Seeing Clearly
Stories
Object:
Contents
What's Up This Week
A Story to Live By: "Seeing Clearly"
Shining Moments: "Charlie Is Glowing" by Deb Alexander
"The Horse Whisperer" by William Lee Rand
Scrap Pile: "Picture This" by John Sumwalt
What's Up This Week
by John Sumwalt
I went to see my optometrist a while back because I had been having a problem with my arms -- they were no longer long enough for me to read the Bible in worship. The doctor explained that this is a common concern of people my age. He said there was nothing he could do about my arms, but that there is a wonderful new thing called bifocals which might make it possible to see well with the arms I have. No doubt some of you have heard about this new invention. So I got bifocals. At first I found them very uncomfortable. I kept tripping over my feet and I couldn't remember whether to look up or down when I wanted to read something with small print. I had a sore neck and blurred vision for a while, but it got better every day. I had to get used to a whole new way of seeing things.
That is the way it was for the disciples of Jesus after they witnessed his transfiguration up on that high mountain. They had seen something that would forever change the way they saw Jesus, themselves, and the world. They were able to see more clearly than they had ever seen before.
The theme of seeing with new eyes runs through all of our stories this week. In Shining Moments, William Lee Rand, who is a horse whisperer and a "Reiki" healer, tells of an amazing transfiguring moment when a horse he was seeking to heal sent healing energy to him. And Deb Alexander tells of something mystical she experienced as she witnessed the death of a friend: "Then I heard a voice say, 'Look, Charlie is glowing,' and I looked. Charlie was surrounded by a beautiful soft white light, and his skin looked soft, white, and warm for a brief moment. Then the light went out. But as I looked around, no one else had moved from where they were..."
For more transfiguration stories from previous editions of StoryShare, click on Cycle B and Cycle C.
A Story to Live By
Seeing Clearly
Susan Ivany told about a transfiguring moment in her 10-year-old son's life in her "Opening Comments" column for Midrash:
We were sitting in the living room one evening, watching TV, when my son asked me what time it was. There was a clock on the VCR, which was right in front of us below the TV, so I said, "See for yourself; it's on the VCR." He gave me a strange look and said, "No one can see those little numbers, Mom; you have to get close up." Oops. It seems he had been moving closer to the front of the classroom at school for some time. His teacher hadn't noticed his squinting and neither had his parents. By the end of that week, the optometrist brought my son's new prescription glasses out for him to try for the first time. The office has a wonderful view of the harbor; the optometrist turned my son toward the window, placed the glasses on him, and said, "This is my favorite part of the job." As we looked on, the veil was quite literally lifted. The expression on my son's face was exquisite. He was speechless as a whole new world opened up to him...
Susan Ivany, Midrash, February 15, 2003. (Midrash is an online e-list for lectionary preachers. To subscribe, e-mail: midrash-subscribe@joinhands.com)
Shining Moments
Charlie Is Glowing
by Deb Alexander
And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.
Matthew 17:2
On the evening of September 26, 2003, I received a telephone call at about 10:15 p.m. from Allen, one of the partners in the company where I am employed. This is a small family-owned business, and having been there for 13 years, I have been treated as extended family. Allen informed me that his father, who had been hospitalized for the past week, would probably not make it through the night.
I immediately packed and drove the two hours, praying all the way that God would keep Charlie with us long enough for me to say good-bye. I have always carried guilt that I was not with my own father when he passed. I arrived at the hospital in record time and was able to sit with Charlie for about 20 minutes by myself, then off and on as his family came and went. At about 4:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 27, I went to my truck to get some medicine I needed to take. As I walked across the parking lot, I prayed to God to let Charlie pass quickly and peacefully, and, if it were possible, to let Blanche, his wife who had passed before him, come to take him home.
Charlie passed at 5:55 a.m. I remember standing with his sons and their wives or girlfriends, each of us with a hand on Charlie so he knew he wasn't alone. I remember trying to pray in my head, and I was frustrated and angry because I couldn't remember words that I had said so many times. Just after he passed, as his sons and their partners wrapped their arms around one another in a group to cry together, I stood at the foot of the bed. I thought one of the girls came to stand beside me. Then I heard a voice say, "Look, Charlie is glowing," and I looked. Charlie was surrounded by a beautiful soft white light, and his skin looked soft, white, and warm for a brief moment. Then the light went out. But as I looked around, no one else had moved from where they were, all wrapped in each other's arms, crying. I did not cry, and peace came over me as I looked at what Charlie had left behind. I knew that it was Blanche's voice I had heard, and that God had answered my prayer and sent her to take Charlie home.
Deb Alexander is the mother of two and grandmother of four. She is a member of Trinity United Methodist Church in Chesapeake City, Maryland, where she serves on the Staff/Parish Relations committee and as co-leader of Mission Works.
The Horse Whisperer
by William Lee Rand
While on Maui recently, I had the good fortune to attend a Horse Whisperer training led by Franklin Levinson. Many of his methods are based on those used in the movie of the same name starring Robert Redford.
According to Franklin, there are two ways we can interact with a horse. One is through force (i.e., fear-based control); the other is to lead it through trust, respect, knowledge, and mutual agreement (i.e., love). The first way produces a slave, a being whose actions are motivated by fear of punishment, a captive. The other way produces a willing partner, a loyal and trusted friend, and a relationship built on respect.
Franklin teaches students how to communicate and interact with horses on a primal level, to connect directly with a horse's psyche and instincts. Horses are amazingly sensitive, intelligent, and aware. Being herd animals, they have a highly developed ability to understand and respond to a leader. (We also found they are amazingly telepathic and are healers.) With this understanding, it's possible to get horses to do whatever you want them to do -- within reason -- if you first gain their trust and show them you are worthy of being their leader.
We were shown several body movements and postures horses use to communicate various feelings and ideas. For example, if a horse likes you, it will show affection by placing its head on your chest. If it likes what you're doing and is receptive to it, it will lower its head and blow through its lips. We were shown how to become friends by focusing on feelings of peace and love -- which the horse can feel -- and by petting and scratching the horse. Once trust is formed, the horse will want to be near you; so if you begin walking around the corral, the horse will follow. Doing this establishes you as the leader. Then by using a wand and standing in the center of the corral and simply holding it up off to your side, the horse will begin running around the outside of the corral. If you lower the wand, the horse will stop and walk back to you.
One of the horses we worked with was named Dukie. We were able to get him to jump over a short barrier as he ran around the corral. We found that the clearer your expectation and the stronger your energy about this, the better rapport you had with the horse and the more responsive it would become. When doing this, I felt a definite feeling of partnership and shared love, that Dukie was doing what I wanted because he truly enjoyed doing so.
After each student interacted with the horse in this way, Franklin had us do something that produced an amazing result. In turn, Franklin asked each person to close their eyes and tell what they saw or felt. Many would start crying and say that the horse was healing some emotional wound they had from childhood or other experiences.
When it was my turn, I began doing Reiki* on Dukie, and he immediately took on a different posture, which Franklin noticed. He placed his head down in a receptive posture, and Franklin said the horse really liked what I was doing. After this, Franklin asked me to place my arms on the corral bar and not pay any attention to Dukie. When I did this, Dukie came up behind me and began nuzzling me on the back around my heart in a very gentle and affectionate way. Then he began nibbling on my ear with his lips. This felt both unusual and wonderful.
Then I was asked to go inward and tell what I saw. Dukie began to place an image in my mind that was more than just an image. The horse was running through a field of grass, and the sun was shining a glorious warm golden light. The horse was filled with a sense of being one with nature and filled with great joy -- the joy of life and the joy of being free. Then I felt Dukie ask if I would like to join him, and as soon as I said yes, I was there with him, bathed in the energy and connected with all the forces of nature and feeling so free. This was very moving, and I feel that it was Dukie's way of thanking me for the Reiki I had shared with him.
Later, after we left and were on the beach watching windsurfers, Dukie came to me inwardly and again nuzzled the back of my heart. Then he began working with my solar plexus energy. There were some stuck negative feelings and energies there that I had been dealing with and working to heal, but hadn't been able to do so. I felt the blocks melting and releasing, and they were gone. This was another amazing experience and a real miracle.
I'm blessed to have spent this healing time with Dukie, merging with his consciousness and feeling what he feels: noble, mystical feelings of grace, strength, loyalty, emotional clarity, love, and a willingness to help. I learned so much about being a healer and the potential within all living beings.
(*Reiki is a method of natural healing based on the application of "Universal Life Force Energy.")
William Lee Rand, founder of the International Center for Reiki Training and author of Reiki: The Healing Touch, Reiki for a New Millennium, and The Spirit of Reiki (along with Arjava Petter and Walter Lubeck), is a Reiki Master of the Usai lineage and developer of Karuna Reiki. He has 25 years experience in metaphysics and healing work and was initiated into Reiki on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1981. He is the editor of Reiki News magazine and teaches Reiki classes worldwide. For more information check out http://www.reiki.org and http://www.christianreiki.org.
Scrap Pile
Picture This
by John Sumwalt
Then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
Matthew 17:4
Do you mind if I take your picture before I begin? I want to remember this moment. Could all of you in the back pews move down toward the front? Thank you. Now, kind of scrunch in together so I can get you all in the picture. Harvey, could you lean in your head toward Thelma? Perfect. Say Cheese. (Click!)
The world is full of amateur photographers, and I am one of them. All of us are obsessed with taking pictures and having our pictures taken. Wherever we go we take a camera, much like 18th- and 19th-century westerners always toted a gun, just in case we might need it for that once-in-a-lifetime perfect shot.
In focus or out of focus, posed or candid, we are forever snapping pictures of each other, of the things around us, of things inside of us and anywhere else we can focus our trustworthy lens. There is nothing too sacred to escape the click of the omnipresent shutterbug. Baptisms, confirmations, weddings, funerals, even burials are all fair game for family photographers. Indeed, it wouldn't surprise me that if the Holy Spirit appeared here this morning, someone would try to capture it on film.
It occurred to me, as I contemplated our obsession with picture taking, how things might have been in biblical times if these familiar characters had had the use of the modern camera.
Can you imagine Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, with Adam trying to take a photograph of Eve for the grandchildren? "Stand up straight, Eve, and for goodness sake keep those leaves still. We will never get these pictures back from Walgreen's if we don't keep you covered up!"
Or can you see Noah, after the flood was over, trying to get a picture of all the animals in front of the ark with the rainbow in the background? "Ham! Tell those rabbits in the front row to stop fooling around. And get that giraffe to hold his head down so I can get him in the picture."
Or King Solomon taking a picture of all his wives and concubines and kids? It would look like the Democratic National Convention.
Or can you imagine a church historian at Pentecost trying to get a picture of the crowd with the tongues of fire over their heads? "Preach that sermon one more time, Peter, I want to get a shot from the back."
Or the disciples taking pictures during Jesus' ministry? "Don't heal that leper yet, let me get my camera in focus. OK, go ahead! Oops, could you have him kneel away from the sun?"
Can you see Peter on the day of the Transfiguration? "Oh, isn't this wonderful? Master, if only we could stay here always! Just a minute, let me get a picture of this so we can show all the guys when we get back. Jesus, could you have Moses and old 'Lije come back for just a minute so I can get a picture of the three of you together? No one is going to believe this!"
If Peter had had a camera that day he would have been taking pictures until everyone was tired of posing. Peter was just like most of us. He wanted to preserve a meaningful moment for all time. If he had had his way he would have stayed there forever. "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
We all try, in our own ways, to prolong the mountaintop experiences of our lives. But they never look quite the same in photographs or on videotape. The holy can never be fully captured by pictures or stories. Jesus is always taking us back down the mountain, back to our everyday realities. The best we can do is to enter fully into the transfiguring experience so that the way we live our lives from that moment on will have a transfiguring effect on others.
Excerpts from an old, old sermon first preached on June 1, 1975, in Blue River, Wisconsin.
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How to Share Stories
You have good stories to share, probably more than you know: personal stories as well as stories from others that you have used over the years. If you have a story you like, whether fictional or "really happened," authored by you or a brief excerpt from a favorite book, send it to StoryShare for review. Simply click here share-a-story@csspub.com and e-mail the story to us.
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New Book
The third book in the vision series, Shining Moments: Visions of the Holy in Ordinary Lives (edited by John Sumwalt), is now available from CSS Publishing Company. (Click on the title for information about how to order.) Among the 60 contributing authors of these Chicken Soup for the Soul-like vignettes are Ralph Milton, Sandra Herrmann, Pamela J. Tinnin, Richard H. Gentzler Jr., David Michael Smith, Anne Sunday, Nancy Nichols, William Lee Rand, Gail Ingle, and Rosmarie Trapp, whose family story was told in the classic movie The Sound of Music. The stories follow the lectionary for Cycle A.
Other Books by John & Jo Sumwalt
Sharing Visions: Divine Revelations, Angels, and Holy Coincidences
Vision Stories: True Accounts of Visions, Angels, and Healing Miracles
Life Stories: A Study in Christian Decision Making
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle A
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle B
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle C
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit: 62 Stories for Cycle B
You can order any of our books on the CSS website; they are also available from www.amazon.com and at many Christian bookstores. Or simply e-mail your order to orders@csspub.com or phone 1-800-241-4056. (If you live outside the U.S., phone 419-227-1818.)
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About the Editors
John E. Sumwalt is the pastor of Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church in Milwaukee, and is the author of eight books for CSS. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary (UDTS), John received the Herbert Manning Jr. award for Parish Ministry from UDTS in 1997. John is known in the Milwaukee area for his one-minute radio spots which always include a brief story. He concludes each spot by saying, "I'm John Sumwalt with 'A Story to Live By' from Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church."
John has done numerous storytelling events for civic, school, and church groups, as well as on radio and television. He has performed at a number of fundraisers for the homeless, the hungry, Habitat for Humanity, and women's shelters. Since the fall of 1999, when he began working on the Vision Stories series, he has led seminars and retreats around the themes "A Safe Place to Tell Visions," "Vision Stories in the Bible and Today," and coming this spring: "Soul Growth: Discovering Lost Spiritual Dimensions." To schedule a seminar or a retreat, write to jsumwalt@naspa.net or phone 414-257-1228.
Joanne Perry-Sumwalt is director of Christian Education at Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church in Milwaukee. Jo is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, with a degree in English and writing. She has co-authored two books with John, Life Stories: A Study In Christian Decision Making and Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit: 62 Stories For Cycle B. Jo writes original curriculum for church classes. She also serves as the secretary of the Wisconsin chapter of the Christian Educators Fellowship (CEF), and is a member of the National CEF.
Jo and John have been married since 1975. They have two grown children, Kathryn and Orrin. They both love reading, movies, long walks with Chloe (their West Highland Terrier), and working on their old farmhouse in southwest Wisconsin.
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StoryShare, February 6, 2005, issue.
Copyright 2004 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
What's Up This Week
A Story to Live By: "Seeing Clearly"
Shining Moments: "Charlie Is Glowing" by Deb Alexander
"The Horse Whisperer" by William Lee Rand
Scrap Pile: "Picture This" by John Sumwalt
What's Up This Week
by John Sumwalt
I went to see my optometrist a while back because I had been having a problem with my arms -- they were no longer long enough for me to read the Bible in worship. The doctor explained that this is a common concern of people my age. He said there was nothing he could do about my arms, but that there is a wonderful new thing called bifocals which might make it possible to see well with the arms I have. No doubt some of you have heard about this new invention. So I got bifocals. At first I found them very uncomfortable. I kept tripping over my feet and I couldn't remember whether to look up or down when I wanted to read something with small print. I had a sore neck and blurred vision for a while, but it got better every day. I had to get used to a whole new way of seeing things.
That is the way it was for the disciples of Jesus after they witnessed his transfiguration up on that high mountain. They had seen something that would forever change the way they saw Jesus, themselves, and the world. They were able to see more clearly than they had ever seen before.
The theme of seeing with new eyes runs through all of our stories this week. In Shining Moments, William Lee Rand, who is a horse whisperer and a "Reiki" healer, tells of an amazing transfiguring moment when a horse he was seeking to heal sent healing energy to him. And Deb Alexander tells of something mystical she experienced as she witnessed the death of a friend: "Then I heard a voice say, 'Look, Charlie is glowing,' and I looked. Charlie was surrounded by a beautiful soft white light, and his skin looked soft, white, and warm for a brief moment. Then the light went out. But as I looked around, no one else had moved from where they were..."
For more transfiguration stories from previous editions of StoryShare, click on Cycle B and Cycle C.
A Story to Live By
Seeing Clearly
Susan Ivany told about a transfiguring moment in her 10-year-old son's life in her "Opening Comments" column for Midrash:
We were sitting in the living room one evening, watching TV, when my son asked me what time it was. There was a clock on the VCR, which was right in front of us below the TV, so I said, "See for yourself; it's on the VCR." He gave me a strange look and said, "No one can see those little numbers, Mom; you have to get close up." Oops. It seems he had been moving closer to the front of the classroom at school for some time. His teacher hadn't noticed his squinting and neither had his parents. By the end of that week, the optometrist brought my son's new prescription glasses out for him to try for the first time. The office has a wonderful view of the harbor; the optometrist turned my son toward the window, placed the glasses on him, and said, "This is my favorite part of the job." As we looked on, the veil was quite literally lifted. The expression on my son's face was exquisite. He was speechless as a whole new world opened up to him...
Susan Ivany, Midrash, February 15, 2003. (Midrash is an online e-list for lectionary preachers. To subscribe, e-mail: midrash-subscribe@joinhands.com)
Shining Moments
Charlie Is Glowing
by Deb Alexander
And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.
Matthew 17:2
On the evening of September 26, 2003, I received a telephone call at about 10:15 p.m. from Allen, one of the partners in the company where I am employed. This is a small family-owned business, and having been there for 13 years, I have been treated as extended family. Allen informed me that his father, who had been hospitalized for the past week, would probably not make it through the night.
I immediately packed and drove the two hours, praying all the way that God would keep Charlie with us long enough for me to say good-bye. I have always carried guilt that I was not with my own father when he passed. I arrived at the hospital in record time and was able to sit with Charlie for about 20 minutes by myself, then off and on as his family came and went. At about 4:00 a.m. on Saturday, September 27, I went to my truck to get some medicine I needed to take. As I walked across the parking lot, I prayed to God to let Charlie pass quickly and peacefully, and, if it were possible, to let Blanche, his wife who had passed before him, come to take him home.
Charlie passed at 5:55 a.m. I remember standing with his sons and their wives or girlfriends, each of us with a hand on Charlie so he knew he wasn't alone. I remember trying to pray in my head, and I was frustrated and angry because I couldn't remember words that I had said so many times. Just after he passed, as his sons and their partners wrapped their arms around one another in a group to cry together, I stood at the foot of the bed. I thought one of the girls came to stand beside me. Then I heard a voice say, "Look, Charlie is glowing," and I looked. Charlie was surrounded by a beautiful soft white light, and his skin looked soft, white, and warm for a brief moment. Then the light went out. But as I looked around, no one else had moved from where they were, all wrapped in each other's arms, crying. I did not cry, and peace came over me as I looked at what Charlie had left behind. I knew that it was Blanche's voice I had heard, and that God had answered my prayer and sent her to take Charlie home.
Deb Alexander is the mother of two and grandmother of four. She is a member of Trinity United Methodist Church in Chesapeake City, Maryland, where she serves on the Staff/Parish Relations committee and as co-leader of Mission Works.
The Horse Whisperer
by William Lee Rand
While on Maui recently, I had the good fortune to attend a Horse Whisperer training led by Franklin Levinson. Many of his methods are based on those used in the movie of the same name starring Robert Redford.
According to Franklin, there are two ways we can interact with a horse. One is through force (i.e., fear-based control); the other is to lead it through trust, respect, knowledge, and mutual agreement (i.e., love). The first way produces a slave, a being whose actions are motivated by fear of punishment, a captive. The other way produces a willing partner, a loyal and trusted friend, and a relationship built on respect.
Franklin teaches students how to communicate and interact with horses on a primal level, to connect directly with a horse's psyche and instincts. Horses are amazingly sensitive, intelligent, and aware. Being herd animals, they have a highly developed ability to understand and respond to a leader. (We also found they are amazingly telepathic and are healers.) With this understanding, it's possible to get horses to do whatever you want them to do -- within reason -- if you first gain their trust and show them you are worthy of being their leader.
We were shown several body movements and postures horses use to communicate various feelings and ideas. For example, if a horse likes you, it will show affection by placing its head on your chest. If it likes what you're doing and is receptive to it, it will lower its head and blow through its lips. We were shown how to become friends by focusing on feelings of peace and love -- which the horse can feel -- and by petting and scratching the horse. Once trust is formed, the horse will want to be near you; so if you begin walking around the corral, the horse will follow. Doing this establishes you as the leader. Then by using a wand and standing in the center of the corral and simply holding it up off to your side, the horse will begin running around the outside of the corral. If you lower the wand, the horse will stop and walk back to you.
One of the horses we worked with was named Dukie. We were able to get him to jump over a short barrier as he ran around the corral. We found that the clearer your expectation and the stronger your energy about this, the better rapport you had with the horse and the more responsive it would become. When doing this, I felt a definite feeling of partnership and shared love, that Dukie was doing what I wanted because he truly enjoyed doing so.
After each student interacted with the horse in this way, Franklin had us do something that produced an amazing result. In turn, Franklin asked each person to close their eyes and tell what they saw or felt. Many would start crying and say that the horse was healing some emotional wound they had from childhood or other experiences.
When it was my turn, I began doing Reiki* on Dukie, and he immediately took on a different posture, which Franklin noticed. He placed his head down in a receptive posture, and Franklin said the horse really liked what I was doing. After this, Franklin asked me to place my arms on the corral bar and not pay any attention to Dukie. When I did this, Dukie came up behind me and began nuzzling me on the back around my heart in a very gentle and affectionate way. Then he began nibbling on my ear with his lips. This felt both unusual and wonderful.
Then I was asked to go inward and tell what I saw. Dukie began to place an image in my mind that was more than just an image. The horse was running through a field of grass, and the sun was shining a glorious warm golden light. The horse was filled with a sense of being one with nature and filled with great joy -- the joy of life and the joy of being free. Then I felt Dukie ask if I would like to join him, and as soon as I said yes, I was there with him, bathed in the energy and connected with all the forces of nature and feeling so free. This was very moving, and I feel that it was Dukie's way of thanking me for the Reiki I had shared with him.
Later, after we left and were on the beach watching windsurfers, Dukie came to me inwardly and again nuzzled the back of my heart. Then he began working with my solar plexus energy. There were some stuck negative feelings and energies there that I had been dealing with and working to heal, but hadn't been able to do so. I felt the blocks melting and releasing, and they were gone. This was another amazing experience and a real miracle.
I'm blessed to have spent this healing time with Dukie, merging with his consciousness and feeling what he feels: noble, mystical feelings of grace, strength, loyalty, emotional clarity, love, and a willingness to help. I learned so much about being a healer and the potential within all living beings.
(*Reiki is a method of natural healing based on the application of "Universal Life Force Energy.")
William Lee Rand, founder of the International Center for Reiki Training and author of Reiki: The Healing Touch, Reiki for a New Millennium, and The Spirit of Reiki (along with Arjava Petter and Walter Lubeck), is a Reiki Master of the Usai lineage and developer of Karuna Reiki. He has 25 years experience in metaphysics and healing work and was initiated into Reiki on the Big Island of Hawaii in 1981. He is the editor of Reiki News magazine and teaches Reiki classes worldwide. For more information check out http://www.reiki.org and http://www.christianreiki.org.
Scrap Pile
Picture This
by John Sumwalt
Then Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
Matthew 17:4
Do you mind if I take your picture before I begin? I want to remember this moment. Could all of you in the back pews move down toward the front? Thank you. Now, kind of scrunch in together so I can get you all in the picture. Harvey, could you lean in your head toward Thelma? Perfect. Say Cheese. (Click!)
The world is full of amateur photographers, and I am one of them. All of us are obsessed with taking pictures and having our pictures taken. Wherever we go we take a camera, much like 18th- and 19th-century westerners always toted a gun, just in case we might need it for that once-in-a-lifetime perfect shot.
In focus or out of focus, posed or candid, we are forever snapping pictures of each other, of the things around us, of things inside of us and anywhere else we can focus our trustworthy lens. There is nothing too sacred to escape the click of the omnipresent shutterbug. Baptisms, confirmations, weddings, funerals, even burials are all fair game for family photographers. Indeed, it wouldn't surprise me that if the Holy Spirit appeared here this morning, someone would try to capture it on film.
It occurred to me, as I contemplated our obsession with picture taking, how things might have been in biblical times if these familiar characters had had the use of the modern camera.
Can you imagine Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, with Adam trying to take a photograph of Eve for the grandchildren? "Stand up straight, Eve, and for goodness sake keep those leaves still. We will never get these pictures back from Walgreen's if we don't keep you covered up!"
Or can you see Noah, after the flood was over, trying to get a picture of all the animals in front of the ark with the rainbow in the background? "Ham! Tell those rabbits in the front row to stop fooling around. And get that giraffe to hold his head down so I can get him in the picture."
Or King Solomon taking a picture of all his wives and concubines and kids? It would look like the Democratic National Convention.
Or can you imagine a church historian at Pentecost trying to get a picture of the crowd with the tongues of fire over their heads? "Preach that sermon one more time, Peter, I want to get a shot from the back."
Or the disciples taking pictures during Jesus' ministry? "Don't heal that leper yet, let me get my camera in focus. OK, go ahead! Oops, could you have him kneel away from the sun?"
Can you see Peter on the day of the Transfiguration? "Oh, isn't this wonderful? Master, if only we could stay here always! Just a minute, let me get a picture of this so we can show all the guys when we get back. Jesus, could you have Moses and old 'Lije come back for just a minute so I can get a picture of the three of you together? No one is going to believe this!"
If Peter had had a camera that day he would have been taking pictures until everyone was tired of posing. Peter was just like most of us. He wanted to preserve a meaningful moment for all time. If he had had his way he would have stayed there forever. "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
We all try, in our own ways, to prolong the mountaintop experiences of our lives. But they never look quite the same in photographs or on videotape. The holy can never be fully captured by pictures or stories. Jesus is always taking us back down the mountain, back to our everyday realities. The best we can do is to enter fully into the transfiguring experience so that the way we live our lives from that moment on will have a transfiguring effect on others.
Excerpts from an old, old sermon first preached on June 1, 1975, in Blue River, Wisconsin.
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How to Share Stories
You have good stories to share, probably more than you know: personal stories as well as stories from others that you have used over the years. If you have a story you like, whether fictional or "really happened," authored by you or a brief excerpt from a favorite book, send it to StoryShare for review. Simply click here share-a-story@csspub.com and e-mail the story to us.
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New Book
The third book in the vision series, Shining Moments: Visions of the Holy in Ordinary Lives (edited by John Sumwalt), is now available from CSS Publishing Company. (Click on the title for information about how to order.) Among the 60 contributing authors of these Chicken Soup for the Soul-like vignettes are Ralph Milton, Sandra Herrmann, Pamela J. Tinnin, Richard H. Gentzler Jr., David Michael Smith, Anne Sunday, Nancy Nichols, William Lee Rand, Gail Ingle, and Rosmarie Trapp, whose family story was told in the classic movie The Sound of Music. The stories follow the lectionary for Cycle A.
Other Books by John & Jo Sumwalt
Sharing Visions: Divine Revelations, Angels, and Holy Coincidences
Vision Stories: True Accounts of Visions, Angels, and Healing Miracles
Life Stories: A Study in Christian Decision Making
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle A
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle B
Lectionary Stories: Forty Tellable Tales for Cycle C
Lectionary Tales for the Pulpit: 62 Stories for Cycle B
You can order any of our books on the CSS website; they are also available from www.amazon.com and at many Christian bookstores. Or simply e-mail your order to orders@csspub.com or phone 1-800-241-4056. (If you live outside the U.S., phone 419-227-1818.)
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About the Editors
John E. Sumwalt is the pastor of Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church in Milwaukee, and is the author of eight books for CSS. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary (UDTS), John received the Herbert Manning Jr. award for Parish Ministry from UDTS in 1997. John is known in the Milwaukee area for his one-minute radio spots which always include a brief story. He concludes each spot by saying, "I'm John Sumwalt with 'A Story to Live By' from Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church."
John has done numerous storytelling events for civic, school, and church groups, as well as on radio and television. He has performed at a number of fundraisers for the homeless, the hungry, Habitat for Humanity, and women's shelters. Since the fall of 1999, when he began working on the Vision Stories series, he has led seminars and retreats around the themes "A Safe Place to Tell Visions," "Vision Stories in the Bible and Today," and coming this spring: "Soul Growth: Discovering Lost Spiritual Dimensions." To schedule a seminar or a retreat, write to jsumwalt@naspa.net or phone 414-257-1228.
Joanne Perry-Sumwalt is director of Christian Education at Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church in Milwaukee. Jo is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, with a degree in English and writing. She has co-authored two books with John, Life Stories: A Study In Christian Decision Making and Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit: 62 Stories For Cycle B. Jo writes original curriculum for church classes. She also serves as the secretary of the Wisconsin chapter of the Christian Educators Fellowship (CEF), and is a member of the National CEF.
Jo and John have been married since 1975. They have two grown children, Kathryn and Orrin. They both love reading, movies, long walks with Chloe (their West Highland Terrier), and working on their old farmhouse in southwest Wisconsin.
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StoryShare, February 6, 2005, issue.
Copyright 2004 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
