Transfiguration - Year C

           This weekend we get the Transfiguration readings.  We do a version of this every year right before Lent begins.  Matthew and Mark have their own versions, so it is a bit different each year.  I got tickled this week as I did the readings on this lectionary offering.  One place said not to even TRY to explain Paul’s writings (-:

            We get the story of Two Transfigurations – the first is Moses, and it sets the scene for Jesus.  There are the common denominators that would have led ancient hearers to know that the stories are written to be linked: the mountain, the shiny skin, the fear of the witnesses, and God speaking.  The Psalm reminds us that God appears as a cloud on a mountain – again hearkening to this Gospel reading.  This is one of those unusual weekends when all of the readings fit together perfectly and interweave stories and illustrations.  If you have been an Episcopalian for very long, you have heard sermons on these every year.

            This year as we face the beginning of our Lenten journey through to Easter, I would like for us to consider a third Transfiguration story: our own.  As Episcopalians our Anglican theology allows us to believe that we are constantly being transfigured – constantly being sanctified – to be the presence of Christ in the world.  We believe that we can move closer and closer to holiness.  This is not only personally but as a parish. 

            As we begin the Lenten journey, we are also beginning the ending with Fr Jim.  One of the things that will happen over the next year or so will be efforts to learn who St Martin is – what we offer to the greater world that is unique.  Just hanging out and being the Episcopal church is not enough anymore.  Truthfully it never has been – that’s why Peter and the guys could not just hang out on the top of the mountain – there was work to do.  There still is – one of the things we will be called to do is to “Listen.”  We will wonder together, question together and listen together. 

           

            Between now and Easter, we will each individually be called into the observance of a Holy Lent with the imposition of ashes on Wednesday.  Each of us will fast, pray and listen to the Holy Spirit and how she moves in our daily lives.  We are going to be called into our own Transfigurations.  To that end, I have an assignment for you.  It’s a bit scary – but all Transfigurations are – I want you to really pay attention to your Lenten journey this year.  I want you to be ready to tell us all about it.  My first weekend to preach after Easter will be the third Sunday of Easter.  On that weekend, I want to hear your stories of Transfiguration – where you have heard the Holy Spirit speaking to you, either personally or about this community.  Your stories will be the sermon that weekend. 

            It will be a long journey – May we, like Moses, reflect the light of the Glory of God as we are transfigured.  

Water Into Wine Epiphany 2C

Today we find ourselves in the Ordinary Time – kind of a small piece of Ordinary Time that wedges in between Epiphany and Lent.  We get to hang out in this time for just a few weeks before we are in full-blown Lent.  It’s an odd time, so our Lectionary composers have given us a little taste of John.  Last time we had John was that first Sunday after Christmas and we won’t be in John again until close to the end of Lent when we get the story of Lazarus. 

John is a very complex Gospel and today’s reading from it is no exception.  There is a lot of layer and symbolism built into what sounds like at first listen a very straight-forward story.

Did you notice that in John’s gospel, Jesus’ mother is not named?  In fact she’s only mentioned twice in this Gospel: here and at the crucifixion – no name either time.  From the first sign to the last breath.  Take a second with that.  If John was the only Gospel you had ever studied, you would not know anything about His birth or about her – you would know that Jesus had a human mom – that’s it.  Yet the writer gives her an important role – she seems to push Jesus into doing something.  Or she believes so strongly that he will, that he does it.  Either way, she is the instigator of the “sign.” 

Did you catch that also?  John doesn’t call it a miracle – instead it’s a sign.  There are 7 total in the Gospel of John.  Maybe – Probably - because 7 is a Holy Number – the Holiest – Perfection - the Completeness.  On the 7^th day God rested.  Most weddings lasted 7 days – and it is important that this event is a wedding.  In Jesus, Heaven and Earth are married, in the Christ God and Man are married  (Bp Andy Doyle). 

On the Third day, God created… On the third day there was a wedding… on the third day Jesus arose… More symbolism in the story.  New creation maybe?  Jesus is creating a new community of disciples.  In John’s gospel, he’s already gathered a few and will gather more.  He himself is the new creation, and will be again after the Resurrection. 

The six pots made of stone for the Purification Rites – Six is incomplete - not perfect – not  Perfection.  Again – a sign that points to the new creation that will culminate in the perfection of Jesus Christ.

Who is the Sign for?  Bride and Groom and their families certainly benefitted – otherwise at their 20^th wedding anniversary someone would have said, “remember when y’all ran out of wine at the wedding?”  You know someone would remember.  But they don’t know how the wine got there; they may not have ever even known there was a shortage.  The guests certainly enjoyed the really good wine – better than what they had been drinking for the first few days. The Steward certainly appreciates the wine, but doesn’t know how it came to be either. 

The only people in the story who knew were the mom, the servants and the disciples – and the disciples believed.  This is not Mark, remember. Signs are done for a few people only - not for the general public.

And now we know.  John has recorded the story, so obviously it got out and we are the latest ones to get to see this sign – we are now part of the inner circle here. 

Now we enter into the work of Jesus.  Now we must believe just as the disciples did.  I came across a quote this week as I was doing my exegetical work from St. Augustine.  This got my imagination fired up in this Ordinary Time of Epiphany – how this text can be unpacked for us this time – in this space – this week.  St. Augustine is quoted as having written: “Our Lord’s miracle of turning water into wine comes as no surprise to those who know it is God who did it.  At the wedding that day he made wine in the six water pots that had been filled with water; BUT HE DOES THE SAME THING EVERY YEAR with the vines… only that does not amaze us, because it happens every year.”  Every year, rain gets turned into grapes, which get turned into wine.  And we know who the true vine is – whom it is we should be growing alongside so that we don’t wither away.

           

In this season of Epiphany, I forget to look for the sacred among us – the sacred that happens every day.  God’s abundant and extravagant love is on display all the time, yet I sometimes just wade in the water and forget to savor the wine offered.  I’ll give you a few examples of looking for the sacred in the ordinary, and I hope you will think of 100 more this week…

• A married couple truly laughing and communicating after so many years – living into the sacrament of marriage in their everyday life
• The smell of a newborn baby’s head right after bath time – so fresh to this world
• Glancing up from your morning coffee and devotional to see the birds take flight by simply flapping their wings
• Seeing those among us begin to recover and regain strength after so many prayers and so much time
• Holding the hand of another as they breathe their last breath in this world

I offer up those to you – I pray that you will think of others.  Mundane, ordinary stuff that could escape us in the day-to-day existence we live; daring to look for the extraordinary – to live in extravagance – to seek the Holy and Sacred. 

           

Every Sunday in the Eucharistic prayer, we pray some version of: “sanctify us also” –  we pray for the wine to turn into the blood of Jesus and the bread to turn into his body and we believe that happens - we pray for the sacred to become part of our ordinary existence – do we watch for where that happens every day?  Watch this week for the water becoming wine all around you – talk amongst each other about it.  Tell those who do not yet believe… point out God’s abundant and extravagant love… and witness the ordinary becoming sacred as God works among us.  Amen.  

1st Sunday after Christmas C

Happy 5^th/6^th Day of Christmas!!  That’s right isn’t it? Let’s Count it Out… It annoys me when even major retailers do not do their due diligence to know what the 12 days of Christmas are – this year I was getting all of the Starbucks coupons for special deals on the 12 days of Christmas – BEFORE Christmas. 

In today’s Gospel, we get the Birth Story of Jesus from John’s perspective – you heard all about the angels and shepherds and cows, and the manger in that didn’t you?  Nope.  This is John’s version and it is PACKED with Words upon Words about The Word.  We don’t get any glimpses of the Charlie Brown Christmas special here – or even a lineage like we get from Matthew – here we get the back story.  In the Beginning is actually better stated as Before the Beginning… before Genesis… before Creation… before Time began ticking.

If you remember your Genesis stories of Creation (yes there are 2) – God speaks Creation into being.  The lack of violence is one of the profound differences in the Christian version of Creation vs the other Ancient Near East versions of Creation.  God Speaks the Word and Creation begins.  The Spirit moves over the water at Creation – the Trinity in action from the beginning. 

This text from John is read every first Sunday after Christmas – maybe because it is such a tough concept for us to grasp – maybe because it is so important for us to remember that Jesus may have been born in the flesh in a manger but he was before time, maybe just to confound us.  It’s hard to know.  But He was born among us – perfect God and perfect Man – born to speak to us of God’s love.  Born to free us from the Law.  Born so that we could have Faith and be adopted as sisters and brothers, heirs, not slaves.  The Incarnation of Christ is the beginning of a new way for us to be in relationship to God.  A way of freedom and peace and light. 

On this 5^th/6^th Day of Christmas, let us ponder that new Light in our lives that the Word brings – Let us find new ways to accept the perfect gift freely given by Jesus. 

He became as we are so that we could strive to become as He is – Come Let Us Adore Him!

Advent 3C

            So I had a sermon written for this weekend.  It had a good theme – a good catch line: “Roots vs Fruits.”  Seems to me that John the Baptizer is saying that we shouldn’t just rest on our past history of church going, of denominational dependence, of feeling entitled to whatever brings us here.  He points (John always points) to our fruits – what we have to show from living out the Gospel of Jesus Christ every day.  The Fruits of the Spirit are Love, Joy, Peace, Self-Control, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faith and Gentleness.  JtB says to those gathered that no matter what their job, they are to be fair and honest in doing it.  That was the sermon.  Then All Hell broke out in an elementary school yesterday morning.

            This one is different, isn’t it?  It sounds as though it is a domestic violence episode to the nth degree.  It involved small children.  Even in the BCP (p 494), we recognize that the deaths of children are different than the deaths of adults.  Children have not yet become what they will.  When a child dies, the adults who love them lose the child certainly, but also all of the hopes and dreams they had for that child.  At least two of the children who were killed are Episcopalians.

            What are we to do?  This is the Rose weekend – the weekend of Joy on the Advent wreath.  We have Zephaniah encouraging us to sing, shout, rejoice and exult.  Paul in Philippians and Isaiah in the Canticle want us to rejoice.  Don’t they understand that we are sad?  Don’t they know what has happened?  Along with the crowd in the Gospel, I ask “What then shall we do?”   

            Our Presiding Bishop calls us to pray: We grieve with the many families and friends touched by this shooting in Connecticut. We mourn the loss of lives so young and innocent. We grieve that the means of death are so readily available to people who lack the present capacity to find other ways of responding to their own anger and grief. We know that God’s heart is broken over this tragedy, and the tragedies that unfold each and every day across this nation. And we pray that this latest concentration of shooting deaths in one event will awaken us to the unnoticed number of children and young people who die senselessly across this land every day. More than 2000 children and youth die from guns each year, more than the soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Will you pray and work toward a different future, the one the Bible’s prophets dreamed of, where city streets are filled with children playing in safety (Zechariah 8:5)?  

            Each of us has something we can do - just as JtB spoke with the different people in the crowd, encouraging them to be fair and honest in their work, we all have work to do in this tragedy.  For some it will be sending a card to the school or the local churches, for others it might be tacking gun or mental health issues - only you know what God has uniquely equipped you to do and what fruit you may bear here.  I do want to be clear - God was in that building - with each and every person, responders, teachers, students - God did not abandon them.  I hope that if you hear anyone say differently, you will address that gently.  How could anyone believe that God - whose own son died a violent death - whose son's body broken we will celebrate in a few minutes - would abandon them in their time of greatest need.  

           And then I circle back to the original sermon this week.  How dare we proclaim Joy?  How dare we not?  Even in our sadness and grief, we can still produce the Fruits: Love, Joy, Peace, Self-Control, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faith and Gentleness.  That is exactly what we are called to do in this.  It takes courage.  It takes a history of living into the Gospel.  Keeping all this in mind, let us pray again our Collect of the Day:  Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

Advent 1C

           Happy New Year!  We are such a weird group of people aren’t we?!  Episcopalians and other liturgical churches move to the beat of a different drummer – particularly with the calendar.  Today is the beginning of our new liturgical year.  Last year (last week) we were still in Year B, but today we begin Year C – we will get a lot of Luke this year!  If you follow the Daily Cycle, you will begin Year One.  Today we also switch the Prayers of the People and the Eucharistic Prayer.  (stand or kneel).  So here we are celebrating the New Year before Advent and before Christmas. 

            The world out there began celebrating Christmas before the turkeys had cooled – some even before the jack o’lanterns were extinguished.  Every store and restaurant has Christmas decorations and Christmas music – it’s a cacophony of lights, colors and noise out there.  But here we are again being counter-cultural.  Today is also the first Sunday of Advent.

            Advent is a season of hopeful waiting.  Jesus tells us today in the Gospel to be alert – I used to have a t-shirt that said “Be Alert – the world needs more Lerts.”  Being alert is different than being overwhelmed – different than the manic nervous energy we can see all around us.  What does being alert look like?

·      Prepared – not afraid – peaceful – “It is unfortunate that we can secure peace only by preparing for war” John F Kennedy. 

·      Look up – Lift Your Heads – when we are prepared, we can look with hope

·      Clear our hearts of

o   Dissipation – too much energy used without a real accomplishment

o   Drunkenness – addictions, power, control

o   Worry – what??  How does worry make this list?  Dissipations and Drunkenness are the opposite of Stewardship.  Worry is the opposite of Faith

·      Do not fear – get ready and stay ready

How do we go about being counter-cultural?  Being good stewards of our time talent and treasure – not worrying – and praying.  This is how Jesus calls into a Holy Advent.  It is a specific list that we get today.  It doesn’t mean that we cannot decorate our homes and enjoy holiday gatherings.  We do not have to be Scrooge in the midst of the holiday gaity.  Instead think of it as permission to go slower – to be mindful – to make connections – to prepare your soul – to meditate – to pray for God’s will to be done in your life.  Pray about what you can do to draw evermore close to the God who loves you more then you can ask or imagine.

I invite you therefore, in the name of the Church, to the observation of a Holy Advent, by preparation and prayer; by self-denial of dissipation, drunkenness and worry; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy Word.  May it be a season of hopeful expectation in your life and in the life of St Martin.  Amen.

I SIng a Song of the Saints of God

I absolutely love doing ministry in the church in this time period.  Mind you, I have only a vague idea of how it worked for earlier generations.  I love the feeling of connectedness and collaboration I have through the RevGals blogs, through Facebook and Twitter friends, and through the face-to-face contacts I maintain.

Several years ago, while we were still in seminary, my friend Mary turned me on to Lent Madness.  There are two Episcopal priests who have turned the excitement of basketball's March Madness into a brilliant way of not only learning about the Saints during Lent, but also caring about how they move through the bracket (or not) to be awarded the Golden Halo.  Last year's winner was Mary Magdalene.

Yes - that's me posing for my picture with the venerated Golden Halo winner of 2012.  This was at TEC's General Convention in July.

While I was there in the Forward Movement booth, I nabbed a couple of official brackets for 2013 play.  I also spoke with Fr Tim about how Lent Madness had inspired me to do ministry a bit different for NavajoLand this year.

Until the LM bracket of 2012, I had not realized how many Native American saints there were.  They are all in the Holy Women, Holy Men book that I use for daily prayers, but they are not grouped together in any way.  I was inspired by the LM bracket to use six of the Native American saints for the NavajoLand VBS that my family and I (with my home parish) do each summer.  (disclaimer: I have general reservations about traveling into other communities to do "mission work" however, I believe that among the Dine population, the ministry of presence is very important.)

It was fun week with the team and Dine children all learning and being inspired by Queen Emma and King Kamehameha IV, Mary (Molly) Brant Konwatsijayenni, Deacon David Oakerhater, The Rev Cornelius Hill, and The Rev John Johnson-Enmegohbowh.  We sang "I Sing a Song of the Saints of God" each day along with other VBS songs, did crafts, and studied the Bible stories.  It was a really fun week.  What I hope is that the children and adults who were there were truly inspired to see how we could all aspire to be saints in God's kingdom - no matter what our heritage or life situation.  I hope those children walk a bit taller knowing that there are Native American saints who have gone before them.

One of the souvenirs that St Christopher's in Bluff and St John the Baptizer in Montezuma Creek really like is when we make banners they can hang in the church for the rest of the summer.  It's fun to look at previous year's banners that we have done and see how much the children have changed.  Here's the banner we did for this year.

Each note is a different child or team member from one of the locations.  A different but same size banner was made for the other location.







Just for reference, this is a picture with Sam, my 5'8" 17 year old.

The t-shirts had a similar musical staff motif with the Saint's pictures on them and a blank spot for the recipient to add their own face.

I brought back a t-shirt so that I could send it to the Lent Madness Supreme Council for their archives in thanksgiving for the inspiration they provided.

Today I am going to the Diocese of Texas' Clergy Conference at Camp Allen.  I have heard that one of the LMSC might be there, so I am taking the t-shirt - just in case!

I love doing ministry in this connected time!!

Random Friday Five from RevGals - Thanks Karla!!

Hello dear Friday-fivers!  Without further ado, here is the Friday Five Random-Style meme for you on this September morning!

1. What is one of the best things that happened to you this week?  A supportive text from a colleague - meant all the difference in my week. Reminds me to send such texts to others when I see positive effects of their ministry/work.

2. If you were in a Ms., Miss, Mr. (name your country) Pageant, what would your talent be?  ALWAYS always choosing the slowest lane/line - no matter for what or where - OR finding the last item in a store that does not have a price tag...those are the two true talents in my life.  

3.  You were just given a YACHT!!! What would you name it, and why?  Probably Myrtle - I love to drive my family crazy by giving my technology and vehicles old traditional female names.  My cute little go-cart Versa is Agatha.

4.  If you were to perform in a circus, what would you do?  (I can't remember if I asked this before...)  I perform in the circus of my life every day - juggling is not my true talent, but I can manage it in short bursts.  Tap-dancing, ditto.  I do believe I am particularly adept at walking a tightrope, so maybe that's the circus talent.  

5.  What do you have in your bag/wallet/backpack that best describes your personality?  My wallet - it is very utilitarian and particular for it's purpose, but it has a cute exterior.  Practical and attractive, I think that describes me.