jgarrison, Author at From a Rocky Hillside

September 18, 2024September 22, 2024

Three Book Reviews

Title cover with covers of the three books reviewed

I’m reviewing three books. One a faith memoir, another a humorous travelogue, and one a classic work that has probably influenced our society more than we can image while also being a work few can claim to have read. There’s something here for everyone

Beth Moore, All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir

(Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale, 2023), 295 pages plus 8 pages of color prints.

Beth Moore has been on my radar for at least twenty years. Women groups at churches I’ve served have used her Bible Study materials. Over the past eight years, I have witnessed from afar her challenges within the Southern Baptist and evangelical community as she boldly spoke out against Donald Trump after his remarks about grabbing women in private places were made public in 2016. And later, I watched from a distance as she both challenged the Southern Baptist for covering up sexual abuse of leaders within the denomination. Yet, while I have read some of her articles, I had not read any of her books until I picked up this memoir. I recommend it.

This is an honest and can imagine how painful the book was to write. In a way, it’s more of an autobiography than a memoir. She tells stories from her childhood and admits how the family tried to hold on to respectability while harboring dark secrets. The darkest was her father’s unwanted touching. She also writes about how she was drawn into church and even the pastor who affirmed her going into ministry as a teenager. Starting out leading women’s ministry classes and acrobatics, she grew a business into a major organization. Coming from a Southern Baptist background, she always stayed with women’s ministry and avoided any leadership position which would undermine pastors (whom she assumed should be male).

Moore: politics and leaving the Southern Baptist Church

Moore also avoided politics until Bill Clinton had his White House affair. This caused her to leave the Democratic Party for the Republican Party. In this manner, she followed the crowd as evangelical leaders across the county openly condemn Clinton. She expected the same response after the release of Trump’s Access Hollywood tapes. It shocked her that instead, many evangelical leaders circled the wagons around Trump.

This memoir tells the story of her coming of age, her marriage, her relationship to her parents, the building of a ministry, and how she came to the decision to leave her the Southern Baptist Church. It was a hard break as she loved the denomination who had nurtured her. The book ends with her and her husband finding a new home within an Anglican Church. While there have been many knotted-up challenges in her life, through it all she always found solace and strength in her Savior, Jesus Christ.

While there are troubling events described in this memoir, Moore’s writing is a pleasure to read. And amongst the pain, there is also laughter. The reader will meet a woman of faith and conviction.

Tony Horwitz, One for the Road: An Outback Adventure

(1987, audible 2020).

I picked up this book from an Audible Sale. Having read and enjoyed three of Horwitz’s books, I thought it would be something nice to listen and laugh while driving. Years ago, I had read Bill Bryson’s, From a Sunburnt County, and was thinking this book might further expand my knowledge of Australia, while providing humorist distractions. It didn’t take long for me to realize the book I was listening to was written long before Bryson’s.

Horwitz was a funny writer. The first book of his I read was Confederates in the Attic. I read most of that book on a cross-country flight. I kept trying, but without much success, to muffle my laughter. Everyone seated around me wanted to know what book I was reading! While this book provides many funny moments (along with a few crude jokes told my travel companions while he’s on the road), it’s not nearly as funny as his later works. As I said, I thought this book was a newer book. After listening just a bit, I found myself googling Horwitz and discovered the book was his first, published in the late 1980s. His writing became tighter over time! Sadly, I also learned that Horwitz had a massive heart attack and died in 2019. He was only 60 years old, just a little younger than me.

First journey into the Outback

In this book, Horwitz has moved to Australia, his wife’s home. It’s in the mid-1980s and they both take positions with a newspaper in Sydney. But Horwitz’s wanderlust doesn’t fade and after a year, he obtains permission from his editor to head out into the bush to see Australia. It’s 1986, and Haley’s Comet is big in the news. Obviously, the comet wasn’t any brighter in Australia than it was here in the states. But the place to see the comet was supposed to be Alice Springs, in the center of the continent. Horwitz sets off by hitch hiking (in the summer, no less). He’s later assigned an article on the conflict between natives and tourists at Ayer’s Rock (now known as Uluru). Renting a car, he drives over to the site and on this way back rolls the car. Luckily, he is bruised, but okay. He flies home, but a little later works out a deal for a month traveling and sets off again.

A month in the Outback

Hitchhiking in Australia is a bit different. Instead of using one’s thumb, the hitch hiker sticks out a finger. But it’s the same in that one must be careful. While he’s traveling there are reports of people killed by hitchhikers, which makes his attempt to get a ride even more difficult. He travels across the country to Perth and then heads along the coast to Darwin. While he has been warned to avoid the Blacks (abiogenies), he finds them hospitable. In one case, they trust him enough to hand him the keys to their junker car along with a handful of bills and have him drive into town to buy beer! In places it was against the law to sell bear to abiogenies, and at other establishments, proprietors refuse to sell to them.

It seems Horwitz’s travels focuses on drinking. In remote areas, people measure distance not by miles or kilometers, but the number of beers consumed. The amount of alcohol consumed while driving is frightening. And people also drink at home and in pubs. Darwin, at the time, had the highest beer consumption in the world, 58 gallons per person! In another town, the authorities tried to reduce drinking on Sundays by passing a law that a pub could only be open for five hours. So, the pubs came together and staggered their hours so that the day was covered. This created a weekly “pub crawl,” as folks went from one to another, every five hours.

While traveling, Horwitz encounters those who work with livestock, in mining and oil exploration, fishermen (and he even spends a day fishing for crayfish) and pearl divers. In places he finds lots of prejudice against natives and immigrants, but in other places find people working together and getting along with one another.

Passover in the Outback

One of the more interesting stories occurred in Broome, a town along the northwest coast. Horwitz, who describes himself as a secular Jew, realized Passover was coming up. Wanting to share the feast with other Jews, he asks around. No one knows of any Jews, but someone suggests he speak with the local Catholic priest. The priest points him to a Jewish government physician. Horwitz meets the physician, who invites him to his home for Passover. Later, when there is a day of remembering those who had died in wars, Horwitz attends. The priest gives the keynote speech and mentions his encounter with a wandering American Jew, which brought a smile to Horwitz. This story, told near the end of the book, allows Horwitz to reflect on his cultural background and his desire to wander.

Recommendations

I don’t think this book is up to the standard of Horwitz’s other books. In addition to Confederates in the Attic, I have also read A Long and Dangerous Journey and Spying on the South). However, I still enjoyed it and recommended it. It’s a great first book and in it one sees Horwitz’s potential to become a laugh-out-loud travel writer. The narrator for the Audible edition is one of Horwitz’s sons.

St. Augustine, City of God

(427, Penguin Books, 2003 edition), 1097 pages, Audible translation narrated by David McCallion, 46 hours and 32 minutes, 2018.

There is one reason why I am behind on my readings for 2024. I had set a goal of 48 books and am currently six books behind thanks to slogging through this classic. I’ve listened to it all and went back and reread interesting parts. Maybe I could count this as 22 books (as Augustine did) and then I’d have already exceeded my goal! I had an old copy of this book from seminary, but it was abbreviated, with just the best parts, so I had to purchase a new copy.

City of God is a classic. In it, we see Augustine’s keen knowledge of the world. He knows the myths and legends of the pagan gods, the history of the world up to his time, and is well versed in philosophy and science. He understands astronomy including how eclipses occur. While he discounts numerology as a tool for understanding scripture, he is knowledgeable on mathematics. He discusses botany and biology, including knowing of some animals who live super hot environments which he uses as support for his ideas on hell. And he has a great grasp of the history of the world and can parallel what occurred in the Bible to what was happening at the same time in Rome, Greece, or Persia.

First half of the work

The first half of this massive work defends Christianity from the charge that Rome’s fall was due to Christians abandoning the pagan gods. Augustine spends 12 books showing how the pagan gods failed to protect other cities such as Troy. Augustine shows a keen knowledge of the pagan world in his defense. In this section of the book, he also advises Christians on how to act during such a tragedy in which many had committed suicide seeing it as preferable to torture and/or rape. Augustine encouraged his readers to trust in God even in the face of torture and death.

Second half of the work

In the second half of the book, Augustine follows the development of the two cities. He links the earthly city to Cain, which is the city for reprobate. The early city is identified with Babylon and Rome. Working through the Scriptures, he makes a case for a parallel city planned by God for the faithful, the elect. In addition to showing the development of the two cities, he also parallels much of what happens in scripture to what was happening in the rest of the world during the same period.

In this half of the work, Augustine shows his keen insight into the scriptures. While he acknowledges there is no mention of Christ in Old Testament, he lays out how Hebrew Scriptures points to Christ. It is in this section he also ties Hebrew history to the history of the larger world. Augustine makes a strong case against those who think they can predict Christ’s return. His writing on this subject makes it clear that there were many who seemed to think they knew God’s mind with their elaborate schemes plotting out the end of time. Not much has changed, has it?

Conclusion of the work

The last chapters focus on the end of history. Augustine makes a case for hell but suggests life in hell would be preferable to total annihilation. He discusses the final judgment. He also writes about the heavenly City of God coming in fulness but is reluctant to make to suggestions of what it might be like beyond what’s found in Scripture.

Augustine seems to value the body and our experiences in this world. I was surprised when he addressed praying for our enemies. While he endorses such prayers, he suggests we should not pray for those spirits (demons) who have no bodies! Augustine obviously writes from a patriarchy society, I didn’t find his writing to be anti-female, as I sometimes see him interpreted.

Conclusion

While at times this book seems to slog along, there is much to discover in it. I found myself realizing how my limited knowledge of Roman culture and history made it more difficult to fully appreciate Augustine’s insights. I don’t think the 21^st Century can nurture another Augustine. Could you image today someone what could discuss history, theology, religion, along with advance astronomy, physics, biology with the brightest in these fields? This work has greatly influenced Western Culture, from politics to theology. It inspired Martin Luther and John Calvin, two of the leading thinkers of the Protestant Reformation. It should be studied.

September 15, 2024September 15, 2024

Arguing to Cover Up the Problem

Sermon cover title showing two rock churches

Jeff Garrison
Bluemont & Mayberry Churches
September 15, 2024
Mark 9:14-29

Before reading the scripture:

We return to Mark this week. If you remember, from two weeks ago, we left Jesus along with three of the disciples—Peter, James, and John—as they headed down mountain in search for the rest of the disciples.^[1]

In our passage today, we learn the remaining nine disciples weren’t slacking while Jesus and his core group were on the mountain. Instead, they did ministry, which involved healings and casting out demons. It also included arguing with the Scribes. Somethings never change. As Jesus arrives, the nine are in a heated argument. This passage contains one of the most touching expressions of human ability and faith, with the man with a possessed boy crying out, “I believe, help my unbelief.”

Shortly afterwards, Jesus performs his last exorcism in Mark.^[2]

Read Mark 9:14-29

I wonder what everyone argued about. We’re not really told. Yet, everyone seems glad Jesus has arrived. “Overcome with awe,” we’re told. Perhaps, as Jesus and three of the disciples have just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration, a glow still surrounds his face. Or, more likely, they’re just glad he’s there so he can settle their differences.^[3]

Jesus asks, “what’s going on.” He doesn’t get the answer we expect. I don’t know why the nine disciples who’d remained behind didn’t just lay it all out for Jesus. They could set have forth both sides of the argument and let Jesus settle the issue. Maybe they were embarrassed.

Or, perhaps this is one of those all-too frequent occasions where the real issue is something different than what the argument was about. This happens all the time, especially in relationships. You argue about one thing when you are mad about something else.

What’s at issue here is a possessed boy driven into fits and driving his parents insane. The boy needs help. We’re told the disciples, the nine who were not with Jesus, tried to free the boy from the demon. They failed. Some scribes were also at this gathering and, we might assume, likewise, were unable to help the boy.

I have an idea what this argument was all about. Since neither the disciples nor the scribes can heal the boy, they distract the crowd by debating theology. It keeps both sides from looking bad. They argued over the nature of God, which is an important topic I think we’ll all agree. But while they argue, this kid rolls on the ground foaming at the mouth. Compassion must trump even correct theology.

We’ve all been created in God’s image and given a dose of compassion. However, it seems as if those gathered around this boy have lost theirs. I have a hunch why they suddenly get quiet when Jesus asks what’s up. They know Jesus will see through the fog and get to the real issue—a child in need.

While the disciples, scribes and the crowd remain silent, a man in the back speaks up. “I brought my son to your disciples. They couldn’t rid his body of the demon.” The silence of the crowd and the plea of the father focus us on the real issue. Jesus is incensed. “How much longer,” he shouts, “do I have to put up with you?” Jesus directs his anger at the disciples, in other words at the ones who should know better. And you know what, we’re a lot like the disciples. If we can’t fix something, we create a distraction and/or blame someone else.

Jesus then asks them to bring the boy to him. When the demon inside his body sees Jesus, it goes berserk. Even demons believe and tremble, we’re told.^[4] The demon throws the child into a violent fit. The healing stories of Jesus are always more than just a demonstration of brute power overcoming illness and evil. If Jesus only wanted to demonstrate his power, he would have just said, “Get gone, you bad demon,” and the freed boy would run home to his momma. Instead, Jesus uses this opportunity to teach.

This passage also reminds us that sometimes, the worst seems to come just before the healing. Kind of like the coldest part of the night falls just before dawn. Here, the demon throws the boy into an even more violent episode knowing it will soon to be expelled.

As the boy shakes uncontrollably, Jesus asks the father about how long the boy has been like this. The desperate father tells Jesus the boy has been like this since childhood. A demon has tried continually to destroy the boy by throwing him into the fire and into bodies of water. Evil always brings destruction and death.

Mark is the short gospel; often brief on the details. Interestingly, here, Mark provides more details than the other two gospels which also have this story. Mark recalls the conversation between Jesus and the boy’s father.^[5] We get a sense of the father’s desperation. “If you are able, do something,” the father pleads.

This request takes Jesus back. “If I am able?” he asks. “If I am able? Sure, I’m able; all things are possible with faith.” I wonder if the man’s faith had been challenged by the disciples’ inability to help his son. After all, he had obviously heard about Jesus and the twelve and felt if he could just get his son to them, he’d be made well. But then, it didn’t happen.

The man assumed the disciples had the powers of their master and is now down to his last straw. “Maybe Jesus can help,” he thinks, “but maybe not. I better not set my hopes too high.”

When Jesus tells him that all things are possible for one who believes, he cries out, “I believe, help my unbelief.” This is the climax of the passage. “I believe, help my unbelief.” It’s a cry of desperation. He believes because he has no other option.

He believes, but he stills harbors doubts. If we are honest, most of us identify with the man’s feelings. We know Jesus is the answer, but we don’t want to trust him enough to throw on him all our concerns.

“Consider the lilies of the field and birds of the air,”^[6] Jesus tells us. We’re quick to remind Jesus that we are not flowers or birds, but people, human beings, Homo sapiens, the crown of creation. We are people with jobs and homes and mortgages and car payments and kids with whom we have a hard time relating. Like I said, we’re like this man. We believe, but only to a certain point. We believe, but not fully. Where we get in trouble is our desire to keep some control for ourselves.

“I believe; help my unbelief.” This is an honest statement of our human condition. The ability to say “I believe” comes the grace God gives us to seek him out. The cry, “help my unbelief,” is a prayer of confession that demonstrates to God our dependence upon him. To say, “I believe,” isn’t enough. We can all say, “I believe,” and still believe it is something we do by ourselves. We can say “I believe,” and believe were in control. But when we say, “Help my unbelief,” we admit our need and dependence upon God.

“Prayer is faith turned to God,” one theologian says.^[7] The boy’s father turns to the only one who can help. This story is not about the boy’s father getting his theology right or anything like that. It’s about him completely trusting the Lord of the Universe, the one also provides us with the faith we need for such trust.^[8]

It’s difficult to admit; but we can’t do it alone. Here, as we’ve seen before in Mark, when Jesus gets the disciples alone inside a house, he clarifies things.^[9] This type of demon can only be driven out by prayer, Jesus says.

Oddly, Mark doesn’t spend as much time discussing prayer as the other gospels. But he wants his readers to know that strength lies in them trusting God, as seen through Jesus.^[10] Overcoming the powers of evil is not something we do by ourselves. That’s why Jesus came, as we’ve seen earlier in Mark, to bind the “strong man.”^[11] Only by depending upon God can we be truly successful, for only God can help us overcome to power of evil.

This passage reminds us that we’re not God. We don’t run the company, and we’re not the CEO. Jesus is in control and we’re here to do his work. We depend on him and his power as we listen to the cries of those in pain. We listen and reach out with compassion and love, doing what we can to help and praying for help when needed. Amen.

^[1] https://fromarockyhillside.com/2024/09/01/the-transfiguration/

^[2] Douglas R. A. Hare, Westminster Bible Companion: Mark (Louisville: W/JKP, 1996), 109.

^[3]Interestingly, the crowd is in awe before Jesus heals! See Morna D. Hooker, The Gospel According to Saint Mark (London: A & C Black, 1991, Hendrickson Publishing, 1997), 222-223. More likely they were in awe of Jesus’ past healings as the glow would have quickly faded and if not, why would Jesus want to keep the transfiguration a secret? See Mark 9:9 and James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 276.

^[4] James 2:19

^[5] Matthew 17:14-21 and Luke 9:37-43.

^[6] Matthew 6:25-28.

^[7] W. Grundmann, as quoted in Edwards, 281.

^[8] See the sermon on this passage by Fleming Rutledge in Help My Unbelief: 20^th Anniversary Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2000), 9.

^[9] Mark 4:1-2, 10; 7:14, 28; 10:1, 10. See Edwards 281.

^[10] Mark only speaks of prayer in three other places. Mark 1:35, 6:46, and 14:32-39. See Edwards, 281.

^[11] Mark 3:27. See https://fromarockyhillside.com/2024/04/07/the-unpardonable-sin-baseball-doing-the-will-of-god/

September 12, 2024September 12, 2024

Riding the Greenbrier River Trail with my Brother

title slide with photo of me and my brother on bikes

former railroad crossing in Clover Lick — former RR crossings in Clover Lick

In 1899, the C & O railroad began building a line running north alongside the Greenbrier River to tap into the rich timberlands of West Virginia. The next year, the railroad reached Cass, 80 miles north of the mainline which cut through White Sulfur Springs and Lewisburg. A few years later, the line continued north until it connected to the Western Maryland. The Greenbrier division consisted of a little over 100 miles, most of which was along the river. Of course, the success in cutting the timber led to the demise of the railroad.

By 1920, most of the virgin timber in the lower section had been cut and the line began to financially struggle. But it kept going, providing an outlet to the larger world for communities in Greenbrier and Pocahontas County such as Anthony, Spring Creek, Beard, Hillsboro, Seebert, Marlinton, Clover Lick, and Cass. Except for Marlinton, which is the seat of government for Pocahontas County, most of these communities today are a shell of their former selves.

a radio telescope at Green Banks Observatory — Green Banks Observatory (one of several large antennas)

One of the more interesting pieces of freight for the railroad were sections of a large antenna for the Green Bank Observatory. This observatory has several radio telescopes, including the largest radio telescope which can track a point in space. Because of the sensitive antennas, the area is in a radio restrictive zone. This limits the height of antennas and the power of transmitters. If you visit Green Bank Observatory, you had to turn your cell phones off! Much of the area along the rail trail has no cell phone service and there is limited radio stations cover the area. The designer of the antenna had a mockup built to ensure it could be transported to near Green Bank, as it had to pass through two tunnels.

Passenger service along this branch of the C&O ended in 1958. In the late 1970s, freight traffic, which had dwindled to a weekly run, ended and the tracks removed. As the logging company which owned Cass Railroad had done when it closed in 1960, the C&O turned 80 miles of the right of way over to the state. The Cass Railroad is operated as a tourist train state park

A Cass railroad Shay engine — A Cass “Shay” locomotive

Today, the old railroad bed is a trail is a linear park enjoyed by hikers, bicycles, and horses. Adjacent to the trail are several other state parks: Cass Scenic Railroad, Watoga, Droop Mountain Battlefield, and Beartown. Additional land is held by both state forest and the Monongahela National Forest. These parks and forest provide ample opportunity for camping or staying in cabins, many of which were built by the Civilian Conversation Corps during the Depression.

Cass West Virginia — Monday mornings were quiet in Cass

This past Sunday, my brother and I headed up to a cabin in Watoga State Park. We spent Monday and Tuesday riding 60 miles of the Greenbrier River Trail, from Cass to Spring Creek. We had two idea days to ride. Both mornings, we left the cabin with temperatures in the 30s, but my mid-day we were in t-shirts.

We started at Cass, at the northern end of the trail and road south. Highlights included the town of Clover Lick, which has one of the few remaining stations (others are in Cass and Marlinton. 14 miles south of Cass, we passed through the Sharp Tunnel, which exits on a trestle, taking us to the east side of the river. Below the trestle were ropes hanging from a river birch. I could imagine on warmer days, children swinging out into the river. Nearby were some camps with fire rings that may have seen a few hobos in earlier days.

my brother and I at Sharp Tunnel — With my brother at Sharp Tunnel

Just before you get into Marlinton, there was an old water tower, the only one which remains on the river trail. In Marlinton, there is a bike repair stand, which allowed me to put my bike up and adjust the gear changing lever. While I had enough tools with me, the stand also had such tools attached to a cable (so they’d remain for other bikers in need of a repair). We ate our picnic lunch at a table along the trail in Marlinton.

After Marlinton, we had about 12 more miles to ride before we arrived at Seebert. I had left my vehicle there, so we loaded up our bikes and drove back to Cass to pick up my brother’s vehicle. Afterwards, on the way back to Watoga, we stopped again in Marlinton for dinner at the Greenbrier Grille and Lodge. If I had known they had rooms, I might have stayed here. Then we could brag about staying at the Greenbrier (there is another 5-star Greenbrier in White Sulfur Springs, a place visited by 28 Presidents).

plate of the "West Virginia Original" — West Virginia Original

We ate outside on the porch overlooking the Greenbrier and a hoard of ducks waiting to be fed scraps. They had a meal titled “The West Virginia Original” and is probably not on the menu at the other “Greenbrier.” But as we were there, we had to try it. There were lots of fried potatoes, along with kielbasa sausage, sautéed onions and mushrooms. It was served in a cast iron frying pan and included sides (I got pinto beans and cole slaw), and a slice of cornbread. I downed it with a local IPA.

Outside Droop Mt. Tunnel — me at Droop Mountain Tunnel

We decided not to try to ride the rest of the trail on Tuesday. We both had places to be on Wednesday. After shuttling cars, we rode our bikes to Spring Creek. This section passed a state prison, the Droop Mountain tunnel along with idyllic scenery of hayfields being cut and baled. The Droop Mountain tunnel runs under the site of a Civlil War battle up on the mountain . We finished up and had the cars shuttled by mid-afternoon, said our goodbyes and headed toward our respective homes. It had been a good trip and was nice to catch up with my brother in person for the first time since our father’s death.

I planned to stop at the Pearl Buck’s birthplace at Hillsboro on my way home. Buck was a missionary to China and a wonderful author. Her book on China (The Good Earth) won the Pulitzer Prize. She also wrote another good book on Korea titled The Living Reed. Sadly, the place was closed. This is the third time I have tried to stop there, and it seems to always be closed. So I drove on home.

Lunch spot along the river — Tuesday Lunch Spot

September 8, 2024September 8, 2024

Mayberry’s Anniversary Service

Blog title with drawing of Mayberry Church

Sermon recorded at Mayberry on Friday, September 6, 2024

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry Presbyterian Church Anniversary Service
Acts 21:1-17
September 8, 2024

At the beginning of worship:

100 years is a long time. It was the roaring twenties. I’m sure it didn’t feel that way here along the Blue Ridge. The boom the area felt with the building of the dams along the Dan River and the Blue Ridge Parkway were still a decade away. The chestnut trees were dying, a blight which wiped out roughly 20% of the trees of the forest. The loss of chestnuts was a disaster. The nuts fed hogs and were collected as a cash crop so those living in New York City could enjoy “chestnuts roasting on an open fire.”

The Rev. Robert (Bob) Childress as a seminary student. From “A Man Who Moved a Mountain”

100 years ago, it might not have been the best time to start a church in Mayberry. But there were those with a vision. The brush arbor, which I spoke of in my sermon last week,^[1] had been used for revivals in this area since the Second Great Awakening at the beginning of the 19^th Century. The Reverend Roy Smith held such services and brought along a promising ministerial student named Bob Childress. They organized a Sunday School. Then they organized a church. And twice a month, as a seminary student, Bob drove his Model T from Union Seminary in Richmond to Mayberry.^[2] Just thinking about that journey makes my back ache.

But here we are today, celebrating, and giving thanks for those who came before us.

Before reading of scripture:

I’m not going to preach from Mark this week but will return to the gospel next week. Instead, let’s look at a passage from the Acts of the Apostles.

Cover photo of "The Man Who Moved a Mountain"

The second half of Acts is often overlooked. The lectionary skips almost all of it, but there are memorable stories in this section, as memorable as those about Bob Childress in The Man Who Moved a Mountain. The last third of Acts is about Paul and his journeys, including his last one to Rome.

Today, the text takes us on a long journey, from modern day Turkey to the Phoenicia shores. Luke, who in addition to writing the gospel, also wrote Acts, provides unique details. He even mentions unloading the cargo of the ship. When Paul last traveled to Jerusalem, his journey from Ephesus to Jerusalem took just two sentences.^[3] Here, Luke slows down and provides detail. He shows Paul’s determination to go to Jerusalem despite the danger.

As Paul travels, he stays with believers along the way which provide us with an insight into first century hospitality and what it means to be on a Christian journey. Such hospitality was still around in 1924, when Bob Childress made that drive from Richmond and stayed with Abe Webb, who’d wait up for him and had heated bricks and irons to toss into his bed so he might warm up from the cold trip as he slept.^[4]

Read Acts 21:1-17

It seems like a long time ago. It was before COVID. In 2018. I attended the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in St. Louis. Afterwards, I rented a car and drove to Iowa City, to attend a session on writing humor at the Iowa Summer Writing Festival. Coming back to St. Louis, to turn in the rental car and catch a flight home, I had an extra day. This allowed me the luxury of taking the backroads, catching up with a friend, and checking out sights.

trains in Ft. Madison, Iowa — trains move through Ft. Madison, Iowa

My plan was to cross over the Mississippi, from Iowa to Illinois, at Fort Madison. A major rail town, it’s where the old the Santa Fe line, from Chicago to Los Angeles, crosses the river. Knowing I would see plenty of trains along with barges on the Mississippi, I stopped at the old Santa Fe depot, which is now a local museum. There, I talked to an old railroad passing time watching trains. Before retirement, he worked for the Santa Fe and knew something about the railroad.

As I arrived, trains stopped. The bridge opened, so they had to wait. A large set of barges came out under the bridge. When the bridge closed, the trains began to move. But then they stopped again. And there was a large container train made its way through the other trains, just booking it. The retired railroad guy identified the fast train as a land-bridge express. This train hauls containers from Las Angeles to ports on the East Coast. There, the containers are reloaded onto ships for Europe. These containers don’t go through customs and are sealed for the entire journey. Who knew!

One of my metaphors for the Christian journey I have used before is of a train on a transcontinental journey. Every ten hours or so, the train stops, and one crew gets off while another takes over. Each crew has their own run and responsibility. The guy at the throttle, who waved to us before he crossed the Mississippi, never saw the train being formed by the Pacific nor watched its containers loaded onto a ship on the Atlantic. His job was to move the train safely from point A, probably somewhere in Iowa, to point B in Illinois or Indiana. The engineer trusts that other engineers will see the train to its destination.

When it comes to the church, our task is to faithfully move the church a little further down the line. The church, as well as us as individuals, are on a journey. We are thankful and indebted to those in the past who help bring the church up to the present. And we must trust God to supply others to lead the church after we’re gone and have been promoted to the church triumphant.

Journey has always been a popular theme within Christianity. From the early days, there were those who went on pilgrimages. These were journeys designed to draw people into a closer relationship with God. According to Dante, pilgrimages required “the challenge of distance and a sense of being a stranger in a strange land.”^[5]

While pilgrimages fell out of favor with the early Protestant movement, the Puritan John Bunyan brought it back, at least metaphorically.

Bunyan describes our entire lives as a pilgrimage. Pilgrim’s Progress is his allegorical tale. His protagonist, Christian (what a convenient name), dreams of a journey from this world to the next. Christian lived in the City of Destruction, but his journey takes him to the Celestial City on Mount Zion. Bunyan reminds us that our ultimate citizenship isn’t to this world, but to God’s kingdom. Like Dante said, we’re strangers to this world. In this fashion, we’re all pilgrims.

Paul, in our passage this morning, has the same sort of feelings. He makes the journey because the Spirit compiles him, even though others warn him of danger. As he makes his way from Asia-minor to Jerusalem, Paul’s encounters echo many things Luke has already told us in his gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles.^[6]

In Caesarea, Paul stays with Philip, the evangelist, and one of the seven original deacons called to the task early in the book of Acts. As a deacon, Philip assignment included the task of seeing that the needs of all the members of the Way, especially the vulnerable such as widows, are fed and cared for.^{^[7]}

Interestingly, one of the other original deacons was Stephen. It was at Stephen’s stoning that we first hear of Saul, later known to us as Paul.^[8] He was on the other side at this point, ready to persecute those who followed Jesus. Paul, who watched with approval the killing of Philip’s co-worker, has now become friends with Philip. Following Jesus should do this, bring together those who were enemies.

Philip has four daughters, all prophets, which reminds us of Peter’s sermon on Pentecost when he quotes Joel about sons and daughters prophesying.^[9] When Paul first set out for Damascus, his mission was to bind up the Christians in Syria and lead them back to Jerusalem for trial.^[10] Now Agabus, another prophet, shows Paul how this will be reversed as Paul is bound and taken away.

Furthermore, the warnings Paul receives are akin to the warnings Jesus gives the disciples about going to Jerusalem.^[11] For Paul, like Jesus, as we’ve been seen lately in my sermons on Mark, Jerusalem is a dangerous place.^[12]

Despite the warnings, Paul feels complied by God’s Spirit to go to Jerusalem, just as Jesus felt complied to go there. It doesn’t seem as if Paul fully knows fully what’s ahead. He doesn’t die in Jerusalem, but he was prepared to die. However, Paul’s ministry takes a significant twist in Jerusalem, as he is taken from there, as a prisoner, to Rome.

I’ve heard it said that when Christians are willing to die for the gospel, the gospel can’t be stopped. Paul knows he’s involved with a movement larger than himself. Even Bob Childress, who faced down drunks with guns, experienced danger.^[13] But Bob and Paul knew their first loyalty is to Jesus Christ and to go where Jesus wants them to go.

There are three highlights from this passage I’d like to offer. First, Paul enjoys the fellowship of believers wherever he goes. When Paul enters a town, the first thing he does is to seek out Christians and he delights in their company. And today, this congregation still enjoys being in fellowship with each other. (I should cut this sermon a bit so we can get to the waiting food).

Second, they pray together. When Paul departs Tyre, everyone got on their knees on the beach. In the sharing of hospitality and prayer, both parties are blessed through what they give and receive. The Christian life is of both giving and receiving, of blessings and being a blessing.

The Childress family had such a blessing from prayer one of the years when Bob was in seminary. They were out of funds. It was going to be a bleak Christmas, but a physician in Danville, who had heard Bob preach, felt compelled to send him $300, a lot of money in the mid-1920s. It turned out to be a good Christmas with presents and food.^[14]

The third thing: Paul knows imprisonment and perhaps death lies ahead. But he does not fear it. Paul no longer sees himself as a free man. Paul accepts his role as a prisoner of God’s Spirit. He’s a slave to Christ. Even though there are storm clouds ahead, Paul continues because he knows he’s doing what God wills. In the same way, Bob Childress forged ahead at Mayberry because he knew he was doing God’s work.

You know, everyone has troubles. When we feel we are a part of God’s team, we can endure the pain because we know we are not alone. Our purpose is larger than ourselves. It’s no longer about Paul. It’s about what God will do.

These three highlights we can take from Paul’s journey: fellowship, prayer, and focusing on something larger than ourselves. There’s joy from fellowship with other believers. When we pray together, we connect with our Heavenly Father and one another. And finally, we realize our efforts are just a small part of what’s God’s Spirit is doing in the world. We must be faithful and trust God’s Spirit to take care of the rest.

Remember that train rushing from one coast to another. We have our own section of rail for which we’re responsible. As the old gospel song goes, “We must keep our hand upon the throttle and our eyes upon the rail.”^[15] It’s not about us, it’s about God’s mission. Amen.

^[1] https://fromarockyhillside.com/2024/09/01/the-transfiguration/

^[2] Richard C. Davids, The Man Who Moved a Mountain, (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1972), 71.

^[3] Acts 18:21-22, Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Acts (Nashville: Abingdon, 2003), 291.

^[4] Davids, 69-70.

^[5] Lisa Deam, 3000 Miles to Jesus: Pilgrimage as a Way of Life for Spiritual Seekers (Minneapolis: Broadleaf Books, 2021), 11.

^[6] Gaventa, 292.

^[7] Acts 6:1-6.

^[8] Acts 7:58.

^[9] Acts 2:17, Joel 2:28.

^[10] Acts 9:2.

^[11] Luke 9:22, 44

^[12] In Mark 8:31, Jesus tells the disciples for the first of three times of his upcoming death. See https://fromarockyhillside.com/2024/08/25/who-do-you-say-that-i-am/

^[13] Davids, 65.

^[14] Davids, 72-73.

^[15] Charles Tillman, “Life is Like a Mountain Railway.”

September 4, 2024September 5, 2024

The Box (and Sunday School discipline)

title slide showing the box and several of the books it contains

A few years ago, my father gave me a wooden box designed to hold important papers. Originally, it belonged to my father’s great-grandfather, Duncan James McKenzie. It was passed down to my great-grandfather Daniel Kenneth McKenzie, then to my grandmother, who gave it to my father. I have written about my great grandmother before: Aunt Callie’s Place and about her death when I was seven.

The box contained some old prayer books and hymnals that go back into the early 19^th Century. Also in the box was my great-grandfather’s Book of Church Order from the 1940s. My grandmother stored in the box a number of photos (see above). She also added several things relating to me including a copy of my graduation from seminary, an article of mine published in the Presbyterian Survey, and a bulletin from a time I preached at Culdee Presbyterian Church in January 1994. This is the church where I was baptized on Easter Sunday 1957 and where she was a member for ninety years. My grandmother joined the church at the unusual age of eight, and once told me about her conviction to join and meeting with the ministers and elders.

I recently read through some of these prayer books as I looked for prayers to use for the 100^th Anniversary Service at Mayberry Presbyterian Church. In Prayers Suitable for Children and Sunday Schools published in Philadelphia by the American Sunday School Union in 1831, I came across a “Sabbath-school Prayer on dismissing a Scholar for Ill-Conduct.”

While this prayer won’t make it into the service this week, I found myself wondering if Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) may have been the recipient of such a prayer. After all, Twain supposedly credited the Presbyterian Church for teaching him to “fear God and dread Sunday School.” And this prayer book was published just before Twain’s birth in 1835.

Here’s the prayer:

Great and holy God, who art angry with the wicked every day, we should feel sorrow for the scholar whose evil conduct has caused his being turned out of this school. Thou knowest that he has been warned and reproved; that he has been often forgiven, and kindly entreated to cease to do evil and learn to do well, but all in vain. Thou hast said to them who desire to walk in Thy ways, “come out from among the wicked, and be ye separate.” It is right then that we should be separated from this wicked boy: but, O Lord, who art acquainted with all our ways, suffer us not proudly to think that we are righteous and may despise him. May we remember that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” May we feel that we have no merits of our own to boast of, and must all suffer the everlasting punishment of the wicked, unless we are saved through the righteousness of Jesus Christ. O grant that we, and this disgraced boy, may repent of all our sins, and be forgiven. May his disgrace and punishment be the means of leading him, and us, to think with fear of the threatening in Thy word that “the wicked shall be turned into hell,” and all who forget God. This is a fearful sentence; but, O merciful Lord, there are gracious promises in Thy word, as well as awful threatenings. We read there, “Let the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” O, by thy grace, merciful Father, soften the heart of this obstinate boy into repentance. O help him to forsake his evil ways and turn unto Thee, and to do Thou, according to Thy promises, abundantly pardon him, for the sake of Jesus Christ, and grant that he may soon, with a changed heart, return like a stray sheep to this fold again. May we all be warned by his punishment, and fear to follow his example. Let us not repay the kindness of our teachers with disobedience and ingratitude. O forbid that we should be so thankless to Thee and to them, for Sabbath-school instruction, but may we receive it gratefully and attentively, and learning more and more of Thy holy word, take it for a guide in all our conduct. We would again plead with Thee, merciful Father, for him, and grant that he may be “one sinner that repenteth.” Over whom angels in heaven rejoice. Hear our prayer, and grant it, merciful God, for the sake of Jesus Christ, who came into the world to save penitent sinners. Amen.

Boy, that’s a long paragraph! Italics (which is loss in making this a quote) was used for the male pronoun, which I supposed could alert the prayer to change to a female pronoun if the offender was a girl. Of course, that probably seldom happened!

Thankfully, this disclaimer was attached to the prayer:

“The dismission of a scholar from a Sunday-school, as a matter of discipline, is to be applied only in an extreme case. The danger of driving an ill-disposed child from the influence of the school is great; perseverance in kind and affectionate treatment may reclaim him.”

Growing up, I remember the Sunday School Superintendent (does anyone use those titles today?) had a desk in the mechanical room of the church. Mr. Howard, a pharmacist in the church, was the superintendent. I was threatened to be sent to his office (like the principal’s office), but the only time I remember going there was to drop off the attendance roll and the class offerings. Maybe the threat was enough to keep me in line.

The box with photos of some of the books it contains — The box with some of its content. The open music book was a tutor for teaching music. The book on top without a title was the prayer book published in 1831. The red book beside it was published in 1907.

September 1, 2024September 1, 2024

The Transfiguration

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Churches
September 1, 2024
Mark 9:1-13

Sermon recorded at Mayberry Presbyterian Church on Friday, August 30, 2024.

At the beginning of worship

About the time I was baptized at Culdee Presbyterian Church on Easter Sunday 1957, a man named Thomas Scott Cadden in Stokie, Illinois crafted the theme song for Mr. Clean. The next year, the song appeared in a commercial with a beefy baldheaded man in a white t-shirt and a golden earring. Proctor and Gamble discovered a winning combination. Was Mr. Clean a sailor? Or a genie? One could make a case for both, but whatever his background, he was known for wiping away grime and making things dazzle.

Mr. Clean gets rid of dirt and grime and grease in just a minute!
Mr. Clean will clean your whole house and everything that’s in it!
Floors, doors, walls, halls, white sidewall tires, and old golf balls!
Sinks, stoves, bathtubs he’ll do, he’ll even help clean laundry too!^[1]

Most of us have depended on Mr. Clean products during our lifetime, but if you really want to dazzle, baptism is the way to go. Only Jesus can really clean away the grease and grime of sin. In today’s passage, like three of the disciples, we’ll get a glimpse of the glory that comes from being made dazzling clean.

Before reading the Scripture

I’m preaching on the Transfiguration today. When I have preached on the transfiguration in the past, it was because I was following the lectionary. This passage appears with minor differences in all three of the synoptic gospels. And it always comes up in the lectionary just before Lent. In the past, I had to force myself to preach on the passage. I’ve wondered what the big deal was about it.

But by working through Mark’s gospel, chapter by chapter, verse by verse, I find the passage to be more compelling. When it comes up in the lectionary, the passage sits out by itself.^[2] But by working through the gospel, we get to see it in context. Last week, we heard Peter profess Jesus to be the Messiah. Afterwards, Jesus begins to focus on heading to Jerusalem where he will be executed. The disciples, thinking as any human, don’t like this idea. What good is a dead Messiah? Besides, as we’ll see today, they have no frame of reference to understand Jesus’ resurrection.

In today’s text, after a phrase that just seems to hang out there in verse 1, Jesus provides three of the disciples a glimpse of his glory. Of course, they are not to share this experience until after Jesus’ resurrection.

There’s a lot of unanswered questions in this text. How did the disciples know it was Moses and Elijah with Jesus? And what does their presence mean? Let’s see if we might find out.

Read Mark 9:1-13

Jesus, in the first chapter of the gospel of Mark, proclaims the kingdom of God has come near.^[3] Jesus in verse 1 of today’s text speaks about those not dying until the kingdom of God come with power. This confusing verse has created lots of debate. Some, interpreting it to mean the kingdom coming at the end of the age, wonder if Jesus didn’t get it right. After all, everyone alive in roughly 30 AM have long been dead.

I think Jesus refers to his resurrection, not to the end of history. And many, actually most, of those who followed Jesus would still be alive for his resurrection.^[4] This also fits into the upcoming story of the transfiguration. In fact, this sentence in all three gospel accounts precede the transfiguration.^[5] Knowing this, we can understand the Transfiguration as a foretaste of the kingdom for those disciples closest to Jesus.

The disciples are privy with the knowledge that Jesus is more than just a miracle worker traveling around doing good. Jesus comes with divine purposes that the disciples don’t fully understand. They don’t even seem to understand what happened on the mountain that day, but at least they know there is something special about Jesus.

This passage follows a similar trajectory to the story of Moses on the mountain in Exodus 24. In both, there is a wait of six days. Mark doesn’t put much emphasize on numbers,^[6] but for some reason mentions six days passing between their time in Caesarea Philip and their climb up the mountain. These days makes it harder to pinpoint which mountain they were on.

Traditionally, Mount Tabor is considered the mountain of transfiguration, but it’s not a high mountain and it was inhabited in the first century. So, it wasn’t a place where they could be by themselves. But they could have walked there within a few days. Mount Hermon is another option. It dominates the landscape around Caesarea Philippi. The disciples could have waited in the mountain’s shadow for a few days. But we really don’t know which mountain this took place.

It’s obvious Jesus takes the three disciples away privately. He has something important to show them and doesn’t want the others to catch a glimpse of the glory to be revealed.

They head up on a high mountain. Mountains in scripture play an important role in revelation. Abraham takes Issac to the mountain where he learns much about God providing the sacrifice.^[7] Moses encounters God at the burning bush, which changes the trajectory of his life.^[8] Elijah, whom these disciples also meet, found solace in the mountains.^[9] And now three of the disciples find themselves along with Jesus on the mountain with Moses and Elijah.

Jesus and friends appear as if they’ve been bleached out by Mr. Clean. We don’t know how the disciples know it’s Moses and Elijah, but maybe it was from what they discussed with Jesus. Or maybe Moses had some tablets and Elijah the reins of a chariot. However they knew, the disciples are stunned.

Peter must say something. That’s his nature. He’s impulsive.^[10]He immediately suggests setting up some tents. These were probably more like a brush arbor which was used even early in Mayberry’s history, than a canvas pup tent. It would be a place for the three of them to rest out of the sun. Peter, also, I think, wants to hold onto this moment. But he speaks without thinking. After all, what did Peter and the disciples have which these “spirit-like figures” need?

Peter still doesn’t get Jesus. The idea of three identical brush arbors, like they’d build during the feast of the tabernacle,^[11]shows his thinking is tied to the past. He essentially suggests Jesus is on the same level as Moses and Elijah. But that’s not the way it goes. That’s, as I said last week, putting new wine into old wineskins.^[12] While Moses and Elijah are important, their importance are not equal to Christ.

Soon after Peter’s silly remarks, a cloud sweeps over the mountain. They no longer can see. I’m sure many of us upon the mountain have experience how things can go from being clear to foggy in a minute. But then the cloud blows away. Only Jesus remains. The experience is over; it’s time to hike down the mountain and rejoin the other disciples.

Along the way down, Jesus tells them to keep this a secret until after he has risen from the dead. This led to an almost comical discussion about Elijah’s coming (or return). Not knowing what Jesus was referring, they change the subject to ask about Elijah. And Jesus speaks about his on upcoming passion, before he lets them in on a secret, Elijah has already come. Here, Jesus probably refers to John the Baptist.

In this closing discussion, the disciples are lost because nothing has prepared them to understand that the Messiah or Elijah would have to suffer. Yet, they learn both are destined to suffer. John the Baptist has already been beheaded. In the first century, suffering wasn’t seen as redemptive for Jews. You strove to avoid suffering. And here’s Jesus telling them that the path the Messiah walks leads to the cross.^[13] We’re like the disciples here. We can’t imagine suffering leading to redemption. It’s not what we think winning looks like.

This passage leaves us with more questions than answers. Maybe that’s on purpose. After all, the future is not in our hands. We trust and put our faith in God. God is in control. We have no assurance the future will work out in a manner we desire. Certainly, the disciples didn’t think Elijah and the Messiah were destined for death in the short run. Our only hope is that in the end, God will be victorious and those who have faith in God’s Son will reign with him. The transfiguration remains as a mystery pointing to the glory to come. And with that, there’s hope. Amen.

^[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Clean

^[2] The one other time I preached on the Transfiguration while at Mayberry and Bluemont was when working through the middle portion of Luke’s gospel. There, I had a little different take on the passage. See https://fromarockyhillside.com/2022/08/14/5953/

^[3] Mark 1:15.

^[4] James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark (Grand Rapids; Eerdmans, 2002), 260.

^[5] See also Matthew 16:28-17:8 and Luke 9:27-36.

^[6] Edwards, 262.

^[7] Genesis 22:1-19.

^[8] Exodus3:1-12.

^[9] 1 Kings 19:8-9.

^[10] We see Peter’s impulsiveness during Jesus’ passion. Peter pledges loyalty to Jesus, then denies him. See Mark 14:29-31 and 66-72.

^[11] The feasts of the tabernacle or booths is set forth in Deuteronomy 16:13-17. During this time, Jewish men would flood into the temple at Jerusalem and would build “booths” in which to shelter themselves.

^[12] https://fromarockyhillside.com/2024/08/25/who-do-you-say-that-i-am/

^[13] Douglas R. A. Hare, Westminster Bible Companion: Mark (Louisville, KY: W/JKP, 1996), 107.

Cloud covering Buffalo mountain early in the morning — A cloud covering Buffalo Mountain early in the morning

August 27, 2024August 29, 2024

Camp Bud Schiele, 1984

The wasp

The summer had been incredible. And the last week of camp started off smoothly. My staff had all reported back on time and most of the troops had checked in by mid-afternoon on Sunday. A little after four, I headed over to the dining hall to check on dinner. At six, they’d be serving nearly 500 scouts, leaders and staff. Sunday night was always a good meal: baked chicken, whipped mashed potatoes with gravy, vegetables, yeast rolls and cobbler for dessert. I could smell the food as I neared the dining hall. I cut around the back, to enter through the kitchen entrance. Passing the dumpsters, something bumped into my eye. Immediately I felt the sting. I slapped my forehead, killing a wasp.

They say bad things come in threes. I should have gone out right then and found a rock to hide under to wait out the Apocalypse.

Up until my encounter with a wasp, it had been a wonderful summer at Camp Bud Schiele. The camp, in only its second year of operation, looked like a country club. The rolling grassy hills surrounded a lake which offered swimming, canoeing and sailing, fishing and waterskiing. I had a terrific staff. The first seven weeks had gone off without a hitch.

After this week, we’d store away tents and gear. The week after that, I’d be in Damascus, Virginia, ready for a two-week hike along the Appalachian Trail.

The cooks assured me that dinner would be on time. I got a piece of ice to hold against the wasp sting and headed back to the camp office. By the time of our staff meeting that night, my right eye had swollen shut. There, before me, stood my staff. Every one of them sat with their right eye closed. I wish I felt it was out of sympathy, but I know mockery when I see it.

Camp Bud Schiele Staff 1984 — The Full Staff (minus cooks and CITs or counselors in training)

The Forger

After Sunday, things slipped back into a regular routine. By mid-week, the swelling had gone down and I’d forgotten about the wasp. The council camp had a tradition going back generations where the camp staff produced a pageant for campers and their families on Wednesday night. It was convenient to do this middle of the week; visiting parents always recharged the son’s wallets which helped our trading post make a good profit. The pageant itself was quite a feat, as the staff dressed up as Native Americans and told some legendary story about natives in Western North Carolina. No one seemed to bothered that the staff dressed like Plain’s Indians, right off a Hollywood movie set. As camp director, I’d spent the evening greeting parents and talking up the scouting program.

A few minutes before the final show of the summer began, my business manager ran up to me and said there was someone in the office who needed to see me. I walked over and met the man who ran a small country store and gas station a few miles away. He wasn’t too happy. He showed me a check written by one of my staff members. The check was written on a closed account.

Todd, the staff member, who had been in uniform, told the man the check belonged to his mother and she had given it to him, pre-signed, so he could get gas and some snacks. The store accepted it, after writing the guy’s name and driver’s license number on the check. As country stores often did, he counter signed the check over to the bread delivery man. The only problem was, the check didn’t belong to the guy’s mom, but to another woman, the sister of a friend. When the check was denied for payment, the bread company had charged the store an extra fine. The store owner had called the woman whose name was on the checks. He learned the checks had been stolen. There had been a number of checks written on this account, which had been closed, across a three-county area. She also informed him there were a half-dozen warrants out for the guy’s arrest.

Honorably discharged after four years serving in the Marine Corp that May, Todd came with good references. His age was another asset. There were many positions he could serve by being over 21. Todd became an assistant field sports director, running the rifle range. For a couple weeks, he also served as a provisional scoutmaster, working with those scouts who came to camp without a troop. I’d been pleased with his work.

Unlike a lot of my staff, Todd always had clean uniforms, which I later learned was because he’d brought four sets of them with a check “which his mother had given him so he could buy uniforms.” As it turned out, even his uniforms were stolen. He purchased them through forgery. Although I didn’t want a sheriff cruiser flying into camp with their lights flashing to arrest a staff member, I also felt I needed to get Todd out of camp. Although I didn’t think he’d do anything, I felt it was a liability to have a staff member working with kids with that many felonies on his head.

I asked the local sheriff if they could wait till ten o’clock. The camp ranger (who was deputized because of the amount of land he managed) and I would detain Todd in my office until then. By ten, all the parents would have left, and the scouts would be back in their campsites. Then, in private, we could hand Todd over to a local sheriff deputy. They would hold him until the sheriff of Catawba County picked him up.

I made arrangement for my program director to take over the staff meeting we always held on Wednesday night and asked him to keep the staff together until I came back to talk to them. With Tony, the camp ranger by my side, I asked Todd to come with me to my office.

It was a long walk through the night. Once inside the office, I told him what was up. Todd was a big guy, probably 6’3” with broad shoulders, about the size of Tony and I put together. Afraid of what he might do, he shocked both of us by sitting down in a chair and crying. Tony offered him a cigarette. I decided not to insist he not smoke in my office. He took one (I’d never seen him smoke) and with tears in his eyes asked what was going to happen to him. I told him didn’t know, but I knew there were several warrants out for his arrest and that forgery was serious business.

The deputy arrived right at ten and arrested Todd. I felt sorry for him, as he was handcuffed. I told him we’d pack up his stuff and keep it safe and then went over to the dining hall where the staff was sitting around waiting. They knew something was up and were visibly shaken, for Todd had been a likable guy. The next day, Tony and I went through Todd’s stuff, inventorying it all and boxing it up and storing it in his car. A few days later, his parents came down and picked up his car and drove it home.

Staff dressed for a pageant — Another staff photo

An indecent photograph

I’d had enough excitement for one summer. But the week wasn’t over. On Friday, as I was trying to finish up paperwork in my office, the mother of a camper who’d been at the camp a few weeks earlier came by. Like the store owner, she too wasn’t happy. She dropped an X-rated photograph on my desk, one that had come from her son’s camera. I could have gone all summer without seeing that. Her son swore to her that he had no idea where the picture came from, but looking at it, I knew right away who to ask.

I called for the waterfront director. When he entered my office, I showed him the picture of someone’s privates, with a bathing suit pulled down. The director recognized the bathing suit and sent for two staff members. He had quickly figured out what had happened.

As the scouts checked into the waterfront, there was a place where they could ‘check” valuables, things which shouldn’t get wet, like wallets and cameras. The staff member in question had seen this camera and he, and another staff member, decided it would be funny to take a pornographic photo on some unsuspecting kids’ camera. The staff member responsible for checking in valuables had taken the photo and another waterfront staff, with the bright red striped bathing suit, served as the model.

Although I knew it was just a childish prank, the Scouts have strict rules on such behavior. I found myself having the privilege of firing two more staff members. Like Todd, both were well-liked and hard workers. The rest of the staff were angry at my decision, especially since it there was only one more day of camp left. They were particularly mad that I didn’t allow them to attend the closing banquet we held at the end of the next week, after closing down the camp for winter. At least the model in the photograph must not have been too mad with me, for the next year when he graduated from college, he called to ask me to be one of his references.

It had been such a nice summer. I enjoyed everything the camp had to offered: swimming, water skiing, sailing, canoeing, and fishing. But after that last week, I was never so glad to head off for a two-week hike in Southern Virginia.

Who do you say that I am?

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry & Bluemont Presbyterian Churches
August 28, 2024
Mark 8:27-38

Sermon recorded at Bluemont on Friday, August 23, 2024

At the beginning of worship:

Do you recall the old bumper sticker which read, “God is my copilot”? Did any of you have one on your car? Well, I hate to tell you this, it’s wrong. God, through Christ, should be our pilot. At best, we get to serve as a flight attendant. By the way, someone later corrected the theology of that bumper sticker with another one which read, “If God is your co-pilot, switch seats.”

Here’s the question for us to ponder this morning. Are we willing to get out of the pilot seat and turn the cockpit over to Jesus?

Before Reading the Scriptures:

As we’ve seen, the first half of Mark’s gospel focuses on Jesus’ preaching and teaching, his healings and exorcisms as he travels the countryside. Anticipation builds as to Jesus’ identity. While Mark identifies Jesus at the very beginning of his gospel, this was information for the reader to tuck away.^[1] The disciples are not privy to it.

There have been those who have hinted of Jesus’ identity throughout the first half of the gospel, but not the disciples, nor do the religious leaders of the day understand.^[2] Jarius with his dead daughter, the unclean woman who touched Jesus’ robe, and the Syrophoenician woman have a sense of Jesus’ powers. But do they even know his identity? The only ones who seem to get it are the demons, whom Jesus quickly quietens.^[3]

In this passage, the major turning point of Mark’s gospel, Peter confesses Jesus is the Messiah. Our passage shows both sides of Peter. He gets it right and then finds himself rebuked. For Peter, this is personal and a little embarrassing. Some scholars think Peter served as one of Mark’s sources.^[4] If so, it’s to Peter’s credit for in these verses we see both the honor and shame of the Apostle.

From this point on in Mark’s gospel, Jesus focuses on his upcoming passion, his suffering and death. Peter, however, doesn’t want to hear any such talk. Jesus shatters his image of the Messiah. Yet, despite this, Jesus sticks with Peter. Let’s listen.

Read Mark 8:27-9:1

We all want to be like Jesus, right? We’re in church so I expect your answer to be in the affirmative. But do we really want to be like Jesus? And if we’re sincere, do we have what it takes? Peter must have thought he had what it took. After all, he’s the one who hits the nail on the head, boldly proclaiming that Jesus is the Messiah. This is the apex of Jesus’ ministry in Mark’s gospel. Peter reveals Jesus’ true identity.

Jesus and the disciples take a long walk north of Bethsaida.^[5] As they enter Gentile territory, Jesus asks who people say he is. Leaders should ask such questions to understand their effectiveness. It’s part of being emotionally intelligent. We need such input. It helps us fine tune our way of relating with others.^[6]

And the disciples give Jesus some wonderful news. People have a high opinion of Jesus. Some say he’s John the Baptist (which would require a resurrection as Herod had him beheaded). Or Elijah or another prophet of old. Elijah seems to have been popular in First Century Judaism since he didn’t die but was swept away in a chariot of fire.^[7] The Jews hoped he’d come back and set wrongs right.^[8]

People think highly of Jesus, it appears. But being ranked up there with great men of the past denies Jesus’ uniqueness. He’s being placed into old categories, or to use one of Jesus’ parables, they put the new into old wineskins.^[9]

Jesus then turns the table on the disciples, by asking them who they say he is. Ultimately, the gospel turns on our decision as to Jesus’ identity. Peter nails it. “You are the Messiah.”

As he’s done many times in Mark’s story, Jesus tells them not to tell anyone. Jesus wants people to come to this conclusion themselves. Then he begins to talk about what’s ahead. And Peter, who wants Jesus to be a tough superhero, can’t bear it. Peter envisions the Messiah restoring Israel to her rightful prominence. He can’t handle this talk of death.

Jesus then does something that catches everyone off guard. Turning to Peter, he rebukes him, “Get behind me, Satan.” In a matter of minutes, Peter goes from being on Cloud Nine to having his parade rained out. Jesus calls Peter, the guy who has been beside Jesus for some time, Satan. Jesus goes on to show Peter his fault. The Rock, as his name implies,^[10] thinks like any other man. His thought process is no different than yours and mine or any other human.

Jesus’ plans don’t make sense to our way of thinking. We understand power. Like Peter, we could understand if Jesus picked up a sword and lead a campaign again the Romans. But that doesn’t happen. God’s ways are not our ways. With God, the weak and the meek inherit the earth.^[11] But face it, that’s not the way things generally work out.

At least Peter’s rebuke was in a semi-private setting with just the disciples and there off in Gentile territory. After these words, Jesus calls the crowd over and continues to teach. “If you want to be my followers,” he says, “you’re going to have to pick up your cross.”

I envision those following Jesus being a troubled by what they heard. These are the hardcore supporters, who followed Jesus to Caesarea Philippi, a long day hike from where Jesus had set off.^[12] These are the groupies who’ve taken off work to follow Jesus for a few days and now they’re in a town named after the Roman Emperor (who they hope to overthrow). Hearing Jesus talk some kind of nonsense about picking up a cross, I’m sure, caused some of them to say, “I’m out of here.” They know what it means; they’d seen those who had taken up arms against Rome wither on the cross.

The late Will Campbell, an ordained Southern Baptist who referred to himself as a bootleg preacher, criticized the American church for teaching essentially, “Pick up you cross and relax.”^[13]We’ve sanitized the cross to the point that it is safe to wear as jewelry.

When Jesus says, “Pick up your cross,” he provides a vivid analogy. Rome freely employed the cross to terrorize slaves and residents of conquered lands. The cross was the ultimate deterrent—you challenge Rome, and you pay dearly. Those Galileans following Jesus may have seen it in action. They lived in a brutal world. When Jesus talks about crosses, they don’t have any romantic allusions to some fashion accessory.

Bearing our cross is often used to express the difficulties we experience in life. But even here, we must be careful not to trivialize the cross. Jesus doesn’t refer the troubles we all experience. Instead, picking up the cross refers to the shame we may experience by placing Jesus above all our loyalties.^[14] The cross was considered shameful. Loving the unloved of the world may also be considered shameful to those in power. But we must love because God, through Jesus, first loved us.

Jesus then continues with one of his paradoxical proverbs: “Those who want to save their life will lose it and those who lose their life for my sake and for the sake of the gospel will save it.” One commentator puts it this way: “To lose one’s life is to lose one’s physical existence, but to lose one’s soul has eternal consequences.”^[15]

Where are our commitments? Are we committed first and foremost to our Savior Jesus Christ? Do we love him and those he loves?

This passage implies the possibility of martyrdom, not an option any of us would willingly choose. Yet, when we accept Christ’s call, according to Paul, our old-selves die as we receive new life in Christ.^[16] In a spiritual sense, we all die as we leave our past behind and seek to become more Christ-like.

Is Christ calling us to face martyrdom as this passage is sometimes interpreted? We don’t think about martyrs much anymore, do we?

Brian Blount, a New Testament scholar, dedicated a good portion of his academic life to Mark’s gospel of Mark. Brian suggests that martyrdom isn’t exactly what our Lord calls us to. Instead, he’s calling us to be his followers. We’re to join him on “the way” as outlined in Jesus’ teachings. It’s the way of healing, of confronting the demons of the world, of being merciful and proclaiming God’s kingdom. All disciples are called to share in this work.

We’re to follow Jesus, doing what he commands, which doesn’t necessarily mean death (even though it’s always a remote possibility). After all, aligning ourselves with Christ means we shun the values of the world.^[17] This can be threatening. However, the most any worldly power can do is to kill us. However, as disciples, we don’t live for today.^[18] We live for eternity. In the everlasting realms, the powers on earth are weak.

This understanding of picking up your cross as a call to follow Christ helps us make sense out of Jesus’ rebuke of Peter. “Get behind me, Satan,” is a command for Peter to take his rightful place as a follower. Peter, here, tempts Christ to deviate from his mission. As a tempter, Peter does the work of Satan, hence the reference.

Do we want to be like Jesus? Then we must follow him, which requires love and commitment. We dedicate ourselves to something bigger than us. We put away our worldly ways of thinking. Unlike Peter, we conform our mind to the mind of Christ. We can’t try to change Christ mind to reflect our values. That’s playing the role of Satan, the tempter. Instead, we put Jesus and his kingdom first in our lives.

Do we want to be like Jesus? It is a difficult road. Love can be demanding. But remember, the rewards are eternal. Amen.

^[1] Mark identifies Jesus as “the Son of God” in Mark 1:1. In 1:11, God also calls Jesus “my Son, the Beloved.”

^[2] Several of those whom Jesus helps understands Jesus’ power (and possibility) such as Jairus, the unclean woman, and the Syrophoenician woman.

^[3] Mark 1:25, 3:11, and 5:7. See James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 245.

^[4] Edwards, 255.

^[5] We last saw Jesus in Bethsaida, Mark 8:22. See https://fromarockyhillside.com/2024/08/18/open-our-eyes/

^[6] Daniel Goleman has written extensively on Emotional Intelligence and the need for “360 Feedback”. See Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence: Why it can Matter More than IQ (1995).

^[7] 2 Kings 2:1-12.

^[8]^[8] Edwards, 247.

^[9] Mark 2:21-22. See Edwards 257-248.

^[10] Matthew 16:18.

^[11] Matthew 5:5

^[12] Jesus was last at Bethsaida (Mark 8:22), roughly 25 miles due south of Caesarea Philippi, where he healed the blind man. See Edwards, 245 and https://fromarockyhillside.com/2024/08/18/open-our-eyes/

^[13] Will D. Campbell, Souls among Lions (Louisville; Westminster/John Knox press, 1999), 37.

^[14] Douglas R. A. Hare, Westminster Bible Companion: Mark (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1996), 102.

^[15]^[15] Edwards, 257.

^[16] Romans 6:1-6.

^[17] Brian K. Blount, Go Preach! Mark’s Kingdom Message and the Black Church Today (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1998). See especially Chapter 9.

^[18] Matthew 10:18, Luke 12:4.

August 22, 2024November 21, 2024

Recalling a Mentor: Ron Carroll, part 2

A couple of weeks ago, I posted the first of memoir of one of my mentors. Click here for that post. Here is the second part.

Staff Retreats

Ron Carroll and Rhone Sasser — Ron and Council President Rhone Sasser who was President of United Carolina Bank at this time. I no longer have the original photo, this was copied from an annual report.

Ron taught those of us on staff to make the best of any situation. We were a small staff; there were only five of us. Twice a year, Ron pulled us away for a three-day retreat. We spent the time planning and training. We worked hard. But Ron was never one to let hard work get in the way of a good time.

Many of these retreats were held in beach houses owned by a council board member. Several were on Wrightsville Beach, others on Brunswick County beaches. In addition to planning, training, and setting goals, we’d fish and take turns preparing fancy seafood dinners. If the water was warm, we’d swim. There was one fall retreat, after working all day and a big dinner, we played football in the surf as the sun set. It probably wasn’t the brightest thing as the sharks often move closer to shore to feed at dusk, but no one was harmed.

One fall morning we meet at a beach house on Wrightsville Beach. Ron unlocked the door. We began to barge in with boxes of food, a couple of cases of beer, bottles of booze, bags of chips, along with flip charts and calendars and other assorted accruements. We were all shocked as a barely dressed woman stepped out of the bathroom. She squealed and ducked back in. Then, in the commotion, a young man appeared from the bedroom as the coed returned from the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her. “Who are you?” She asked. Ron told her he arranged with so and so to use the house for a few days. This turned out to be the girl’s father.

Embarrassed and concerned her daddy might learn she’d taken a premature break from college in order to entertain her boyfriend, she asked for a few minutes to pack. Ron was polite and said we were all in need for some breakfast and that when we return, we’ll have forgotten what we’d seen. We left. An hour later we returned; the woman and her illicit boyfriend were gone. I’m sure when Ron dropped a thank you note to her Daddy, he omitted that it had been our pleasure to meet his daughter.

Ron’s Organizational Skills

Ron had a temper and never liked it when things didn’t go the way he’d plan. In one staff meeting, where he learned several assignments had been dropped, Ron started cussing and fussing and marched us into his office.

Ron’s desk was always immaculate. He started lecturing on how to organize our mail so that everything got done. He had a three-bin file on the edge of his desk. His goal was to never handle a piece of paper more than twice, he said. When he opened his mail, if it could be handled immediately, he did so. If it was of top importance and wouldn’t take much time, it went into this top bin. Second bin was for things that weren’t critical, and the bottom one was for things he wanted to look at but was not so important that the world would end if he didn’t get around to it. In his rant, Ron picked up the stack of papers in his top bin.

On the bottom of this stack was a Hustler magazine. We all started to smirk. Ron’s face became redder and redder as we all broke out into laughter. Finally, before Ron blew a gasket, someone pointed to the magazine. Ron turned over the pile. Then he laughed. His lecture came to an end with some mumbling about priorities.

Ron and Marketing

Ron should have been on Madison Avenue. Not only was he a good salesman, but he was also a master marketer. Even when we were doing things like raising money to pay off debt, Ron could come up with positive campaign slogans and materials that turned what many would have considered drudgery into an opportunity to celebrate. I don’t remember all the names, but one desk, I still have a “Catch the Scouting Spirit” mug holding pencils. In a shelf at work, there’s a “Total Development Campaign” apothecary jar holding toothpicks.

Ron insisted that when an event was over, it didn’t matter how good it turned out. What mattered was how people thought it went. If it was the greatest event in the world and only those who were there knew about it, it was a flop. Then next time we’d have to work just as hard. However, even if the event was mediocre, but everyone thought it was great, then it was a success. The next time such an event would be even easier to promote. Ron encouraged us to learn the stories from scouts and leaders and to tell them in order to promote the program.

Knowing I was interested in photography, Ron encouraged me to shoot photos whenever possible. With the scouting program financing my film and developing chemicals, I photographed everything. As I was working in rural areas with smaller newspapers, I often had full page spreads of my photographs showing scouts in action. Photos ended up in the council annual report and on camp posters. I was shocked when visiting Ron years later, just before his death, to see the posters framed and hanging in his home. Although at the time my writing was limited to an occasional press release, I’m sure Ron’s insistence on telling stories influenced my writing more than I could have imagined.

Ron and Perception (another part of Marketing)

Perception was also important in how we did our jobs. Ron taught us that you always left your business card and even encouraged us to stop by places in which we knew someone wouldn’t be home or in the office. Leaving a business card was almost as good as making a face-to-face visit. It didn’t take as much time and it left the perception that we were hard at work (in truth, when you have hundreds of volunteers, such time saving techniques were necessary to help everyone feel connected and cared for. He told stories about dropping off his business cards in mailboxes in the middle of the night. I never did that, but I wouldn’t put it past Ron.

In addition to dropping off business cards, Ron was always writing notes to people—both to volunteers as well as his professional staff. Whenever we did something well, he’d write us a note and encourage us to do likewise. To this day, I always care a few note cards in my folder, a habit I learned from Ron.

Building Camp Bowers

One of Ron’s great achievements as the Scout Executive for the Cape Fear Council was creating Camp Bowers in Northwest Bladen County. The council had not had a camp since a few years after my scouting days when they had sold Camp Tom Upchurch. While they had property, nothing had been done toward building a camp. Ron set out to change this. He charged ahead.

I remember one of my first staff meetings where I learned the importance of fund raising, if we wanted to be paid. We all worked hard and soon were not only raising enough to meet the budget but also paid off the debt which had been accumulating on camp construction through the “Total Development Campaign.” While the camp wasn’t quite finished, we dedicated the camp in May 1981. Hank Aaron, who had recently retired from baseball (and an Eagle Scout) gave the keynote address. A month later, we began the first summer of camp.

The fire at Camp Bowers

A year later, we held another council camporee at the camp. Troops from all over Southeastern North Carolina gathered. We had around 1000 boys on the site. It was dry and windy spring day, and things were going well. Around lunch, people began to comment about the smoke in the air. It was checked out a learned that a few miles away, someone was burning a large brush pile from where there a track of land had been clearcut. Shortly after lunch, the winds picked up. We received word the controlled burn was no longer in control. A raging fire headed straight toward the camp.

The word went out to evacuate. Since the camp was a couple miles from a paved road, with only one way in or out, it was important to be on the safe side. After everyone had been safely evacuated, the staff all stayed behind.

Ron went into town to get more water hoses so we could have hoses available at all the buildings. He came back, not only with water hoses, but with a cooler of beer and snacks. That night, the humidity rose, the wind died, and the fire laid down, burning in a bay (swamp) at the edge of camp, not too far from the camp office. We were told to watch the fire and to let the forest service know if it started to come out of the swamp. Ron got the bright idea to haul lawn chairs and the cooler up to the roof of the camp office. We took turns napping and watching the fire, while enjoying cold beer and chips.

The next morning, the wind picked up and the humidity dropped. We worked liked crazy putting out spot fires and watering down buildings. The North Carolina forest service brought in the big guns. Several large helicopters were based on the lake, picking up water and dropping it a few hundred feet away. A waterbomber made a couple of passes, as bulldozers trenched around buildings. While the first didn’t destroy any buildings, the burned areas were on the camp boundaries were evident even as summer camp began that summer.

Ron’s Single Life

Cape Fear Council Boy Scouts of America Staff 1983 — Pam is behind Ms. Lillian, the woman with the pink dress.

Toward the end of my time with the Cape Fear Council, Ron and his first wife divorced. We’d often hold staff meetings on Friday afternoons and those of us available would go out on the town during the evening. Often, I stayed with Ron overnight in the condo he rented on Wrightsville Beach. On one occasion, I had been down to the council office mid-week. Ron suggested we go out. We did and I spent the night with him. The next morning, I had a 7 AM breakfast meeting with the Chairman of the Board of United Carolina Bank (for whom Camp Bowers had been named). That morning, it was foggy. I wondered what’d I’d gotten myself into as I drove back just in time to make the meeting.

A few months after I left for the Piedmont Council, Ron became the Scout Executive in Orlando Florida. Not long after that, Ron returned to Wilmington to marry Pam, who had been his secretary. It was a delightful wedding and they remained together until Ron’s death in 2005.

Addendum 1 (added two days later):

Parker, a who was also a part of the staff at Cape Fear Council in the early 1980s and can barely be seen in the back of the photo, emailed me about this post. He told of another skill Ron taught. Always set up for a meeting enough tables and chairs for 90% of the expected guests. This way, if more came, it looked even more successful as you pulled out extra chairs. If there were those who couldn’t make it, you didn’t have a lot of empty chairs sitting around. Parker spoke about how he, in his career working for Chambers of Commerce, adhered to this practice.

For some reason, I didn’t associate this practice with Ron, but it was also another thing I learned from working with the scouts. Over the years I have fought the battle with administrators, sextons, and volunteers to set up less chairs than expected. It takes a while for them to see the reason, but eventually they do.

Addendum 2 (added two days later)

In my previous post, I told about being with Ron a few months before his death. At the time, Ron and Pam asked me if I was willing to officiate at this funeral. I was. Sadly, when Ron died, they wanted to do the funeral on a particular day in Wilmington, NC. I had already committed to officiate at a wedding the next day on the West Coast and needed to be there for the rehearsal. I wasn’t able to officiate at the funeral.

Other Scouting Stories:

Ron Carroll, Part 1

Harold Bellamy

Delano

My Last Week as a Camp Director: Camp Bud Schiele, 1984

Camp Bangladesh (A Summer Camp Scoutmaster)

August 18, 2024August 18, 2024

Open Our Eyes

Title slide with photos of the two churches

Jeff Garrison
Mayberry and Bluemont Churches
August 18, 2024
Mark 8:22-25

At the beginning of worship:

How do you see the world? Are you an optimist who sees this glass as half full? Or are you a pessimistic who sees it as half empty?

As Christians, we should see the world differently. We have hope. Sadly, there is much in our world to fear. And if someone can make us afraid, we’ll often do things we’d never do in a rational world. This is the foundation of our consumer society and of most political campaigns. We do things or support candidates because we think they’re the answer to our problems.

This even true in the church. From some pulpits, you’ll hear more about the problems of society and how the cultural war is out to destroy the church that the teachings of Jesus.^[1] It’s a call to fight back. But those of us who follow Jesus know he has our back. The Jesus we know from Scripture doesn’t issue such calls.

Using fear to motivate misses the good news of the gospel. One of the most heard passages in scripture is “Fear not!” We shouldn’t fear for we know where our treasure resides. We shouldn’t fear because we know who is in charge. We shouldn’t fear for we know how the story will end!

Jesus proclaimed the gates of hell won’t prevail against his church.^[2] Jesus is the one who protects his church, not us. Now that doesn’t mean we can do what we want, but it does mean our loyalty is to him and we need to keep our focus not on the world but on him. The world, we’re told, is going to always have problems until it is brought into full redemption. Wars and rumors of wars, Jesus says.^[3] We know how the story ends. The ending provides the foundation for our hope.

We need new eyes, hopeful eyes. And Jesus has the power to restore our sight in such a manner, as we’ll see this morning.

Before reading the Scriptures:

Last Sunday, if you remember, Jesus was a bit upset with the disciples. “Do you have eyes and fail to see?” He asked. They were all concerned with not having lunch as they sailed, once again, on the lake. We can imagine them almost pointing fingers at one another, blaming others for their lack of bread. And when Jesus began to talk metaphorically about yeast, they assumed it had to do with their argument about the lack of bread. Because you need yeast to make bread, they put the two together.

Today, we’ll see that following this discussion about their “blindness,” a blind man’s sight is restored. This is not a haphazard healing. Jesus makes a deeper point than just healing a man. He shows that he is the one who can, as the old hymn goes, “open our eyes, that we might see.”^[4]

Our story today has a parallel healing which we’ve already explored. In the 7^th Chapter, Jesus heals a man who was deaf and dumb, giving him back his hearing and his speech.^[5] There are many similarities between these two passages. First, these are the only two miracles we find only in Mark and not in Matthew and/or Luke. Another similarity are the phrases used. The suffering man is “brought” to Jesus. His friends “beg” Jesus to lay on his hands or touch him. He takes both men away from the crowds to a private place.

This passage ends the first half of Mark’s gospel. We’ve seen how Jesus is God with power over evil and the forces of nature, along with the ability to heal, raise the dead, and cast out demons. We also see that Jesus is the Messiah, the one who does things like feeding the hungry, giving sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf. Next week, we’ll see the disciples begin to understand Jesus. As they do, Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem where he will go to die and to be raised on the third day.

Read Mark 8:22-25

We’ve last seen Jesus and the disciples in a boat, sailing across the Sea of Galilee. In today’s story, we’ve learned they have sailed to the north end of the Sea, at the point the Jordan River enters the top of the sea, at Bethsaida. There, a blind man is brought to Jesus. His friends beg Jesus to touch the man, obviously seeking his healing.

Let me point out one thing here. If we are not in need of having our vision corrected by Jesus, we should be the friends of the blindman. We can’t save anyone, but we can bring those in need of salvation to Jesus Christ, as the friends of his man did.

Now, for some reason, Jesus decides to heal in private. He leads the man outside the village. As it was with the healing of the deaf man, Jesus uses salvia on his eyes, before touching them. When he removes his hands, he asks the man if he can see.

The man gives what I can a most interesting response. “I see people like walking trees.” Obviously, this man wasn’t born blind, if he could differentiate between trees and people. But he still isn’t seeing clearly.

Jesus then lays his hands again on the man, then asking again if he can see. How he sees perfectly. Jesus sends him away, telling him to go home and not through the village. Jesus obviously doesn’t want the word to get out that he’s in town.

There are a few unique things about this miracle which may help us better interpret the passage. First, nothing gets said about the man’s faith. The woman who reached out in faith to touch Jesus’ garment in to be healed is told by our Savior, “Woman, your faith has made you well.”^[6] When he heals the Syrophoenician’s daughter, it was because of the mother’s faith.^[7] But with this man, we’re told nothing about of his faith. He’s just a man in need and Jesus heals him.

Second, this is the only miracle in which Jesus heals in stages. Other healings occur in an instant. But not here. It’s almost as if Jesus was an optometrist. You know, you’re looking into the machine. The eye doctor asks, “How’s that?” And from your answer, the doctor manipulates the lens on the machine a bit and asks again. In the optometrist’s office, this exchange continues until the doctor gets the prescription for the glasses just right.

A lot has been made as to why Jesus didn’t get it right the first time. Maybe Jesus shows we’ll gradually gain sight. Our eyes, when it comes to faith, increasingly open. None of us are like Paul with a Damascus Road experience. Outside of a very few, like Paul and Moses, that’s not how God works even in scripture. As we come to faith, our eyes gradually open more and more to what God is doing in our lives and in our world.

When I set out to complete the Appalachian Trail, hiking from Virginia to Maine in one summer, I carried one book for each section of the trail. The first book was Annie Dillard’s, Pilgrim at Tinkers Creek. It was the perfect book, as Dillard writes about discovering nature by looking, not at the larger vistas, but at the small things. Insects, bugs, frogs, things often overlooked. Dillard showed their amazing lives and how they fit into the larger world. When I’d break by a stream or a spring, I’d be on the lookout to the wonders Dillard described.

As a follower of Jesus, we need that same kind of wonder. When we look at a problem in society, we shouldn’t just complain and shake our heads. We should look for those who survive despite the difficulties, those who help others, those who show the light of Christ. As Mr. Rogers said when discussing disasters such as 911, look for the heroes, those who run toward the danger to help others. Those are the ones who have faith and who demonstrate a Christ-like obedience.

And if we truly believe, when we see a problem in which we can help, we should jump forward. For we know that whatever happens to us, God is in control. While the present may look bleak, the future will be bright. Our eyes will be fully open, and we will see God, face to face.

So next time you look at a glass like this, consider it half full. Have faith, for in the end, things will work out.

We’re called to follow Jesus. As followers, we’re not to get too down about the things of the world. Instead, we’re to store up our treasure in heaven.^[8] After all, we are only temporary citizens of this world. Our kingdom is of another world, an eternal one. And that should give us hope. Amen.

Commentaries Consulted:

Edwards, James R. The Gospel According to Mark (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2002).

Hare, Douglas R. A., Westminster Bible Companion: Mark (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1996).

Hooker, Morna D. The Gospel According to Saint Mark (1991, Hendrickson Publishing, 1997).

Lane, William L., The Gospel of Mark (Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1972).

^[1] I was reminded of this recently while reading Tim Alberta, The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism ((Harper, 2024). See https://fromarockyhillside.com/2024/08/15/two-book-reviews/

^[2] Matthew 16:18. Many translations, including the NRSV and NIV, use hades instead of hell. Most paraphrase translations including the Message and the New Living Bible use hell.

^[3] Matthew 24:6, Mark 13:7

^[4] This popular hymn is found in over 200 hymnals. Clara H. Scott (1841-1897) wrote the lyrics and the music for “Open My Eyes”

^[5] Mark 7:31-37. See https://fromarockyhillside.com/2024/07/28/open-our-ears-that-we-might-hear/

^[6] Mark 5:25-34. See https://fromarockyhillside.com/2024/06/09/7247/

^[7] Mark 7:24-30. See https://fromarockyhillside.com/2024/07/21/crumbs-for-the-dogs/

^[8] Matthew 6:20.