Transfiguration!

Last Sunday after Epiphany

Year A RCL

Exodus 24:12-18

Psalm 2

or Psalm 99

2 Peter 1:16-21

Matthew 17:1-9

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

Today is the last Sunday before lent.  And as is the tradition of the church we end the season of the Epiphany with the story of the transfiguration.  A story that is so familiar to me that I can tell it – in my own words – without opening a bible.  A story that in many ways I love because it speaks to me about both the divinity of Jesus but also about the humanity of the disciples – especially Peter. 

But I also struggle a little with how it makes sense for us today.  Do we need a mountaintop transfiguration?  Do we need to have a vision of Jesus both as human – walking down the road with this disciples, sharing meals, teaching – and as divine – with the light of God shining in and through him as on the mountain top?  Do we need to hear the message from God on that mountain top now?

This story takes place 6 days after Jesus asked the disciples who do people say that he is and then follows up with asking the disciples who they think he is.  It is six days after Peter declares that Jesus is the Messiah – the Son of God.  Jesus has been telling the disciples that he is going to be a very different messiah from the one they were expecting.  That this messiah is going to willing walk into Jerusalem, will be arrested, killed, and will rise after three days.  And Peter is having none of it.  So off to the mountain top they go.  And when Jesus is transfigured and Moses and Elijah appear Peter wants to freeze the scene.  Peter and the other two, James and John, have just had the heavens open and caught a glimpse of what is to come.  A world transfigured.  A world changed. 

 Peter doesn’t want the moment to end.  He wants to build three shelters for these great people.  One for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah.  He wants to enshrine God, the Law and the Prophets and sit at their feet for eternity.

When we capture a glimpse of the divine we most likely have the same reaction.  Let us sit here for awhile – a long while.  Let us revel in our thin places and spend time with God. 

Last year when I, along with Deacon Sonya and other soon to be ordained or newly ordained folk where on pilgrimage there where many thin places that seemed to demand that I stay.  The site where we remember Jesus feeding the 5,000 on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, the Mount of the Transfiguration – where this event is remembered – and where there is now a lovely church with three chapels – one to Jesus, One commemorating, Moses and one commemorating Elijah! 

And the one site that was nearly impossible to leave was the site of the crucifixion in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.  All places where the veil between human and divine seemed so so thin.  Places that caught me up short and made me want to stay.  I wanted to build a tent and to literally let the holy wash over me.  But that is not what God asked of me. And it is not what God asked of the Disciples and it is not what God is asking of all of us.

Listen to what God actually said on that mountain.  This is my son.  Listen to him.  Be raised up. And, Do not be afraid. 

Listen.  Something that I sometimes find hard to do.  I am so busy that I don’t make enough time just to listen to God.  What is God asking me to do? What is God asking the church to do?  There is certainly change afoot – just as Jesus was trying to tell the disciples in their time.  And we need to figure out what it means.  How do we respond as a community?  David Lose – another preacher who I follow said, “And while we may disagree on just what we hear – that’s the challenge of communal discernment, after all; we actually are a community, not a monolith – yet we agree that the best way to understand God is to look to Jesus and listen to him. To pay attention to what Jesus says and does, to whom he reaches out, to those he gives attention and help. Yes, we may not all agree, but we might also confess that if we all keep trying to listen to Jesus together – and trust that is what even the people who disagree with us are doing – we will get closer to what God intends for us.”^[1]

We may not agree on what the change means – whether it is good or bad.  But there will be change and how we respond is what matters.  Can we find it on our heart to follow the great commandment to Love others?  Especially when we don’t agree with them.  Can we find ways to not demonize those who are creating change? Change that we may not like?  Can we find a way to see the transfigured Glory of God in our world?  Now?  Because I know deep in my heart that the thin places where Gods glory shines through are all around me.  I know that we can and will find it.  We need to take the time to listen for God’s presence and to figure out – in community where we are called to act.

The Second thing we hear is that we need to get up – or better to be raised up.  That God is going to raise us up and that we need to not get lost in just the listening but we need to take action.  We need to hear what God asks us to do and then to get out of our tabernacles, our churches, our safe places and go do ministry.  What ministry depends on what God is asking us to do.  And it is different for each person and community.  We are not all asked by God to do the same things – thanks be to God! In my secular position as a scientist I believe God is calling me to come up with ways to protect the environment.  To care for this fragile earth our island home.  I also believe that God has called me to be a priest.  To provide the sacraments to folk and to hopefully be a guide to the thin places where we can listen to God. 

It can be a challenge to do the things God asks us to do. Because in many cases we are called to leave our comfort zones.  To talk to people we don’t like – or perhaps just don’t understand.  We are called as Christians to help bring about God’s transfigured presence of Love into this world.  We know it’s here now but also not here now.  There are times and places where we see the love of God but there are also places where we see the need to spread that love.  And that does not happen when we are sitting in comfort.  We need to get up.  Get out.  And do what God is calling us to do. 

Which brings me to the final thing – that we hear from Jesus – and which is a recurring message from God in the scriptures.  Be not afraid.  When we are doing the ministry that we are called to do God knows that we will be called out of our comfort zones.  Let me tell you going to seminary in my 50’s was outside my comfort zone.  It had been a quarter of a century sense I was in college.  I know that opening up the sacraments to people is a gift and a privilege – and sometimes is outside of my comfort zone.  And in these places we are reminded – do not be afraid.

When we follow Jesus commands – when we listen to him – we will be called to feed the hungry, both physically and spiritually, clothe the naked, and visit the sick and those in prison.  All actions that will take us places where we will be fearful. But God tells us “Do not be afraid”  God is with us in those situations and will comfort and heal us.  This is not a reason to go out and put ourselves in absolute danger – God is not going to suddenly makes us super-beings that can withstand bullets.  But God is going to be with us.  By our sides.  Comforting those fears so that we can do ministry.  And some people are called to do ministry is places of violence and danger.  And I am awed by those people.  Some of us are called to accompany the dying – a thing that our society is afraid of – to see death as a continuation and not an end. 

What ever our ministry God reminds us to not be afraid.  Because when we listen and get up and do ministry our eyes will be opened to the transfigured presence of God and we too will be transfigured.

The story of the transfiguration is a perfect way to move from the season of Epiphany to the season of Lent.  The season of lent is a journey that many times we don’t want to go on.  The journey from the top of the mountain that leads to confrontation with powers that demean people.  A confrontation that leads to the death of Christ.  It is a part of our faith that many struggle with.  But it is a story where we know the ending.  It is ultimately not a story of death but of life.  But to get to life we have to go through the hard places.  The places where we might not see God.  To travel with Jesus through the hardships and betrayals allows us not to be afraid when we face hardship and betrayal.  To know that whatever journey we are on right now that God is with us.  That God understands because we see that God takes the same journeys.  That the journey never really ends in absolute death but in resurrection.  That is a promise that our world doesn’t understand.  But it is real.

So as we enter into the season of lent  - Listen to God.  Get up – be raised up for ministry.  And be not afraid.  Try on new ministries – perhaps read a daily office that you don’t’ normally read.  Perhaps go visit people and listen to people who are not like us.  Perhaps try to see the transfigured joy that really does exist in this world – no matter what the pundits or the naysayers tell you.  Because we know the ending and it is all about Love. It is all about the great feast that God promises us is always around us and where we always have a seat at Gods abundant table.

Amen.

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^[1] http://www.davidlose.net/2017/02/transfiguration-a-timely-words/

Is not this the fast that I choose?

Sermon for Epiphany 5A – RCL

Isaiah 58:1-9a, [9b-12]

Psalm 112:1-9, (10)

1 Corinthians 2:1-12, [13-16]

Matthew 5:13-20

Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus said you are the Salt of the earth and the light on the hill.  I hear these as both promises and commands.  The promise is that we are salt and light.  We do not need to become salt and light.  We are called and given the tools necessary for ministry.  We are called to be beacons of light in this hurting world. We are given the tools necessary to bring God’s loving reign into being here and now. And as such we are commanded to use those tools. The church is here to not just make space for Christ but to do the work Christ has commanded us to do.

Jesus is not asking us to have a perfect liturgy and then go home and feel that we have “done our duty”.  Jesus is commanding that we work as his partners.  He is calling us to follow and fulfill the law and the prophets.  And we need to look no further than the reading from Isaiah this week to hear what that looks like.  And we can also hear ourselves in the reading from Isaiah.   The passage from Isaiah is a conversation between the people and God.  The people are complaining that they are fasting and God is not hearing them. “Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”  We might as well say “We go to Church, We pay our pledges but you God are not listening”

God’s response is biting to say the least.  He tells the people that they are not fasting at all.  Instead they are oppressing their workers, they quarrel and fight!  God says that all we think about worship is that we bow our heads and lie in sackcloth and ashes.  So with these complaints and questions God tells the people of Israel, and us, how to worship God.  It’s not with perfect liturgy – as much as I am a liturgical nerd.  Hear what God is asking us to do:

Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

Are we, as a society listening to the prophet? How much of that is going on in our society?  If you have dared to open a newspaper or turn on the news – or heaven help us all – open Facebook you certainly know that we are not doing what the prophet Isaiah and Christ have commanded us to do.  We hear about people being excluded with broad reaching and far reaching executive orders on the pretense that it will make us safe.  We hear about insults to our allies.  We hear about insults and injustice.  We have an executive branch that seems convinced that it is going to make good on his promises by executive order and not by any legislative process – not that that process is always perfect.

And the responses are polarized.  Some are cheering the locking out of whole  countries and their peoples,  The locking out of refugees.  The promise to deport people and the demonizing of the other.  The promise to repeal healthcare reform and yet we still have no replacement package – at least none that have made it out for public vetting. 

And I have to ask where are we as a nation in taking care of the hungry?  I hear about lowering taxes but I don’t hear about feeding the hungry.  I hear about financial reform but where do I hear about clothing the naked?  I hear about exclusion and expulsion where is the welcome and loosening the bonds of injustice.  I hear about a right to discriminate based on some vague and misguided notion of  “religious freedom”.  Where is the call to welcome the stranger?  Where is the call to see Christ in each other and especially in the least of these?

I hear about loosening the rules on churches endorsing candidates and promoting candidates but I don’t hear a call for listening to the prophets – both the ancient prophets and those who reside among us today. 

But we –as a community are called to do better.  We are called to feed the hungry and the cloth the naked.  We are called to be much needed salt of the earth.  We are called as a community to be the light on the hill. 

But how?  How are we to follow the calls of the prophets and the commandments of God in this uncertain time?  I can tell you that I am not certain how to react in this time and place.  But I do know that we are called to do more than retreat into our selves and retreat into our houses of worship and hear comfortable words.

Jesus calls us to be a light and being a light means doing things that call attention to those who are in need.  It means opening up our churches as sanctuaries and as safe places.  It means redoubling our efforts to ensure that our government is one that welcomes the stranger, feeds the hungry, and clothes the naked.  It means listening and following the pro.

It means marching for equality.  It means confronting those who would oppress.  It means taking action to call out fake news.  It means doing all the things that make us – well many of us – uncomfortable.  It means preaching that calls us to action and not preaching that just comes up with a nice explanation of the scripture.  Because as crazy Jesus people we are called to follow Christ and that means action.

John Stott - a 20th century Anglican Evangelical and prolific author, from his commentary on the Sermon on the Mount,  sums up our call, “We cannot opt out of seeking to create better social structures, which guarantee justice in legislation and law enforcement, the freedom and dignity of the individual, civil rights for minorities and the abolition of social and racial discrimination. We should neither despise these things nor avoid our responsibility for them. They are part of God’s purpose for his people. Whenever Christians are conscientious citizens, they are acting like salt in the community. As Sir Frederick Catherwood put it, ‘To try to improve society is not worldliness but love. To wash your hands of society is not love but worldliness.’” (John R. W. Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, 67).

And I can promise that it will not be comfortable.  Even if you agree with some or all of the executive actions – and eventually I presume legislative actions – that are being taken nationally our call is still to follow Christ and to bring to fulfillment the prophets.  To hear Isaiah telling us that God chooses a different type of worship and fasting.  Listen again to the prophet Isaiah:

Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

And as uncomfortable as these things may makes us there is a promise.  A promise that we will enter into the kingdom of God.  A promise that we can help bring God’s loving reign to fruition now.  The prophet Isaiah says that if we let the oppressed go free by tearing down walls – not building walls.  If we feed the hungry – not demonize the poor, if we cloth the naked not scapegoat the homeless:

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;

your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.

If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,

if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,

then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.

The Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places, 
and make your bones strong;

and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water, 
whose waters never fail.

Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;

you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.

Jesus said he did not come to abolish the law and the prophets but to see their fulfillment.  And we as his followers are called to continue to bring to fulfillment the calls of Isaiah.  We are both called and promised that we are salt of the earth and lights on a hill.  If we let our lights shine we can and will change society.  It won’t happen tomorrow or next week but it will change.  But only if we accept the call to be salt and light. 

But the good news is that I do see people all around us standing up for what is right.  Many people took place in the women’s march two weeks ago.  Many churches are asking what it looks like to be a place of sanctuary.  Many of you are feeding the hungry and bringing clothes in to cloth the naked.  Many of you take seriously the call to welcome the stranger.  So take comfort in this uncomfortable time.  God is still calling us into account.  God is still asking us to be salt and light – and as such we can and will bring in God’s reign of love and light.

Amen