Opening Prayer: Gracious God, open our hearts and our minds to listen, understand and act on your will for us in our lives. Amen

Transcription

1 Sermon for Feb. 7, 2016 Last Sunday after the Epiphany By Jim Neal Christ s Transfiguration Scripture Readings Exodus 34:29-35 / Psalm 99 / 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 / Luke 9:28-36 Opening Prayer: Gracious God, open our hearts and our minds to listen, understand and act on your will for us in our lives. Amen The Bible is filled with examples of God speaking to His people. From Genesis, Abraham and Sarah lives were changed when they listened to God through the 3 angels depicted in our Old Testament Trinity Icon. The angels proclaimed they would have a son named Isaac. In the Gospel of Matthew, we can follow the lineage through Isaac and Jacob, to David and Solomon, on to Joseph and Jesus. From the book of Exodus, Moses leads the people out of Egypt. During this journey, Moses is called by God to come up on the mountain where he listens to God and is given the commandments to establish a Covenant between God and his people. Walter Brueggemann writes: The beneficiaries of Yahweh s powerful action are Hebrews, a collection of marginalized people who have no communal identity of their own and are powerless to change their social circumstances. In this story, however, these Hebrews become, Israel, a community for whom God cares and acts in unprecedented ways for centuries to come. Mary and Joseph also listened to the good news delivered by the angel Gabriel announcing that they would have a child and name him Jesus. A few verses before today s Gospel reading, Jesus and the disciples fed the 5000

2 on the hill side. They were all amazed by his presence and his power. He then took his disciples aside and told them that The Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected by the temple leaders, killed and on the third day be raised to life. Now they must have been confused and concerned. When Jesus had spoken to them on the beach and said follow me and I will make you fish for people it must have sounded like a pretty simple way to get out of cleaning the fish and the nets. Since then, nothing had been simple. As Peter, James, and John journey with Jesus to the mountaintop, they are forced to come to grips with the horrifying truth that Jesus, their beloved friend and leader, must suffer and die! When they reach the top of the mountain, the Gospel tells us that Jesus was transfigured before them and Moses and Elijah appeared. As the disciples watched their Lord Be Transfigured, they realized that they were in the very presence of God. But even in this incredible moment of divine transfiguration, Peter could not forget what Jesus had told them before they came to the mountain. Master, it is good for us to be here, Peter petitions, Let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. At some level, most of us can t help but sympathize with Peter. Who among us would knowingly submit our self or our loved ones to pain and suffering? Peter s efforts to protect Jesus are undoubtedly acts of love and devotion but they are also acts couched in Peter and the disciples need for safety and security. They had seen a glimpse of God s glory in the face of Jesus, and they wanted desperately to hold onto that moment and to protect it. But the moment that Peter joins James and John to try and hold onto and defend Jesus, is the moment that a voice from above breaks in, proclaiming: This is my Son, my chosen; listen to him!

3 They had been listening and were still confused. In the Lord s Prayer we pray Thy will be done on earth as in heaven. How do we learn God s will for each of us? In Phillip Newell s book Listening for the Heartbeat of God he writes that there are two ways of listening to God. One is based more on the Gospel of St. John, the second on St. Peter. John s tradition is introduced in the first chapter of his Gospel: In the beginning was the Word, and the word was God. Through him all things were made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. In seeing God in all things provides an openness to the presence of God in all of creation and in each person. This interconnection between all of creation is a primary tenet of Celtic theology and the closeness of God to each of us. The second way of listening to God is based more on the examples of St. Peter and is more specifically expressed in the Gospel of St. Matthew and the letters of St. Paul. St. Peter was the rock on which Christ would build his church. This tradition enshrines the light of truth within the Church, it s traditions and sacraments. An early Celtic theologian understood the need to make room for supporting both John and Peter s perspective. The former, he believed, represents the way of contemplation and reflection, the latter, faithful action as we express our love for our neighbor through prayer and service. Both disciples ran to the empty tomb of Jesus and both witnessed his resurrection. In a sense, they can be regarded as the male equivalent of Martha and Mary. Amidst all of the joys and heartbreaks of the world; in the face of all of the delight and despair that surrounds us; and despite all of the things we know and can never know, God beckons us, ever so gently: Listen.

4 Imagine for a moment, what the world might look like if we listened not in preparation to respond, but in order to understand. What might our politics look like if we listened more and argued less? What might our schools look like if we taught our children how to actively listen as deliberately as we teach them how to speak and to write? And what might our churches look like if we listened intently for the voice of God from those who differ from us? In his book, Bread for the Journey, the Catholic priest and theologian Henri J.M. Nouwen writes: To listen is very hard, because it asks of us so much interior stability that we no longer need to prove ourselves by speeches, arguments, statements, or declarations. True listeners no longer have an inner need to make their presence known. They are free to receive, to welcome, to accept The beauty of listening is that, those who are listened to start feeling accepted, start taking their words more seriously and discovering their own true selves. Listening is a form of spiritual hospitality by which you invite strangers to become friends, to get to know their inner selves more fully, and even to dare to be silent with you. In the coming week, churches around the world will undergo a transformation of sorts, as the liturgical calendar moves from the season after Epiphany to the season of Lent. Our praise-filled shouts of Alleluia! will give way to Lent s solemn petition, Lord have mercy. We will retire the brass and festive hangings in favor of simpler and more contemplative fixtures. And the lectionary will lead us down from the mountaintop where the transfigured Christ is revealed in glory, through the valley of the shadow of death, and ultimately to Jerusalem where the cross and tomb await. Lent can weigh heavily on us. It urges us to recall the suffering and death of our Lord. You are invited to join us on Ash Wednesday at 3:00 to begin your Lent and on the following Wednesday attend our Lente Study using the book Meeting Jesus again for the First Time. As our Lenten journey approaches, and the chaos of the world presses in with voices of despair clanging in our ears, may we remember how to listen. For it is in listening that we truly hear one another. And it is in listening that we hear the voice of God. Maybe to truly listening could be my Lenten discipline.

5 Let us take a few minutes to practice St. John s approach to listening to God and His Love of each of us. Sit comfortably, close your eyes and reflect on God s love! Silent minute: Let Your God Love You Let Your God Love You Be silent. Be still. Alone. Empty before your God. Say nothing. Ask nothing. Be silent. Be still. Let your God look upon you. That is all. Your God knows, understands, loves you with an enormous LOVE. Your God only wants to look upon you with LOVE. Quiet. Be still. Let your God LOVE YOU. Steve Sundberg, S.J Silent minute. Amen