Proper 21 - Money

Terry D. and I were talking a few weeks ago about an article that we read in the Times or the Wall street journal about a guy who claims that the bible holds keys to investing… if we learn them and put them into practice we can become wealthy investing in the stock market. I guess he’s made millions because he knows these “keys”. Clearly this guy isn’t familiar with today’s readings… the article didn’t list the “keys” to investing that made this man millions of dollars… nor the title of the books he sells or his booking agent for the seminars that he’ll offer us.

 
But money itself isn’t evil… right? It’s necessary in this life… or seems to be.  It would be nice if it wasn’t such a worry though wouldn’t it? It would be nice if we all had enough and some left over. The basic American dream of financial security for now and the future is less and less a reality for many. Many of my neighbors are chasing bills not dreams. Many of my neighbors are a health crisis… or a broken down car… or a fridge that just stopped working away from more debt, debt that eats more of their paycheck… which means less for groceries, let alone less for the future. In Mower County the poverty rate is 18%, the percentage of children in our public schools on free and reduced lunch is around 50%. There’s plenty to worry about when it comes to money.

We live in a world of those who have and those who don’t. Unfortunately the gap between the two is growing. Acquisition of wealth is left to a smaller and smaller number of people. Truly, issues of economic justice are near the heart of God and today’s readings reflect that. Money… as in the acquisition of wealth… is wrapped up in the power systems of the planet… and many millions… probably billions… suffer injustice on that account. The voices speaking about money are varied. The voice that concerns me is the voice that talks loudly about the status that comes with wealth, the voice that says the more you have the better you are, the more you have the closer you are to God, the more you have the more power you have. These voices claim that personal affirmation, personal vindication, personal happiness and satisfaction are found only by size of your paycheck, your savings account, the size of your house, the beauty of your possessions, your stock portfolio, the car you drive, the cloths you wear, the food you eat, and on and on… This voice devalues people. God doesn’t devalue people. These are not the voices of God.

 
Of course people with wealth are not evil simply because they make tons of money. I think on this point the scripture is clear. The sin comes through attitude, choices, through a life lived. And so I think about the guy from the article I read. The one who makes millions in the market by applying God’s “hidden secrets of accumulating great wealth”… I don’t know how he lives. Maybe he gives much of his earnings away to feed the hungry and cloth the naked. Maybe he’s informed by these scriptures and is aware of the great needs in his community and in the world.  Maybe he cares more for those around him than he does his own personal comfort and status.

Today these scriptures speak to me about contentment… about a life lived in pursuit of simple and deeply spiritual practices. They are about putting money into proper perspective. These scriptures are about recognizing where I go wrong and coming back around to the right path… A path that leads me to the center of the mystery, which is God, who dwells where no one has seen or can see… These scriptures are the voice of God speaking from the unapproachable light, a voice which consistently calls me to seek contentment in a life given more and more to the good confession, of becoming rich in good works and generosity, to pursue “righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness”. Money is of little account in the pursuit of this calling.

A Working Deacon

I am now a deacon at Christ Church, Austin and at Christ Church, Albert Lea. This did not come as a shock to me. I had been wondering about it for months if not for the past year. I love Christ Church, Austin having spent the last ten years significantly involved in all aspects of parish life here… and discerning my call here as well, but Albert Lea has been in my prayers for some time. Albert Lea and Austin are similar in size and culture. Both towns grew up through the early part of the last century, both became packing towns, both went through decline and both have seen a significant change in demographics over the last 30 years. Albert Lea and Austin have enjoyed a healthy rivalry in the past but not a healthy kinship. They are sister towns that avoided any real or meaningful friendly connection. I’m guessing that it was the fact that rival companies drove the economies of the two towns.

I was excited when I heard the news. Others were not. I consider this assignment a charge of trust by my Bishop but others see it as a slap in the face. I am not feeling real good about that and have been on the receiving end of some vitriol, as if somehow I politicked to make this happen. Albert Lea has made it very clear that they are excited to have me serve as deacon in any capacity that I can. The Priest-in-Charge and senior warden were very gracious at our initial meeting. My assignment to Christ Church, Austin is a cause for celebration and joy as well but I’m afraid that will be overshadowed by the thought that they’ll have to share me. It’ll take time for the dust to settle.

To Dismiss or not to Dismiss

My first real “issue” as a deacon at Christ Church has taken place. Only four weeks into my diakonate. I’ve been proclaiming the dismissal for quite a number of weeks now and as we are in Pentecost I am not adding the “Alleluias”. The first few weeks it was as if the congregation was confused. They’ve grown accustomed to hearing the “Alleluias” at all times but during Lent I think. My attempt to get back in keeping with The Book confused everyone with laughs and giggles. The third Sunday I heard someone say, “Hey, what about the Alleluias?” I’ve been spreading the word that I’m not adding them because I’m following the “rubrics”... just doing what the BCP outlines. No big deal. We all laughed but I stayed the course. Last Sunday went better. People are getting it. Then the priest and I got together to “fine tune”.

She brought up the Dismissal. She mentioned the pause and thought it was too long. She then brought up the “Alleluias”. I told her I was following the rubrics. She started out by saying that it was my call... we talked back and forth about how people were confused and waiting for the Alleluias. I felt it was pretty clear that she wanted me to add the Alleluias. I told her that it was her call. She said she wanted consistency. I told her if she wanted me to add the Alleluias I would ... that I didn’t care (isn’t true... I actually do care a lot and think this is an opportunity to teach the BCP and our traditions). I don’t want to rock the boat.

The thing that is really bothering me is that the priest wants me to add the Alleluias but at the beginning of the dismissal. For instance, “Alleluia, Alleluia, go in peace to love and serve the Lord”. I have never heard it said this way. I asked her if she were sure. She said yes. I told her that I had never heard it said that way. She told me that this is the way it always is done.

I am wracking my brain to remember ever hearing the dismissal spoken this way... and a little sad about missing out on an opportunity for teaching... I think I may appear to be a complete fool saying the dismissal this way and confuse everyone while doing it... and wondering if this is my future as a deacon, to be more or less "told" how to do it and when to do it when I feel I know how to do it and when to do it. 

I am a servant.

"Above all the grace and the gifts that Christ gives to his beloved is that of overcoming self".

                                                                Saint Francis

Sunday 2 as Deacon

Two Sundays a Deacon. 

I wear the collar on Sundays and of course, the stole over my alb. This is really new. I think I am different. I feel the role in any case. I don't feel more powerful or more holy, or even more spiritual though I do feel a new motivation perhaps... maybe a new and deeper sense of my calling. My footing is firmer... I definitely feel that my feet belong on this path.

I am caught up in a greater story. As a layperson I felt that same sense of wonder but this is a bit different and so have been deconstructing that feeling. Why should I feel different? Why should I think differently? Surely we are on even footing... that is, there is no separation between clergy and laity... we share the same calling... we are called to be saints together... called to be priests together... called to service (diakonia) together. So my ordination is a lateral calling. I stand beside my fellow christians.

Hermitage of St. John of the Desert

On a different note altogether... The morning after my ordination I awoke with some heartburn. I rolled around in bed trying to find some relief but it persisted. I finally got up at about 4:00 or so to walk around to see if that would help and realized quickly that it was getting worse. I woke J up and told her that she would need to bring me in to emergency. We also awoke our sister in law and asked if she could drive us in as we were staying with her (my brother was in the BWCA). In any case it had gotten pretty severe by this time and so we felt we should call 911! Pain lessened by the time paramedics got there and then we drove in to the emergency room. Gall bladder attack! I thought I was having a heart attack and that this might be it. Many thoughts ran through my mind as I was curled up on the floor waiting for the paramedics. I was probably scared but I was surely disappointed. Ordained in the evening and dead in the morning definitely went through my head... but mostly was just disappointed that I might go this way... on my brother's floor with my wife and sister-in-law pretty nervous and worried... and my girls all sleeping obliviously in rooms around the house. I felt pretty helpless... and shocked that I might go without a chance to say my goodbyes etc... It really made me think of how people face death. Some may get the chance to go peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, saying their goodbyes but others leave in great pain and shock, curled up on a floor with no chance at last minute words of love. Pretty sobering. I have surgery this month. 

Deacon

It's been too long since I posted.
I was ordained Deacon on June 27, 2013.
Now, two days after the event, I am trying to take it in. J says I am different. I would agree.
The journey to ordination was relatively smooth. The hardest part of this journey was discernment. How clearly do I hear the call that I only sense? My struggle with this question was intense early on. Clarity came gradually... as moments where the clouds would break up and the blues sky and bright sun shown through.
After I became settled in my sense of calling all the rest was just a walk in the same direction more or less. I only had to keep on to reach this point.
Ordination seemed to come in a rush.
It was a wonderful event.
It was a moving event.
So here I am.

Mary Anoints Jesus

My second "sermon" at Christ Church. Crafting the homily is a challenge. Always looking at the words. Is this what I want to say? Is this how I want to say it? This one was more difficult and I was more careful about what I was saying. I find this very difficult but fulfilling. Preaching though is not about quiet study and analytical thinking... it's not about contemplation and personal reflection.  

Delivery of the words and ideas is much more difficult for me. I didn't move away from the text much at all... in this regard I am woefully unskilled. I look up and am at a loss for words... I don't want to move away from the words on the paper in front of me. I guess this is a weakness that I need to overcome. It's a bit disheartening.

Isaiah 43 and today’s Psalm read like two sides of the same coin. Isaiah speaks to a people in exile, a people in captivity… removed from all they dream of and hope for... they couldn’t see God… But God sees them. “Do you remember how good you had it?” God says. “Well… forget about it… because I am doing a new thing!”

The Psalm is a song of thanksgiving for this promise spoken in Isaiah. I love the imagery of this psalm where it states, “…then were we like those who dream”… when a great and wonderful thing happens it’s like a dream… like it just can’t be real… This is what Isaiah refers to… something so great that it’s like a dream come true and Isaiah could just as easily be speaking to us, for in so many ways we live in a world of exile... where we sometimes experience the wilderness… and in the wilderness our hopes and dreams aren’t realized.

God’s new thing is about release, homecoming, and making the dry places bloom; it is so good it’s like living in the best of dreams.

There’s a person I run into nearly every day in one of the elementary buildings I teach in. He’s a good natured guy and a hard worker. We usually greet each other with, “how’s it going?” and when I get to it first he almost always says, “I’m living the dream.” I laugh every time he says that. I guess I’m easily amused because after a hundred times or so I still laugh. It’s funny… it’s a satirical commentary about work and career and so on. The point is that he isn’t really living the “dream”… the “dream” is just a fantasy… and I get that. The “dream job”, the “dream house”, the “dream car”, and dreams like this can offer us happiness… but it’s fleeting… eventually those dreams simply fade away. We chase dreams… and some dreams are worth pursuing… we should chase our dreams…. but I think we all understand that if we believe that lasting happiness or self-worth or real security is tied to a job or a home or a place or an accomplishment… we’ve been fooled. The narrative of the scripture is consistent on this score. But it’s also consistent in offering us this idea of a “new thing”… a better dream.

Paul speaks to us of “forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead”. Last week we heard this from Paul, “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see. everything has become new! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ.” The two ideas work together and they echo the passages we read today. Paul was among other things a focused human being…. Before his conversion on the road to Damascus he put great stock in his learning, his zeal, his accomplishments… his heritage… and his position. He was living “the dream”… the dream as he knew it. We read today that he left it all behind… threw it away even, because his eyes had been opened to this new thing that God had begun.

I’m going to tie this in with today’s Gospel passage because I think Mary was a woman who did not consider what lay behind. She understood what was to come.

Mary was the sister to Martha, and the brother of Lazarus. These three had a unique and special relationship with the Jesus. We know very little of this really. We know that Jesus at least on two occasions shared a meal with them at their house. They seemed to know Jesus. Maybe they were related. Maybe they were old family friends. We don’t know… but they occupy a special place in the Gospel narrative and in the tradition of the church.

Mary pouring costly perfume upon Jesus’ feet was a prophetic act, an act of faith and devotion. It was pure… it was lovely… it was touching. We’ve seen Mary before… where she took a place at the feet of Jesus while her sister worked and fretted, we saw her weeping but believing with Jesus at her brother’s tomb, and here we see her anointing Jesus for burial. She was misunderstood and criticized by her sister and the disciples but not by Jesus… who came to her defense. In this passage we see that she brought out this very expensive perfume in the middle of dinner (or after, I suppose) and poured it on Jesus’ feet. The amount, 300 denarii must have been shocking (I read that it was approximately a year’s salary for a common laborer) but more shocking I think was Mary letting down and wiping the Lord’s feet with her hair. This is something that just wasn’t done… under any circumstance. The level of this kind of devotion was just too intimate and personal. We can imagine the awkwardness that filled the room.

This wasn’t the only thing that filled the room though. It was also filled with the fragrance of the perfume. This sentence reads like a memory of someone who had been there and was reliving the evening and what Mary had done. I think it was also included because there was something wonderful that had taken place and maybe in that awkward space of a few moments… they all felt what Mary felt… they all saw what Mary saw… just before Brother Judas broke the spell.

Mary was a quiet martyr of the glory of Christ. She understood more than anyone who was with Jesus in those days what was to come and what it would mean. Her eyes were wide open… she was awake to a dream of God’s promise.

Most of the time, seeing God is a struggle… and at times a virtual impossibility. The nature of life, its ordinariness, its cares, and sometimes its pain, makes it difficult to see God. Maybe our chasing after some of the dreams life offers gets in the way as well. Seeing God is a gift. Seeing God is having our eyes opened to see what cannot be seen and understand what cannot be understood. Like Mary, and Paul, and Isaiah and Patrick… when we see God… when we really understand… it changes everything.

Mary’s act of anointing Jesus for burial was an act of costly self-sacrifice and of resignation… but also one of tender love and great hope. Mary believe what the Rabbi had revealed to his disciples even when they could not… that he would go to Jerusalem, be killed and buried. Did she also believe that he would rise from the dead? I think she understood clearly the risk in believing this. I think she believed that God was doing a new thing… and that Jesus was the one through whom the new thing would come… through death and resurrection. This is the message that the church has proclaimed in the world since… a message we proclaim every Sunday at Holy Eucharist… and now during Lent… working our way towards Easter… That in this life, where there seems to be so much hopelessness, there is great and living hope, where lack of faith is altogether too common, there are acts of extravagant self-sacrifice that scandalize and shame the temporary dreams presented by this world, and that in this cruel and cold culture… if we, like Paul, find a way to open our eyes to God… and lose everything to gain Christ, we will say “then were we like those who dream. Then were our mouths filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.”

Missional Approach

This is a short project I wrote up for a course on Missional Church.

A Project of God’s Mission: Christ Church in Austin, Minnesota

Context:

Austin is a “big” small town. We are approximately 27,000 people straddling Interstate 90 in southern Minnesota. We are 40 minutes away from Rochester and 100 miles south of the Twin Cities Metro Area. Our sister city is Albert Lea which is a short 20 minutes to the west. The Hormel Corporation, a Fortune 500 Company that is primarily a pork processing industry but which has diversified over the years, dominates Austin. Austin is the hometown of this large and prosperous corporation and is the home of its executive offices and also The Hormel Institute, a cancer research facility. From the 1920s on Hormel has dominated the town and have made itself Austin’s sole beneficiary. This has become the town that Hormel built.

The demographics of Austin have changed dramatically over the last three decades. Where we were homogenous we are now quite diverse and becoming more so. We have been a hard working meat packing town with social divides that ran rigidly along “who you were” in the Plant. Socio-Economic-Status is a dividing line in Austin. This is quite entrenched. Race is another dividing line. Quality Pork, a company serving Hormel, began recruiting and hiring in certain areas throughout the south some time ago. Many who came were of “Hispanic” or “Latino” decent and culture. New people, new language, and new culture clashed with a very homogenous white, Midwest culture. These barriers still exist. We have since seen African immigrants and some Karen people of Burma move to town to find work. The Hormel Institute and it’s Corporate Offices along with the Mayo Clinic have brought many nations to Austin and there are some really vital and good services that are beginning to erode those barriers.

A major challenge for a majority of people living in Austin is simply making ends meet. Although the current average household income in Mower County is $40,395 we have a poverty rate of just over 18%. Over 50% of children in public schools in Mower County receive free and reduced lunch. Many families are either not making it or are just making it. To be honest I just don’t really know the hopes and dreams of most people who live in Austin. I assume they are the same as my hopes and dreams. I want to be loved and to love. I want to have a job that is fulfilling and where I am respected and valued. I want to live in my own house. I want to be comfortable. I want to have friends and family who I can count on and who can count on me. I want to be entertained when I feel the need and I want to be able to get away from it all from time to time. This is the case with my friends, family, and colleagues and the neighbors who I’ve come to know. But for many these simple hopes and dreams are just out of reach in Austin.

There has been the challenge of addiction and drug use in Austin, especially among the younger population. I believe that in part this has been bred out of a sense of economic and financial insecurity. Our town is a town where there is a sharp and obvious line drawn between those who have and those who do not. Gangs have also been an issue from time to time with violence, suspicion, and racism breaking out, dividing neighbors and neighborhoods.

An Approach to what God may be up to:

I would like to use short passages of Scripture to frame the discussion surrounding God’s Mission in Austin Minnesota and the church’s part in that Mission. Episcopalians are woefully short on personal scriptural experience. There tends to be a “disconnect” between what we do as “church” and the narrative of God’s Story. Because of this I think our faith communities (Episcopalian) have a harder time understanding that we are doing God’s Mission. Our efforts of outreach and service are merely social programs. They lack the vitality of faith and love. They make us feel better because we do things for poor people or for “far-away foreigners”. This probably represents another bit of residue from our “establishment” pass.

I would like to think about “the other” and so passages of scripture that speak about the “stranger” come to mind. The stranger is the person who is not “us”. In Austin this makes real sense, as we are a community that is experiencing changes in demographics along racial/cultural lines. Strangers are people we do not know. They are neighbors waiting to receive us. They are “family members” waiting to meet us. We must seek and serve Christ in them just as we do so in each other.

Matthew 25.31-40

‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, “Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” Then the righteous will answer him, “Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?” And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”

Gifted and Called:

If we are not joined up with God’s presence and movement in the local context then we are simply not the church of God in that locale. Together we are called and equipped to serve God’s Mission in the world. In Austin we must exercise the gifts the Holy Spirit has placed within us, and the variety of callings we embody, to serve our neighbors and community. Christ Church is made up of people from a variety of social, economic and cultural perspectives. We need to recognize and affirm those differences as a blessing from God. Each of us has a unique perspective in this community and has made connections to a wide margin of the people living here. This is a real gift that must come into play when we consider our place in God’s Mission in Austin Minnesota.

Participation in God’s Mission:

I recently took part in a webinar sponsored by the Episcopal Church Foundation called “Becoming Local: From Neighborhood Engagement to Neighborhood Church” this can be found somewhere on the ECF website though I haven’t found the link so I will include the link as an endnote to this “project”. This was a story told to us of an Episcopal Church in San Francisco called Saint Cyprian’s. It’s a wonderful story of one faith community’s effort to make sense of its decline. Essentially they sought the answers to what God was doing in community involvement and getting to know their neighborhood; in making real and vital connections to the world around them with no strings attached. The story of this community’s renewal seems to me to be a case study of a church that has become “missional”; they are real “People of the Way”. In any case the webinar offered some very helpful resources including an article by Roxburgh on the “missional church” that I would make use of with a faith community also struggling to understand what God was doing and how they fit into that story. This is the case with my local faith community/parish in Austin. We have struggled through a couple of decades of decline and business as usual. We have struggled to make sense of what God is up to within and without our walls.

I believe that before we can begin to understand what God is up to in our “neighborhood” we must understand who we are as a “faith community”. I would try to help breakdown and build up concepts and worldviews about what the church is and what the church isn’t. We are still holding on to concepts of “outreach” that are self-serving and pretentious. What we described in discussion as “Establishmentarian”. I would work with focus groups on these issues. I would concentrate efforts at leadership committees for sure (vestry and outreach committee). To this end I would engage these focus groups in “intensive” discussion of scripture and tradition. I would try to engage these groups in meaningful exercises that would shed light on these issues. I have included one “bible study” as an appendix that would work very well. These would be ongoing exercises or book studies. I would have to find a balance with this approach. Most people are not used to theology and find it tedious. Short 15-minute reflections with prayer included in a “business meeting” might be more practical. Coffee gatherings outside of church would be best. Envisioning must take place or anything that follows will be merely “projects” and things to do.

I think our first task in leading God’s people in discerning their participation in God’s mission is to help us see our neighborhood, our town, in the light of what God might be up to. One of the resources that were suggested in the Webinar was what is called “An Exegetical Walk”; an exercise for maybe an “outreach team” or a vestry committee to take part in. the exercise leads the person or group of people to take a walk in their neighborhood and asks them to observe and reflect of what they see and hear.  I modified this exercise to fit my local faith community and have included this document in the appendices.

One thing I might try is to provide a list of resources in the County ranging from emergency responders to schools, mental health facilities and practitioners to food shelves. Churches to service organizations, welcome centers to grocery stores, etc. I would ask the group to begin to visit or contact these resources; to understand how they function, what we can do if we need to refer someone to them, what kind of supports they need from the community, and other questions that occur to us. I have a hunch that it’s in a list of resources like this that we’ll find God at work. Making connections to these resources will give us a real keen understanding for the needs of the world around us.

Transfiguration

I preached at Christ Church for the first time today.
I came across Sufjan Stevens music in the process of preparing my homily. He wrote and performed this wonderful tune "Transfiguration". It's worth listening to.

Transfiguration Sunday 2013

Homily

Some years ago I took a road trip with my brother and brother in law and a few of the kids to Montana to fish the Madison and Gallatin rivers. We had a wonderful time. One day we moved our camp from just south of Ennis Montana down river to Quake Lake. On the way we decided to take a short cut.

We’re used to short cuts here in Minnesota and take them all the time... We never get lost.

We were using a map to navigate through the mountains in that part of the state but had left the main highway. We followed a substantial road up and passed a few side roads that were not on our map. The road began to narrow at some point so we stopped to discuss our situation.

I’m the cautious one and voted we back track and chose another route. My brother and brother in law thought otherwise so we went on. “It must go somewhere” is what my brother said. I wasn’t too sure.

Up and up we drove and the road became narrower and narrower until grass grew up between our wheels and the branches swept the sides of our vans. Then the road more or less became a rocky pathway. My brother in law, who was riding shotgun in my van, said to me, “Maybe we should turn around”. I stopped... a few moments later it started to thunder and rain... and then hail. It stopped we got out of the vehicles walked up the “road” about 40 yards to where it turned around. This was not a great mountaintop experience... though it became a pretty good story later on.

Today we hear of two extraordinary mountain top experiences.

In the first Moses ascends Mount Sinai and speaks face to face with God and brings back the Law. This is THE event... this is where and when Judaism is born... under the cloud and smoke of the mountain of God... Moses is the lawgiver who comes with his face shining... but it’s a grim passage set in a grim story.

The story of Jesus on the mount is not an epic story. It’s really wonderful and yet... it just seems out of place... a little too contrived or something. It comes out of the blue... then it just ends... seemingly, with no lingering effects. In this passage in Luke we’re told that the disciples are resolved to tell no one about what they’ve just experienced. In another Gospel Jesus tells them to say nothing until he is raised from the dead.

Peter gets a bum rap for his comments. They sound funny… as if he were putting his foot in his mouth… he was frightened and he didn’t know what else to say so he mumbles this weird incoherent business about building some shelters for Jesus and the other two men who’ve appeared with him. Peter was a devout Jewish man of the first century. He may not have been educated but he was literate and fluent in regards to his tradition, and the majesty and excitement of the moment were not lost on him. He wanted to build three booths... three tabernacles… probably thinking of the feast of tabernacles… a major feast commemorating the wilderness and the giving of the law and the Covenant. So Peter’s words may have been harkening back to what we heard in our first reading. He may have been thinking… this is it! He may have envisioned what the writer of the letter of Hebrews would write, “You have not come to something that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them. (For they could not endure the order that was given, ‘If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.’ Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, ‘I tremble with fear.’) But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant…”

So I think Peter saw this as THE event. Here’s the kingdom! Clearly Jesus is being glorified… It is good that we’re here!

Poor Peter… he just hadn’t yet understood what was to come… or what would be involved after this mountain top experience. He didn’t or wouldn’t see the path that Jesus was on… or what it would cost. Peter is so much like us.

So what does this story mean for us?

Mountain top experiences are a part of our Human and our Christian mythos (mith-os). Actual, and figurative the “mountain top” is part of our language. We think of holy men and women who spent their lives in passionate devotion on the mountaintop, political heroes who spoke of the mountaintop, and adventures who were driven to reach the mountaintop. There is something in us which longs for the “mountain top”.

But mountaintop is about transformation. It’s about change, and in the context of our faith and hope, about becoming our true selves in God. From the beginning of belief we are on a path of transformation. It must somehow become an each and every day experience not just an occasional epiphany or a temporary transfiguration.

Moses and Jesus went up to pray... to converse with God... to touch God... and were transformed. They were changed. A life of faith is a life where we change “from one degree of glory to another”.

I’ve heard many times that change is good. In my experience I guess I would have to agree, but change is mostly not easy. This kind of transformation is intentional. It doesn’t happen by accident but happens through deliberate and meaningful living. It’s about turning to God and also to our neighbor. As we turn to God and serve our neighbor we are transfigured with Christ.

“See what love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”

I love this passage from 1 John where the author writes, “...when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.” God grant us eyes to see and ears to hear.

Amen.

Saturday Class

Today was a second face-to-face to finish up our course on the New Testament. A good course which raised some good questions. Today the instructor went back through the last five weeks of questions and spent time talking about the implications of context when reading the Gospels and the Letters.

The Gospels were written after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. The church which had been largely Jewish tried to make sense of this in the light of the hope of a quick return of Christ who would establish the Kingdom of God. 

Paul was a Jewish man of the first century whose mission was to bring the Gentiles in to the community of faith. He wasn't converting them to Judaism but to Christ... but he wasn't tearing down Judaism either. 

This course could have gone on another few weeks easily.

I've now begun what is called, Deacon's Pastoral Care. This is modeled after Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) but clearly is a watered down version. Still it's going to take some time and effort. I appreciate the School of Formation's attempt to give us an experience that is practical and rigorous. We'll be writing up "verbatims" and also presenting a couple of "teachings" dealing with practical aspects of pastoral care as it might relate to deacons.