Water-Washed and Spirit-Born:
Merit Badges of Water and Spirit
Sermon preached by Rev. Brad Beeman
February 12, 2006

The trip was planned to a tee. Or so we thought. Our leaders knew that the challenge was going to be making sure we – this young boy scout troop – would be able to move from point to point along the rocky and oft-times extremely dangerous cliff-lined coast of northwestern Washington State. At the outset the plan was to travel fifty miles in just over a week – all of it at the ocean’s edge. It was August, so we were hoping the weather would hold. It didn’t. About three-quarters of the way through, disaster struck. With us on that trip was a photographer from the Seattle Times. In climbing one of the cliffs to get a picture, he slipped and fell, cracking three vertebrae in his back. If that wasn’t challenge enough, the accident occurred in the worst possible spot on the trip. We had passed one coastal point and were half way to another. We had to cross the next point if we were to avoid getting caught against the cliffs by the incoming tide. This was not a sandy beach like here in Santa Monica. This was a rocky beach that was literally ten feet under water at high tide. That evening, high tide would hit at 7:20pm. We had to be beyond the next point by 4:30 to avoid being caught. By the time the photographer was stabilized, the tide was coming in – and quickly. By 4:00 we knew we weren’t going to make the next point. Then the rain hit. Then the wind. We knew we were in serious trouble.

Our only option was to try and reach the trees seventy feet above us. It meant climbing the same cliffs already tried by the photographer. Now they were wet and it was getting toward dusk. The older boys and two of the leaders went first. They tied ropes to the overhanging trees as we created a sort of stretcher for the injured photographer. We tied him off and they hauled him up first and secured him to two trees. That took an hour. Then, one by one, we all climbed, secured from above by ropes from our leaders. By the time the last leader was on his way up, he was standing in three feet of water – some of which was crashing against the cliff just in front of him. To try and stay secure on the cliff, we tied ourselves off to trees, ate what we could reach in our packs, pulled out our sleeping bags hoping to avoid hypothermia, and tried to rest through the night. That too was a challenge. I will never forget the sound of the waves crashing against the cliffs. They sounded like they were just below my feet. I remember hearing the photographer moaning as there was simply no way for him to get comfortable. Finally morning came and it was my older brother who was selected to run the eight miles to the nearest ranger station. He had to hurry, given that the tide was coming in again. We stayed aloft for another six hours and finally were able to move down the cliff to the shore, secure the photographer, have the helicopter land and then make it around the next point to safety. True story.

We survived that night because of what we had learned in scouting. Think about how much we had to know to survive that night. We knew this possibility existed and had planned for it. We utilized our first aid training for the photographer, had appropriate ropes and equipment, and knew our knots. We knew how to avoid hypothermia, knew how to read the weather and had studied the tides. We stayed calm through the whole ordeal and supported each other in the midst of tremendous obstacles and this unbelievable challenge. We survived because we were well trained and well prepared for anything, even this kind of event.
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"Merit Badges in Water and Spirit" by Rev. Brad Beeman, February 12, 2006

Many would say that the church – like the Boy Scouts on the cliff that day – is in serious trouble and is trying to survive against the storms that surround it, beat at it, and slam against it today. Many would say that this (point around you) is outmoded and unnecessary. Many would say that the conflicts that seem to be tearing us apart make it impossible to survive let alone move forward. As a matter of fact, some say that there is no possibility for survival. I believe them to be wrong and see it for a number of reasons. I believe it first and foremost because we believe in a God who continually says: I do choose to make you whole. Yet, like the instructions given to the leper in that same scripture, we have to know what is expected of us in order to gain the full measure of wholeness offered us by God – and there is much expected of us. And given that this is Scouting Sunday, allow me to put these in the form of merit badges.

The first is the Renewal Merit Badge. First and foremost, we have to allow ourselves to be touched and renewed by Jesus Christ. In order to do that, however, we must first recognize where we are diseased (or dis-eased). The healing that begins in the hearts of each of us must continue throughout and ultimately permeate this church. We have to choose to allow ourselves to be made clean. As easy as that may sound, it is not. As you see in this scripture, there are stern warnings that come from working toward this badge of renewal…we must show ourselves as a church to be empty of the kind of negativity and back-biting that seems to permeate all too many churches. We need to forgive each other and forgive ourselves of past sins and look together toward a brighter future – a forgiving future, an understanding future, an accepting future. We continue then to move toward a foundation of expectation of being healed, and proclaim that the future is bright, fully believing that healing does that. It brings renewal.

The second is the Mapping Merit Badge. With God’s help, we map out the future and begin moving confidently ahead, knowing that it is God who is leading us toward that hoped-for destination. We have over a hundred years of experience in this church to fall back on. But we can’t get stuck looking back and must be willing to map out and move ahead. Once done, we step forward on that path and face any and all obstacles as they come. Like the scouts hanging dangerously on the cliff that day, we face anything and everything together, no matter what it may be. In the Church Council Leadership Training event last Sunday afternoon, Patricia showed us the destination – making disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. As lofty as that statement may sound, it is what we are both designed and destined to do. It begins with a clear understanding of the imperatives of loving God and loving neighbor. It continues with increased clarity on what is at the heart of our work: worship (this), spiritual formation, and mission. It gains strength as each part gains an understanding of how it fits into the whole and then does its work. Together we move ahead within God’s grace and under God’s guidance. But move ahead we do.

Third, we have the Proclamation Merit Badge. The leper, once healed, could not help himself. Even after the stern warnings given to him by Jesus, he was so excited about being healed that he went throughout the city proclaiming the wonderment of what had occurred in his life. We’re not very good at this and need to get better. I am convinced that Santa Monica doesn’t know, beyond this amazing musical history, either who we are or what we offer. The Yellow Pages doesn’t do it. Newspapers don’t do it. The most powerful force in getting the word into the community is you. Our job – those who occupy these positions on this chancel and those of you in the pews called to create them – create opportunities for healing, for learning, for growing and for changing. Ours as pastors is to push, to motivate, to challenge, to teach, and to supply a portion of the opportunities for things that will create disciples, transform lives and therefore transform the world. We proclaim here, in this pulpit so that you will become equipped and empowered, even excited to proclaim beyond this Good News beyond these doors. Again, it takes practice but is essential for the transformation of the world.
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"Merit Badges in Water and Spirit" by Rev. Brad Beeman, February 12, 2006

Finally, there is the Triune Merit Badge: the Love God, Love Neighbor As We Love Self Merit Badge. To understand this merit badge, I turn to both the Boy Scout Oath and the Girl Scout Promise. Each states what is at the foundation of the expectations for the work involved in this merit badge. The Boy Scout Oath states: On my honor I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; to help other people at all times, to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight. The Girl Scout Promise states: On my honor, I will try: to serve God and my country, to help people at all times and to live by the Girl Scout Law. Since the Boy and Girl Scout Laws are a part of these oaths, let’s look at those and see if they ring familiar to anything we find in scripture. For the Boy Scouts, they commit to being: trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. For the Girl Scouts: honest and fair, friendly and helpful, considerate and caring, courageous and strong, responsible for what they say and do, to respect self and others, respect authority, use resources wisely, make the world a better place, and be a sister to every Girl Scout. You could very easily lay the Fruit of the Spirit, the Ten Commandments, the Beatitudes, and the Sermon on the Mount over the top of these and come out with something very similar. The question is, do we as Christians – no, more importantly, do we as a church – practice these with each other and with those outside these doors?

To some extent, I can say with confidence that we do. I look for instance at what is being done across the street, although over the years it has become more and more distant to most of us. I look at our work teams now beginning to plan their trips to the Gulf Coast. My fear is that we keep them at a distance as well. My prayer is, however, that as we look at the work teams we don’t see it as a small group of folks going to the Gulf Coast to help rebuild Bethany United Methodist. Instead, that we see it as something all of us are fully engaged in as together we go to rebuild and renew hope in sisters and brothers whose lives have been devastated by Katrina. A few of us are going physically. All of us will be there spiritually as a team. Put another way, we need to fully embody, fully engage, fully participate in the work as practicing participants in these teams. Much like the work in the church, each of us plays a role as a part of the team. Some are able to offer financially to this work. Others are able to provide skills and materials. Others still are providing prayer and other kinds of spiritual support. Others provide ideas. Others go undergirded by the work of the rest of us. Like the church, the success of this team depends on each part doing its work. It’s not just a work team going to New Orleans. We’re all going, in a matter of speaking, as we participate fully in the preparation for and implementation of the departure on Palm Sunday and the next one this summer. Through this work, ours is the task of transformation – even resurrection – now focused on one church in the Gulf. And there is so much more.

Let me extend this even one step farther. The work of this merit badge extends even beyond the borders of this country and into the world. Our Senior Pastor is in Brazil over these next two weeks. The theme of the 9th Assembly you’ve sung and prayed this morning – God in your grace, transform the world – must speak to us beyond the walls of this church, even beyond the borders of this country. In his speech at an international conference last July, World Council of Churches General Secretary Samuel Kobia states: “[As Christians] we begin [our work] by addressing God in the firm conviction that the world is not as it should be, and that it can and must be changed. The world is not the way God wants it to be. The prayer of our assembly theme calls us as religious people to a common discernment of the threats to life that afflict our world and to see that we (continued...)