Sermon from February 14, 2010

All Souls, Berkeley

Last Epiphany/The Transfiguration

Exodus 34:29-35

2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2

Luke 9:29-43

Gracious God, take our minds and think through them;

take our hands and work through them;

take our hearts and set them on fire.

Amen.

I hope you all have Tuesday marked on your calendars, because I know our vestry has been hard at work planning and preparing for one heck of a Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras feast! In classic All Souls BOTH/AND fashion, we will celebrate the last day before Lent in both of its traditional forms: with Shrove Tuesday pancakes and Mardi Gras jambalaya, using the same recipe that will feed those who come to our Open Door Dinner today.

This means that we once again find ourselves on the cusp of Lent, for as certain as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, the joy and celebration of Tuesday will be followed by the marking of ash on Wednesday, as we begin again the journey with Jesus to Jerusalem.

And so today we find ourselves wrapped in the mystery of the Transfiguration and the healing of the epileptic boy, as we do every year on this Sunday, that is, for us, the bridge between Epiphany and Lent.

It may seem strange to you that these two stories are told together, and that they are sandwiched between the first and second Passion predictions that Jesus makes to his followers in the Gospel according to Luke. After all, how does the prediction of death and resurrection connect with a mountain top experience, wrapped in the clouds of God’s presence, and, yet another of Jesus’ healings? Truth be told, we are given the option today of only reading the first part of the story, allowing us to dwell on the mountain if we choose.

But I think to do so is a mistake, because one of the many things that Jesus taught over and over is that life is BOTH/AND. We need BOTH the respite, prayer and focused time facing God that the mountain offers, AND the daily, lived action of our faith to fully live into the belovedness that God proclaims as ours and that we are called to share in the world.

And so it was that Jesus, Peter, John and James went up on a mountain to pray. In a scene that foreshadows the garden at Gethsemane, the disciples were weighed down with sleep as Jesus prayed, but what they then experienced shook them awake – for the appearance of Jesus changed (reflecting the story of Moses from Exodus) and they saw with him Moses and Elijah discussing his upcoming exodus to Jerusalem.

Seeing Jesus in “his glory,” Peter, ever the stumbler, exclaimed that they should build dwellings there to commemorate this amazing occurrence. I don’t know about you, but I always feel a kindred connection to Peter. He often tried to talk his way into understanding, processing out-loud his experiences as he tried to make meaning of them. He was so earnest, often not really thinking things through first, but nearly always following his heart.

And his heart told him to DO something instead of just BEing in the experience, something I think many of us can also relate to. Scholar R. Alan Culpepper observes, “faithfulness is not achieved by freezing a moment, but by following on in confidence that God is leading and that what lies ahead is even great than what we have already experienced.”

Jesus knew that the time for doing was coming, but that there was nothing to be done on the mountain itself. They couldn’t stay on the mountain and do the work they were called to do. And he might have told them just this, pointing for the second time to the road to Jerusalem, if not for the fact that God chose that moment to say something.

Echoing the language of the voice from the heavens as he rose out of the waters of his Baptism, God spoke saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him.”

Can you imagine what they must have felt as that was happening? Or what they thought upon hearing such a statement? It was surely one that these three disciples, all of whom would become key leaders in the faith after Jesus’ death and resurrection, needed to hear in the most profound way possible – from the lips of God.

Listen to him.

Listen when he tells you what is going to happen. Listen when he tells you what it means to be a disciple. Listen when he tells you parables. Listen to his actions in dealing with the marginalized. Listen when he instructs you on how to pray. Listen when he tells you that God hears your prayers. Listen to him when he talks about the Reign of God. Listen to how he deals with the rich and the poor. Listen as he enters Jerusalem. Listen as he teaches, and weeps, and shares meals – and a last meal with you. Listen to him as he is crucified. Listen to him when he assures salvation. Listen to the silence after he is buried. Listen to him in the voice of the stranger as you journey on the road. Listen to him when he commissions you. And then, when he is gone. Speak of him.

This is what I imagine may have reverberated in the hearts and minds of Peter, John and James as God spoke. And just as unexpectedly as the cloud of God’s presence appeared, it was gone – and they were left dazed and likely wondering if that really just happened, yet knowing that something had shifted.

Transfiguration – transformation – is only real when it goes beyond ourselves and affects the world around us.

And so they went back down from the mountain, beginning to take the steps toward Jerusalem. And what was seen and heard on the mountain was powerfully reflected as Jesus showed again who he is by what he does when he encountered the little boy seized by an unclean spirit.

On the mountaintop, God affirmed his Son; now a troubled father asks for help for his only son. This parallel and connecting element only serves to show us again how intimately these two stories really are tied together. Jesus heard the voice of his father on the mountain and then he responded to the cries of another – he took the boy, rebuked the spirit, healed the boy and gave him back to his father. Taking, blessing, giving – a pattern Jesus repeated over and over throughout his life. But it is in the healing the boy that Jesus demonstrated what the mountaintop experience meant, for God’s power through Jesus was revealed as he addressed the suffering of those below. And all were astounded at the greatness of God.

We like the disciples have been told to listen to Jesus.

It's true, then, that in our own lives, thousands of years later, our experience of God, rather than being for our own private pursuit and comfort, is inextricably linked to our response to the suffering of the world, and that makes us vulnerable ourselves. [Kate Huey, UCC Sermon Seeds]

Anglican theologian N.T. Wright cautions, "The more open we are to God, and to the different dimensions of God's glory, the more we seem to be open to the pain of the world. We are right to be wary when we return from some great worship service, when we rise from a time of prayer in which God has seemed close and his love real and powerful. These things are never given for their own sake, but so that, as we are equipped by them, God can use us within his needy world." [Luke for Everyone]

The needs that we serve and the ways we serve need are diverse.

This weekend our Rector, Phil, and eight other Young Adults from our Twenties & Thirties group (TNT) are in Salinas volunteering with a Catholic Worker Community and serving at a homeless women’s shelter and farm worker center. Yesterday they cooked a served breakfast to over 100 people and painted a co-op building and tonight they will cook and serve another meal – mirroring our own Open Door Dinner which offers a hot meal and open hearts to all those in our community that are hungry. Today, as a part of ODD, our youth groups will be serving by decorating the parish hall in honor of St. Valentine’s Day and baking and bagging the cookies that will be given out as dessert, as well as serving and cleaning up after the meal.

In the last month many have sought to help the need of the people of Haiti by contributing to Episcopal Relief and Development, which has 23 camps serving over 25,000 people in Port au Prince, among other efforts throughout the country. To date we’ve had just over $2100 pass through All Souls and be sent to ERD.

And as we enter Lent this week, we will build on our efforts from last year as we take on the Lenten discipline of prayer and giving in support of the Nets for Life program through Episcopal Relief and Development. Our theme this year is Gathered in the Net of God’s Love. We will be passing out Lenten devotional materials and net bags for you to collect money in throughout the season to be in-gathered at Easter, and we will be selling new cards featuring the artwork of our Sunday School children that will fund the purchase of nets as well.

These are ways that we as a community come together to address need, but we must not forget the myriad ways that we each as individuals do this as well. Whether it be bringing a meal to someone who needs the support, offering prayers for someone who can use them or simply sharing a smile with someone – when we let the Light of Christ shine forth from us then we are participating in God’s call to justice, compassion and reconciliation.

My prayer for us all is that as we end our Epiphany experience and prepare to embark on our Lenten journey, taking steps to the cross, we will follow the example of Jesus to BOTH take time to pray AND to answer the call to live our faith in a world that needs to be reminded every day that God’s love is boundless and transforming.

~ AMEN ~