back in his memory to all the moments when he had been repulsed by the thought of suffering love, moments when he rejected outright any mention of the concept, when he felt outrage and horror at the thought that Jesus would choose suffering over victorious conquering.\u00a0 All those feelings of rejection toward the idea of suffering would be gathered up in Jesus\u2019 loving but clear warning:\u00a0 “‘Peter:\u00a0 When you get old you\u2019ll have to stretch out your hands while someone else dresses you and takes you where you don\u2019t want to go.’\u00a0 He said this to hint at the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God.\u201d \u00a0Jesus is saying, to love is to choose the path that includes suffering.\u00a0 There is no way to avoid it.\u00a0 It is an integral part of following Me.\u00a0 Loving others will lead to suffering with transformation on the way.<\/p>\n

In his book Everything Belongs<\/em>, the Franciscan priest Richard Rohr says, \u201cThe cross is not the price that Jesus had to pay to talk God into loving us.\u00a0 It is simply where love will lead us.\u00a0 Jesus names the agenda.\u00a0 If we love, if we give ourselves to feel the pain of the world, it will crucify us.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There is a profound cost involved in a love that suffers with others.<\/p>\n

When we accepted the call to serve as mission coordinators in the Dominican Republic we had no idea that it would mean walking with a suffering church.\u00a0 We had no idea it would mean paying the price of our own personal suffering.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t know it would mean standing alongside a church struggling to attain a higher level of integrity, struggling with matters of painful church discipline and sin.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t know there would be lessons in understanding what it means to be persecuted for righteousness\u2019 sake, for such is the Kingdom of heaven. We hadn\u2019t known we would be walking with Jesus on a journey of suffering love.<\/p>\n

This was our experience several years ago as we began our 3rd term of service in the DR.\u00a0 When we asked for routine financial reports from the top national church leaders who were in office at that time, we received a very negative, hostile reaction.\u00a0 In fact, it eventually because clear that there was serious financial mismanagement of church funds. For this reason they did not want to give financial reports to the national board or to us.\u00a0 Rather than admit to their impropriety, they eventually took out a lawsuit against us in the Dominican courts.\u00a0 These leaders have since been removed from office by the Dominican church.<\/p>\n

All this was a sobering experience that we hadn\u2019t expected to be part of our journey.\u00a0 It\u2019s scary to stand before a judge falsely accused of a crime in a country not your own, trying to defend yourself in a language which is not your first.\u00a0\u00a0 A court translator\u2019s feeble attempts at translating legalese in Spanish only made matters worse and more confusing.\u00a0 It\u2019s unsettling to face the prospect of jail time and substantial fines, separation from your children, public disgrace–when you know you have committed no crime.\u00a0 It\u2019s painful to have persons you worked with for years respond in ways that betray trust and deepen pain and hurt.<\/p>\n

All this would have been an overwhelming experience for us if it not been for outstanding supervisory and staff support and the presence of Dominican Brethren who were loyal, committed, and doggedly faithful.\u00a0 Their caring presence was unflagging.\u00a0 We were never left to appear at a hearing alone.\u00a0 Not once.\u00a0 They surrounded us with their presence and prayers.\u00a0 The judge\u2019s decision was ultimately positive and it was possible to walk out of the courtroom free.<\/p>\n

The church and we have since moved on.\u00a0 God has brought tremendous growth and healing, deep wisdom, and transformation through that experience.\u00a0 We have walked together through this experience of suffering love, understanding more clearly what kind of commitment Jesus was asking of Peter in that conversation around the fire.<\/p>\n

During one of the most somber moments of the process though, our defense lawyer surprised us with the comment, \u201cIt\u2019s good you are here.\u201d\u00a0 We looked at her in astonishment, wondering what she could possibly mean.\u00a0 She said, \u201cAnyone who speaks the truth in this country will be persecuted.\u00a0 Count it an honor.\u201d<\/p>\n

Really more than the \u201cso-called\u201d honor of persecution for speaking the truth, I count it the greatest of honors to have had brothers and sisters standing beside me, never leaving my side.\u00a0 In their presence I felt the powerful presence of Christ.\u00a0 And we have gladly returned the favor to them.\u00a0 In their presence I saw what it means to follow Jesus, to be led where one may never want to go, to love in ways that demand total commitment to Jesus.<\/p>\n

Together we have shared what was maybe a teeny bit of the sufferings of Christ.\u00a0 In their presence I saw that they understood what Jesus meant in his conversation to Peter:\u00a0 \u201cDo you love me?\u00a0 Then tend and feed my sheep.\u00a0 Some day, you will be led somewhere where you do not want to go.\u00a0 But what is it to you?\u00a0 As for you, ‘Follow me.’\u201d\u00a0 Follow Me wherever I lead you. Follow Me whatever the cost, but follow me.\u00a0 And be transformed along the journey.<\/p>\n

I believe that God is deeply committed to the transformation of all creation, including and by means of the church.\u00a0 It is there in the figurative Body of Christ where God invests concentrated energy to build a transformed and transformational community.\u00a0 God does this not just for the sake of the faith community itself.\u00a0 No, God invests the energy of transformation for the sake of a lost and hurting world that God loves so much.\u00a0 And God invites us, as members of Christ\u2019s Body, to accompany one another and others through intense struggles, sometimes with matters of sin, other times with matters of integrity, of persecution, of pain and suffering.<\/p>\n

Jesus invites us to say yes to follow Him.\u00a0 To say yes to a kind of love for others that is willing to suffer with them.\u00a0\u00a0 Willing to be transformed in the process of loving.\u00a0 Jesus invites us to walk with others even when we cannot prevent their pain, cannot resolve the suffering, cannot spare them distress.\u00a0 Sometimes, by the grace of God, there are the longed-for opportunities to act with God and others to bring the justice God desires.\u00a0 Sometimes the only thing that can be done is to suffer with, to wait, and to love.\u00a0 The transformational process is agonizing at times; it demands all the patience and perseverance we can muster.<\/p>\n

In many ways we are like Peter at a critical, pivotal moment in our life as a denomination.\u00a0 Just as Peter and Jesus faced each other around the fire at that most significant, profound moment in Peter\u2019s life, we too stand facing Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God.\u00a0 Jesus asks us anew this evening, \u201cDo you love me more than these?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cDo you love me?\u201d\u00a0 \u201cDo you love me?\u201d<\/p>\n

Which fire are we each at personally?\u00a0 Are we still at the fire by the courtyard, fearfully and nervously warming our hands, hoping no one will notice us and associate us with Jesus?\u00a0 At that fire, we, like Peter, long to be close to Jesus but we\u2019re holding back.\u00a0 We\u2019re still so afraid of the cost that Jesus is asking of us.\u00a0 We want to follow but we\u2019re still not yet willing to give our all for Jesus.\u00a0 We\u2019re not yet willing to pay the price of giving our lives to Christ and to others in suffering love.\u00a0 We\u2019re close to Jesus but not as close as we could be and like it was for Peter, for us, too, the distance is painful.<\/p>\n

Or are we at the fire by the Sea of Tiberias with the frying fish and breakfast waiting?\u00a0 Here we\u2019ve seen how much Jesus was willing to suffer for us and we are overwhelmed and compelled and transformed by his love.\u00a0 Here we\u2019re ready to say yes to Jesus and to give our all.\u00a0 YES!\u00a0\u00a0 We know it\u2019s a costly choice that will require everything we\u2019ve got to give and more.\u00a0 But we love Jesus with all our heart, with all our mind, with all our soul, and with all our strength.\u00a0 We don\u2019t want to hold back and keep any distance between us and him.\u00a0 We\u2019re ready to give our all for him as he gave his all for us.<\/p>\n

And we want to love others too as we were loved.\u00a0 We know if we\u2019re going to love others fully it will involve suffering. \u00a0\u00a0It will require sacrificing for others.\u00a0 It will ask us to surrender our will to the will of Christ for the sake of the world around us.\u00a0 But we know that suffering love is a joyful gift to give.\u00a0 It\u2019s an enormous privilege.\u00a0 It\u2019s a price we can gladly pay with the grace of God.<\/p>\n

And so we respond as Peter did, \u201cOf course we love you, Jesus.\u00a0 We will stand with the best of our 300-year history, with those\u00a0eight brothers and sisters who also counted the cost at the edge of the Eder River.\u00a0 We will continue to care for your sheep and tend your flocks.\u00a0 Like our spiritual ancestors, we will surrender ourselves to the deep, deep love of God revealed to us in Jesus and we will rejoice.”<\/p>\n

I invite you now to listen to a story of love and transformation as told by Pastor Felix Arias Mateo, this year\u2019s moderator of the Dominican Church of the Brethren…..<\/p>\n

–Nancy Heishman is co-coordinator of the Church of the Brethren\u2019s mission in the Dominican Republic.<\/em><\/p>\n

——————————————————————
\nThe News Team for the 2009 Annual Conference includes writers Karen Garrett, Frank Ramirez, Frances Townsend,\u00a0Melissa Troyer, Rich Troyer; photographers Kay Guyer, Justin Hollenberg, Keith Hollenberg, Glenn Riegel,\u00a0Ken Wenger;\u00a0staff Becky Ullom and Amy Heckert.\u00a0Cheryl Brumbaugh-Cayford, editor. Contact <\/em>cobnews@brethren.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

223rd\u00a0Annual Conference of the Church of the Brethren San Diego, California — June 29, 2009 Scripture readings: Mark 12:29-30; John 21   It was three-and-a-half years into our experience living in the Dominican Republic that we headed out on a hike up the side of a mountain, thinking we knew what we were getting ourselves<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[89,3,81],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-1453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-brethren-annual-conference","tag-church-of-the-brethren","tag-dominican-republic"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1453"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1455,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453\/revisions\/1455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1453"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.brethren.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=1453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}