Cloud Cover

There is a so called ‘jewelry and loan’ shop on Sandy Boulevard that claims to be the “friendliest pawn shop” in Portland. The name of the shop is “Silver Lining”. I noticed the sign last week because I was thinking about clouds. And the old saying goes: “every cloud has a silver lining”. So I imagined myself going into the shop. I thought about how it would feel to be down on my luck. I pictured walking in there with my grandfather’s old pocket watch, getting ready to sell it. I guess if I get to the point where I need to go to a “jewelry and loan” I would certainly want it to be friendly. After all why add insult to injury, so to speak. So, just in case, I have made a mental note!  (Sandy Boulevard: ‘Silver Lining’: a friendly jewelry and loan shop)

It seems to me that the name of the shop and the purpose of the shop - - play perfectly into the meaning of the old saying. You remember the saying: “Every cloud has a silver lining”. Clouds...are said to have silver linings: which means, that bad experiences can have good things associated with them. If someone is down on their luck, at least there is a shop that will convert jewelry into cash! And in that case, that’s the silver lining.

So what is it about clouds?
    Why do we associate them with bad luck?
        Well maybe it’s obvious…
        Did anyone enjoy the sunshine this weekend?

Sunshine seems to be the natural state for bliss, and clouds seem gloomy.
So obviously we associate clouds with gloom.
But maybe it’s not that obvious to everyone in all circumstances. Consider - - that our glee over the sunshine - - may partly be due to the fact that is has been SO rainy and cloudy this
Spring that it’s just the contrast.  When the sun finally shines in Portland people go completely nuts - - which isn’t true in every situation.


After all for people who live in the desert, a rain cloud is a blessing. The recent movie Rango brings that point home - - as a whole town’s future dries up because of the lack of water. That movie suggests that - - in every desert town in the wild-west there is the hope for a cloud. Which is kind of the reverse of the old saying.
Still the saying has lasted - - for a reason…
“Every cloud has a silver lining…”

Imagine if instead of waiting for the sun to shine - - it were the other way around. Imagine of the CLOUDS were the main attraction. What if people waited for a cloudy day, like we wait for the sun to come out.

What if cloud cover - - were the name of the game.

“A cloud’ll come out tomorrow, you can bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow - - there’ll be clouds….”

Well - - in fact - - that is a very Biblical outlook.

In the Bible, quite often, clouds indicate the presence of God.

A cloud guided Israel in the wilderness. A “pillar of cloud” by day is what guided them. We can read about it in Exodus chapter 13. Then - - that cloud also saved them from their enemies - - as it is recorded in the very next chapter.
The cloud - - is God’s awesomeness in Exodus chapter 19. There, God says to Moses, “I am coming to you in a - - thick cloud - - so that the people may hear what I speak and believe forever.”

Clouds also reveal Christ’s glory, when Jesus is on a mountain top. An event called the “transfiguration” takes place on a mountain top covered in a cloud. And in that cloud God’s glory is revealed.

In Matthew’s gospel, Christ’s return is described as “on the clouds”.

And in Acts, in the reading for today, Jesus ascends to heaven on a cloud. And then Luke writes that he will return again in the SAME way.    Jesus will return to us - - on a cloud.

So - - maybe the cloud cover in Oregon is starting to look pretty good!

Maybe God is closer to us - - than we sometimes think.

The poet Shelly has suggested something like this in his poem titled “The Cloud”. It is a long poem in which a cloud is personified. And as the poem moves along toward the end, the personified cloud becomes Christ himself. Christ is laughing at his empty tomb, or “cenotaph”. “Cenotaph” is the word Shelly uses in the poem that means “empty tomb”.

Listen to the ending lines:

“For after the rain - - when - - with never a stain - -
        the pavilion of heaven is bare,
    And the winds and sunbeams - - with their convex gleams - -
        build up a blue dome of air - -
    I silently laugh - - at my own cenotaph…
        And out of the caverns of rain
Like a child from the WOMB
        Like a ghost from the TOMB
        I rise - - and UNbuild it again.”

Shelly is NOT looking for silver lining here.
    The cloud IS Christ present, and is the resurrection.
    Instead of obscuring our vision, maybe clouds help us see God more clearly.
    Instead of a problem, maybe clouds are the answer.
        Why…?
        Well maybe clouds teach us to trust.
        In a cloud - - we trust God, instead of our own ego.
        In a cloud - - we are overshadowed - - and sometimes even afraid.
        And, worse things have happened than discovering the fear of God.

In the reading from Acts it says that the people of Galilee just stood staring at the cloud. But two angels confronted them and said, “Hey, don’t just stand there - - do something”. To paraphrase: “Hey, don’t just stand there. You have just encountered the presence of Christ. Christ ascending on a cloud. Don’t just stare at the cloud…do something about the experience. Go and be a witness. Go to the ends of the earth.”

So when we experience cloud cover…how will we respond?

How will we bear witness to our faith out in the world?
        That is the question of this text.
        That is the question of the Easter season…
        That is the question of Pentecost which we celebrate next week…
    Pentecost is all about the Holy Spirit.
    And the Holy Spirit is all about bearing witness.


    The Acts text says that when the Holy Spirit comes upon us we will receive power…to be witnesses…to the ends of the earth!


    This year’s Pentecost theme is: “So I Send You”
    Colored strips of paper have recorded ways that some of you have responded to this call to bear witness to God’s Spirit at work in you.
    I thought about all the ways we minister at Westminster this week.
    I thought about those colored strips of paper.
    I thought about the windows on our ministry that are a part of the Stewardship display in the Great Hall.
    Many of these ways that we minister - - begin with some sort of challenge.
    There is a need to meet.
    We give of our time…
    We pledge our financial support…


        Why?
            To meet those needs and to bear witness to our faith!
        All those areas of ministry are not clouds seeking silver linings.
            No.
        They are opportunities to experience the very presence of God.
            We will not experience God by staring up into heaven.
        But we CAN experience God’s very presence…as we give of ourselves…and as we bear witness to God’s amazing spirit at work in our world.

It begins with the kind of TRUST that comes…with cloud cover.