Transfiguration

2/7 

Pastor Bob and the Seed Group singers

Today is Transfiguration Sunday. The Seed Group is back again. They open our service with some songs. Concluding with Jeremy leading us in Light of the Lighthouse by Blind Willie Johnson

We read Psalm 99 and then LUKE 9:28-36 (37-43) . Following the gospel, Jeremy leads  us in the original camp meeting version of Glory, Glory Hallelujah. "Oh! Brothers will you meet me(3X)/On Canaan's happy shore?"^[1] and chorus "There we'll shout and give him glory (3x)/For glory is his own";^[2] this developed into the familiar "Glory, glory, hallelujah" chorus by the 1850s. 

 And then Jenna does a reading from Zora Neal Hurston’s Their Were Watching God where the town celebrates the arrival of the first street lamp in a colored (sic) town.

(https://books.google.com/books?id=_0GCRtuk63EC&pg=PA56&lpg=PA56&dq=zora+neale+Hurston+Jesus+the+Light+of+the+world&source=bl&ots=BAhUVQ6Fnm&sig=534t5oGlMSBI83awBlOCGm2V0CI&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj2gpO-1vbKAhVC2T4KHWrwDmkQ6AEIMTAD#v=onepage&q=zora%20neale%20Hurston%20Jesus%20the%20Light%20of%20the%20world&f=false) 

and we all sing Jesus the Light of the World…

And then time for reflection

TRANSFIGURATION SUNDAY is one of those  “gateway” Sundays…like Christ the King (Advent), Ascension (Pentecost) It marks the culmination of a season, a time, before a new one begins…

This marks the end of the season of light…began with epiphany…the star, the aha! moment…the moment of getting it… the narrative since Christmas has followed Jesus’ journey of self-discovery, and in parallel, our  journey of discovery of our own calls…so we pause here…before a time of self-reflection, self-examination that will come with Lent..

And the topic is transfiguration, which defined is ….

a complete change of form or appearance into a more beautiful or spiritual state.

Well, alright then…

Transfiguration…words like

Shining   and Glory (from the latin Gloria ) that word alone has seven meanings…from high praise to God to magnificent beauty…

What is in the story?

Jesus on a mountaintop with Moses and Elijah…the law and the prophets…also Moses “shines” …Elijah is carried up into the heavens …(Elijah still has the capacity to come around…at brises…and Passover , we save a seat for him..and well, any time…)

How do the friends respond? Peter, always impulsive, wants to make the moment last…build three booths, so the guys can hang out…stay on the mountaintop…but they have to go back to work and immediately, Jesus has to deal with a demon…

When March madness ends in April with the national basketball championship, the song they always play with the tournaments’ video highlights is…one shining moment..

SO what?

1.     We all have those moments of glory. At least I hope we do…we don’t want to let go…the last night of Antigona, I almost cried as I watched each moment for the last time..wanting to hold on…I’ve had services here where I just wanted it  to end there…some recent Christmases., eg…but the next day, there;s work to be done,…you have to go back and start again…whoever wins the Suoer Bowl, next July will have to start all over again.

As I watch the videos of my first grand child, I remembered the birth of his father, that Is my first child…I want to tell him hold onto these moments, they’re gone  so fast… for just a moment, think clearly  in your head of your moment…what did that feel like?

2.     This story is in 3 of the gospels…but only Luke speaks of the apostles weighed down with sleep….why? These guys are not tired, they are exhausted..physically, mentally, emotionally….and Jesus keeps trying to tell them the worst is still ahead…

Luke is saying what it’s like…you solve one problem another one comes up..you fix one part of this old building, another issue appears..just when you think a moment of financial  peace Is here, something always happens….you come back for a great family trip  to Dublin,with two full week s of  August left to get ahead …and you fall and break five ribs…your day is carefully planned and one thing after another  goes wrong…you just want to sleep..or stay in bed…I almost feel Luke is thinking about depression…

But because they manage to stay awake, they catch this moment of glory…

When you feel like you can't go on…,.open your eyes wider…see what you see…

3.     Glory and transfiguration

Glory, glory halleliujah!...Jeremy gave us the ur source. of that familiar song.and I can tell you no one knows more about that sing than Jeremy…I still remember his play…all the variations, and the deviled eggs…but that’s another story….

Julia Ward Howe used this song fpr the battle hymn….I raised eyebrows the first time I used it on this Sunday….it was this verse..

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*,^[14]
While God is marching on.

We’ve moved away from it’s militarism, no longer in our hymnbooks…but…for her the apocalyptic moment was apotheosis of the abolition movement and her sense of an apocalyptic moment in the struggle for human freedom…

Did you know Lincoln suffered from depression? What they called melancholia? Only when he saw a cause beyond himself, when slavery moved from a political issue to a sense of  call  could move beyond his depression….

Once we have seen or experienced those transfiguring  moments, they are always  there…their memory keep us going…and that going becomes more than going, which can only leave us exhausted, if we have a vision to move to …our personal dream or a cause beyond ourselves…

So …preparation for Lent…this week, before Ash Wednesday, write down your shining moment…see it clearly…have your  own mardi gras, or celebrate with others…and then on ash Wednesday, make list of the things that weigh you down, exhaust you, make you want to stay in bed…. And pray about them or meditate on them for 40 days…and then I’ll tell you what happens next….

Following the reflection, we share Eucharist together. And the service concludes with another selection of songs by our group, it's good to feel them moving closer to us.  And then time for a benediction and Amen.

                           ****

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.

Last Sunday after Pentecost: Man in the Mirror..what do you see?

1/31

The Open Choir worshipped with us....

Today we have our friends from the Seed group/Open Choir as special guests. They open our service. Jeremy has been working on JEREMIAH 1:4-10 and does a dramatic presentation of the text.

Soon enough, we get to the reflection.

I’ve been thinking about mirrors…do you know when you look, what you see is reversed? Or that our faces are not symmetrical? I look at kids on the subway…using their cell phones instead of compact mirrors….you know , the selfie app?

I’m thinking about Paul…as through a glass darkly….all we ever  see is a  glimpse…an almost…in part…but to be seen face to face…we want to, need to be seen…

When we first moved to the city, we didn’t know how  to respond to the many who asked us for money. So I asked Marc Greenberg…he said it’s not sop important to give money as to recognize the other’s humanity ..the need to be seen….not being seen takes your life away..makes you disappear…if we’re invisible, we’re not really here…we have to be seen, have to be heard, have to be  known… and we all deserve that…..

So when we look in the mirror, what do we see?

1 Corinthians 13 is a classic passage about love…I associate it with weddings…almost every one I do requests this passage..…

What does it ask of us?

What if it’s reference is not just for couples, but in community?

Back to Jesus. The hometown boy is back…and looking good..…people are loving it…Is not this Joseph’s son?  Wow….

Jesus can’t leave it at happy… But then... but then.... Jesus opens his mouth and gets to meddling. He starts interpreting the Scripture he has just read and he talks about Sidon and Syria, Zarephath and Naaman. He says, "God went to them, not the Israelites." And then he drops the mic. And the hometown crowd gets the point. They know those stories from 1 and 2 Kings. They get the context. They understand that Jesus isn't just talking about including outsiders in the circle of God's care; he is pronouncing judgment on the insiders who have done the excluding.

And people want to push him off the cliff…And How did he pass though the midst of them? Were they looking for someone else and didn’t recognize him? Or was it like a mirror,they saw themselves and like wow, what are we doing?

My friend Arik Ascherman of rabbis for Human Rights..was attacked by a knife wielding settler kid..inches from his chest..the kid could have killed him..Arick though maybe he had a change of heart..yet when interviewed, the young man said that he wished he would have killed Arick..

Our motivation must always  be LOVE

Abraham Joshua Heschel said that a prophet must always be motivated by love. Prophets can only speak  to a people they love.

And of course, Che said,“At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.” 

So let us take that with us to the  primaries…

And let us look look forward to the day we see in full…

Amen…

All this  put me in mind of Michael Jackson’s Man in the Mirror…so I played the video..

                                                                     Man in the Mirror

We finish with more songs from the Open Choir. It has been a good morning….

My son's friends Tom and Anne from Berlin were with us…they went first to the LGBTQ Pentecostal service in our sanctuary,,,(yes you read that right…there’s a documentary film group doing a film about them…) Then our service. Then the big production Korean service.  Later that night, they tell me they are amazed at the panoply of religious experience that exists at West-Park. (Robert Orsi would be proud..[1]) But at the end of the day, they liked our service with the Open Choir best of all, even of the smallest. That made me feel good. Because they meant it.

·       [1] Robert A. Orsi, ed. (1999). Gods of the City: Religion and the American Urban Landscape. Indiana University Press.ISBN 978-0-253-21276-4.

FIRST READING JEREMIAH 1:4-10

⁴Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,

⁵"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,

and before you were born I consecrated you;

I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

⁶Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy." ⁷But the LORD said to me,

"Do not say, 'I am only a boy';

for you shall go to all to whom I send you,

and you shall speak whatever I command you,

⁸Do not be afraid of them,

for I am with you to deliver you,

says the LORD."

⁹Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth; and the LORD said to me,

"Now I have put my words in your mouth.

¹⁰See, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms,

to pluck up and to pull down,

to destroy and to overthrow,

to build and to plant."

PSALM PSALM 71:1-6

¹In you, O LORD, I take refuge;

let me never be put to shame.

²In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;

incline your ear to me and save me.

³Be to me a rock of refuge,

a strong fortress, to save me,

for you are my rock and my fortress.

⁴Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,

from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.

⁵For you, O Lord, are my hope,

my trust, O LORD, from my youth.

⁶Upon you I have leaned from my birth;

it was you who took me from my mother's womb.

My praise is continually of you.

SECOND READING 1 CORINTHIANS 13:1-13

¹If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ²And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant ⁵or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. ⁷It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

⁸Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. ⁹For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; ¹⁰but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. ¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. ¹²For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.¹³And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

GOSPEL LUKE 4:21-30

²¹Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." ²²All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?"²³He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'" ²⁴And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. ²⁵But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; ²⁶yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. ²⁷There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." ²⁸When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. ²⁹They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.³⁰But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

I'm Gonna Make A Change,
For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .

As I, Turn Up The Collar On My
Favourite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street,
With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See
Their Needs
A Summer's Disregard,
A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man's Soul
They Follow Each Other On
The Wind Ya' Know
'Cause They Got Nowhere
To Go
That's Why I Want You To
Know

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change)
(Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah)

I've Been A Victim Of A Selfish
Kind Of Love
It's Time That I Realize
That There Are Some With No
Home, Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me,
Pretending That They're Not
Alone?

A Widow Deeply Scarred,
Somebody's Broken Heart
And A Washed-Out Dream
(Washed-Out Dream)
They Follow The Pattern Of
The Wind, Ya' See
Cause They Got No Place
To Be
That's Why I'm Starting With
Me
(Starting With Me!)

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Ooh!)
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change)

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm Asking Him To Change His
Ways
(Change His Ways-Ooh!)
And No Message Could've
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make That . . .
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make That . . .)
Change!

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror,
(Man In The Mirror-Oh
Yeah!)
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Better Change!)
No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make The Change)
(You Gotta Get It Right, While
You Got The Time)
('Cause When You Close Your
Heart)
You Can't Close Your . . .Your
Mind!
(Then You Close Your . . .
Mind!)
That Man, That Man, That
Man, That Man
With That Man In The Mirror
(Man In The Mirror, Oh Yeah!)
That Man, That Man, That Man
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Better Change!)
You Know . . .That Man
No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah
(Oh Yeah!)
Gonna Feel Real Good Now!
Yeah Yeah! Yeah Yeah!
Yeah Yeah!
Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah
(Ooooh . . .)
Oh No, No No . . .
I'm Gonna Make A Change
It's Gonna Feel Real Good!
Come On!
(Change . . .)
Just Lift Yourself
You Know
You've Got To Stop It.
Yourself!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
I've Got To Make That Change,
Today!
Hoo!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Got To
You Got To Not Let Yourself . . .
Brother . . .
Hoo!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
You Know-I've Got To Get
That Man, That Man . . .
(Man In The Mirror)
You've Got To
You've Got To Move! Come
On! Come On!
You Got To . . .
Stand Up! Stand Up!
Stand Up!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Stand Up And Lift
Yourself, Now!
(Man In The Mirror)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Aaow!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Gonna Make That Change . . .
Come On!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know . . .
(Change . . .)
Make That Change.

It was Ash Wednesday

2/10

When I got to the church to prepare for Ash Wednesday, no one was there. It was all on me. So I went into the chapel, brought a small table into the sanctuary, strained to get it up o the table then decided it was better on the floor. Laid red and purple cloths over the table.

Then gathered the leftover palms from last year’s Palm Sunday. And a small metal pot. Went out on the steps. Filled the pot with an old page from the Times and then the balled up dried out palms. Lit a long match. And watched the flames rise.  A child watches, mesmerized. An old black man says So that’s where the ashes come from, And I say Yes, And he says, All these years, I never knew that.

Awhile later, there were ashes. I took a small amount of olive oil, added I to the ashes and stored. I was ready.  My Presbyterian ancestors in the hills of western Pennsylvania would never understand why I do this.

My first visitor comes around noon. A Latino construction worker in a hard hat. I button my white clergy shirt. Put on my red stole. The one from the Buddhist manifestation of the light ceremony.  I dip my thumb in the ashes. Make the sign of the coss on his forehead. Mi hermano, se recuerda que se viene a polvo  y al polvo se va regresar…And he nods. En el nombre del padre, del hijo , y el espirito santo. Amen.

There’s an intermittent stream throughout  the day. Individuals. A whole cadre of Hispanic women. I greet two Koreans who only want  to rent space. An old black woman who juts wants  to sit and pray. At the end of the  day, one of the counter guys from Barney Greengrass comes in. I get my coffee from him every day  and we exchange greetings and have a good afternoons. One time I heard him singing a song absent mindedly and I finished his line. He’d been in earlier. Told me he’d wondered where he’d find ashes, what with his work schedule and all, He’s wearing his counter  guys white. As I put the ashes on his forehead, I say, Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return…in the name  of the father, the son and the holy spirit, Amen.

I remember the time a bus driver raced in form the bus stop in front of the church, asked for ashes, received them and raced. back to his bus.  It means a lot to me, to be able to  do this for people. To take my part in a ritual that goes back centuries. In this city.  My city. And to dust we shall return.