Wandering Heart: Praise the Mount
It is good to have you here this morning. I really like how we can all see one another so well with this configuration of the chairs in our sanctuary. Even the cameras can see more faces when the whole room is in view for our online community. One of our friends here remarked to me how she never realized how much sitting on the back row in the configuration of chairs that are more like rows was so isolating. With our chairs in a circle like this, we see one another, and everyone feels much more a part of the community. Isn’t that how church is meant to be? People connecting with one another and with God?
May the peace of Christ be with you. And also with you. Let us pass the peace to one another and as we do, share your name and something you know about it – where it came from, who you’re named after, does your name mean something…
Reading from the Gospel: Matthew 16:13-20 (NLT)
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 “Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” 15 Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being.18 Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit on earth will be permitted in heaven.” 20 Then he sternly warned the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Silence
Listen to the voice of the Spirit speaking to the Church. Thanks be to God.
Message
I am a Patrick Rothfuss fan. He is the author of The Kingkiller Chronicles, a series of fantasy novels. The first one is called The Name of the Wind. As you might imagine, with “name” in the title, names are a significant part of the story. In this book, to know the name of a thing was to have power over that thing. The main character is Kvothe. When he was just a kid, he had witnessed a man who was his teacher call the name of the wind, and the wind obey. Sounds a bit like our story from last week, doesn’t it? Only this was less a calming of the wind than a stirring up of the wind into a controlled gale.
Kvothe’s teacher is an arcanist of the University, a school where one can learn things like the name of the wind, or of fire, or of stone. Kvothe is determined to go there. Of course, he has many adventures along the way, and he gains quite a reputation as he learns interesting things, including the name of the wind. His name changes in the book as well. Later in life he is known as Kote and is called Reshi by his student. As you might have guessed, Reshi means teacher. He falls in love with a girl named Denna, but every time she appears in his life she is known by a different name – Dianne, Dinnah, Dyanae, Dinael… Kvothe doesn’t know her “true” name and there is a lot of mystery around her. Kvothe’s parents and the family of Edema Ruh, the entertainment troupe they are a part of, are all murdered by dangerous ancient creatures because of a song his parents compose which speaks their names. Having barely escaped with his life, Kvothe is consumed with learning more about them and why they don’t want even their names to be known.
The Name of the Wind is fiction, fantasy, and the names in that book are significant and powerful. Similarly, the names in the story from the Gospel of Matthew that we heard today are significant and powerful. Both of these stories are true. Names are important.
Think of your own name. Maybe you’re named after a person of importance from your parents’ life – a grandparent, a favorite aunt, a best friend. Maybe your name was chosen because of what it means – like Grace, or Chance, or Lily. And if you’ve never asked your parents why they named you what they did, and if they are still around to ask, maybe you should find out.
Sometimes we have to live up to a name we’ve been given, and it has influenced our whole existence – for good or for ill. You know what I mean – maybe you have an older brother who everyone knows as the life of the party, and when they find out you’re also a Sankpill (that’s my maiden name), they expect you to be the same. Or you have an older sister who is an academic overachiever, and when they discover your name is Sankpill, the expectation is that you will either be the life of the party or a student teachers will love. Either you live your life trying to be like that older sibling or you spend it carving out your own niche, making your own name.
Names have power.
There are names that are not your given name or your surname, but names that others might have given you that can shaped your life or keep you stuck in a particular way of being – names like junkie or bum or drunk, names like fag or dyke or filth, names like street walker or street person, names like dropout or jock. Sometimes they’re names that seem pretty innocuous, sometimes not so much, but being on the receiving end of them can have powerful consequences. These days we have more politically correct labels, but even those can have stigma attached to them.
Dr. Terrance Lester tells a story about his own life which became a powerful revelation which impacted his journey (from the Wandering Heart sermon guide commentary):
At seventeen, I was isolated and a high-school dropout. Then my life took an unexpected turn. As I left the school I had stopped attending, a man called out to me. An inexplicable force compelled me to approach him. He confirmed that he was unhoused. He asked me if I attended the school, and earnestly delivered words that would change my life forever: “Do not stop going to school, because one day you will be a leader.” He continued, “You don’t want to end up like me—homeless.” It felt as though God was speaking directly to me, assuring me of his presence. It was a profound revelation, a moment of feeling truly seen. This motivated me to overcome my struggles, dedicate my life to the Lord, and serve those experiencing homelessness. It all began with a seed of revelation.
Terrance moved from dropout to leader. Names are powerful
Like Terrance, Simon received a revelation tied to a new name Jesus gave to him – Peter, the rock on which Jesus would build his church. He recognized Simon Peter’s potential to lead before Simon Peter could see it in himself. Jesus saw it in how Simon Peter recognized Jesus for who he was – Messiah, Son of the Living God. This is a mountaintop experience for Simon Peter and the turning point in the Gospels. This is the point when Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem and for all of the events that will transpire there.
Peter’s life of faith has its ups and downs. “Just as he experienced moments of wandering, uncertainty, and questioning, we too must navigate the complexities of faith.” (from Dr. Lester’s commentary) We may have times of certainty about who God is, about who God is to us. We may also have times of doubt. It is during those times of doubt that we can lean into God’s calling, lean into what God may be revealing to us about our own lives, about the names God is calling us to live into.
Brian McLaren in his book Faith after Doubt talks about how doubts move us from one stage of faith to the next. The last two weeks’ stories of Peter held moments when Peter was full of doubt – when he doubted himself as being worthy to be in Jesus’ presence after the miraculous boat loads of fish they caught, and when he doubted it was Jesus walking to them on the water and then slipped under the water when he took his eyes off Jesus and focused on the turbulence around him. Those doubts seem to have moved Peter into a very different place this week – a place of praise, a place of conviction, a place of revelation about who Jesus is and who he himself will become.
Perhaps you are ready to name Jesus as Messiah, Son of the Living God. Perhaps you are still wondering who Jesus is and what it means to follow him. Belief is important. Names are important. We name you one of us. We name you Bethel Church. We name you loved. Even more important, God names you beloved. Whether you are full of doubts or full of conviction, God loves you and we love you too.
Pray with me.
God who loves, who loves me in the midst of my doubt or my strong belief, name us as your own. Name us as you see who we are and who we are meant to be. Help us to feel the love around us even when we feel unlovable. Move us to love others as you love us. Amen.
An Invitation to Praise
“Who do you say that I am?” by Lauren Wright Pittman - Digital painting
The image for today depicts Jesus and Peter at the very moment of clarity when each sees the other at their deepest level. That moment is in that ray of brilliant color where each is looking at the other. You’ll notice that there is a lot more subdued color in this piece of art. Life is like that, isn’t it? Moments of clarity, mountaintop moments, are not where we live most of our lives. Perhaps it is these moments that sustain us during all the other moments, the more ordinary, the shadow-of-darkness valley moments.
As we take a few moments to reflect on this image, remember moments of clarity in your life, where the colors seemed more vibrant and the focus was sharper… How have those moments sustained you during the more mundane days?... How have they kept you going on the days when all the colors were washed out?... What are the symbols, like those that are seen in the different swaths of fabric in the image, that have defined you, that have defined the different stages of your life with God?