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SEEING THE HOLY

2/27/2022

Luke 9:28-35
Jesus climbed the mountain to pray, taking Peter, John, and James along. While he was in prayer, his face and his clothes shown blinding white like the sun at noon. At once two men were there talking with him. They turned out to be Moses and Elijah—and what a glorious appearance they made! They were speaking of Jesus’ coming departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, Peter and those with him were slumped over in sleep. When they came to, rubbing their eyes, they saw Jesus in his glory and the two men standing with him. When Moses and Elijah had left, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, this is a great moment! Let’s build three memorials: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He blurted this out without thinking.

While he was babbling on like this, a light-radiant cloud enveloped them. As they found themselves buried in the cloud, they became deeply aware of God. Then there was a voice out of the cloud: “This is my Son, the Chosen! Listen to him.”

Today is the last Sunday in Epiphany Season for this year. This coming Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent and our journey to Easter. During Epiphany we have been discussing various manifestations – God showing Godself to the world in the form of Jesus. Today’s is the ultimate manifestation.

The story today is the one we call the Transfiguration, but before we get into it, we need to go all the way back to the Book of Exodus to set some context for the Transfiguration – context which we here today in the 21st century might not really get, but which those present that day would have understood completely.

It's another somewhat lengthy reading, but bear with me. It comes from the 34th chapter of Exodus and takes place after an incident of major importance.

Moses had originally gone up Sinai to speak with God and God had given him the tablets that we call the Ten Commandments. When Moses returned, he found the people worshiping the Golden Calf they had made for themselves as their God. This made Moses so angry that he threw down the tablets and shattered them.

After a couple of days, Moses went back up Sinai to ask God not to destroy the people for what they had done and God agreed to a second set of stone tablets. This is what happened when Moses returned to the people (from Exodus 34):

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai carrying the two Tablets of The Testimony, he didn’t know that the skin of his face glowed because he had been speaking with God. Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, saw his radiant face, and held back, afraid to get close to him.
Moses called out to them. Aaron and the leaders in the community came back and Moses talked with them. Later all the Israelites came up to him and he passed on the commands, everything that God had told him on Mount Sinai.
When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face, but when he went into the presence of God to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. When he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, they would see Moses’ face, its skin glowing, and then he would again put the veil on his face until he went back in to speak with God.

It is interesting that as this story continues through Exodus and on into Leviticus, there is never any mention of any further rebellion against God and Moses. Through chapter after boring chapter of endless rules the people jump right to it and never appear to consider creating their own god again.

Peter, James and John would have entirely understood the reference being made when Jesus’ face shone before them. They would have recognized that what had just happened was not some random event but the sign that one had stood in the very presence of God, as Moses had done long ago.

We, for convenience’ sake, divide scripture into the Old Testament and the New, but it is truly all one story – an old, old story begun in the Old Testament – the Hebrew Scriptures – and told down through the centuries and on into the New Testament where it’s promises come to pass in Jesus.

Peter, John, and James saw what had always been there to be seen by those with eyes to see. But we humans tend to see what we expect to see and nothing more. It takes something truly out of the ordinary to jolt us past our expectations so that we actually see deep reality.

Because they had been so recently stunned by what they had seen, the chances are good that the disciples would even have heard the voice of God when it spoke to them, before “common sense” had its chance to rear its head and convince them they couldn’t possibly have seen what they thought they saw or heard what they thought they heard.

The truth is that the three disciples that day saw the “real” Jesus – the shiny, son of God, Chosen One – but they also saw the Jesus they knew – the one they had traveled the territory with, had shared meals with, had so often witnessed healing the sick and the broken. Because they are one and the same Jesus – but this time, for a stunned moment, they could actually see the glorious one and understand who this Jesus was.

The glory of God is all around us all the time but it is hard to see because our minds are so trained to refuse what “isn’t normal,” what isn’t natural or reasonable. But once in a while something will be so real that it breaks through our mind’s defenses and we know that we have seen what we have seen. We know that we have somehow seen the holy.

I know, for instance, that this earth is holy. I know because I experienced seeing its holiness shining through and because the earth has told me so itself in so many words, and no one, not even my own modernist mind, will ever convince me that I did not have that particular experience.

Like the Israelites with Moses and the three disciples with Jesus, when we have had an experience like this, we know. Our experiences may be entirely different from one another but we share the knowing, because we have been moved beyond doubt.

I expect we have all had such moments. What is your experience of being shown godself in a manner which has never left you doubting again? For myself, I may doubt many things (I do) but about this central fact that God’s holiness is always present all around me, there is no doubt – none.

As we end this season of Epiphany – of manifesting – may we each promise ourselves to be more attentive – to look about us – and see what is real, right in front of us.

And as we prepare to enter the season of Lent let us think about these words spoken by Jesus shortly after that mountain-top experience to prepare them for what was coming:

“Pay close attention to what I am telling you! The Son of Man will be handed over to his enemies.” But the disciples did not know what he meant. The meaning was hidden from them. They could not understand it, and they were afraid to ask.

May we never be afraid to ask. Amen.

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BLESSINGS AND WOES

2/20/2022

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Luke 6:17-26 [Luke 6:17-38]

He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples. A multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon, had come to hear him and to be healed.

Then he looked up at his disciples and said:

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
"Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.
“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on my account.

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
“Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.
“Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep.
“Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

Most of us are familiar with the Beatitudes as they appear in Matthew’s gospel, but this is the same story as it is told in Luke’s gospel. The two versions are very similar, as we might expect, but there are some distinct differences.

This is actually a very long reading. I’ve only read from the first part this morning but later on in this message I will be referring to parts from the second half. If you would like to read the entire thing for yourself, it is from Luke, Chapter 6, verses 17-38.

This takes place early in Jesus’ public life. After his time in the wilderness in Luke’s version of things, Jesus spent a goodly while traveling around and teaching and healing. There have been several significant healings before today’s event, as well as a number of teachings. He also gathered followers to himself as he moved around – specifically calling those who would be his closest disciples, the Twelve, as well as attracting crowds who heard of him and came out to see and hear him wherever he went.

Today’s reading begins with one small but oddly specific difference from Matthew’s version. Matthew’s is, of course, referred to as the Sermon on the Mount and tells of Jesus climbing a hill so everyone could see and hear him. Luke makes a point of saying that “he came down with them and stood on a level place.” This one is often called the Sermon on the Plain in direct contrast to Matthew’s ‘Mount’. Certainly not an important point – just odd.

A more pertinent difference lies in the fact that Matthew’s list is all about blessings, while Luke’s is a mixture of four blessings and four woes.

The most important point to keep in mind when we read this list of blessings and woes is that Jesus here is being descriptive rather than prescriptive. This is an important difference. If Jesus was being prescriptive he would be saying, in effect, that God is going to do these things to you (or for you in the case of blessings). In other words, that the result is going to come from outside yourself, in the form of either a gift or a punishment.

But Jesus is being descriptive here. He is simply describing how it is, rather like Scrooge’s Ghost-of-Christmas-Yet-to-Come, who doesn’t say “this will be done to you by some outside agency because of the selfish things you do”, but “this is the way of your future looks because of who you already are.”

This all goes back to last week’s message on trusting God. Those who are blessed are those who know that everything they are, everything they have is from God and not because they themselves are rich or brilliant or clever or somehow especially deserving. Yes, we work for what we want and need, but it is God who provides our abilities.

These are the people who know that weeping and struggling come to all people – but they also know that God will be with them and see them through their struggles. These are the people who can be filled and content with enough of the world’s goods because they are also filled with God’s love and care. They don’t need excess of anything. They are blessed, and trust in the blessing.

Those who are rich and comfortable and well fed now – especially the rich who can waft through life seemingly never noticing the hunger and despair all around them -- these believe their “good luck” is all the result of their own special-ness. They have got grief ahead of them when the source of their worldly goods dries up and the glamorous friends drift away. When illness and loss happen to them as they do to all people and they find their money cannot do anything to stop it, and, never having bothered to trust God, preferring to trust their own strengths, they find themselves with no resources to see them through.

These blessings and woes could take two or three sermons to do them justice, but I’m going to leave them here because I want to at least touch on some points from the second part of this long reading – parts I didn’t read out loud earlier. These are small sayings – tossed in almost casually by the writer of Luke – and yet they are pivotal points of belief for those who call themselves followers of Jesus. It’s hard to imagine calling ourselves Christians without an awareness of these sayings.

Some of them are very uncomfortable, such as:

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.

I wish more had been written about this one because this one is complicated. We can understand its intent, but it should certainly never be used casually against one who has suffered serious abuse at the hands of another. There are few things more cruel than to tell an abuse victim that they should love their enemy and pray for them before they have had any chance to heal. As I said, this one is hard. The second is...

If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt.

I read somewhere once that that this is actually a backhanded insult. We like to tell ourselves that our culture is a level playing field. It isn’t, but we like to think so. But the culture of Jesus’ time was definitely not level and the consequences for striking back at someone higher than you could be extremely serious. But they couldn’t just beat you bloody, either. Therefore, to turn the other cheek – to look them in the eye and basically dare them to hit you again was the same as publicly calling them a coward. I don’t know if this is what Jesus had in mind or not, but it’s an interesting idea.

Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again.

Here Jesus repeats one of his most common themes – that the things of this world are just things and we should not be so attached to them, so if someone else has a need greater than yours, then share with them. God will take care of the balance. And then there is...

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

This one needs no explanation. It is so basic that almost every culture, before and after Jesus, has included it in its moral/ethical code. A quick scan of the internet found at least ten different cultures with similar sayings – I’m sure there are many more. Do to others as you would have them do to you. And this last one is pretty simple too...

Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.

This isn’t telling us that people should not be held accountable for their misdeeds, but simply not to hold ourselves as better than the one we judge because any of us are vulnerable to falling into error ourselves. Mathew’s version adds that “the judgment you make will be the one by which you will be judged”. (Matt. 7:2)

Luke, Chapter Six, where all this is found, is one very busy chapter. For all that I’ve crammed in here today, there’s so much more that I left out. So much of what shapes and forms us as believers is found right here in this one chapter.

I’ll close with one more quote, one more exhortation to live the life that God lays out for us. This is from the same chapter:

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High.”

Perhaps you might take some time and read this sixth chapter of Luke’s gospel. It’s an eye-opener.

Amen.

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I SHALL NOT BE MOVED

2/13/2022

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Jeremiah 17:5-8

“Cursed is the strong one
    who depends on mere humans,
Who thinks he can make it on muscle alone
    and sets God aside as dead weight.
He’s like a tumbleweed on the prairie,
    out of touch with the good earth.
He lives rootless and aimless
    in a land where nothing grows.

“But blessed is the man who trusts God,
    the woman who sticks with God.
They’re like trees planted in Eden,
    putting down roots near the rivers---
Never a worry through the hottest of summers,
    never dropping a leaf,
Serene and calm through droughts,
    bearing fresh fruit every season.

Is it just me or has Epiphany seemed to be awfully long this year? I feel as if I’ve been writing Epiphany messages for months – I really haven’t of course, today is only the 6th Sunday in Epiphany season – it just feels that way.

This time between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday is a pretty fluid time. Epiphany falls on January 6th – it’s always a set calendar date.

Lent, however, gets its dates counting back from Easter – and Easter is a moveable feast. Now “moveable feast” doesn’t refer to a picnic eaten outdoors, as you might think. Instead, it means a celebration not set to a particular calendar date, but one whose date moves according to lunar cycles. The short version is that Easter comes on the first Sunday after the full Moon that occurs on or after the spring equinox.

Since our calendar is set up with twelve 30 or 31 day months (except February) and the lunar cycle is 28 days, these two never mesh and the period that lies between Epiphany and Ash Wednesday gets shortened or lengthened every year as we shift from calendar mode to lunar mode.

This is most likely way more information than you ever wanted, but yes, this is a long Epiphany and I’m enjoying it because it has allowed me to hit all the main Epiphany readings and still have some space for a handful of the Old Testament readings such as today’s scripture from Jeremiah – with a bit of Psalm One tossed in as well.

We have two more Sundays in Epiphany after today – those will be for my personal favorite Epiphany readings concerning the earliest days of Jesus ministering among us – and then Lent begins on March 2nd.

Today, however – now that I’ve spent so much time on explaining the calendar – is about US. This reading from the prophet Jeremiah isn’t really about tumbleweeds or fruit-bearing trees – it’s about us. And it’s about truly, deeply, honestly trusting God.

Jeremiah offers us a compare/contrast between those who trust in their own strength, their own wisdom, their own righteousness, and those who trust God to lead them through.

The first, Jeremiah declares, are wandering lost and unrooted because they are trusting in their own strengths and don’t even know how lost they are. He compares them to tumbleweeds – rootless and aimless, unable to settle and bear fruit.

The second, though, the ones who trust in God, he compares to trees planted near flowing water with “Never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season. These are the ones whose trust in God is deep.

Psalm One, which is the Psalm reading that goes with this Jeremiah text, puts it this way:

How well God must like you--
you don’t walk in the ruts of those blind-as-bats,
you don’t stand with the good-for-nothings,
you don’t take your seat among the know-it-alls.

The Psalm goes on later to use Jeremiah’s language and description of the Trusting Ones:

You’re a tree planted by flowing streams,
bearing fresh fruit every month,
Never dropping a leaf, always in blossom.

So, I guess the question for today is, “How deeply are we rooted? How far does our trust go?” And that’s an uncomfortable question. How many of us proclaim our trust in God yet still find ourselves worrying ourselves sick over things in our own lives or in the world around us? Things we feel we should be able to control or “fix” all on our own?

How many times have we felt we’ve failed when we didn’t manage to make things come out the “right way” without ever stopping to think that maybe God never asked us to do that in the first place?

We take such burdens on ourselves, or we allow others to place them on our shoulders, and they were never meant to be our burdens in the first place. God has never intended for us to weigh ourselves down with burdens too heavy for us to carry.

Think about it. Why would a God who loves us as much as Jesus continually told us God does pile impossible tasks on us? Dump heavy, guilt producing work on us just to make us fail?

God has created us for deep, living water, not for rocky deserts. We are made to be trees that bear good, rich fruit. And to exist here in this place, we are meant to trust the God who created us and loves us every day. We are not promised that everything will always be rainbows and flowers, but we are told that in good times and in bad, God has been, is now, and will always be with us, to guide us and strengthen us and see us through.

Trust that. That is the word of God. Sink your roots down deep in that knowledge...and trust it.

I’m going to end here with a quote from Frederick Buechner. I haven’t quote him for awhile now and it’s time. On the subject of trust he has this to say:

“At certain rare moments of greenness and stillness, --when we’ve been feeling as if we are unattached to this good earth, living in a barren land, we are still shepherded by the knowledge that though all is far from right with any world you and I know anything about, deep down all is right.
“And being right with God, trusting the deep-down rightness of the life God has created for us and in us, we ride that trust the way a red-tailed hawk rides the currents of the air in this valley where we live.”

What a beautiful image to end with. May you carry it with throughout this week.

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AN ENCOUNTER IN THE TEMPLE

2/6/2022

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Luke 2:25-31

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When Joseph and Mary brought in the child Jesus to do what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations.”

The Feast of the Presentation is actually celebrated every year on February 2nd, which put it into the middle of last week, so we’re going to talk about it today. It is also called the Purification of Mary, because two separate acts are celebrated with this one reading.

And the second of February is also Groundhog Day which – believe it or not – has a connection with this feast day, but we’ll get to that later.

Every Jewish male child was required to be circumcised by the eighth day of his life, according to Levitical Law. They were also to be taken to the Temple in Jerusalem to be formally presented and, in the case of the first-born males, to be dedicated to a life of service to God. These two dates were not the same, the presentation taking place almost a month after the circumcision.

Every Jewish mother was considered ritually unclean for 40 days after giving birth, and they went to the Temple after the 40 days to be officially declared clean again, therefore it sounds like the Purification Ritual for the mother and the Presentation for the child would take place at the same time, being the first day on which she could reenter the Temple precincts.

This leads to a bit of confusion, as some sources refer to this feast day as the Presentation of Jesus, and some others as the Purification of the Virgin Mary. It appears that the western church tends to lean toward the emphasis on the purification of Mary, while the eastern church focuses on the presentation of Jesus. Still others refer to it as the Feast of the Holy Encounter. Some writers manage to confuse things even more with introducing the Circumcision into the whole conversation.

And just as if the poor researcher is not confused enough, the common English name for this feast is Candlemas, because Jesus is the Light of the world. Candlemas somehow has crepes involved in its celebrations. And don’t forget the groundhogs – we’ll still get to them.

This makes researching this day feel a little like trying to strike a piñata while blindfolded, but I think I got the basics in place here. At this point I pretty much gave up on information gathering, and we’re just going to focus on the encounter which takes place in our opening reading – the one between Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and the ancient holy man, Simeon.

Joseph and Mary are in Jerusalem this day to fulfill the law as put forth in Leviticus about presenting the recently born child in the Temple. As The Message version of this bit of scripture puts it:

At that time there was a man, Simeon by name, a good man, a man who lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel. And the Holy Spirit was on him. The Holy Spirit had shown him that he would see the Messiah of God before he died. Led by the Spirit, he entered the Temple. As the parents of the child Jesus brought him in to carry out the rituals of the Law, Simeon took him into his arms and blessed God, saying...”God, you can now release your servant; release me in peace as you promised. With my own eyes I’ve seen your salvation; it’s now out in the open for everyone to see.”

The liturgical season of Epiphany begins with a manifestation. Some of you may be familiar with this word in its current most common usage which is the belief that you can bring something tangible into your life through attraction and belief, or to put it simply, if you think it, it will come.

But the spiritual meaning is something different. A manifestation is a sign of something long promised or long expected that has finally appeared. In our scriptural sense, that something is clearly the long promised King or Messiah – in the person of the infant Jesus. After hundreds of years of prophesies, the one who was promised has arrived.

This is what the infancy narratives in scripture are meant to express. The sky filled with singing angels that Luke gives us is about as big an announcement of something very special happening as one could find, and Matthew’s three Magi – representatives of foreign nations come to pay homage to a baby – are likewise a sign that all nations will one day bow down before him. These are manifestations – physical signs of God’s promise.

In a couple of weeks, on the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, we will hear the story of the journey to the mountain top and Jesus’ transfiguration before the eyes of his astonished followers. This, too, is a manifestation story – a showing forth of the divinity of Jesus.

So today’s story is also a manifestation. The infant Jesus, looking, no doubt, just like any other month-old child, is presented in the Temple and immediately recognized by Simeon for what he is – the salvation of his people – the fulfillment of an ancient promise.

But if a manifestation is a showing then there is another piece needed to complete it. A showing, in order to be complete, requires seeing – it requires recognition and acceptance – and that is on us.

How often does God show Godself to us? And maybe the more important question is, how often do we even notice? Probably one of the most obvious ways to see God showing Godself is in some of the spectacular sunrises and sunsets we have seen lately. I have seen sunsets – years ago – that I remember with full clarity because they were so awe inspiring and left no doubt in my mind that God was present.

But there are so many other ways – there are days when I feel like the whole world is falling apart and that the mean people are winning – the ones who just want to break everything – and then someone or some group come to my attention doing something perfectly loving and I’m reminded of the goodness in this world – and I recognize that as God showing off to say “hey, I’m right here.”

God is visible to us in so many ways – in a friend’s smile, in hoards of strangers showing up to help those caught in natural catastrophes, in a warm bed on a cold night. Have you ever tried to count your blessings? Just try it – it will amaze you -- all the times and places God is here for you – just as promised. So be open to finding the many manifestations of God all around you.

Oh, yes – the groundhogs. This little factoid comes via preacher/teacher/writer Mary Luti who explains that Candlemas was a day that people made weather predictions and she quotes an old English song:

"If Candlemas be fair and bright, come winter, have another flight; If Candlemas bring clouds and rain, go winter, and come not again."

Who would have guessed that those groundhogs are simply following an old Candlemas tradition? I suspect that makes God smile ... and that makes me smile.

Blessings on your revelations in this season of manifestation.

Amen.

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SEEING THE HOLY

BLESSINGS AND WOES

I SHALL NOT BE MOVED

AN ENCOUNTER IN THE TEMPLE

Rev. Cherie Marckx

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