Transfiguration Column

Sunday the 26th is Transfiguration Sunday, a decidedly more minor part of the church year. It is the kinge between the readings that tells us about the identity of Jesus and the ancient penitential season of Lent. It is a challenge for older ministers as the story keeps to the same path in the gospels.

It is a fitting conclusion to the season of epiphany/manifestation that begins on January 6 and the experience of the Magi. Now an adult Jesus goes up a mountain with three disciples. There he is revealed in a stunning new light. He appears as a prelude to the resurrected Jesus and engages in conversation with two prophets who tradition saw as assumed into heaven, Moses and Elijah.

When I was a child, I went through a geology phase and learned of metamorphic rocks. These transform due to heat and pressure: so shale becomes slate. This is the word the gospels use that gets translated as transfiguration via Latin.The idea is that Jesus is revealed in a new form or figure. Quite simply divinity is accentuated.

One could approach the Lord’s Supper in a similar way. Ordinary elements become the bearers of utterly new meaning. So bread and wine carry the very life of Jesus. Ordinary water becomes the water of spiritual rebirth. In ordination church members are transfigured into church officers such as minister, elder, or deacon.

Transfiguration includes seeing the world through e religious eyes. It is seeing someone as made in the image and likeness of God, no matter their social class. It is Mother Teresa seeing the face of Christ when she served the sick and dying in India.

Matthew 17, today’s reading in many churches, transfigures our notion of divinity even as it draws on theophany from the Old Testament. This mountaintop event is framed by  Jesus announcing that the Messiah will suffer and die. In this account, divinity and humanity are linked by the experience of suffering.

Lent could be seen as days in March and April, but within the church year they are transfigured into spiritual preparation for Holy Week. They help us to realize that we are tested, tried, or tempted just as Jesus was in replaying the days in the wilderness of the freed Israelites.

So, a diet turns into fast and abstinence. A change in behavior or attitude becomes a sacrifice. That Latin word has the sense of performing a sacred act or rite. I don't think that I ever quite got the idea of Lenten abstinence, or giving something up for Lent when young. I did have a nascent sense that this o was training for the big leagues of adult spirituality. If I could give u potato chips for a few weeks, maybe it would make me stronger, a form of spiritual workout, just like practicing shooting baskets.

Jesus incarnates, embodies divinity for us. Instead of one of control, the mechanism for divine ve include suffering. It sanctifies or at least ermist the everyday to become holy, to point to the beyond, the divine.

NI bWright, the eminent British churchman and scholar just published on new book on the cross. Lent leads us always to the cross, to a love that will do and suffer what is necessary for the beloved.The arms of the cross embrace a world love by God. In that light we do well to practice the small  struggles of Lenten sacrifice. In a larger sense, we do well to practice lenten acts of social justice as a small stand against the script that tells us me first since we are all on our own.

Lent comes with the spring, of seeds planted to help foster a new Garden of Eden.

Week of Feb. 26 Devotional

Sunday-Ps.99 is one of the choices for today. It continues a series of psalms with God as king. With all of that power, God forgives (v. 8). How does forgiveness include power?

Monday-Macrina Wiederkehr-"Silence is like a river of grace inviting us to leap unafraid into its beckoning depths. It is dark and mysterious in the waters of grace. Yet in the silent darkness we are given new eyes. In the heart of the divine we can see more clearly who we are. We are renewed and cleansed in this river of silence.

Tuesday-Where have you been forced by circumstance of family or culture into a life that no longer feels like your own?What has been sacrificed that you thought was lost?

How might you reclaim this in your life?Who are the wise ones to help you guide the way?

Wednesday-I assumed you thrived more within the blessings of routines or within the advantages of adventures. One or another, not both, worked better for me, so I thought.“You can’t enjoy both,” lying voices whispered to my heart.

Thursday-Lamentation, however, forces us to slow down. In the midst of daily tragedy, lamentation requires us to stay engaged after the cameras and publicity move on. It summons us to immerse ourselves in the pain and despair of the world, of our communities, of our own sinfulness.Still, why lament?Because, paradoxically, often the best way to cure pain is to engage it. (alban Inst.)

Friday-Our liturgy ends not with an admonition to head out and find a cappuccino and The New York Times, but to go and love and serve in the name of the Lord. Like Jesus, we have a message to proclaim - a message of release, recovery, freedom and favour.-Br. James Koester

Saturday-Parker-Palmer-I won’t know the answer until I get there. But on my way to that day, I’ve found a question that’s already giving me a new sense of meaning. I no longer ask, “What do I want to let go of, and what do I want to hang on to?” Instead I ask, “What do I want to let go of, and what do I want to give myself to?”The desire to “hang on” comes from a sense of scarcity and fear. The desire to “give myself” comes from a sense of abundance and generosity. Those are the kinds of truths I want to wither into.

Transfiguration sermon

What comes up must come down.

Ex. 24:9-12  a remarkable mystical communion with God-creation length of time to create a people- seven days  is time for a new creation. The cloud both reveals and obscures the presence of god, the glory of god. levels of presence describe ritual, the ark of the covenant, and later the temple itself-A new avenue of communication has been opened to his people which is in stark contrast to the burning terror of the theophany in chapter 19” (Childs, The Book of Exodus, p. 507).Within the story of the sacred meal, one finds another vivid description of God's glory: "They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness." The people saw God, but it does not fully describe God's physical presence but the brightness of the ground on which God was revealed to them, and even this description of the "pavement" is a little vague, using words, such as "something like" and the simile "like the very heaven" to describe it. This is visionary language.

God's glory is beyond the capacity of the human being to describe, much less comprehend, and there is something absolutely reassuring about that power being revealed in the context of a covenant-making ceremonial meal. God's power is on the side of the people of Israel, supporting their leaders, and establishing them as a people.Yet, here god has communion with the elders on the holy mountain. Even with the gulf in glory, the gulf between mortal and immortal, god desires communion with the people. Yes, only Moses communes with god with the obscuring cloud of presence.the whole idea of sacrifice was to gain access to the divine; here it is offered;it it is actual communion.

2 Peter 1;16-on a mountain here, with Moses and heard this voice linked to baptism’s thundering voice. In the transfiguration cloud they see Jesus in a wholly new way. Jesus is in conversation with those who have long since moved from earth into a new dimension.Jesus appears in a resurrection state, or if you will, a divine state of radiance. Peterson The term epilysis at the end of verse 20 is a technical term to the task of unwrapping, unknotting, “unlocking,” “deciphering,” or “explaining “ of a written text, as the translation of “interpretation” has accurately captured. Hence this means that once again (as in verse 19) the reference to “prophecy of scripture” is not to the “writing” but rather to the gift of clearly and accurately “unlocking” and witnessing to the message of scripture.Scripture too is transfigured from mere words to the touchstone of belief and practice. Here is a description of the bible becoming holy writing. It take sus into the cloud of obscurity and presence.

Sacraments and transfiguration Our tradition links word and action together in sacrament. Sacraments have a physical dimension to them, as most rituals do. The use the physical as the gateway to the spiritual realm.Moses and the elders dined with God on the mountain. We are lifted  to the mount of Transfiguration, of metamorphosis, of symbolic shift this morning in communion as well. At one level we have a bit of bread and a taste of wine, itself transfigured blood of life.At another level Calvin  insisted that the spirit moves us into the very presence of God. More than that we take those elements and have them incorporated into our very life stream. We participate in this communion together, hence Communion. Instead of the chosen  group on the mountain, this Communion is offered to all. At this sacrament we have union with Christ.

Sermon Notes Sermon on the Mount

Feb. 12

Dt 30 not too hard life and death-choose life-sees two basic paths, orientations in our lives. In some ways, the bible is a commentary on this verse. The arc of its movement tells and re-tells this basic truth.

Ps 119-torah, teaching, instruction, direction

I cor 3-milk not solid food -God works with different agents to help nourish and create conditions for growth We are content to stay with the milk of children in religion and not move to the sophistication to develop toward a heavier menu. I just read a theologian at the national level support writing at a third grade  level.But in declaring that God “was giving the growth,” Paul uses a verbal form that stresses God’s ongoing, continual action. The labor of Paul or of Apollos would have been fruitless if God had not been at work all along.  we can engage in ministry only in the trust that God is going to be at work, in and through what we do, to bring the growth that God wants.(.Peterson The Cross, Our Canon) -And, even more challenging: when we or our people are pitched against another person and his or her followers, are we willing to step back  so that everyone can look at the other as "sister," acknowledge that the other is "brother," and see the work that each is engaged in as an indispensable aspect of the work of the Kingdom of God?

Our understanding will grow by God’s action and in God’s time. We are called to nurture and water that mercy with compassion and love and justice, and leave whatever growth, in whatever form, to God.. Paul had addressed the Corinthians right away as “the church of God” (1:2), but they had failed to realize the implications of that claim.

Mt 5:21-37-This part of the sermon on the mount is certainly directed not as milk but solid food for ethics. Jesus re-examines the commandments with stunning results-he seems to see them as a baseline not an aspiration, not a moral horizon-I wonder why we don’t have a clamor to set these up in public forum? Jesus' reframing of righteousness exposes the easy truces we make. We can pat ourselves on the back. It is a difficult task to reconcile with anyone who has something against us before we can give our gifts to God; this  stops us in our tracks. The quality of relationships is connected to our worship of God, just as the tablets of the 10 Commandments are bound together.. Jesus splits our attention from particular behaviors we must avoid to particular interior orientations we must cultivate. Right relationship saturates our life together. In essence jesus does not regard the 10 Commandments that he expands as that difficult to follow. He goes after the seed that impels us toward those great sins.

In other words, the offenses  seem to be increasing in severity, but the same standard applies as to the 10 Commandments..  Hostility that results in verbal abuse is damaging and just as worthy of punishment as murder. The alternative to acting in anger is to seek reconciliation (5:23-26) Jesus wants his disciples to be people of integrity, people who are faithful to their promises. They should be people who honor their commitments in marriage and who respect the commitments of others. They are among the ones who are now blessed by God’s reign. (Oden)

Walk away from that helps to stifle the best parts of your life. Notice what diminshes your relationships. Choose life for relationships. Choose life in the public sphere. What is life-giving according to our readings this morning? What nourishes your relationships?

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Column on Farewell Address

Presidents Day, Monday the 20th, combines the birthdays of Lincoln on the 12th and Washington’s on the 22nd  . On a trip I finished John Avlon’s new book on George Washington’s Farewell Address. Every year, this  state paper is read aloud in Washington. Like so many things in his administration, he was thoughtful and careful about setting precedents. Recall that Washington was  drawn to public service out of a sense of duty, so it was a poignant document. In its way, it is a last will and testament to the inheritors of the new nation. It went through multiple stages. James Madison set down some of the first  draft at the end of the first term. Alexander Hamilton  brought a different draft at the end of the second term. Washington personally edited the material. he wanted it of a size that it could be printed in a newspaper page.

President Obama quoted from it in his farewell address. President Eisenhower saw it as the model for his significant address at the close of his illustrious public service, including his famous warning about the military-industrial complex. President Carter chose three concerns for the future: the threat of nuclear destruction, our stewardship of the physical resources of our planet, and the pre-eminence of the basic rights of human beings.

Washington outlined what he called pillars of liberty. One  section had a focus on the future of the union: “with slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.” I scarcely need to note its continued relevance in a time of polarized opinions that threaten our capacity to see our nation as a whole. He realized the tenuous nature of a large republic and the centrifugal forces that lurk beneath.

On education: “Promote then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge…it is essential that public opinion be enlightened.” Washington had little formal education, but he read and continued to learn all of his life across the board, in agriculture and in the arts. In his first inaugural Washington said: “Knowledge ...is the surest basis of public happiness.”

On public ethics,  On the danger of factions: This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passion of the human mind…It is substantially true virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government.” One of my favorite stories of him concerns a veteran who asked for a job. He replied, as an individual, I would give you my life, but as President I cannot demonstrate such favoritism.”

On foreign affairs: “nothing is more essential than the permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachment of others…just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated.”…Antipathy…disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage.” Washington anticipated Palmerston’s dictum that nations have no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interests. Sometimes, it is the warrior who most craves peace. He was no Pollyanna but he was convinced that we could: “ give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel and example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence.”

This address is a work of civic prophecy that continues to astound with its prescience. In years past, it was the subject of school  examination, but its 16 pages seem to be to strenuous a task. Please consider reading this piece in full and decide where its wisdom may still apply over 2 centuries later.

Week of Feb. 12 Reflections

Sunday-Ps.119:1-8 is today’s selection from that long prayer on God’s torah, teaching, direction. It realizes that we seem to be unable to follow those dictates toward a full life. What teaching from Scripture has added to your happiness?

Monday-Jinkins-One of my all-time favorite plays is Tennessee Williams's Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Since first seeing the play, my respect for Williams' understanding of the corrosiveness of mendacity has only grown. For Williams, lies are a vile and ugly violation of everything that promises life and the possibility of love. Indeed, for Williams, mendacity is the language and tool of death, a malignant tumor eating away at all human relationships that indulge in it. Unless the lies are exposed, cut away and burned out whenever they appear, unless the body politic learns to attack the cells of duplicity and dishonesty within it every time they return, mendacity will threaten our society's life and future. What is really required is a social body with a robust enough immune system that it can discern and resist the empty promises of untruth.

Tuesday-"We each have a choice each moment in time. We can choose whether to meet ourselves with hospitality and kindness, we can choose to inhabit our feelings or to numb ourselves and let them become frozen inside of us." Abbey of the arts

Wednesday-The word “imbolc” means “in the belly.”  The earth’s belly is beginning to awaken, new life is stirring, seeds are sprouting forth.  In many places the ground is still frozen or covered with snow, but the call now is tend to those very first signs of movement beneath the fertile ground.  What happens when you listen ever so closely in the stillness?  What do you hear beginning to emerge?What new seeds are stirring deep in your belly?

Thursday-"There is a sacramental quality to this greening life force [viriditas] because it calls us to discover God at work in all of the world and not reject anything as beyond the realm of God’s presence.".--- Christine Valters Paintner

Friday-When it comes to the church's side of the 'mystical union' with Christ, then, 'God with us' [Immanuel] means 'God with us in the flesh.' Through him, intimacy with God is possible for human beings. 'Christ shares in flesh and blood,' and therefore is 'comrade and partner in the same nature with us'. ...  [T]his intimate, embodied, 'mutual connection' is sacramentally - that is, practically and paradigmatically- realized in the 'Sacred Supper.'"(Boulton, Life in God, p. 132.)

Saturday-Stanley Hauerwas writes, "For it is my belief that there is no more powerful response to totalitarians than to take time to reclaim life from their power. By refusing to let them claim every aspect of our life as politically significant, we create the space and time that makes politics humane.