Dark Things

Dark Things

June 26, 2017

Matthew 10:24-33

“Have any of you seen the glowing cloud that has been moving in from the west? Well, John Peters – you know, the farmer? He saw it over the western ridge this morning. Said he would have thought it was the setting sun if it wasn’t for the time of day. Apparently, the cloud glows in a variety of colors, perhaps changing from observer to observer, although all report a low whistling when it draws near.

One death has already been attributed to the Glow Cloud. But listen, it’s probably nothing. If we had to shut down the town for every mysterious event that at least one death could be attributed to, we’d never have time to do anything, right? That’s what the Sheriff’s Secret Police are saying, and I agree. Although, I would not go so far as to endorse their suggestion to run directly at the cloud, shrieking and waving your arms, just to see what it does.”

This report is one of the many made in the podcast called, Welcome to Night Vale. Night Vale is described as “A friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass overhead while we all pretend to sleep.”¹

It is a bizarre podcast that is a mix of public radio, the X-Files, every conspiracy theory and new age religion practice you can get. Pterodactyls appear through a worm hole, the Sheriff has secret police, there are hooded figures in the dog park which you are not to even think of, and all this is run by a vague yet menacing government agency.

I love this podcast. It is dark and funny and I never know what will happen next. I start with Night Vale as it is a dark tale. Jesus mentions that we are to tell things in the light that he tells us in the dark. This echoes a statement he makes in Matthew 13:35, “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter dark things hidden since the creation of the world.” He’s quoting both from the Psalm we read in our call to worship and Isaiah 45:3 which states, “I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name”

“I will utter dark things. The things I tell you in the dark…” What is Jesus talking about?

Jesus’ primary teaching method is parable. Parables are stories where the meaning isn’t exactly clear. The meaning is dark. We’re not sure, it’s not completely clear, the way isn’t seen. There is a whole genre of “dark teachings” that the rabbis talk about where the disciples have to work to get the meaning. They have to ponder the many, multiple meanings and then discuss and argue what meaning they get out of it. Jesus is our rabbi, so we must puzzle out what he means in many of his teachings.

One such example from our rabbi Jesus would be when he is asked about what God’s kingdom is like, Jesus says, “It’s like a field with buried treasure. You go and sell all your stuff and buy the field.”

Wait, what?! What about the clouds and harps and halos and angels? What about seeing all my family members and friends? What about streets of gold and rivers of milk and honey?

Nope. It’s a field.

So is there like a tree in the field? Like, how nice is this field? Is it a well-kept English garden or is it a sandlot? We want comfort and bliss and Jesus gives us dirt and digging. He sends us out. He calls us out. Not for peace, comfort, and safety as he doesn’t come with that—he comes with a sword that will cut us off from all we know. We will discover what he means, find this buried treasure, and we will sell everything we have, give up everything we know and buy the field.

The thing I like about Welcome to Night Vale is the same thing I like about reading the bible. It’s completely unexpected. The stories are bizarre. Let’s do a quick test, tell me if you think this comes from Welcome to Night Vale or the Bible:
A Talking Snake in a Tree (Genesis 2, Bible)
A man eaten by a fish (Jonah, Bible)
A cat hovering in the men’s bathroom (Night Vale)
A teaching given by a donkey (Absolom’s Donkey, Bible)
The appearance of a 5 headed-dragon (Night Vale)
Demons going into pigs and running into the sea (Jesus in Mark, Bible)
The sun standing still. (both, a Battle in OT and in episode 1 of Night Vale)

Here’s something odd: there is a cat hovering in the men’s bathroom. He seems perfectly happy and healthy, but it’s floating about four feet off the ground next to the sink. Doesn’t seem to be able to move from its current hover-spot. If you pet him, he purrs, and he’ll rub on your body like a normal cat if you get close enough. Fortunately, because he’s right by the sink, it was pretty easy to leave some water and food where he could get it, and it’s nice to have a church pet. Wish he wasn’t trapped in a hovering prison in the men’s bathroom, but listen: no pet is perfect. It becomes perfect when you learn to accept it for what it is.²

No life is perfect. I felt the call away from my life in Sylvania. And look, I loved my life there. We had a great house. I loved my church. I enjoyed what I did, but God called to me. I got the feeling that I needed to become a senior pastor. I tried to stay there, I discussed with the senior pastor and the cabinet about the possibility of becoming co-pastors. Yet that didn’t feel right, I felt like I needed to see what was out there. So I got my profile together and sent it out. I was thinking maybe I would wind up at the UCC in Kent, or another church here in north east Ohio. I sent it here as well. Then you responded. “Hey. This is a strong profile.” Uhh… thanks Medina. Okay, wonder what Kent is doing now. “Hey, can we interview you?” Ok, I’ll come to you as I’ll be in the area. And within the first 10 minutes, I knew. I knew because when I walked into the new library, there was a name on your list of veterans that I did a funeral for in Sylvania. But that’s a subject of another sermon. I knew because I felt like your problems I could help with, and then weaknesses that I have you could help with. I felt like I already knew the search committee and your situation.

I’ve had these little God-incidences this whole time, these little nudges. Even my first day in the office had meaning. I wanted to start on Easter as a symbol of our new life together. That Monday was April 10, 2017. Two hundred years ago, April 10, 1817, a log cabin was built in one day in Weymouth. St Paul’s Episcopal worshiped in the morning and the Congregationalists in the afternoon. I don’t know what that means, if anything. I’m still puzzling the meaning, maybe it’s a confirmation from God. Maybe it’s something else. There are tons of dark teachings that have been coming to me and I’ve been puzzling over what God is going to have us do together. I’m so excited to discover it with you.

There is a field with treasure in it. You must sell everything, leave your family, love Jesus more than anything, take up your cross and follow Christ. Lose your life for God’s sake and you will find it. And we are finding life here with you. I cannot deny Jesus and I don’t fear anything for the only thing to fear is God in Heaven. No person, no group of people, no act of terror or weapon should be feared if we are about the work of Christ in us as we follow the Spirit into the world. The way might be dark. There might be a glow cloud, hovering cats, and things we don’t understand. Things we puzzle over. But together we shall make meaning and see God.

That’s the essence of life, isn’t it? Sometimes you go through things that seem dark at the time, like a mysterious glowing cloud devouring your entire community. Or a diagnosis. A change in your life. A death in your family. A move to an unfamiliar place and a new house. We go through hard times and have mysterious signs where we puzzle at what they mean. Yet we cannot run from them. We must learn from them, wrestle with the meaning and see what we have been taught. While they’re happening they feel like the only thing that matters, and you can hardly imagine that there’s a world out there that might have anything else going on.

I will end how Welcome to Night Vale episode 2 ended, as it is a dark teaching that we can ponder together. “And then the Glow Cloud moves on. And you move on. And the event is behind you. And you may find that, as time passes, you remember it less and less. And you are left with nothing but a powerful wonder at the fleeting nature of even the most important things in life – and the faint but pretty smell of vanilla.

Dear listeners, here is a list of things.

  • Emotions you don’t understand upon viewing a sunset
  • Lost pets, found
  • Lost pets, unfound
  • A secret lost pet city on the moon
  • Trees that see
  • Restaurants that hear
  • A void that thinks
  • A face half-seen just before falling asleep
  • Sandwiches
  • Silence when there should be noise
  • Noise when there should be silence
  • Nothing when you want something
  • Something when you thought there was nothing
  • Clear plastic binder sheets
  • Scented dryer sheets
  • Rain coming down in sheets
  • Night
  • Rest
  • Sleep
  • End

Goodnight, listeners. Goodnight.

Works Cited
Welcome to Night Vale, “The Glow Cloud” Episode 2, Season 1. https://youtu.be/IvAl5HoLrTw

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