Creekside Church Sermon of April 6, 2003 "The Road Ahead " John 7:14-18	Rev. David Bibbee
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This morning we leap to the twentieth century and another well-known prayer by the monk, Thomas Merton, a man regarded as one of the leading thinkers and spiritual writers of the past century. There was no way of telling that Thomas Merton would be credited with taking the centuries old tradition of contemplative prayer out of the monastery and into the hearts of Christians all over the world.

Before we look at the man Merton, let's look at the man Jesus. He was teaching in the temple. Since it was the Feast of the Tabernacles there were lots of people in Jerusalem to listen to him. They were amazed by his insight, but suspicious about where he got it. "Show us your credentials," they said. "Where did you get your degree? Jerusalem Tech? Galilee State?" Jesus said, "I didn't dream this up. I got it from the one who sent me. If this was my own material I would try to make myself look good…sign a book deal, make an appearance on Oprah, start my own T.V. ministry. I'm not telling you these things for my glory, but for God's. Since I'm telling you what God tells me, you can bet your life its true."

There are some basic rules I abide by: never eat in a restaurant with a name that ends with, "O-rama." Never enter a a store that has the word "crazy" or "mania," in its name, such as, "Crazy Bill's Fireworks Mania." And be wary of any church that has the leader's name in its organizational title…anything like, "The David Bibbee Ministries, Inc."

Jesus told his questioners, "You can vouch that what I say is true because it comes from God." There is an implied message in this text. There is no knowledge of a message without knowledge of the One who gave it.

A king employed a tutor for his son, the crown prince, who was a little slow on the draw. In the first lesson, the tutor offered a careful explanation of Euclid's First Theorem. "Is this clear, your royal highness?" the tutor asked. "No," the prince said. The tutor patiently presented the theorem again. "Is it clear now?" he asked. The prince said, "No." The tutor went back to the drawing board. After the tenth try the prince still didn't get it, and the poor tutor was reduced to tears. "Believe me, your highness," he cried, "This theorem is true and this is how it is proved." The prince then stood, bowed and said, "My dear sir, I have full faith in what you say. If you assure me the theorem is true, I accept it. I only regret you did not give me this assurance earlier so we could have proceeded to the second theorem without wasting time."

Thomas Merton understood that many believe the theorem of God is true… without knowing God. To believe without knowledge is like looking to an authority figure and saying, "I'm hungry. Please eat for me." Merton perceived the disconnect before he was converted to Christianity.

He was born in France in 1915. His father was from New Zealand, and his mother from America. Both were artists. Consequently, the family moved often. Thomas was only six when his mother died. His father died when he was fifteen, and had arranged to have money for Thomas's education.

There was no place for religion in his home, but his parents were very moral and ethical people who instilled good values in their son. His estimate of religion and church was very low. From what he saw, few practiced what they professed. Yet, Thomas Merton was a deeply spiritual man. Someone said, "He could sense God's presence where others could only speculate about God's existence." Early in his life, he could not reconcile his intuitions with the church that he called a "ruined temple of institutional religion."

Merton was very intelligent and was accepted at Cambridge and Columbia Universities. Given his college behavior, no one could have predicted that he would become a famous monk. He was a consummate collegiate party animal. Wine, women, song, and such. As he put it years later, "I was a willing participate in sin." There was nothing to stop him. His parents were gone. He was totally free. He said it took him five or six years to discover the frightful captivity of his total freedom.

After college, he became an English teacher and a successful writer. He had studied in depth the mystical traditions of Eastern religions, then a friend told him to read two books that brought him in touch with Christian mysticism - Saint Augustine's Confessions and The Imitation of Christ. Merton eventually converted to Catholicism, and in 1941 he made a decision to enter the Monastery of Gethsemane in Kentucky. It was a Trappist Order, the most strict and aecetic of all Catholic orders. The monks never spoke to each other but communicated through sign language. Their day started at 2:00 a.m.. They prayed six to eight hours, studied theological texts, and preformed heavy manual labor. The food was sparse. It was hot and humid in the summer and bitter cold in the winter and there was no air conditioning and no heat. And yet, it was within the walls of this monastery that Thomas Merton found his freedom.

The number of novices at Gethsemane began to increase, largely due to Merton's writings. The irony was that he needed what was becoming more difficult to find because of the growing order…solitude. He was given permission to live in a cinder-block hut on the grounds removed from the monastery. He spent the next several years alone, writing, praying, corresponding with people from all over the world who were reading his books.

Thomas Merton believed the only way to find purpose in life is to find it in God's purpose for our lives. He said that, "Looking for God is like seeking a path in a field of snow; if there is no path and you are looking for one, walk across it and there is your path." There is a path for every person. You cannot follow mine, nor can I follow yours. We each must walk it alone, and yet we can't find God alone. He said, "All the people and all the created things in the universe cannot help us. The only one who can teach me to find God is God, himself, alone."

Now look at the prayer on the bulletin cover called, "The Road Ahead." Many of you have had the experience of hearing or reading something and being struck with the feeling that it was addressed specifically to you. This was my response to this prayer. Maybe its because it expresses both the uncertainty and the hope we can feel simultaneously. It expresses the tension of the man who confessed to Jesus, "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief." Anyone who has seriously sought a personal relationship with God feels an instant identification with this prayer.

Women, do you know why Dorothy got lost in Oz? She had three men giving her directions. See how this prayer begins…"My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I don't see the road ahead. I don't know where it will end." Here is one man at least who is able to admit he is lost. Not only does he not know where he is…he confesses he does not know who he is. He thinks he is following God's will, but then again, maybe he is not. Maybe what he calls God's will is a guise for asserting his own will.

So often when we pray, we hide behind words or technique. Honesty in prayer is so important. We can't hide anything from God, but we can hide from ourselves. We can't come before God without seeing ourselves as we really are. We question our own motives. Honesty can give rise to uncertainty. Maybe what I thought was God's will, isn't.

The key sentence in Merton's prayer is this: "But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. I hope I'll never do anything apart from that desire." Mom and Dad are working out in the yard. It will be time to eat before long, so the children decided to do a big favor and cook supper. Planting petunias, mom smells something burning. She runs into the kitchen, which is filled with blue smoke. The smoke finally clears and she beholds a federal disaster area. She wishes they hadn't done it. But she knew it was love behind the mess. The God who searches and know us; who knows the word on our tongues before we speak it, is the God who knows our hearts and can tell the difference between for show and for real.

Right now Karen Eis is wrestling with "Why?" Why, if God brought her through a long ordeal at death's door, would she be given just a little more time to live when God knows how much she wants to glorify him? The answer …hidden for now. The question for Karen and for all of us is this: Can we remain confident in God, when we are on the right road without knowing it? Can we let go of our need to know, knowing that God knows what he's about, and therefore trust him?

Ultimately, it all turns on trust, which translates into no fear for the future. Easy to say, I know, especially when we're treading in a sea of fear. It is not easy to travel the road ahead without a detailed map in our laps. We are people who want our T's crossed and our I's dotted. We would rather shape our own lives than sign a contract with a God we have never seen. The modern mind is big into self-reliance. How is that for a contradiction in terms?

Kathleen Norris tells of receiving a mailing from a group of New Age witches who stated their belief that, "I can create my own reality and that sending out a positive expectation will produce a positive result."

Norris says that, "Only America could produce self-help Pollyanna witches." She goes on to say, "Often, all I cando is to ask God, 'Lord, what is it that you want of me?'" She has discovered that prayer is not asking for what you think you want but asking to be changed in ways you can't imagine.

People who are in the habit of praying know that when a prayer is answered, it is never in a way that you expect.

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