The Bottom Of The Mountain
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This week's lectionary gospel text tells of the Transfiguration -- a spectacular experience for three of Jesus' disciples, who accompany him to a mountaintop where his true divine nature is revealed for them. Oprah Winfrey has dubbed these sort of transformative events aha! moments, which Merriam-Webster (who added the term to their dictionary this year) defines as "moments of sudden realization, inspiration, insight, recognition, or comprehension." In this installment of The Immediate Word, team member Mary Austin suggests that looking back, we might have thought the wave of revolutions two years ago that toppled several longtime authoritarian governments in northern Africa signaled similarly transformative moments. But today, as Egypt is racked by dissent stoked by the heavy-handed tactics of new president Mohammed Morsi's regime, we are reminded that sustaining the idealistic energy of the uprising and creating new democratic institutions is a difficult and ongoing process. Mary points out that similarly, we misunderstand the fundamental meaning of the Transfiguration if we treat it merely as an aha! moment (a la Oprah). Like Jesus' disciples, we too need not just to settle for magical mountaintop moments of inspirational insight; we also must bring the changed perspective that comes from grasping Jesus' essence with us when we come back down into the valley of everyday life and its often depressing reality -- where we are called to do the often messy and tedious work of healing and discipleship (as Jesus does, rather grudgingly, in the optional second part of the gospel reading).
Team member Leah Lonsbury offers some additional thoughts on this week's epistle passage and its discussion of how Christ (exemplified by the Transfiguration) removes the veil from our faces and lets us see God's glory "up close and personal." This coming week our culture will "celebrate" Valentine's Day in the process promulgating an erroneous image of romantic love. But science seems to be debunking some of our most cherished notions about what love is, with one researcher claiming that love is actually what she terms "micro-moments of positivity resonance" that depend on actual connections we experience numerous times each day. Leah tells us that this radically new conception of love actually is very much in line with what Paul describes love as, once "the veil is removed" from our faces.
The Bottom of the Mountain
by Mary Austin
Luke 9:28-43
It all looked so promising.
Two years ago, watching the people of Egypt peacefully occupy the aptly-named Tahrir (Peace) Square, it seemed like a sea of change was coming to Egypt. The people who held firm until the authoritarian regime of Hosni Mubarak toppled could not be denied a new form of government. Now the country is battered by violent protests, and Egypt's new government looks a lot like Egypt's old government.
Bright beginnings and disappointing second acts. This is a theme that Jesus' disciples understand well too.
THE WORLD
Two years ago, Egypt seemed like the centerpiece of the Arab spring. It looked like the activists of Egypt had succeeded in creating a new kind of government through the will of the people. Then the bloom started to wear off, as newly elected president Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood party imposed measures strengthening his own power and weakening the other branches of government.
Reuters news service reports, "The renewed violence brought an end to a few days of calm after the deadliest week of Morsi's seven months in power. Protests marking the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak have killed nearly 60 people since January 25, prompting the head of the army to warn this week that the state was on the verge of collapse." The article notes, "The protesters accuse Morsi of betraying the spirit of the revolution by concentrating too much power in his own hands and those of his Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood accuses the opposition of trying to overthrow the first democratically elected leader in Egypt's 5,000-year history." One protester quoted in the same article said: "I am here because I want my rights, the ones the revolution called for and which were never achieved." Tahrir Square, once so hopeful, is now dingy and bleak, as the people of Egypt confront the gap between what they thought they had accomplished and what has actually happened: "Tahrir Square, ground zero of the uprising against Mubarak, has become a graffiti-scarred monument to Egypt's perpetual turmoil, strewn with barbed wire and burnt-out cars."
Beneath the protests is an unstable economy. Jeffrey Fleishman of the Los Angeles Times writes: "Since its revolution two years ago, the country has been overwhelmed by ideological battles between liberals and Islamists, its ambitions obscured by clouds of tear gas and flashes of gasoline bombs. But at the heart of the discontent is public anger over the battered economy, specifically the president's failure to improve the lives of millions of people.... The stock exchange is wildly erratic, foreign reserves have plummeted, and commodity prices are up. Crowds protesting unemployment -- officially at 12.5% -- have demonstrated against local governments across the country. Strikes for higher wages have spread from doctors to bill collectors to millworkers." More austerity measures are expected before money arrives from the International Monetary Fund.
The excitement and sense of promise from Tahrir Square have faded into bleak reality.
THE WORD
Bleak reality follows soon after the Transfiguration story, which shows up in all three of the synoptic gospels. The lectionary schedule of readings places it immediately prior to Lent each year. Just before we descend into the depths of Lent, we get this beautiful and puzzling story of Jesus on the mountaintop, shining with glory.
Before he sets his face to go to Jerusalem, Jesus goes to the top of the mountain, alone with Peter, James, and John, the disciples closest to him. There Jesus is transfigured -- his radiant presence is apparent to the disciples for a moment. Frederick Buechner says: "It is as strange a scene as there is in the gospels. Even without the voice from the cloud to explain it, [the disciples] had no doubt what they were witnessing. It was Jesus of Nazareth all right, the man they'd tramped many a dusty mile with, whose mother and brothers they knew, the one they'd seen as hungry, tired, footsore as the rest of them. But it was also the Messiah, the Christ, in his glory. It was the holiness of the man shining through his humanness, his face so afire with it they were almost blinded..." [Frederick Buechner, from Whistling in the Dark].
And yet immediately afterward they go down the mountain -- and the next day brings a scene of disappointment and failure. The disciples who tried to carry on while Jesus was away have failed to heal a boy who needs it, and are embarrassed and disappointed. The father of the boy is upset and wonders what went wrong. But Jesus brings the power of the mountaintop to this place too, and heals the boy. In his presence, their failure is also transformed. The story says: "And all were astounded at the greatness of God" (Luke 9:43a). The scene at the top of the mountain is just for a few of them, but this glimpse of power is open to everyone there. The failure also becomes a place of revelation.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The Transfiguration story is the story of faith -- and life. It's hard to go back down from the mountain, whatever that peak experience might be. But the mountaintop never lasts -- even for the disciples of Jesus, who spent every day in his presence. They come down from this golden moment and immediately face the failure to heal someone who needs it. There's always the valley, before and after. The top of the mountain doesn't save us from the struggles below.
The sermon might talk about the valleys in our faith and what we experience there. For the disciples, the failure to heal the boy at the bottom of the mountain leads them into a lesson on prayer from Jesus -- and, we hope, a deeper experience of God's power and presence. What are some of the gifts that have come from our bleak experiences of faith?
Just before this, Jesus confuses his followers by telling them that soon he will suffer and die. The sermon might also talk about the places where God has disappointed us -- where God has turned out not to be who we thought.
The Rev. Dr. Janet Hunt, in her blog "Dancing with the Word," says that silence is the only proper response to this kind of glory. Like Peter, we're tempted to babble in the face of mystery, trying to contain it and hold onto it, but we should sometimes just fall silent. The sermon might look at the places we need to make room for silence.
Only Luke records that the disciples fall asleep and wake up groggy just in time to see Jesus shining with all the glory of God. They come to the top of the mountain to pray and fall asleep there. Their sleep here evokes the night they'll fall asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane while Jesus prays just before his arrest and trial. One author [Heidi Neumark] has called it the front side and the back side of glory. The sermon might ponder the places where we're asleep to what God is doing, where we almost miss it. Where do we need to wake up to our own failures, our inattention, our lack of faith, and see what God is doing?
SECOND THOUGHTS
Lifting the Veil on Love
by Leah Lonsbury
2 Corinthians 3:12--4:2
Just in case you've somehow managed to miss the red and pink signs -- Valentine's Day is right around the corner. Hallmark, Walgreens, Target, and every retailer imaginable are poised to help you make the big day a smashing success. Love is in the air -- mostly in the checkout line.
And it's on Facebook, Twitter, match.com, and any other form of "asynchronous communication" that removes the risk of face-to-face, voice-to-voice, or real-time rejection. Love grows today via text message -- in conversations that begin with those heart-stopping openers like "hey" and "sup." Don't stress. This kind of approach "removes much of the need for charm; it's more like dropping a line in the water and hoping for a nibble," according to Alex Williams of the New York Times.
You can buy it in plastic at Walgreens. You can find it by "hanging out" on a "group non-date" set up in a flurry of instant messaging. It takes less investment, lowers the stakes, keeps things casual, and increases the odds of "success," says 26-year-old Manhattanite Joshua Sky. "It's like online job applications, you can target many people simultaneously -- it's like darts on a dart board, eventually one will stick." Sky says that such a mass-mailer approach necessitates "cost-cutting, going to bars, meeting for coffee the first time, because you only want to invest in a mate you're going to get more out of."
Lest we think this casual, uncommitted, and seemingly selfish approach of the Millennial generation and its "hookup" culture could never result in lasting love, New York Times op-ed columnist Frank Bruni reminds us that it doesn't always have to end in a "Manti." Their methods, our methods for seeking love are:
...as imperfect as they've always been. While we Homo sapiens have paired off in diverse methods across disparate epochs, we've seldom done it with ample information or any particular finesse. There was no saner, better yesteryear: just a different set of customs, a different brand of clumsiness.
Turns out, Bruni continues:
There's no ideal stratagem for figuring out whom any one of us should be with and how to chart a course to that person, no fail-safe process for determining whether a twosome will endure. The act of getting together, whether brokered by yenta or Yahoo, is one of willed credulousness and wishful thinking as much as anything else, the triumph of optimism over morning breath.
And it's a wager, because people have hidden layers, hidden intentions. Your beloved could switch political parties. Your hookup could insist on a soundtrack of†Celine Dion. Not knowing what's in store is the very soul of romance: what makes it so scary, and what makes it so thrilling.
In Paul-speak, it's a crapshoot, because no matter the strategy we're all wearing a veil. Whether it's over our faces or our minds, our love lives (Paul was really talking agape here) can never be a reflection of the glory of God's love (3:18) or an open statement of truth that commends us to everyone we meet (4:2) until we are freed by the Spirit of the Lord (3:17) and powered by God's mercy (4:1).
Paul is looking for the kind of love that transforms lives. It's not always clear that that is the aim of "the avenues by which lusty millennials come to grope and perchance know one another," as described by Bruni. They are "brusque, confused, and rife with deception." Probably not the end Paul had in mind when he was sure to add, "We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning..." (4:2a).
With Valentine's Day imminent, we may have the mysteries and intrigue of eros on the brain (or in the shopping bag or burning up our phone with text messages), but even though that's not the kind of love Paul was describing, it might not make that much difference after all.
Consider this... during what is often seen as the end goal of our great romantic chase -- a wedding -- what we're really promising each other is not "I do" but "I will": I will have and hold you for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish from this day forward until death do us part.
What we're really communicating is that despite our tendency toward asynchronous communication, we know that love is a decision about what we're going to do each day, about who we're going to be to each other in a face-to-face, real-time way. It will not be the grandiose nature of the courtship, the proposal, or even the wedding day itself that will attest to the truth or the power of our love. The way we practice our love will reveal our truth.
Surely this kind of promise, if we really mean it, begins to get at Paul's "since we have such a hope, we act with great boldness..." (3:12).
It's more the kind of love that psychologist Barbara Fredrickson is describing in her new book Love 2.0: How Our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything We Feel, Think, Do, and Become. In Love 2.0, Fredrickson uses science to argue that love is not what we think it is, especially not around Valentine's Day. "It is not a long-lasting, continually present emotion that sustains a marriage; it is not the yearning and passion that characterizes young love; and it is not the blood-tie of kinship."
There's nothing mythic about it. Fredrickson argues that we know love and its power to change our lives in an instant, in connections we must make again and again each day with our partners, children, friends, and even with more unexpected candidates like strangers on the street, a colleague at work, or the attendant at the grocery store. These connections are what Fredrickson calls "micro moments of positivity resonance." It's less emotion, and more science. Atlantic reviewer Emily Esfahani Smith writes that what Frederickson means is "love is a connection, characterized by a flood of positive emotions, which you share with another person -- any†other person -- whom you happen to connect with in the course of your day." And that connection changes us, frees us for something better.
With rates of loneliness and social isolation on the rise, this redefinition can be quite a relief for what Smith calls our "love-starved culture."
This is true, according to Fredrickson, because love has to happen face-to-face. It's physical. It issues in three significant biological manifestations in our brain -- the firing of mirror neurons, a rise in oxytocin levels, and a higher vagal tone. (Smith's article makes the science compelling and clear -- it's a smart and interesting read and well worth the time.)
When we take down the veil and meet our B/beloved (partner or stranger) face-to-face, then we are changed physically, emotionally, and socially for the better. "Love," Smith writes, "helps people step outside of themselves and become more aware of other people and their needs, desires, and struggles -- something that can be difficult to do in our hyper-individualistic culture." It translates into health through lowered risk of inflammation, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and stroke, and in that it contributes to longevity and overall well-being.
Paul might translate this overall well-being as "being transformed into the same image [of Love/God] from one degree of glory to another" (3:18). And this, Paul emphasizes, comes from unveiled love encounters with the Spirit and with those we love with openness, truth, and committed engagement.
Here's Smith again:
Fredrickson's ideas about love are not exactly the stuff of romantic comedies. Describing love as a "micro-moment of positivity resonance" seems like a buzz-kill. But if love now seems less glamorous and mysterious then you thought it was, then good.
That's the stuff of heaven brought down from the mountaintop, as found in our lectionary text from Luke for this week. That's our everyday experiences empowered and transformed by the Spirit of the Lord. That's the freedom and truth we experience when the veil is removed and we see love for what it really is and can do and be.
ILLUSTRATIONS
There's a vivid example of someone who amidst all of the turmoil in Egypt -- which has generated all sorts of unanticipated challenges in his mission -- is persisting in his work. Bob Bradley, the former coach of the U.S. national soccer team from December 2006 to June 2011, took over in September 2011 as coach of Egypt's national team... and his goal was to lead the Pharaohs to qualification to the World Cup for the first time since 1990.
Bradley had only been on the job a few months and was still acclimating himself when a devastating incident took place that shook Egypt and Egyptian soccer to the core (and which continues to fuel violence) -- a post-game riot in Port Said where hard-core supporters ("ultras") of the local team brutally attacked fans of their Cairo opponents, which resulted in 72 deaths. There is yet to be a full accounting of what actually happened, but there have been persistent rumors that the attack -- in which police refused to intervene -- was politically motivated. (Ultras from the Cairo team, al-Ahly, were known to have been at the forefront of the anti-Mubarak uprising.) Fallout from the attack is still contributing to the riots in recent weeks, as Port Said erupted after a judge summarily sentenced 21 al-Masry supporters to death for their role in the attack.
In the wake of the carnage, the Egyptian federation decided to completely shutter their domestic soccer league indefinitely -- and this had a devastating effect on Bradley and his team. Suddenly the majority of his players had lost their jobs (and income), and without teams to practice and play with regularly, being adequately prepared for this year's gauntlet of World Cup qualifying matches would be infinitely more difficult. But Bradley has made a point of sticking it out (where the prevailing wisdom was that most foreign coaches would have immediately bailed on the situation) and even making his voice and presence heard on political matters where appropriate -- earning Bradley a great deal of "street cred." A documentary is currently being filmed about Bradley and Egypt's quest to qualify for the World Cup, and while it won't be released until next year, on the film's website you can view a riveting 5-minute video teaser.
Bob Bradley seems to be an excellent illustration of someone who didn't settle for the top-of-the-mountain vision and who is continuing at the bottom of the mountain in the face of difficult circumstances that he never imagined when he took on the job.
* * *
Theologian Paul Tillich, in his sermon "You Are Accepted" (from The Shaking of the Foundations), takes his listener on a journey from the depths of despair to the heights of grace.
Describing the effect that God's grace has upon our lives, Tillich explains that after grace strikes, "nothing is changed but everything is transformed."
What a marvelous description of the mountaintop experience. After we have had it we are changed, but the world is not. The world is as it was before, but we see it differently. It is as though we had been stumbling through a dark room day after day and someone finally turned on the lights.
The room is not changed. The furniture is still where it was, the toys are still strewn about the floor, the stains are still on the carpet, and the cobwebs are still in the corners as they were when the room was dark. But now we can see the room not as we imagine it to be, but as it really is.
One of the gifts of grace is that we see the world -- not as we imagine it to be, but as it really is.
* * *
"I don't want realism; I want magic," says Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams' 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire.
Blanche has had a hard time. Raised with wealth and privilege, she married and moved away. When her husband died she spent all of her money on his funeral. When his relatives began to die and move away she found herself broke and alone. Trying to make her way alone in the world, Blanche gained a well-earned reputation for sleeping around and living a morally loose life.
Determined to escape her sordid life and reputation, she goes to New Orleans to live with her sister Stella and Stella's husband, Stanley Kowalski. Her route to their apartment is symbolic of her fantasy journey: "They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, then transfer to one called Cemeteries... and get off at Elysian Fields!"
But when she arrives she is not met with the tranquil, easy life of which she has fantasized, but the harsher, darker reality of New Orleans' blue-collar tenements. Determined to live not in reality but in fantasy, she eventually loses her mind.
* * *
In his marvelous little book Life Together (Harper & Row, 1954), Dietrich Bonhoeffer speaks to a problem that Christians, especially new Christians, bring to the church.
The problem is that Christian folks often have a warped understanding of what the church is and should be, an understanding based on their limited, mountaintop experiences. Their experience has caused them to create a fantasy of what Christian community should look like, and they are always ultimately disappointed with the reality:
"The serious Christian, set down for the first time in a Christian community, is likely to bring with him a very definite idea of what Christian life together should be and to try to realize it. But God's grace speedily shatters such dreams. Just as surely as God desires to lead us to a knowledge of genuine Christian fellowship, so surely must we be overwhelmed by a great disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and, if we are fortunate, with ourselves. By sheer grace, God will not permit us to live even for a brief period in a dream world."
Later in the same chapter, he goes on: "He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial. God hates visionary dreaming..." (pp. 26-27).
* * *
I was cleaning up after the kids' pumpkin-carving the other night, and as I mopped up gourd guts, seeds, and slimy strings of pulp from 17 different surfaces in the kitchen, I thought about the place where our Hallmark-moment parenthood expectations so often rudely collide with reality. Despite historical evidence, I had pictured my boys quietly focused on the task at hand, carefully producing adorably grinning jack-o-lanterns (along with precious childhood memories). Instead, what I had was a giant mess, two pumpkins that had been methodically stabbed into non-photogenic submission, and two kids who got in trouble at least five times for "sword fighting" with their carving tools.
-- "Where Pretty Parental Fantasies Meet Ugly Reality"
* * *
When my son Ben was engaged to be married, one of the gifts he and his fiancée received from her parents was a weekend at "Engaged Encounter."
Not knowing anything about that type of event, I asked him about it upon his return. He said: "It was kinda nice. We talked about marriage, you know? Up to that point we hadn't had much time to talk about marriage. All anyone wanted to talk about was the wedding."
Within a month of returning from their honeymoon, the newly married couple had to pack everything they owned and move nine hours away from their families so Ben could begin graduate school. "I was really grateful for that Engaged Encounter weekend," he later said. "There we were, nine hours away from our families, newly married and in that post-honeymoon back-to-reality slump. I was glad we had talked about marriage before we crashed into the reality of it."
-- Dean Feldmeyer
* * *
Writing in the Framingham, Massachusetts Metro West Daily News a year ago this January, Frank Mazzaglia offered illustrations of ordinary people who risked their lives to help others during the Holocaust:
Rabbi Malka Drucker interviewed hundreds of the thousands of acknowledged rescuers throughout Europe. They gave testimony to the Holocaust's reality and of ordinary people who did extraordinary things.
Consider Gitta Bauer who lived in Berlin. In her own words, "My aunt's Jewish friend had a twin sister who came to me in 1944 and said that her daughter was in danger. What else could I say but 'I'll take her into my house.' We knew that it was dangerous, and we were careful."
Sixteen-year-old Malka Csizmadia risked certain death for regularly sneaking food into the Hungarian town's well-guarded ghetto.
Polish-born Stefania Burzminski hid a Jewish man in her home while seeking safe houses for others despite signs all over the city which read, "Whoever helps Jews will be punished by death."
John Weidner, a Dutch Seventh-Day Adventist living in occupied France, didn't wait to be asked. He organized an underground movement of some 300 Catholics and Protestants who managed to move a thousand Jews from house to house until they could be guided over the Alps to safety in Switzerland or Spain. Over time, the Gestapo penetrated Weidner's resistance group. Some rescuers were killed on the spot, but the others carried on with greater determination. Weidner's own sister was arrested and perished in a concentration camp.
In Marseilles, Father Marie Benoit, a Franciscan Capuchin priest, helped some 4,000 Jews escape to safe countries by providing them with false documents.
Presbyterian minister Peter Miedema and his wife Joyce, even under Gestapo surveillance, rescued Jewish children living in Holland and then found safe homes for them....
There is something particularly heroic about those ordinary people who thought more of righteousness and of opposing evil than they did of life itself!
* * *
Mississippi guard Marshall Henderson has been called the imperfect poster boy for the Rebels basketball team. The 6'2" junior has enthused teammates and fans at Ole Miss with his talkative and brash on-court antics. Unfortunately, that same approach has caused Henderson to accumulate an extensive arrest record off the court.
Coach Andy Kennedy characterized Henderson's behavior this way: "I think it's passion." Kennedy went on to say that everything Henderson does is sincere, noting: "We just want to make sure he funnels it in the proper way."
Application: When Peter, John, and James came off the mountaintop of enlightenment into the valley of despair, they had to funnel their enthusiasm properly.
* * *
San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver was heavily criticized for homophobic comments he made during the Super Bowl media day interviews. When asked some piercing questions by comedian Artie Lange, Culliver gave some unguarded remarks that demeaned homosexuals, especially as unwelcomed players in professional sports.
Confronted by a host of editorials and follow-up interviews, Cullier apologized. He did acknowledge that what he said was "hurtful and ugly." More importantly, he went on to say, "I pledge to learn and grow from this experience."
Application: Like Peter, John, and James, who hopefully learned from their initial misunderstanding of the transfiguration, we too can learn and grow from our mistakes and misunderstandings.
* * *
For over a half century now I have been cleaning my ears each morning with a cotton swab. Instructed (perhaps indoctrinated) to do so as a child, I have continued the practice. Recently the Smithsonian magazine's website published an item noting that cleaning one's ears with a cotton swab is unhealthy and even dangerous. The swab can compact ear wax and prevent it from performing its natural cleansing function. However, I question if I can stop six decades of routine.
One of my Immediate Word colleagues pointed out that the Transfiguration is not a story of being transformed, but rather a story of Jesus being revealed. I wonder if I and others can learn a new meaning to an old story.
-- Ron Love
* * *
Ronaiah Tuiasosopo recently made his public confession to Dr. Phil in a two-part interview. Tuiasosopo created the fake persona of Lennay Kekua and pretended to be her in phone and online interactions with star Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o. The 22-year-old masterminded the hoax because he fell in love with Te'o. For Tuiasosopo, Lennay Kekua became an extension of himself "where my heart had pretty much invested, not just my time, but all my energy." Eventually, through the Kekua character, Tuiasosopo grew feelings for Te'o that he could no longer control. Therefore Kekua had to die, and he passed word of her death to Te'o on the same day that Te'o's grandmother died.
Application: Ronaiah Tuiasosopo is an extreme and unhealthy case of emotions going unchecked. Yet it is a counterpoint to the example of how Peter, John, and James allowed their emotions to keep them for seeing the truth on the mountaintop. Also, the Tuiasosopo/Te'o "affair" is a textbook example of the pitfalls when we love with what Paul calls "a veil" over our faces and minds.
* * *
Daniel Day-Lewis was initially hesitant to play the role of Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's movie Lincoln. Accepting the Best Actor award from the Screen Actors Guild for his performance, Day-Lewis said: "It occurred to me -- it was an actor that murdered Abraham Lincoln. And therefore, somehow it is only so fitting that every now and then an actor tries to bring him back to life again."
Application: Paul told the Corinthians that the Jews lived behind a veil and could not understand the message of Jesus -- as many Jews and Gentiles still do this day. It is time we remove the veil and bring Jesus back to life.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: The God is sovereign; let the peoples tremble!
People: God sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
Leader: Mighty Sovereign, lover of justice, God has established equity;
People: God has executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
Leader: God spoke in the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees.
People: Extol our God and worship at God's holy mountain; for our God is holy.
OR
Leader: Come and know the presence and reality of God.
People: We come to worship and learn of our God.
Leader: God is far beyond us and yet wants to be known by us.
People: We humbly open ourselves to know and be known by God.
Leader: In knowing God, we begin to know ourselves.
People: May God's image be revealed in us through the power of God's Spirit.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Alleluia, Alleluia"
found in:
UMH: 162
H82: 178
PH: 106
CH: 40
W&P: 291
Renew: 271
"O Wondrous Sight! O Vision Fair"
found in:
UMH: 258
H82: 136/137
PH: 75
NCH: 184
LBW: 80
ELA: 316
"We Meet You, O Christ"
found in:
UMH: 257
PH: 311
CH: 183
ELA: 616
"Lord, I Want to Be a Christian"
found in:
UMH: 402
PH: 372
AAHH: 463
NNBH: 156
NCH: 454
CH: 559
W&P: 457
AMEC: 202
Renew: 145
"Jesus Shall Reign"
UMH: 158
H82: 544
PH: 423
NNBH: 10
NCH: 300
CH: 95
LBW: 530
ELA: 434
W&P: 341
AMEC: 96
Renew: 296
"Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life"
found in:
UMH: 164
H82: 487
NCH: 331
LBW: 513
ELA: 816
W&P: 403
STLT: 89
"Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies"
found in:
UMH: 173
H82: 617
PH: 462/463
LBW: 265
ELA: 553
W&P: 91
"Fairest Lord Jesus"
found in:
UMH: 189
H82: 383/384
PH: 306
NNBH: 75
NCH: 44
CH: 97
W&P: 123
AMEC: 95
Renew: 166
"Jesus, Name Above All Names"
found in:
CCB: 35
Renew: 26
"There's Something About That Name"
found in:
CCB: 40
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who reveals yourself to us so that we can know ourselves: Give us the courage to perceive your glory and to allow ourselves to truly be the image of that glory; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
O God who reveals yourself to us that we may truly see ourselves: Grant us the grace to not only know who we are but to become all that you would have us to be; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We have come to learn of you, O God, and to learn about ourselves. We know we are created in your image, and we pray that as we catch a glimpse of you this day we might allow your image to shine even brighter through our lives. Amen.
OR
We come into your presence, O God, to behold you and learn of you. As we know you, may we reflect you more fully and authentically in our own lives. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our willingness to think that insight always means true change.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have begun to place so much emphasis on insight, on the "aha" moment, that we too often think that after we have this we have it all. We forget that change is more often hard work over time. We are so tuned to having things immediately that we expect that one insight will suddenly make us completely into your image. We forget that it is not on the mountaintop where our true nature is revealed but in the push and shove of daily life. Forgive us our foolishness and empower us with your Spirit to truly become your image day by day. Amen.
Leader: God has created us in the divine image and waits each day to reform us so that we reflect our true selves in our lives. Know that God loves us, forgives us, and empowers us to be the people of God.
OR
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the ways we settle for insight instead of transformation.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We are willing to learn about you and even about ourselves as long as we are not pushed to change. We too often think that understanding our faults is as good as giving them up. Help us to not only know who we are as we learn of you but also to really become more and more your image here on earth. Amen.
Leader: God created us in the divine image to bring glory to God and redemption to creation. God loves us, forgives us, and empowers us to become who we were created to be.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We come in awe of your glory, O God, as you reveal yourself to us in this time of worship.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have begun to place so much emphasis on insight, on the "aha" moment, that we too often think that after we have this we have it all. We forget that change is more often hard work over time. We are so tuned to having things immediately that we expect that one insight will suddenly make us completely into your image. We forget that it is not on the mountaintop where our true nature is revealed but in the push and shove of daily life. Forgive us our foolishness and empower us with your Spirit to truly become your image day by day.
We give you thanks for the blessings of life and for the blessing of the revelation of yourself to us. We thank you for the insight you give us into your nature and ours. We thank you for your Spirit that dwells within us and enables us to more clearly reflect your image.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for the world you created and are redeeming. We are aware of much pain and brokenness around us, as well as within us. We pray for those who are struggling with issues of health in body, mind, or relationships. We pray that we may be part of your saving presence in our world.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Prayers for Special Occasions (reflecting current events)
Tornados: We lift up into your loving presence, O God, those who have been affected by the tornados this past week. Give them solace in their time of trouble and courage as they rebuild their lives. Amen.
Hostages: Our hearts are heavy with the news of a young student taken hostage and a bus driver being slain. We pray for those who are grieving and those who for several days were anxiously waiting for news. We pray for those who were negotiating for the release of the boy, those who facilitated his rescue, and for the soul of the one who held him. Give wisdom and insight to all so that as this boy is returned to his family he may be fully restored to health in body, mind, and spirit. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
Put an object in a paper bag and have the children try to guess what it is. Then bring it out and show it to them. Sometimes we can make a good guess about something, but we can only know what it is when it is revealed to us. The disciples thought they knew about Jesus, but it was only as he was revealed to them on the mountain that they really knew who he was.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
A Real Superman
Luke 9:28-36 (37-43a)
Object: a Superman action figure, picture, or comic book
Good morning, boys and girls! Does anyone recognize who this is? (Show the action figure or picture of Superman and let the children answer.) Yes, that's Superman. Now Superman didn't always go around dressed like this, did he? Sometimes he seemed to be a different person. When he wasn't being Superman, who was he? (let them answer) Yes, he was Clark Kent, the reporter. When he was Clark Kent, did anybody know he was Superman? (let them answer) No, he looked just like a normal man. But was he still Superman? (let them answer) Yes, he was. But people didn't see him as he really was.
This is kind of like what happened with Jesus when he was transfigured up on the mountain. His friends had been with him for quite a while, but they had never seen him as he really was. Up on that mountain, for the first time they saw him as he really was. (describe the transfiguration event) When he came back down the mountain with them, he again looked like he had always appeared to them. But just like Clark Kent was still Superman even when he wasn't wearing the Superman clothes, Jesus is still God no matter how he appears to his friends.
Someday, you and I and all the other people in the world who believe in Jesus will also see him as he really is. He is going to come back to earth in all his glory and then he will look just like he did up on that mountain. Isn't that going to be wonderful? Are you looking forward to seeing Jesus as he really is? (let them answer) Yes, of course you are, and so am I and so are all the other people of the world who believe in him. Let's say a prayer asking Jesus to keep us safe until he does return to take us to heaven.
Prayer: Dear Jesus, we praise you for all that you are and for all that you have done for us. Please keep us safe in your loving hands until that day when you return to take us to heaven where we will see you as you really are, just as Peter and James and John did on that mountain. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, February 10, 2013, issue.
Copyright 2013 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
Team member Leah Lonsbury offers some additional thoughts on this week's epistle passage and its discussion of how Christ (exemplified by the Transfiguration) removes the veil from our faces and lets us see God's glory "up close and personal." This coming week our culture will "celebrate" Valentine's Day in the process promulgating an erroneous image of romantic love. But science seems to be debunking some of our most cherished notions about what love is, with one researcher claiming that love is actually what she terms "micro-moments of positivity resonance" that depend on actual connections we experience numerous times each day. Leah tells us that this radically new conception of love actually is very much in line with what Paul describes love as, once "the veil is removed" from our faces.
The Bottom of the Mountain
by Mary Austin
Luke 9:28-43
It all looked so promising.
Two years ago, watching the people of Egypt peacefully occupy the aptly-named Tahrir (Peace) Square, it seemed like a sea of change was coming to Egypt. The people who held firm until the authoritarian regime of Hosni Mubarak toppled could not be denied a new form of government. Now the country is battered by violent protests, and Egypt's new government looks a lot like Egypt's old government.
Bright beginnings and disappointing second acts. This is a theme that Jesus' disciples understand well too.
THE WORLD
Two years ago, Egypt seemed like the centerpiece of the Arab spring. It looked like the activists of Egypt had succeeded in creating a new kind of government through the will of the people. Then the bloom started to wear off, as newly elected president Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood party imposed measures strengthening his own power and weakening the other branches of government.
Reuters news service reports, "The renewed violence brought an end to a few days of calm after the deadliest week of Morsi's seven months in power. Protests marking the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak have killed nearly 60 people since January 25, prompting the head of the army to warn this week that the state was on the verge of collapse." The article notes, "The protesters accuse Morsi of betraying the spirit of the revolution by concentrating too much power in his own hands and those of his Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood accuses the opposition of trying to overthrow the first democratically elected leader in Egypt's 5,000-year history." One protester quoted in the same article said: "I am here because I want my rights, the ones the revolution called for and which were never achieved." Tahrir Square, once so hopeful, is now dingy and bleak, as the people of Egypt confront the gap between what they thought they had accomplished and what has actually happened: "Tahrir Square, ground zero of the uprising against Mubarak, has become a graffiti-scarred monument to Egypt's perpetual turmoil, strewn with barbed wire and burnt-out cars."
Beneath the protests is an unstable economy. Jeffrey Fleishman of the Los Angeles Times writes: "Since its revolution two years ago, the country has been overwhelmed by ideological battles between liberals and Islamists, its ambitions obscured by clouds of tear gas and flashes of gasoline bombs. But at the heart of the discontent is public anger over the battered economy, specifically the president's failure to improve the lives of millions of people.... The stock exchange is wildly erratic, foreign reserves have plummeted, and commodity prices are up. Crowds protesting unemployment -- officially at 12.5% -- have demonstrated against local governments across the country. Strikes for higher wages have spread from doctors to bill collectors to millworkers." More austerity measures are expected before money arrives from the International Monetary Fund.
The excitement and sense of promise from Tahrir Square have faded into bleak reality.
THE WORD
Bleak reality follows soon after the Transfiguration story, which shows up in all three of the synoptic gospels. The lectionary schedule of readings places it immediately prior to Lent each year. Just before we descend into the depths of Lent, we get this beautiful and puzzling story of Jesus on the mountaintop, shining with glory.
Before he sets his face to go to Jerusalem, Jesus goes to the top of the mountain, alone with Peter, James, and John, the disciples closest to him. There Jesus is transfigured -- his radiant presence is apparent to the disciples for a moment. Frederick Buechner says: "It is as strange a scene as there is in the gospels. Even without the voice from the cloud to explain it, [the disciples] had no doubt what they were witnessing. It was Jesus of Nazareth all right, the man they'd tramped many a dusty mile with, whose mother and brothers they knew, the one they'd seen as hungry, tired, footsore as the rest of them. But it was also the Messiah, the Christ, in his glory. It was the holiness of the man shining through his humanness, his face so afire with it they were almost blinded..." [Frederick Buechner, from Whistling in the Dark].
And yet immediately afterward they go down the mountain -- and the next day brings a scene of disappointment and failure. The disciples who tried to carry on while Jesus was away have failed to heal a boy who needs it, and are embarrassed and disappointed. The father of the boy is upset and wonders what went wrong. But Jesus brings the power of the mountaintop to this place too, and heals the boy. In his presence, their failure is also transformed. The story says: "And all were astounded at the greatness of God" (Luke 9:43a). The scene at the top of the mountain is just for a few of them, but this glimpse of power is open to everyone there. The failure also becomes a place of revelation.
CRAFTING THE SERMON
The Transfiguration story is the story of faith -- and life. It's hard to go back down from the mountain, whatever that peak experience might be. But the mountaintop never lasts -- even for the disciples of Jesus, who spent every day in his presence. They come down from this golden moment and immediately face the failure to heal someone who needs it. There's always the valley, before and after. The top of the mountain doesn't save us from the struggles below.
The sermon might talk about the valleys in our faith and what we experience there. For the disciples, the failure to heal the boy at the bottom of the mountain leads them into a lesson on prayer from Jesus -- and, we hope, a deeper experience of God's power and presence. What are some of the gifts that have come from our bleak experiences of faith?
Just before this, Jesus confuses his followers by telling them that soon he will suffer and die. The sermon might also talk about the places where God has disappointed us -- where God has turned out not to be who we thought.
The Rev. Dr. Janet Hunt, in her blog "Dancing with the Word," says that silence is the only proper response to this kind of glory. Like Peter, we're tempted to babble in the face of mystery, trying to contain it and hold onto it, but we should sometimes just fall silent. The sermon might look at the places we need to make room for silence.
Only Luke records that the disciples fall asleep and wake up groggy just in time to see Jesus shining with all the glory of God. They come to the top of the mountain to pray and fall asleep there. Their sleep here evokes the night they'll fall asleep in the Garden of Gethsemane while Jesus prays just before his arrest and trial. One author [Heidi Neumark] has called it the front side and the back side of glory. The sermon might ponder the places where we're asleep to what God is doing, where we almost miss it. Where do we need to wake up to our own failures, our inattention, our lack of faith, and see what God is doing?
SECOND THOUGHTS
Lifting the Veil on Love
by Leah Lonsbury
2 Corinthians 3:12--4:2
Just in case you've somehow managed to miss the red and pink signs -- Valentine's Day is right around the corner. Hallmark, Walgreens, Target, and every retailer imaginable are poised to help you make the big day a smashing success. Love is in the air -- mostly in the checkout line.
And it's on Facebook, Twitter, match.com, and any other form of "asynchronous communication" that removes the risk of face-to-face, voice-to-voice, or real-time rejection. Love grows today via text message -- in conversations that begin with those heart-stopping openers like "hey" and "sup." Don't stress. This kind of approach "removes much of the need for charm; it's more like dropping a line in the water and hoping for a nibble," according to Alex Williams of the New York Times.
You can buy it in plastic at Walgreens. You can find it by "hanging out" on a "group non-date" set up in a flurry of instant messaging. It takes less investment, lowers the stakes, keeps things casual, and increases the odds of "success," says 26-year-old Manhattanite Joshua Sky. "It's like online job applications, you can target many people simultaneously -- it's like darts on a dart board, eventually one will stick." Sky says that such a mass-mailer approach necessitates "cost-cutting, going to bars, meeting for coffee the first time, because you only want to invest in a mate you're going to get more out of."
Lest we think this casual, uncommitted, and seemingly selfish approach of the Millennial generation and its "hookup" culture could never result in lasting love, New York Times op-ed columnist Frank Bruni reminds us that it doesn't always have to end in a "Manti." Their methods, our methods for seeking love are:
...as imperfect as they've always been. While we Homo sapiens have paired off in diverse methods across disparate epochs, we've seldom done it with ample information or any particular finesse. There was no saner, better yesteryear: just a different set of customs, a different brand of clumsiness.
Turns out, Bruni continues:
There's no ideal stratagem for figuring out whom any one of us should be with and how to chart a course to that person, no fail-safe process for determining whether a twosome will endure. The act of getting together, whether brokered by yenta or Yahoo, is one of willed credulousness and wishful thinking as much as anything else, the triumph of optimism over morning breath.
And it's a wager, because people have hidden layers, hidden intentions. Your beloved could switch political parties. Your hookup could insist on a soundtrack of†Celine Dion. Not knowing what's in store is the very soul of romance: what makes it so scary, and what makes it so thrilling.
In Paul-speak, it's a crapshoot, because no matter the strategy we're all wearing a veil. Whether it's over our faces or our minds, our love lives (Paul was really talking agape here) can never be a reflection of the glory of God's love (3:18) or an open statement of truth that commends us to everyone we meet (4:2) until we are freed by the Spirit of the Lord (3:17) and powered by God's mercy (4:1).
Paul is looking for the kind of love that transforms lives. It's not always clear that that is the aim of "the avenues by which lusty millennials come to grope and perchance know one another," as described by Bruni. They are "brusque, confused, and rife with deception." Probably not the end Paul had in mind when he was sure to add, "We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning..." (4:2a).
With Valentine's Day imminent, we may have the mysteries and intrigue of eros on the brain (or in the shopping bag or burning up our phone with text messages), but even though that's not the kind of love Paul was describing, it might not make that much difference after all.
Consider this... during what is often seen as the end goal of our great romantic chase -- a wedding -- what we're really promising each other is not "I do" but "I will": I will have and hold you for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish from this day forward until death do us part.
What we're really communicating is that despite our tendency toward asynchronous communication, we know that love is a decision about what we're going to do each day, about who we're going to be to each other in a face-to-face, real-time way. It will not be the grandiose nature of the courtship, the proposal, or even the wedding day itself that will attest to the truth or the power of our love. The way we practice our love will reveal our truth.
Surely this kind of promise, if we really mean it, begins to get at Paul's "since we have such a hope, we act with great boldness..." (3:12).
It's more the kind of love that psychologist Barbara Fredrickson is describing in her new book Love 2.0: How Our Supreme Emotion Affects Everything We Feel, Think, Do, and Become. In Love 2.0, Fredrickson uses science to argue that love is not what we think it is, especially not around Valentine's Day. "It is not a long-lasting, continually present emotion that sustains a marriage; it is not the yearning and passion that characterizes young love; and it is not the blood-tie of kinship."
There's nothing mythic about it. Fredrickson argues that we know love and its power to change our lives in an instant, in connections we must make again and again each day with our partners, children, friends, and even with more unexpected candidates like strangers on the street, a colleague at work, or the attendant at the grocery store. These connections are what Fredrickson calls "micro moments of positivity resonance." It's less emotion, and more science. Atlantic reviewer Emily Esfahani Smith writes that what Frederickson means is "love is a connection, characterized by a flood of positive emotions, which you share with another person -- any†other person -- whom you happen to connect with in the course of your day." And that connection changes us, frees us for something better.
With rates of loneliness and social isolation on the rise, this redefinition can be quite a relief for what Smith calls our "love-starved culture."
This is true, according to Fredrickson, because love has to happen face-to-face. It's physical. It issues in three significant biological manifestations in our brain -- the firing of mirror neurons, a rise in oxytocin levels, and a higher vagal tone. (Smith's article makes the science compelling and clear -- it's a smart and interesting read and well worth the time.)
When we take down the veil and meet our B/beloved (partner or stranger) face-to-face, then we are changed physically, emotionally, and socially for the better. "Love," Smith writes, "helps people step outside of themselves and become more aware of other people and their needs, desires, and struggles -- something that can be difficult to do in our hyper-individualistic culture." It translates into health through lowered risk of inflammation, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and stroke, and in that it contributes to longevity and overall well-being.
Paul might translate this overall well-being as "being transformed into the same image [of Love/God] from one degree of glory to another" (3:18). And this, Paul emphasizes, comes from unveiled love encounters with the Spirit and with those we love with openness, truth, and committed engagement.
Here's Smith again:
Fredrickson's ideas about love are not exactly the stuff of romantic comedies. Describing love as a "micro-moment of positivity resonance" seems like a buzz-kill. But if love now seems less glamorous and mysterious then you thought it was, then good.
That's the stuff of heaven brought down from the mountaintop, as found in our lectionary text from Luke for this week. That's our everyday experiences empowered and transformed by the Spirit of the Lord. That's the freedom and truth we experience when the veil is removed and we see love for what it really is and can do and be.
ILLUSTRATIONS
There's a vivid example of someone who amidst all of the turmoil in Egypt -- which has generated all sorts of unanticipated challenges in his mission -- is persisting in his work. Bob Bradley, the former coach of the U.S. national soccer team from December 2006 to June 2011, took over in September 2011 as coach of Egypt's national team... and his goal was to lead the Pharaohs to qualification to the World Cup for the first time since 1990.
Bradley had only been on the job a few months and was still acclimating himself when a devastating incident took place that shook Egypt and Egyptian soccer to the core (and which continues to fuel violence) -- a post-game riot in Port Said where hard-core supporters ("ultras") of the local team brutally attacked fans of their Cairo opponents, which resulted in 72 deaths. There is yet to be a full accounting of what actually happened, but there have been persistent rumors that the attack -- in which police refused to intervene -- was politically motivated. (Ultras from the Cairo team, al-Ahly, were known to have been at the forefront of the anti-Mubarak uprising.) Fallout from the attack is still contributing to the riots in recent weeks, as Port Said erupted after a judge summarily sentenced 21 al-Masry supporters to death for their role in the attack.
In the wake of the carnage, the Egyptian federation decided to completely shutter their domestic soccer league indefinitely -- and this had a devastating effect on Bradley and his team. Suddenly the majority of his players had lost their jobs (and income), and without teams to practice and play with regularly, being adequately prepared for this year's gauntlet of World Cup qualifying matches would be infinitely more difficult. But Bradley has made a point of sticking it out (where the prevailing wisdom was that most foreign coaches would have immediately bailed on the situation) and even making his voice and presence heard on political matters where appropriate -- earning Bradley a great deal of "street cred." A documentary is currently being filmed about Bradley and Egypt's quest to qualify for the World Cup, and while it won't be released until next year, on the film's website you can view a riveting 5-minute video teaser.
Bob Bradley seems to be an excellent illustration of someone who didn't settle for the top-of-the-mountain vision and who is continuing at the bottom of the mountain in the face of difficult circumstances that he never imagined when he took on the job.
* * *
Theologian Paul Tillich, in his sermon "You Are Accepted" (from The Shaking of the Foundations), takes his listener on a journey from the depths of despair to the heights of grace.
Describing the effect that God's grace has upon our lives, Tillich explains that after grace strikes, "nothing is changed but everything is transformed."
What a marvelous description of the mountaintop experience. After we have had it we are changed, but the world is not. The world is as it was before, but we see it differently. It is as though we had been stumbling through a dark room day after day and someone finally turned on the lights.
The room is not changed. The furniture is still where it was, the toys are still strewn about the floor, the stains are still on the carpet, and the cobwebs are still in the corners as they were when the room was dark. But now we can see the room not as we imagine it to be, but as it really is.
One of the gifts of grace is that we see the world -- not as we imagine it to be, but as it really is.
* * *
"I don't want realism; I want magic," says Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams' 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire.
Blanche has had a hard time. Raised with wealth and privilege, she married and moved away. When her husband died she spent all of her money on his funeral. When his relatives began to die and move away she found herself broke and alone. Trying to make her way alone in the world, Blanche gained a well-earned reputation for sleeping around and living a morally loose life.
Determined to escape her sordid life and reputation, she goes to New Orleans to live with her sister Stella and Stella's husband, Stanley Kowalski. Her route to their apartment is symbolic of her fantasy journey: "They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, then transfer to one called Cemeteries... and get off at Elysian Fields!"
But when she arrives she is not met with the tranquil, easy life of which she has fantasized, but the harsher, darker reality of New Orleans' blue-collar tenements. Determined to live not in reality but in fantasy, she eventually loses her mind.
* * *
In his marvelous little book Life Together (Harper & Row, 1954), Dietrich Bonhoeffer speaks to a problem that Christians, especially new Christians, bring to the church.
The problem is that Christian folks often have a warped understanding of what the church is and should be, an understanding based on their limited, mountaintop experiences. Their experience has caused them to create a fantasy of what Christian community should look like, and they are always ultimately disappointed with the reality:
"The serious Christian, set down for the first time in a Christian community, is likely to bring with him a very definite idea of what Christian life together should be and to try to realize it. But God's grace speedily shatters such dreams. Just as surely as God desires to lead us to a knowledge of genuine Christian fellowship, so surely must we be overwhelmed by a great disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and, if we are fortunate, with ourselves. By sheer grace, God will not permit us to live even for a brief period in a dream world."
Later in the same chapter, he goes on: "He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the latter, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial. God hates visionary dreaming..." (pp. 26-27).
* * *
I was cleaning up after the kids' pumpkin-carving the other night, and as I mopped up gourd guts, seeds, and slimy strings of pulp from 17 different surfaces in the kitchen, I thought about the place where our Hallmark-moment parenthood expectations so often rudely collide with reality. Despite historical evidence, I had pictured my boys quietly focused on the task at hand, carefully producing adorably grinning jack-o-lanterns (along with precious childhood memories). Instead, what I had was a giant mess, two pumpkins that had been methodically stabbed into non-photogenic submission, and two kids who got in trouble at least five times for "sword fighting" with their carving tools.
-- "Where Pretty Parental Fantasies Meet Ugly Reality"
* * *
When my son Ben was engaged to be married, one of the gifts he and his fiancée received from her parents was a weekend at "Engaged Encounter."
Not knowing anything about that type of event, I asked him about it upon his return. He said: "It was kinda nice. We talked about marriage, you know? Up to that point we hadn't had much time to talk about marriage. All anyone wanted to talk about was the wedding."
Within a month of returning from their honeymoon, the newly married couple had to pack everything they owned and move nine hours away from their families so Ben could begin graduate school. "I was really grateful for that Engaged Encounter weekend," he later said. "There we were, nine hours away from our families, newly married and in that post-honeymoon back-to-reality slump. I was glad we had talked about marriage before we crashed into the reality of it."
-- Dean Feldmeyer
* * *
Writing in the Framingham, Massachusetts Metro West Daily News a year ago this January, Frank Mazzaglia offered illustrations of ordinary people who risked their lives to help others during the Holocaust:
Rabbi Malka Drucker interviewed hundreds of the thousands of acknowledged rescuers throughout Europe. They gave testimony to the Holocaust's reality and of ordinary people who did extraordinary things.
Consider Gitta Bauer who lived in Berlin. In her own words, "My aunt's Jewish friend had a twin sister who came to me in 1944 and said that her daughter was in danger. What else could I say but 'I'll take her into my house.' We knew that it was dangerous, and we were careful."
Sixteen-year-old Malka Csizmadia risked certain death for regularly sneaking food into the Hungarian town's well-guarded ghetto.
Polish-born Stefania Burzminski hid a Jewish man in her home while seeking safe houses for others despite signs all over the city which read, "Whoever helps Jews will be punished by death."
John Weidner, a Dutch Seventh-Day Adventist living in occupied France, didn't wait to be asked. He organized an underground movement of some 300 Catholics and Protestants who managed to move a thousand Jews from house to house until they could be guided over the Alps to safety in Switzerland or Spain. Over time, the Gestapo penetrated Weidner's resistance group. Some rescuers were killed on the spot, but the others carried on with greater determination. Weidner's own sister was arrested and perished in a concentration camp.
In Marseilles, Father Marie Benoit, a Franciscan Capuchin priest, helped some 4,000 Jews escape to safe countries by providing them with false documents.
Presbyterian minister Peter Miedema and his wife Joyce, even under Gestapo surveillance, rescued Jewish children living in Holland and then found safe homes for them....
There is something particularly heroic about those ordinary people who thought more of righteousness and of opposing evil than they did of life itself!
* * *
Mississippi guard Marshall Henderson has been called the imperfect poster boy for the Rebels basketball team. The 6'2" junior has enthused teammates and fans at Ole Miss with his talkative and brash on-court antics. Unfortunately, that same approach has caused Henderson to accumulate an extensive arrest record off the court.
Coach Andy Kennedy characterized Henderson's behavior this way: "I think it's passion." Kennedy went on to say that everything Henderson does is sincere, noting: "We just want to make sure he funnels it in the proper way."
Application: When Peter, John, and James came off the mountaintop of enlightenment into the valley of despair, they had to funnel their enthusiasm properly.
* * *
San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver was heavily criticized for homophobic comments he made during the Super Bowl media day interviews. When asked some piercing questions by comedian Artie Lange, Culliver gave some unguarded remarks that demeaned homosexuals, especially as unwelcomed players in professional sports.
Confronted by a host of editorials and follow-up interviews, Cullier apologized. He did acknowledge that what he said was "hurtful and ugly." More importantly, he went on to say, "I pledge to learn and grow from this experience."
Application: Like Peter, John, and James, who hopefully learned from their initial misunderstanding of the transfiguration, we too can learn and grow from our mistakes and misunderstandings.
* * *
For over a half century now I have been cleaning my ears each morning with a cotton swab. Instructed (perhaps indoctrinated) to do so as a child, I have continued the practice. Recently the Smithsonian magazine's website published an item noting that cleaning one's ears with a cotton swab is unhealthy and even dangerous. The swab can compact ear wax and prevent it from performing its natural cleansing function. However, I question if I can stop six decades of routine.
One of my Immediate Word colleagues pointed out that the Transfiguration is not a story of being transformed, but rather a story of Jesus being revealed. I wonder if I and others can learn a new meaning to an old story.
-- Ron Love
* * *
Ronaiah Tuiasosopo recently made his public confession to Dr. Phil in a two-part interview. Tuiasosopo created the fake persona of Lennay Kekua and pretended to be her in phone and online interactions with star Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o. The 22-year-old masterminded the hoax because he fell in love with Te'o. For Tuiasosopo, Lennay Kekua became an extension of himself "where my heart had pretty much invested, not just my time, but all my energy." Eventually, through the Kekua character, Tuiasosopo grew feelings for Te'o that he could no longer control. Therefore Kekua had to die, and he passed word of her death to Te'o on the same day that Te'o's grandmother died.
Application: Ronaiah Tuiasosopo is an extreme and unhealthy case of emotions going unchecked. Yet it is a counterpoint to the example of how Peter, John, and James allowed their emotions to keep them for seeing the truth on the mountaintop. Also, the Tuiasosopo/Te'o "affair" is a textbook example of the pitfalls when we love with what Paul calls "a veil" over our faces and minds.
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Daniel Day-Lewis was initially hesitant to play the role of Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's movie Lincoln. Accepting the Best Actor award from the Screen Actors Guild for his performance, Day-Lewis said: "It occurred to me -- it was an actor that murdered Abraham Lincoln. And therefore, somehow it is only so fitting that every now and then an actor tries to bring him back to life again."
Application: Paul told the Corinthians that the Jews lived behind a veil and could not understand the message of Jesus -- as many Jews and Gentiles still do this day. It is time we remove the veil and bring Jesus back to life.
WORSHIP RESOURCES
by George Reed
Call to Worship
Leader: The God is sovereign; let the peoples tremble!
People: God sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
Leader: Mighty Sovereign, lover of justice, God has established equity;
People: God has executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
Leader: God spoke in the pillar of cloud; they kept his decrees.
People: Extol our God and worship at God's holy mountain; for our God is holy.
OR
Leader: Come and know the presence and reality of God.
People: We come to worship and learn of our God.
Leader: God is far beyond us and yet wants to be known by us.
People: We humbly open ourselves to know and be known by God.
Leader: In knowing God, we begin to know ourselves.
People: May God's image be revealed in us through the power of God's Spirit.
Hymns and Sacred Songs
"Alleluia, Alleluia"
found in:
UMH: 162
H82: 178
PH: 106
CH: 40
W&P: 291
Renew: 271
"O Wondrous Sight! O Vision Fair"
found in:
UMH: 258
H82: 136/137
PH: 75
NCH: 184
LBW: 80
ELA: 316
"We Meet You, O Christ"
found in:
UMH: 257
PH: 311
CH: 183
ELA: 616
"Lord, I Want to Be a Christian"
found in:
UMH: 402
PH: 372
AAHH: 463
NNBH: 156
NCH: 454
CH: 559
W&P: 457
AMEC: 202
Renew: 145
"Jesus Shall Reign"
UMH: 158
H82: 544
PH: 423
NNBH: 10
NCH: 300
CH: 95
LBW: 530
ELA: 434
W&P: 341
AMEC: 96
Renew: 296
"Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life"
found in:
UMH: 164
H82: 487
NCH: 331
LBW: 513
ELA: 816
W&P: 403
STLT: 89
"Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies"
found in:
UMH: 173
H82: 617
PH: 462/463
LBW: 265
ELA: 553
W&P: 91
"Fairest Lord Jesus"
found in:
UMH: 189
H82: 383/384
PH: 306
NNBH: 75
NCH: 44
CH: 97
W&P: 123
AMEC: 95
Renew: 166
"Jesus, Name Above All Names"
found in:
CCB: 35
Renew: 26
"There's Something About That Name"
found in:
CCB: 40
Music Resources Key:
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982 (The Episcopal Church)
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African-American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELA: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day / Collect
O God who reveals yourself to us so that we can know ourselves: Give us the courage to perceive your glory and to allow ourselves to truly be the image of that glory; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
O God who reveals yourself to us that we may truly see ourselves: Grant us the grace to not only know who we are but to become all that you would have us to be; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We have come to learn of you, O God, and to learn about ourselves. We know we are created in your image, and we pray that as we catch a glimpse of you this day we might allow your image to shine even brighter through our lives. Amen.
OR
We come into your presence, O God, to behold you and learn of you. As we know you, may we reflect you more fully and authentically in our own lives. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially our willingness to think that insight always means true change.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have begun to place so much emphasis on insight, on the "aha" moment, that we too often think that after we have this we have it all. We forget that change is more often hard work over time. We are so tuned to having things immediately that we expect that one insight will suddenly make us completely into your image. We forget that it is not on the mountaintop where our true nature is revealed but in the push and shove of daily life. Forgive us our foolishness and empower us with your Spirit to truly become your image day by day. Amen.
Leader: God has created us in the divine image and waits each day to reform us so that we reflect our true selves in our lives. Know that God loves us, forgives us, and empowers us to be the people of God.
OR
Leader: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially the ways we settle for insight instead of transformation.
People: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We are willing to learn about you and even about ourselves as long as we are not pushed to change. We too often think that understanding our faults is as good as giving them up. Help us to not only know who we are as we learn of you but also to really become more and more your image here on earth. Amen.
Leader: God created us in the divine image to bring glory to God and redemption to creation. God loves us, forgives us, and empowers us to become who we were created to be.
Prayers of the People (and the Lord's Prayer)
We come in awe of your glory, O God, as you reveal yourself to us in this time of worship.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have begun to place so much emphasis on insight, on the "aha" moment, that we too often think that after we have this we have it all. We forget that change is more often hard work over time. We are so tuned to having things immediately that we expect that one insight will suddenly make us completely into your image. We forget that it is not on the mountaintop where our true nature is revealed but in the push and shove of daily life. Forgive us our foolishness and empower us with your Spirit to truly become your image day by day.
We give you thanks for the blessings of life and for the blessing of the revelation of yourself to us. We thank you for the insight you give us into your nature and ours. We thank you for your Spirit that dwells within us and enables us to more clearly reflect your image.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for the world you created and are redeeming. We are aware of much pain and brokenness around us, as well as within us. We pray for those who are struggling with issues of health in body, mind, or relationships. We pray that we may be part of your saving presence in our world.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ, who taught us to pray together, saying:
Our Father... Amen.
(or if the Lord's Prayer is not used at this point in the service)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
Prayers for Special Occasions (reflecting current events)
Tornados: We lift up into your loving presence, O God, those who have been affected by the tornados this past week. Give them solace in their time of trouble and courage as they rebuild their lives. Amen.
Hostages: Our hearts are heavy with the news of a young student taken hostage and a bus driver being slain. We pray for those who are grieving and those who for several days were anxiously waiting for news. We pray for those who were negotiating for the release of the boy, those who facilitated his rescue, and for the soul of the one who held him. Give wisdom and insight to all so that as this boy is returned to his family he may be fully restored to health in body, mind, and spirit. Amen.
Children's Sermon Starter
Put an object in a paper bag and have the children try to guess what it is. Then bring it out and show it to them. Sometimes we can make a good guess about something, but we can only know what it is when it is revealed to us. The disciples thought they knew about Jesus, but it was only as he was revealed to them on the mountain that they really knew who he was.
CHILDREN'S SERMON
A Real Superman
Luke 9:28-36 (37-43a)
Object: a Superman action figure, picture, or comic book
Good morning, boys and girls! Does anyone recognize who this is? (Show the action figure or picture of Superman and let the children answer.) Yes, that's Superman. Now Superman didn't always go around dressed like this, did he? Sometimes he seemed to be a different person. When he wasn't being Superman, who was he? (let them answer) Yes, he was Clark Kent, the reporter. When he was Clark Kent, did anybody know he was Superman? (let them answer) No, he looked just like a normal man. But was he still Superman? (let them answer) Yes, he was. But people didn't see him as he really was.
This is kind of like what happened with Jesus when he was transfigured up on the mountain. His friends had been with him for quite a while, but they had never seen him as he really was. Up on that mountain, for the first time they saw him as he really was. (describe the transfiguration event) When he came back down the mountain with them, he again looked like he had always appeared to them. But just like Clark Kent was still Superman even when he wasn't wearing the Superman clothes, Jesus is still God no matter how he appears to his friends.
Someday, you and I and all the other people in the world who believe in Jesus will also see him as he really is. He is going to come back to earth in all his glory and then he will look just like he did up on that mountain. Isn't that going to be wonderful? Are you looking forward to seeing Jesus as he really is? (let them answer) Yes, of course you are, and so am I and so are all the other people of the world who believe in him. Let's say a prayer asking Jesus to keep us safe until he does return to take us to heaven.
Prayer: Dear Jesus, we praise you for all that you are and for all that you have done for us. Please keep us safe in your loving hands until that day when you return to take us to heaven where we will see you as you really are, just as Peter and James and John did on that mountain. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, February 10, 2013, issue.
Copyright 2013 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
