"The Journey Ahead" Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday/Last Sunday in Epiphany Year C-2/14/10

Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday (Last Sunday in Epiphany-Year C)

Exodus 34:28-35; Luke 9:28-43

"The Journey Ahead"
2/14/2010

I went walking the other day.  It was one of our recent deceptively beautiful days--sunny and gorgeous, and bitter cold with the wind chill.  The sun drew me out, but the cold reminded me that winter is still here for the moment.  Since I didn't have my ipod with me, I walked in the quiet.  It allowed me to notice all that was going on around me despite the stillness.  As I thought and looked and noticed, I decided this is probably one of my favorite times of the year... if you know me, cold is not something I'm a big fan of.  But as I looked beyond the cold, I saw it.  Hope.  Transformation.  

(Photo from http://neighborhoodnature.wordpress.com/2009/02/24/)

Right there in the dirt.  Flower bulbs poised to show their glory.  Green stalks poking out of the dirt making their first appearances in the sun.  Right there on the tree branches.  Tree branches shedding their winter death and peaking out ever so slightly with new growth.  Right there in the birds and squirrels out scavenging for food because new little ones are on the way soon.  The earth is just poised on the brink of new life.  There is hope of spring--I don't care what the groundhog says.  Winter doesn't get the last word--THANKFULLY!!  

It isn't coincidence that Transfiguration Sunday and the verge of Spring coincide.  They both give us a picture of change that is happening all around us--transformation is in the air.  Luke's account of the Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain details how Jesus was changed before the disciples' very eyes.  He looked different, and a voice from heaven claimed Jesus and invited those present and those hearing the story to listen to him. (Luke 9:35).  From this point in the story, Jesus heads to Jerusalem and Holy Week--the Garden of Gethsemane, arrest, the cross, and death.  We are about to enter this time in our church year when these events are the focus.  But even as we enter Lent this coming week on Ash Wednesday, we do so with the knowledge that death doesn't get the final word.  After Lent comes Easter.  The cross leads to the tomb, and then the tomb is found empty.  There is life after death.  We are all in the process of transformation that proclaims Resurrection--Life after death--Hope.  It's quite a journey, and it all starts again on Wednesday! 

The traditional readings for Transfiguration Sunday include both the Luke reading and the Exodus reading that we heard today.  This passage from Exodus would have come to mind immediately when the followers of Jesus heard the story of the Transfiguration.  There are many parallels to the passage that I won't go into here, but I imagine you noticed many of them as you heard the two read together this morning.

How do we imagine this scene where Moses is on the mountain receiving the Ten Commandments?  This scene has been portrayed in a number of ways.  A simple Google search will show how some have imagined it.  If you have ever seen images of the Michelangelo sculpture of Moses[1], the horns on his forehead come from this passage. Some older translations describe Moses' glow as him having horns.[2]  More contemporary translations match today's reading of his face being aglow.  I love the image of Moses coming down with his face aglow from his time with God.  What would it be like to spend such intense time with God and be in God's presence such that your face glowed when others saw you afterward?

As I explored the Exodus passage of scripture this week, I found something I thought was very interesting, especially given that we are facing the season of Lent.  Did you notice the opening line in the Exodus story today?  This line is not considered a part of the lectionary passage for today.  One of the things we were taught in school, though, is that a passage isn't written alone. It is part of a larger narrative, so we can consider what comes before and after the text we are exploring.   So as I looked at Exodus, I notice that Moses spends forty days and nights with God.  Verse 28 reads, "He was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments" (Exodus 34:28, NRSV).  In fact, Moses spends 40 days and nights with God two different times in Exodus (Exodus 24:18, NRSV).  He understood the importance of spending quality time in God's presence.

Forty days is a long time—it’s almost a 10^th of the year.  Forty is a number in Judaism that means a long time and also means fullness.   It's the "amount of time it takes to accomplish a specific purpose." [3]Forty days allows for new habits to form--to take root and grow changing our ways and patterns.  For Moses, forty days and nights where what it took to hear God's commandments, record them, and be ready to return to the Israelites to relay the message.  It's a significant number in Scripture and draws our minds to other instances where we find the number forty.  Remember Noah and the ark and their 40 days of rain.  The Israelites wandered in the desert 40 years.  Kings Saul, David, and Solomon ruled 40 years.  Eli was a judge for 40 years.  Jesus fasted in the desert for 40 days wile he was tempted.  After the resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples for 40 days. 

For the early church, the tradition continued.  The 40 days before Easter were a time of preparation for baptisms that would then happen on Easter.  This was an important part of the preparation for new believers to get to know what it meant to live as Christians.  They used the time to transform their old ways into new ways of being believers.  By 1191 the Pope declared the 40 days of Lent to be an official season of the church year, and marked Ash Wednesday as the beginning point.  Just as I saw flower bulbs starting to show through the dirt on my walk the other day, the word Lent meant spring and originally comes from the word meaning long because the days are getting longer as spring approaches.[4]  The plants are beginning to live new lives, and we have the same opportunity. 

Lent, for us today, is a 40-day season that serves as a time for reflection and repentance before the Resurrection.  We often associate it with somber, minor keys.  One way to look at this is that for reflection and repentance we must look inside ourselves and examine who we are. Ash Wednesday offers us this opportunity as we acknowledge our own mortality through the dust.  This reflection is difficult for many and uncomfortable for most.  But that is also where transformation and change can take place.  Transformation is often difficult, but it is worth it in the end.  Transformation, after all, is what God is all about in our world--transforming death into new life. 

When Steve and I visited Monticello in Charlottesville, VA this past October, we witnessed transformation in process.  Underneath a cellar overhang there were Monarch butterflies transforming.  The chrysalis' were hanging there, and we could see one that was almost ready to hatch.  The wings were visible through the clear covering.  

And many monarchs, having just finished their own transformations, filled the gardens.  It was so beautiful to see these butterflies going through the difficult process of transformation, but we know in the end it is worth their efforts to change from caterpillar to butterfly.  This is the reason butterflies are representative of the resurrection.  Lent is like the time the caterpillar spends inside the chrysalis--internal change is happening, but the transformation of Easter is worth all the work that Lent brings.  New life is the result, and what a beautiful transformation it is. 

The journey ahead brings us Ash Wednesday, Lent, Holy Week, and ultimately Easter.  It also brings us an invitation.  An invitation to journey with the story of our faith.  An invitation to live into the rhythm of the church year.  An invitation for transformation through intentional time with God.  An invitation for a journey with God to see where God is working in and around us.  It has been said that Moravians are Easter People.  We don’t let Easter sneak up on us because we live into these practices that prepare us for the Big Event—Easter morning!  Through the years we have done the hard work of Lent well, have lived into Holy Week through worship and our Holy Week readings of the Gospel texts.  We appreciate Easter more, because we have prepared our hearts and minds ahead of time.  May we continue this tradition and live into Lent.  Through this time, I wonder how our faces might glow if we embrace these next 40 days with intentionality.  I wonder how we might see those around us glow when they have spent time with God over these next 40 days.

Many times people choose to give up something, often a favorite food, during Lent to remind us of our hungering after God.  This is good and can be an effective teacher during these 40 days.  But what if we instead choose a new habit to undertake during the next 40 days--something that will encourage us in the journey ahead.  Or maybe giving up one thing and adding something else works well for some of us.  Through both, God can work to help transform our living with God.  Maybe we are led to focus on gratitude during Lent, and spend time daily writing a thank you note to someone who has touched our lives or start a list of all the things we're grateful for.  Maybe we are led to focus on prayer, and spend time in conversation with God and Moravians from around the world by praying the Daily Text during Lent.  Maybe we are led to focus on music, and read a hymn a day and use the words as our prayer.  Maybe we are led to visit neighbors or strangers we have yet to get to know.  The possibilities are endless.  How is God leading you to transform your life during Lent?

Moses was led to a mountain for 40 days and Jesus spent 40 days living in a desert.  Maybe that is our calling for this time, but maybe it is not.  We are busy and living goes on.  But maybe, on this journey ahead, we can find time to seek the holy in the ordinary.  We can open our eyes and see where God is, and spend time with God in the places of our daily lives.   Poet Ann Weems talks about this in her collection of poetry for Lent and Easter entitled, "Kneeling in Jerusalem."  I offer her prayer, "Holy in the Ordinary" as a closing prayer this morning.  May we all find God's invitation for us during these next 40 days, and may we all share the glow of being in God's presence.

"Holy is the time and holy is this place, 
and there are holy things that must be said.


"Let us say to one another what our soul whispers...
O Holy One, cast your tents among us;
come into our ordinary lives and bless the living!"[5]
Amen.

[1] http://www.lib-art.com/artgallery/13974-moses-michelangelo-buonarroti.html

[2] Wallace Eugene March, "Exegetical Perspective on Exodus 34:29-35" for Transfiguration Sunday in Feasting On The Word, Year C Volume 1 (Advent Through Transfiguration) edited by David L. Bartlett and Diana Butler Bass (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009) 439.

 [3] Delia Halverson, Children's Activities for the Christian Year (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2004) 47.

[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lent

[5] Ann Weems, "The Holy In The Ordinary" in Kneeling In Jerusalem (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1992)13.

"A Christmas Frame Of Mind" (1/4/09, Christmas 2B)

"A Christmas Frame of Mind"
Christmas 2B
Sermon from 1/4/2009
John 1:1-18; Ephesians 1:3-14

Christmas Day has come and gone again this year. The candy, cards, and gifts are 50 or 75% off. The 24-7 Christmas Music on the radio is over--the Christmas CD's and movies are packed away until next year. The returns have been returned, the decorations are likely down or will be coming down this afternoon. We're already though New Years Day as well, and Valentine's candy is already on the shelves in the local grocery store. The shepherds have visited the stable and returned home. The Magi arrive this Tuesday for Epiphany, and they will then return home as well. Christmas has come and gone for another year. Or has it?

As I opened my stocking on Christmas Day with my in-laws and family in Pennsylvania, I took out a magnet that said, "Christmas isn't just a day, it's a frame of mind." A frame of mind... I like that. It's a great phrase. A Christmas frame of mind. Christmas in the church is a season in fact--12 days long that begins on Christmas Day and carries us through to Epiphany on January 6th. These are the true 12 Days of Christmas, but somehow it seems we have forgotten to tell the rest of the world about them. Christmas is over according to our culture. Is it over this year for us too? Christmas as a frame of mind--what if it was actually true? What would it look like in our daily lives?

As I have spent the past week or so preparing for today's message, I must confess I have been confronted with more questions than answers. As a pastor knowing I get to stand up and dialog with you on Sunday morning, more questions than answers has led to little comfort and much frustration in my preparation process. I have thought back often to what my college thesis adviser told me when I got to the end of my paper and had multiple pages of questions for further study--I was frustrated that it wasn't going to end with neatly answered questions, but in fact my topic of research led to more questions. She said that more questions were a good thing because it meant I was thinking and engaging the topic.

I also have had to wrestle with the fact that as a trained pastor, I feel like I should somehow KNOW the answers... but I confess that just as I think I have an answer, more wrestling with the questions and answers is required. These questions are not easily or neatly wrapped up in a box and placed under our Christmas trees. So I would like to invite you all to journey with me through some of the big questions of Christmas that I have found myself mulling over this week. Maybe some of these are also your questions? Maybe some of my questions raise new questions within you? I am excited about the possibility of wrestling with these together, because I believe these are questions that can likely best be answered in community.

For starters, what does Christmas mean? There is the easy answer--the word is from "Christ's Mass" celebrating the birth of the Christ child, the promised savior or Messiah--Jesus of Nazareth. The story is told in Luke 2 and Matthew 2, which many of us can quote at least in part. It's a cozy story that takes place in a stable in Bethlehem with shepherds, angels, magi, and a young couple who have an unexpected baby. But is it also so much more than this?

As I have wrestled, I have keep thinking about how we are often so busy and hurried in December and everything is focused on Christmas' arrival and being ready for the BIG DAY. In fact, shoppers take note--there are only 355 shopping days till next year's Big Day! Our preparation time is a blur of shopping, activities, parties, food, and craziness. Then it's here and over in a flash. Lovefeast buns have been consumed, our coffee's cold, and the smell of smoke fills this room as the candles are all blown out. It's all over and yet, how is life different? Yes, there is the stack of new DVDs to watch and clothes to wear, but how is life truly different? Or is it different at all? Why is Christmas even important to begin with? I kept coming back to the question of "So what does Christmas mean?" How does Christmas really affect our lives the other 364 days of the year? And if it doesn't, how might it be different this year to extend Christmas to make it a frame of mind or a way we view our world?

When we hear the story of Christmas, it is often from Luke or Matthew's story about the baby Jesus. But today, we are looking at John's telling of the Christmas Story. There are no shepherds; no angels; no Mary and Joseph; no overcrowded inn; no magi mentioned anywhere. Jesus isn't even named until 17 verses into the story. The writer in John takes us back to the beginning--literally-- by opening the Gospel's Prologue with the phrase "In the beginning." This phrase likely took your mind back to the beginning. We heard these passages paralleled in the reflective reading that opened worship this morning.

One phrase truly sums up the story of Christmas, I believe, but might need some unpacking to make more sense is in John 1:14. "And the Word became flesh and lived among us and we have seen his glory, the glory of a father's only son, full of grace and truth." The WORD, from the phrase “And the Word became flesh,” is a translation of logos in Greek, and is a term the Greek Philosophers used for logic or wisdom, and is even where our word logic comes from. The ideas of logos along with light and life were common terms used at that time by philosophers. But here the writer of John is taking these words and using them to show the world is forever changed. For the writer of John and for us, these words are not just philosophical ideas anymore; they live and breathe in the person of Jesus Christ. The God of the universe has become flesh and blood in human form--both fully God and fully human. Not only did this God-person exist, but lived in and among them. Because of Christmas, God now lives or tents or tabernacles or dwells among us. The tent and tabernacle images in John recall the Israelite image of the mobile tabernacle and Ark of the Covenant from the time of the desert wanderings in Exodus. As the Message translation explains, "The Word became flesh and blood and moved into the neighborhood." This is the point... this is what Christmas is all about--the Incarnation where God becomes human and moves into our neighborhood.

So why did God become human (incarnate) and move into our neighborhood? John writes that it is to show us God's glory in grace and truth. The ideas of grace and truth also hearken back to the Exodus and Moses when God created a covenant with the Israelites. This phrase “grace and truth” can also be translated as mercy and truth, or love. Jesus came to earth, moved into our neighborhood and showed us what LOVE looked like, smelled like, tasted like, felt like, and acted like. Jesus modeled love with his every breath so we could do the same--maybe that is a Christmas frame of mind? As one of my favorite authors, Shane Claiborne, puts it, "In the baby refugee Jesus, God becomes Emmanuel ("God with us"), crashing in the manger. And it is in the life of Jesus that God puts skin on to show us what love looks like." [Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006) 324]

This understanding of Christmas leads me to reflect on the other magnet I found in my stocking on Christmas Day--"Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love." A conspiracy of love--maybe that is what Christmas is all about. Christmas is God's cosmic conspiracy of love, and we've been invited to join in on the love-fest. Poet Ann Weems wrote a very short poem that I think brings these two magnet's saying together. She writes:

"When the Holy Child is born into our hearts
there is a rain of stars
a rush of angels
a blaze of candles
this God burst into our lives.
Love is running through the streets."
[Ann Weems, "Godburst" from Kneeling in Bethlehem (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987) 27]

God has moved into the neighborhood, and, now, Love is running through the streets. Have you seen God's RV or Motor home parked in your front yard or at the next desk over from your cubicle? Was God standing next to you in the check-out lane at REI or Target as you made returns? Has God served you coffee and bagels or wine and bread recently? One writer I encountered this week asks, "Where then do we confront the divine, where do we touch the eternal living God, where do we experience the inner light?" Ahh--More great questions with no easy answers.

The Prologue tells us that John the Baptizer came to testify that Emmanuel, "God with us," was coming into the world, giving power to people to become children of God. So then, how do we TESTIFY to the presence of love running through the streets of our neighborhoods? Mother Teresa was quoted as saying, "We can do no great things, only small things with great love. It's not how much you do but how much love you put into doing it." Maybe that is a Christmas frame of mind. What small things can we do this year that will show God's great love to those around us--our families, our friends, our co-workers, and schoolmates? How can we love the stranger on the street corner or beside us in the check out line? Maybe its spending time with an elderly neighbor who needs to be reassured that someone really does care about them or holding a patient's hand as he or she awaits test results or treatment. Maybe we can demonstrate God's love running down the soccer field in Costa Rica as we help build a youth center and school. Maybe we participate in the conspiracy of love as we volunteer or take more time to show love to our family members who might be difficult at times to love. Hopefully we keep wrestling together with how we can see God's moving van in our neighborhood and join in with the conspiracy of love that Jesus modeled. Hopefully we can share the love of God with one another--those we love and those we have trouble loving.

I invite you to spend a few moments now quietly thinking about how you might enact a Christmas frame of mind throughout this year. Jot down ideas you have or questions that have been raised--maybe on the back of your watchword card or bulletin, and let's keep wrestling with our questions together. Email me, join me for coffee, pull aside a friend to chat as we all keep looking for God in our neighborhood and testify to the conspiracy of love... after all, Jesus came into the community to show us how to love, and here is probably the best place to practice our questioning, wrestling, and loving one another, so we can live the Christmas frame of mind in our world throughout 2009. Take a few moments now to reflect, and I will close us in prayer at the end.


God who's bigger than our questions,
thank you for moving into our neighborhood to give us Jesus as the model example of how to love and live. Give us the strength and insight needed as we wrestle with tough questions of faith and understand what it means that you took on flesh and blood. Empower us to testify to where we see you in our daily lives and show us where we can participate in your conspiracy of love. In Jesus' holy name, we pray. Amen.