Transfigured

3/3/19

Eugene got out the good China

Back in New York City.....cold morning walk to Beverley. Snow on the ground. On the edge of Lent. Today's reflection....

 A week ago, I left New York City at 7:30 AM...it was 40' and steady cold rain. At 12 noon I was at a ball park in Florida in 80' sunny weather. Late yesterday afternoon, it was 80' and sunny when I got to the airport and when I landed here...well, you know...

Its a little hard keeping up with the changes. A couple of days ago, in Florida,  I forgot what month it was. .Felt like spring was over already.

Time. Seasons. The cycles by which we pass through a year.  Our liturgy of time, we might say. And I've always been fascinated by the church year.  It begins in Advent, preparing for Christmas. Goes through Christmastide and passes into Epiphany, then Lent, then Easter, then the long season of Pentecost til we've arrived at Advent once again.

There are some special gateway days that open a door to a new season like Reign  of Christ  Sunday (Christ the King) into Advent or today, Transfiguration Sunday, the Sunday that opens the door to Lent...


We've been in the season of light...of epiphany, the season of light...so we need one more burst of light before we enter into the quiet, darker season of Lent...

So what's going on in this story? What does it mean for us? Today?

SO Jesus goes up the mountain, to pray, with his 3 man crew, his besties,  Peter, James and John...and all of a sudden  they see Jesus transfigured....interesting word...not just changed ... that would be transformed...but changed into something more special, more beautiful, more spiritual, more holy....

...and he's with Moses and Elijah..for us like a Biblical Abraham, Martin and John..and the imagery recalls Moses trip up the mountain to bring us back the law..so he's there...but also Elijah...if Moses is the law, Elijah is the prophets ...Jesus' job description is to bring the two of the together...to fulfill ALL of scripture...to embody BOTH...
...and it was sooo beautiful Peter didn't want to leave...He wants to build 3 booths..  I love Peter, like no impulse control whatsoever..can you blame him? Have you ever had your own mountain  top experience? You just don't want it to end...Hey, it was no mountaintop, but I didn't want to leave Florida..just build me a booth on the beach...

And then that voice appears again...that voice from the Baptism..this is my son, my beloved, do what he tells you to..and then, there is ONLY Jesus....and they head back down...and IMMEDIATELY Jesus has to confront the power of evil ...you just can't stay on the mountaintop..Now that he's got his job description, it's time to get to work..and all they see is Jesus because he now, like I said, embodies it all...

And what does any of that mean for us?
Well, we could use a blast of light, that's for sure....I don't need to tell you these are troubling times, disturbing times...it feels like it's late and getting darker everyday...and so we need to be transfigured ourselves ... to look up and see only Jesus shining on and be transfigured ourselves..

nice as it feels, we can't stay in the church...we've got to get back to the world....

and?  the other place I remember transfigured from is from Juliet Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic"

...In the beauty of the lilies
Christ was born across the sea,
With a glory in His bosom
That transfigures you and me;
As He died to make men holy,
Let us die to make men free;
While God is marching on.....

Written in the dark days of the civil war...she is says that Jesus has a glory that transfigures US...I would change one word...

As He died to make men holy,
Let us LIVE to make all free;

That helps me understand how we make transfiguration real...

I mentioned Abraham, Martin and John at the beginning...each of them was transfigured...
Lincoln had to  see ending slavery not as a political problem to be solved but as a moral calling to which he was responsible...(ultimately this is what saved him from his bouts of melancholia, what we  now call depression..)

All Martin King wanted to do was be a scholar...he figured there were a lot of black preachers...he wanted to be respected for his intellect...well, God had other plans...

And John? Like Abraham before him he had to see the Civil Rights movement as not representing a political problem but a moral calling...it would take Lyndon Johnson to finish the job..even at the consequence  ending the support of the south for Democrats for at least a generation..

We have to, like the voice says, Listen to Jesus, do what he says...listen for the work that is our work and be about doing it..

and that's good reflection material for Lent...

what is my calling? what so yours? how can we help each other?
That's transfiguration..






Like the old song says....
Shine on me, yes shine on me...shine on me, shine on me, let the light of the light house shine  . on me..

We share our communion, Make our prayers. In the social hall, Eugene has set out the good china. Geraldine tells me the story of the beloved pastor Kissoon, immigrant from the Indies, who gave over 20 years of his life to the church. Most of them "unofficial" while Presbytery's gatekeepers struggled over his status. Sometimes institutions just have to recognize what God had already done....

                                                                        ****


First Reading Exodus 34:29-35

29Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. 31But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; 34but whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.



Gospel Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)

28Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" — not knowing what he said. 34While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" 36When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

37On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. 38Just then a man from the crowd shouted, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. 39Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. 40I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not." 41Jesus answered, "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here." 42While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43And all were astounded at the greatness of God.

 

Bible study: finding a wife for Isaac and the death of Abraham

9/28

Dion, as every Monday, is getting the Farmigo food out. Up in McAlpin, the 3 day hangover company is working on their production of Dracula. And our Bible Study group is ready to get back into Genesis, beginning with Chapter 24 and Abraham’s determination to find a wife for Isaac. 

He’s pretty clear he doesn’t want one from the local Canaanites currently surrounding him. (This issue of who can marry whom is always there in these early stories…sometimes the other is needed, and the prohibition against incest is strong…He decides to send his servant all the way back to the land he originally  came from. (After having him swear an oath after putting his hand under his thigh..well, OK..) But he also tells the servant no matter what he does, not to take the son back there. And Abraham assures his servant that an angel will go with him.

He takes with him camels and all kinds of other gifts, heads for a well looking for a woman who will not only bring water to him but to his camels as well.  Now we begin to see well as places of courting, of encounters between men and women. Later Jacob will meet Rachel at a well, Moses will meet Zipporah. All this will be in the minds of people when Jesus meets a woman at a well.

The woman turns out to be Rebekah, grand niece of Abraham, daughter of his brother Nahor, Isaac’s cousin. The servant seals the deal  by placing a gold nose ring on Rebekah (I’m trying to imagine that…) and two bracelets. He repeats the whole story, in complete detail, to her brother Laban who accepts the engagement. Later, they want Rebekah to stay back another 10 days (just to make sure?) but agree to let her go, if she agrees to do, which she does, and so they are off.

She sees, Isaac walking at night, goes to him, and he takes her into his mother’s tent. And it says SO Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death..implying that after that terrifying incident with his father, he may always have needed comforting.

Our commentator Wes Howard-Brook makes much of the fact that Abraham never actually consults God but goes on ahead on his own. And that twice he has advanced God’s promise through the use of gold and silver. Seeing how things usually work out for Abraham, who’s to blame him? Is his agency really critiqued or is it complimented?

What follows describes Abraham taking a new wife, Keturah, and new descendants including a Sheba and a variety of Midianites. And the sons of his concubines, who he gifted and then sent away. Seems like he’s determined to fulfill God’s promise of many descendants single handedly, as it were.

The final scene we look at tonight is the death of Abraham.  Touchingly, we are told that Isaac and Ishmael buried Abraham at the cave he’d bought at Machpelah, Hebron. I am fascinated by this. How did he know? Did Isaac send for him? What did Hagar say? What did the brothers say to each other? Remembering their childhood friendship…there’s a short story, a midrash waiting to be written on that theme. Even through the ages we feel the emotions….

Where the ancestors sleep

It’s the Jewish High Holy Days on the Upper West Side. These are the days where my neighbors at Barney Greengrass go through their annual avalanche of orders. He’s always got one round  the clock day filling orders from across the country getting ready for the trucks to arrive  early in the morning the day before Kol Nidre.  Gary sends his crew over on Friday to borrow three of our tables and this year has rented out the empty store room where Schatzie the Butcher used to be. After all these years, I still enjoy being part of this in some small way, classic Upper West Side, classic New York.

Tonight our gang gathers for Bible Study again and we’re looking at Genesis 22: 20-23:20. This section begins with a genealogy of the children of Abraham’s brother, Nahor. Not a guy we heart a lot about.  Other than liking the fact that he has a son named Buz, there’s a couple of things to note. This section is included (clearly) as a demonstration as to how Abraham will be a father of so many countless offspring. Also in this list we find Aram, the ancestor of the Arameans whose language was the lingua franca of this corner of the midEast from  911 BCE until 70 CE. It is an ancestor of both written Hebrew and Arabic and is the liturgical language of the Chaldean Orthodox Church, portions of the Jewish liturgy and probably the language Jesus spoke most frequently.

Next we come to the death and burial of Sarah. Abraham needs to seek out a place to bury his wife, but this will also afford him an opportunity to gain possession of land, a permanent holding, in the land that was promised to him. Abraham is a stranger and alien in the land as opposed to the Hittites, descendants of Het, who are described as the people of the land.

Abraham comes into this negotiation without many troops but due to his successful hustles involving his wife, Pharoah and Abimelech, a very wealthy man. What follows is a marvelous and richly detailed bargaining with Ephron, a leader of the Hittites, who apparently owns this cave at the edge of his field. The bargaining is so detailed and nuanced (and so familiar to anyone who has ever bargained in the Middle East) that it can only be an accurate account. Abraham comes out of this with his land, for the right price.

Our commentator Wes Howard-Brook notes that :

* There is no other land negotiation like this in scripture

*  Abraham’s acquiring this land through negotiation and purchase is in stark contrast to the later stories of Joshua who gains territory through sacred violence and ethnic cleansing.

* However, YHWH never appears in this story. Yes YHWH promised the land to Abraham but never said exactly how that was going to take place.

* Are there yet other ways to acquire land?

Our friend Steve continues to argue that these are stories with early and deep roots and that the traditional source argument for Yahwist (J) and priestly (P) origins still stands.

Marsha has her eye on Abraham the clever hustler.

Russ and I are reflecting how this the origin story for a very troubled place in Palestine, Hebron. Revered by Jews and Muslims alike  as the burial place for the patriarchs and matriarchs, some legends even  have Joseph there, and if you go deep enough, Adam and Eve. And is said to be at the periphery of the Garden of Eden.

The city of Hebron has a quarter of a million Palestinians in residence and a few hundred (no more than 850) Jews who control 80% of the city’s territory. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebron). I remember seeing both Muslim and Jewish prayers watched over by Israeli Defense Force soldiers with automatic weapons. Abraham’s ancient purchase continues to echo through to today’s mosque/former church/former mosque/former church/former synagogue and the automatic weapons. Orthodox Jews point out that Jews were forbidden from praying at  Hebron for over 700 years. And today Hebron is the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank. Occupied territory. 

It is our hearts that define us, not our technological achievements.

8/24

So tonight we, Marsha, Russ, Steve, Leila  and I gather to continue our adventures through Genesis beginning at the end of chapter 19 with hapless Lot again.  Even though he wanted to settle on the little town Zoar, for some reason he wants to become the first official caveman in Genesis so takes his daughters and moves into a cave with his (now ) unpartnered daughters.

Concerned that they have no other way to carry on their family, assuming there’s no other men around, and as perhaps payback for Lot’s previously offering them up to the aggressive Sodom mob, they get him drunk and get him to have sex with them. The resulting children, Moab and Ammon, are good negative backstories to explain the general disdain for Moabites and Ammonites. As she was reading the story, Marsha drew a breath because she could see what was coming. But then she expressed her admiration for their willingness to cross boundaries to keep their line going, to do what was necessary regardless of  moral strictures.

Next (20) as Abraham and Sarah go to Gerar, we get a replay of their previous experience with pharaoh in Egypt. Once again, Abraham presents Sarah as his sister. Once again, God alerts the ruler, in this case, Abimelech, as to what’s going on and once again, Abraham goes off with oxen, sheep, slaves, land and silver. Considering how well this hustle continues to go for Abraham, no wonder he keeps doing it.

A couple of notes though. When God speaks to Abimelech and refers to Abraham as a Prophet, that is the first time he is referred to in that way. And perhaps because of Abraham’s power, granted by God, to bless and curse, regardless of Abraham’s courage or integrity at any given moment. So God leaves this in Abraham’s hands and when Abraham prays for Anbimelech, he is blessed. And perhaps that is the only ultimate point of this story, the complete dependability of God’s keeping God’ s side of God’s covenant. Steve points out how different this is than a contract, which is always conditional.

Next we come to the birth of Isaac. (20) So in honor of the significance of laughter in his conception story, he is named Isaac. And his circumcision at 8 days marks the beginning of the tradition of the bris. History’s first. Now Sarah’s laughter is of joy, not derision, but pure laughter.

Isaac and Ishmael are being raised together and Sarah seeing Ishmael playing with Isaac leads her to demand that the two be put out.  Howard-Brook raises various possible  meanings of the word playing (metzacheq) ranging from normal play to mocking to sexual connotations. (Steve sees all that as unnecessary…Sarah is is solely concerned about inheritance. )

Abraham loves and cares for both his boys and is deeply troubled until God promises to take care of Ishmael as well. He too, will be a nation, though apparently not as blessed as Isaac’s progeny. (The Muslims, of course, have a different version of this story…) About to perish in the desert, Hagar places her child under a bush. (Obviously the teller of this tale at this point  doesn’t see Ishmael as a teenager) She prays, God responds, water is provided.  They live in Paran and Ishmael gets an Egyptian wife.  Here we see that God’s care and concern is universal, just as a woman from another culture and people has faith equal to Abraham and Sarah. (This story in Islam becomes a connection to Mecca…)

Finally, Abraham makes a covenant with Abimelech over a disputed well. (Beersheba) And then Abimelech returns to the land of the Philsitines, or as we know them, Palestinians. Our stories and identities rooted in myth as well as history, and in scripture, they are one and the same.

Beyond any theology or ideology or mythology, what strikes me most about these stories is the insight into humanity. The written versions of these stories are at least 2500 years old, in oral form even longer. But I am taken by Abraham’s anxiety around power, his love for his children. Sarah’s anxiety for her child, Hagar’s intense love for Ishmael. Our technology has grown exponentially. The hearts of those who use that technology are unchanged.  The human heart remains a work in progress, constant and unfinished. It is our hearts that define us, not our technological achievements. The telling of stories to explain our adventure in living is the same never ending story. Ours to continue.

                                                                 ****

8/25

Late in the day. I step outside. Again, a half-naked person asleep on the steps. And this time I recognize him….it is Edward, the only person to have been permanently banned from our steps. (Due to all the times I had to clean up after him.) I try to wake him. Tell him he knows he’s not supposed to be here.  He semi nods, waves his hand.  He’s pretty far gone. Next time I come out, I try shaking his foot. He semi nods, still doesn’t move. As I'm leaving the building, I notice a trail of urine from Edward all the way down to the sidewalk. As I get on the bus, I call Leila to tell her the police will have to be called.  Later she texts me to tell me they had to take him away. E very so often, he returns into my life. He returns to the steps.

Of promises.And covenants. And yes, circumcision.

7/27

Tonight, Marsha, Russ, Deacon James and I meet for Bible Study. We’re back in the chapel, while Dion is working on the FARMIGO food distribution. Tonight we’re into Genesis 17. Where God promises Abram that at 99 that he will be the father of multitudes, which he finds laughable. Though not as laughable as Sarai when she gets the news.  This is the covenant cutting with Abram, (b’rit) which requires as a sign the actual cutting of the foreskin of the penis. So we have to stop a minute and ask why. Marsha suggests that it was initially a public health issue that maybe got retrofitted in this way. It has remained to this day, though it has gone from standard medical practice to semi-controversial, you know, like with debates in Tikkun magazine and all.

I remember the b’rit of my 3 sons. The old rabbi who performed his free hand style with a cool and quick hand.  (This was after we had to get the hospital to take it off of our standard bill.) The hip baby books said if you wanted to get a circumcision, go natural, get a moel. The first was at a friend’s, the second in our apartment community room and the last at our house’s back yard. The first had 6 ministers and 3 rabbis. There was of course a degree of shock for the protestants on hand. My father, who’d always wanted a baptism, was more than content. Somehow this ceremony made the child and his name official. Today there are alternate naming ceremonies. But I still remember my brother-in-law John holding the babies at each bris.

It wasn’t just Abram. And not even just the Hebrews. It was everyone, slaves and all. (damn, not only am I a slave, but this too?) And these are adults. Abraham is 99 years old! Even Ishmael at 13. For this reason, Muslims have a special circumcision ceremony at that age. (Or earlier, varying by culture) I remember the street in Duisberg, Germany where in addition to being the Muslim bridal gown capital of Europe, there are shops selling little prince like outfits for boys for this special occasion. Anyways, it remains shrouded in mystery.

Abraham is promised ,the land of Canaan. Well what about the people who are already there? Even though this is a story told to justify what has already been done, what about the Canaanites? Abraham pleads for Ishmael, and he too, will father a great nation, but no covenant.

We enjoy the fact that Sarah’s question is whether she will have pleasure at her late age, the word implying dampness, wetness, the precondition for fertility, but the point is pleasure…Far from the Catholic tradition of sex for only procreation, the Jewish tradition has always recognized pleasure.

There’s also this whole run around with Abraham and Sarah as to whether she laughed or not. She says, NO, but Abraham knows she did. All that laughing (yitzhaking), which can also mean mocking or sexual activity, will name the child. Abram and Sarai are now Abraham and Sarah and a child is coming who will be named for laughing.

So what,we wonder? Marsha suggests well ,at least it’s never too late. Even when you think everything is barren and it’s all over, there’s still hope. I want to believe that. Sugarman, Rodriguez gets found, rediscovered. Old man Bebo, one of the creators of Cuban son, is found in a Sweden piano bar and starts a career again. Angelo Romano has his first real gallery show at age 80+. So, there’s till hope.

And always, we see an empire telling its own mythic story for its own reasons.

Once again, we walk out as the Antigona cast is ready to go on. Russ and I will head to the Gate for a recap.