4th Sunday in Lent Year A ‘17
                                                                                    John 9: 1-41
                                                                                    26 March 2017
                                                                                    Trinity, Monroe
 
“Take my lips, oh Lord, and speak through them; take our minds and think with them. Take our hearts and set them on fire, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
.
Miracles, and tragedies, doesn’t it just seem as though life is full of both? At nineteen Diane was told she would never have a child. To her surprise and great joy at 36 she found herself pregnant. She bore a healthy and much loved daughter. Another young woman, newly-wed and newly pregnant, lost her baby. A young father received a needed organ transplant, but after the first week the transplant failed and set up a reaction that left him ineligible for another transplant attempt. Doug, received a similar transplant, and this one worked well, he was given years to watch his children grow. Aaron was born to soon and to small, three months premature. He was so loved and carefully cared for but he eventually succumbed, never to leave the neonatal intensive care unit. Sarah was delivered by her father along a dark road far from the hospital. She was very early and very small. With care she lived and thrived. Eventually she went home to grow up surrounded by her family. What is it like for us to hear the stories, or to live the experiences? Aren’t we led to ask: Why, why me, why now, why this? It is as though we need to find the meaning behind the events of our lives, to somehow make sense of what seems, more often than not, to make no sense at all. Today we heard one of those miracle stories. The man was born blind. He lived his whole life dependent on others, on begging.
Then Jesus happened along. His disciples, searching for meaning just like the rest of us, asked who sinned that this man was born blind? It was a logical question considering the common wisdom of the time. Everyone knew that illness or deformity was the result of sin. The disciples saw a wonderful opportunity for further theological discussion. What would Jesus say? In light of that common wisdom Jesus’ answer is especially interesting.
According to Jesus neither the man nor his parents had sinned. And, beyond that, the man’s blindness presented an opportunity. Did you notice? Jesus has a different question in mind. How can God be glorified in this situation? How can God’s love be seen here? One thing I’ve discovered over my life is that there really is no good answer to the why question. And, looking back over scripture, I notice that there is seldom any answer given to the “why” of things, other than for God’s glory to be shown. What we hear in scripture has more to do with responses to the way the world is. We have all those stories that capture God’s response of offering a steadfast and loving covenant between God and God’s creation. Scripture also describes what our response might be, at our best, to such a loving creator. Over and over we are told to love God and our neighbor, to feed the hungry, to act as healers and reconcilers, to forgive and seek forgiveness, to act with mercy and compassion. But there’s something else important that I noticed in the Gospel this morning, maybe you did too. That blind man did not ask to be healed. At Jesus’ initiative he was healed entirely by God’s grace. That encounter with Jesus dramatically changed the man’s life. But was it a miracle or was it a tragedy? The poor man suffered because of that healing. First he was bombarded with questions from his neighbors. Arguments broke out. There was no praising God in joyful thanksgiving for the miracle that was given to this man.  In fact, he and his parents were brought up before the religious leaders and questioned. Then, his parents, out of fear, abandoned him to speak for himself. The religious authorities stood blindly on their legalism. How could this miracle be of God? After all, the one who performed it broke one of God’s most sacred commandments by healing on the Sabbath. The no longer blind man was driven out of the synagogue, his religious community. Poor guy, he didn’t ask to be healed and ended up excommunicated. Isn’t it interesting that through all that happened after Jesus’ healed him, the man grew in faith despite all the hardship. I have to say, I’m struck by that last scene in the story. Jesus returns and the no longer blind man confesses faith in Jesus.
Accepting Jesus’ claims, he gives thanks in worship. Don’t you wonder what he did with the rest of his life? Did he become a follower of Jesus, one who continued to live faithfully as Jesus taught? Of course, we don’t know how his story ended, the Gospel doesn’t tell us. What the gospel does say quite clearly is that light comes to those who recognize that they are blind without Christ in their lives. And those who do claim to see without Christ, well, they really do live in blindness. Could it be that when we ask why in the face of tragedy, or miracle, we need to go one step further and ask, as Jesus did; what next? What next, or perhaps, how. What is God calling me to do next in this situation, how can God be glorified? After all, to ask why focuses on the past and on oneself. Why puts us at the center of the universe where we are blind without Christ’s light.
​In the past several weeks the gospel lessons have given us some powerful images. Images that show us who Jesus is. Jesus is the bread that feeds our deepest hungers. And nourishes us for service in God’s world. Jesus is the living water that quenches our thirst for meaning and gives us new life in baptism. And now Jesus is the light of the world, the one who gives light to our spiritual darkness and shows us how to live into abundant life. Jesus summed up the words of the law and the prophets in the great commandment. There is only one God. Love God with all that you are and love your neighbor as yourself. I wonder what life would be like if we more often could move beyond why to ask that what or how question? What can happen because of this tragedy, or that miracle? How can I glorify God in the face of this miracle, or that tragedy? I wonder what kind of sense God would make of our lives then? God does not send suffering into our lives, not even to teach us something. But suffering does indeed happen and we can, of course, learn from it. God does not will pain for us in order to punish our sins, but we can repent in the face of how really and truly fragile and precious God’s gift of life is. We have a choice. We can turn ourselves to God in thanksgiving for the gifts we are given. Being imitators of God we can make God’s love more real in our world when we serve others as we have first been served. In short, we too can make God’s glory known and God’s love present right here in our world. Amen.
 
 

                                                                                    Third Sunday in Lent, Year A ‘17
                                                                                    John 4: 5-42
                                                                                    19 March 2017
                                                                                    Trinity, Monroe
 
Take my lips, oh Lord, and speak through them; take our minds and think with them. Take our hearts and set them on fire, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
 
On this third Sunday in Lent I want to ask: How is Lent going for you this year? What are you learning in this season? I find it interesting that the observance of Lent began in the fourth century. That seems so long ago. And yet, it was almost 300 years after Jesus lived, died, and rose to new life. Lent began as a time of special discipline for those about to be baptized at Easter. For them it was the culmination of a several years long time of study and preparation. Almost inevitably the season came to be associated with Jesus’ 40 days in the wilderness, his preparation for his ministry. For the church Lent has always been associated with the spiritual disciplines of preparation and penitence. Lent, however, is just a part of a larger cycle which includes all the time from the beginning of Lent through Pentecost. It’s worth asking then, what are we preparing for exactly? That the season from Ash Wednesday through Pentecost sharpens our focus on Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection goes without saying. But it’s important to remember that we are focusing on events in the spiritual world even more than those held in historical time. Our focus is on those mysteries that, in their depth and power, nudge at us around the margins of our conscious lives. At our very best, during Lent, we share our Lord’s suffering and we confront the grace of that empty tomb. With God’s help we are changed as we confront, and live into, those mysteries of our Christian faith. With God’s help we grow as people of faith and learn to share that faith as well.
​Today we heard about an encounter between Jesus and a Samaritan woman. It’s a long story, the longest recorded with a single individual in all the Gospels. It’s a rich story with many themes we could focus on. Today I want to focus on how that Samaritan woman grows in faith through her experience of Jesus. Initially it would seem that there is just too much between Jesus and the woman for them to have any meaningful contact, they are widely separated by race, by gender, by religion. But this is Jesus that woman encounters and all bets are off. One thing all the Gospels make clear is that Jesus reached beyond human boundaries to include those generally pushed out beyond the margins of what it meant to be a “good” Jew in that time and place. Use your holy imagination to see that woman by the well. She has come to draw water for her household. Then a stranger appears at the well. Despite the fact that his is clearly a Jew, despite the fact that he is male, he asks for a drink of water. And we, hearing the story all these years later, remember that in this Gospel, The Gospel According to John, words often have a double meaning. This is one of those times. The woman and Jesus both use the word water but the word they use means different things to each of them. They are poles apart and the woman has no clue who exactly Jesus is. The conversation continues and the meaning of it deepens. That Samaritan woman likens Jesus to a common ancestor. Jacob was able, with God’s help, to draw up water that was bubbling, seething with life. Living water. Now that woman asks Jesus for the water he can give. She asks for the gift of living water, bubbling over with hope and possibility. The conversation deepens again as Jesus apparently knows much more about the woman than he, a complete stranger, possible could. Our Samaritan woman recognizes Jesus’ special powers. She recognizes him as a prophet. Again, her faith deepens. Still, she does not yet see Jesus as he really is; a revelation of God for humankind. Who among us might not be uncomfortable at that point? That Samaritan woman tried her best to avoid a new truth. I don’t know about you but I suspect my response in the situation would be the same. When challenged with something new and unexpected, when asked to make a real change in my deepest beliefs, it is the most natural thing in the world to try and start an argument. And there was a lot to argue about given the historical tensions between the religion of the Samaritans and that of the Jews who worshipped at Jerusalem. They were siblings after all and siblings argue.
That woman’s ploy fails though, something changes in her in response to Jesus, as she grows in faith she voices her faint hope of a Messiah. Did you hear Jesus’ response? “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.” Even now, it is a simply breathtaking statement. Imagine what it was like for that Samaritan woman. After all, for her, as for most people of faith back then, the notion of God’s messiah had changed over time. It had been corrupted. To say that Jesus was that Messiah would have been both true and false all at the same time. To say that Jesus is God’s presence with us when we long for a Messiah, now, that is powerful. It is as though Jesus is the beginning of God doing a new thing to bring humanity back into harmony with God’s plan for creation. Again, that woman finds her faith is deeper than she knew. She leaves the well only to ask an important question. “Can this be the Christ?” What a wonderful thing. She has not yet come to fully mature faith. But she does witness to the extent she is able. The result is that her question draws others to Jesus. Might hers be a good question to hold in our hearts in this Lenten season? Who is this Jesus? Can he really be the Christ for us? Can we let her question deepen our relationship with Jesus? Can we be drawn to grow in our own faith through her faith? Listen to what happened to those who first heard that woman’s testimony spoken even as she asked her question. What if that woman had waited until she was sure, until she had no questions at all, to tell others about her encounter with Jesus? Her faithful testimony, however unsure, is such a powerful thing. It would seem that no small acknowledgement of faith, however hesitant, is too small for God to use. In this case the woman’s question brought others to Jesus. They asked him to stay a while. Now, I have to say, generally I really like the New Revised Standard translation of the Bible, but I think in this story something is missing. The text tells us that the people asked Jesus to stay with them and he did stay. Other translations use the word “abide” in place of the word “stay”. And “abide” seems to fit the meaning of the Gospel better. Here’s the thing.
In this case the word “abide” indicates the strongest, the deepest, level of faith. So, Jesus abides with those people; and just listen to their response.  “We know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” In this Gospel, and in all people at all times, there are different kinds of faith and different qualities of faith. This is certainly true for me. Faith is less a static state or a place than it is a journey. How is it for you? Again I will issue the invitation. “I invite you to a holy Lent.” I invite you to bring what questions you hold, what hopes you have, what faith you cling to. I invite you to abide with Jesus, the one we name as Christ. I invite you to the kind of growth that Samaritan woman experienced, growth that deepens and strengthens your own faith most especially as you share that faith with others. Amen
 

2nd Sunday of Lent, Year A ‘17
                                                                                                John 3:1-17
                                                                                                12 March 2017                                                                                                                                    Trinity, Monroe

Take my lips, oh Lord, and speak through them; take our minds and think with them. Take our hearts and set them on fire, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
 
This second Sunday in Lent we have not one but two examples of faith to consider. We have Abraham and we have Nicodemus, two very different people with two very different ways of relating to the Holy One. I wonder what we can learn from these two? But first let’s get some background information. It’s important to know just a bit more about the passage we read from Genesis. You see, our reading today holds a pivotal point in the Book of Genesis, marking a transition both in the type of literature and in the theological direction of the work. Genesis, beginning with the first chapter and continuing through the eleventh chapter, holds what is known as primeval history. That being said, let me offer a caution. I am not talking about Genesis as history in the sense that a well-researched book about the Civil War is considered history today. This is not literal history. Our concept of history as holding facts that tell us what happened dates back only to the eighteenth century while all the Biblical books are much older than that. Genesis, as are all the historical books in the Bible, is history in an older sense of the word. It is sacred history. Genesis is true in that it tells us important truths about God, about humanity, and about how God and humankind relate. So, the first eleven books of Genesis hold our sacred primeval history, in them we learn that God alone creates all that is. In addition, we hear a clear history of human sin. Sin, according to Genesis, is a part of every human life. But things change at the beginning of chapter twelve. Now we have the very beginning of the history of salvation and right off we can see that salvation begins with God’s initiative and promise.
Without any explanation at all, our Creator calls Abraham, and tells him to leave all that is familiar, all that is known, all that is safe, and start out for a strange place. Destination unknown, as it were. Further, Abraham is to do this based entirely on the Holy Ones promise of a “great name”, land, and children. Two things are important at this beginning point in salvation history.
 First the call of Abraham is an act of grace, offered out of God’s freedom. Abraham was not chosen because of his response to any law of God because no law has yet been given. If we were to read just a little further in Genesis we next hear that the promise given is both for the good of all people and so that all people can call on Abraham’s name in pronouncing blessings. One thing is very sure here, the history of God and humankind in relationship has a clear direction.
Our sacred history is the story of salvation given to us freely by God. But did you notice?
Abraham’s faith is very much understated. Nowhere in our text does Abraham say a single word.
We, who hear the story all these years later, know for sure that God will indeed make good on the promise, Abraham, with his wife Sarah, will set out on a journey but it will not lead to a permanent home. Still, we also know that Sarah will bear a child to carry the blessing forward and that Abraham and Sarah’s descendants will indeed inhabit the promised land. As for Abraham, all we have is this: “So Abraham went, as the Lord told him.” We have that clear reminder of what it means to be a faithful servant of God. And we have the reminder that this, too, is good news. God plans to work salvation, in the midst of human history, beginning with Abraham who is willing to start out on a journey full of unknowns, based on nothing more than a promise. But, recall, I said we have two examples of faith today. What about Nicodemus, what does he show us? Again, it is a familiar story for most of us. Let me repeat myself. This story may or may not represent factual history but it most certainly represents sacred history, faith history. The point of the whole passage is to tell us something very important about God.
Nicodemus you remember, came to Jesus at night. What are we to make of it? Back in those days people simply didn’t travel about by night. It was dangerous. There were no street lights and people who were out and about were generally up to no good. We don’t know, can’t know, for sure what motivated Nicodemus, though I suspect some question burned within him, something about Jesus called to him. It is worth remembering that the author of John is a master of symbolic language. When we hear that Nicodemus came to Jesus at night we can understand that this interaction is full of mystery and misunderstanding. And Nicodemus’ misunderstanding is clear. Jesus intends to say that life with God comes by birth “from above”, from God. Nicodemus hears that he needs to be born again. Poor Nicodemus, in the original language there is one word with two meanings. Of course, Nicodemus is a Pharisee. In his mind salvation comes by doing the law, living into God’s commands for right living. The thing about Nicodemus is that he shows us a faith that is unclear even while based on observable signs. But, of course, there is more. When Jesus speaks early in the passage the word translated as “you” is in the singular while later in the passage that “you is plural. You all we might say. This simple conversation between Nicodemus and Jesus is the occasion for Jesus to tell all of us that life with God is not something to be calculated or achieved or even safely based on a set of provable signs. Life, and salvation, are gifts freely given by God. Just exactly like that call to Abraham was given before Abraham did anything at all to deserve God’s promise. So too we are given the gift of salvation because that is what our creating God wants for us. It is what the Holy One has always wanted for us. We haven’t earned salvation. We can’t earn salvation. That gift of salvation is all about the nature of God. The Holy one who creates us moment by moment, who calls us to live more fully into God’s-self day by day, and who fills us full up with the Holy Spirit when we least expect it, does so simply out of love. Did you hear it in the collect? We began, “Oh God, whose glory is always to have mercy”. And we heard it most plainly and inescapably put in that reading from the Gospel According to John. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” There are no limits on the love of God. There is no before and after in God love. There is just that great love and our response to it. “for God so loved the world…” All we can do is trust it, accept it, and follow where God leads us. Amen
 
 
 
 

                                                                                    First Sunday of Lent, Year A ‘17
                                                                                    Matthew 4;1-11
                                                                                    5 March 2017
                                                                                    Trinity, Monroe
 
“Take my lips, Oh Lord, and speak through them; take our minds and think with them. Take our hearts and set them on fire, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
 
What comes to mind when you think about temptation? Let’s listen to that well known but, often enough, misunderstood and misquoted lesson from Genesis. That serpent, who we often see as a kind of cosmic force for evil, tricks Eve into eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then Eve gets Adam to have a bite as well. Let’s think about that for a minute. Understand, that serpent is not so much a cosmic representative of evil, as just another creature created by God, just as the first woman and first man were created by God. Except of course humankind was created in the image and likeness of God. The serpent wasn’t. Listen to the dialogue. The serpent asks a question about what can be eaten from the garden. First woman, we call her Eve, responds saying that God said she, and first man, Adam, should not eat, or even touch, the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden lest they die. The serpent offers this response. “You will not die…your eyes will be opened and you will be like God.” Huh. Have you ever had that thought that, if only you were in charge, things would be different, and better? It’s the original human temptation, to take over for God. Do you remember what happened when Eve and Adam ate the fruit of that tree? First, they saw themselves as exposed, the text says naked, they knew shame. Then they knew fear and tried to hide from the Holy One who created them. It’s so easy to make assumptions that let us off the hook. We didn’t eat that fruit, Adam and Eve did. How unfair that we don’t get to live in the garden! I wonder if we can we put down our assumptions about the text to hear it new again. If we can see Adam and Eve as literary figures who represent all of us, we can begin to see that temptation and sin are part of human nature, the result of God’s gift of freedom. The thing about that gift of freedom is that it comes with the responsibility of choice, and that opens the door to choosing sin. Let’s go a bit deeper and think about the tree in the garden. We hear that it is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, not the tree of good or evil. It’s a subtle but important difference. My Old Testament professor, Rev. Dr. Becky Wright, talks about the difference this way. She says that the knowledge referred to goes far beyond simply moral knowledge. It has to do with infinite knowledge,  knowing all there is, knowing as God does. It’s not trying to discern between good and evil that’s the problem, it’s our wanting to be God. We could call it pride or self-sufficiency. When we think that we know so much that we don’t need one another, or worse yet, when we think we know so much that we don’t need God, then our knowledge become an occasion for sin. That’s not particularly good news so let’s turn to the gospel.
In all four gospels it is clear that a big part of what we experience as good news is found in the incarnation. Jesus, whom we experience as part of God, came as lived as one of us, fully human. Jesus gives us at least two things here. On one hand in how Jesus lived his life we have a model, or guide, to how we can resist temptation. But there is more of course, Ultimately Jesus, again and again, gives us a chance to repent when we do sin.
We have that promise of forgiveness and the opportunity to begin again. So, what about the gospel lesson today? Can you picture the desert and Jesus almost at a point of collapse after 40 days of fasting in that hot dry place? The evil one tempts Jesus to turn stones to bread. What a great thing. No more personal hunger. No more world hunger. Can you imagine Jesus weak and vulnerable, poised on the highest point on the temple?
Did you notice? Jesus doesn’t give in to fear. Instead he reminds the evil one that only God is the ultimate authority. Can you see Jesus there, alone, and powerless as we all are really? The evil one offers great power. But Jesus says only God is worthy of our human worship. After all, what the tempter offers isn’t really the evil one’s to offer anyway. That power belongs only to God. Looking back at Genesis we see the consequence of sinfulness, of desiring to be God, was that Adam and Eve knew their weakness, their humanity. They knew themselves to be naked, vulnerable, entirely dependent on God.
Isn’t that what happens for us too? When we own up to our sinfulness we can see so much more clearly our vulnerability, our weakness, our dependence on God. And that’s, paradoxically, a very good thing. When we lose our peace of mind, we also lose the false ease and comfort, of thinking we can make ourselves right with God. Jesus knew that he could do nothing, not even breathe, without God. Are any of us better than Jesus? What’s your first priority in life? For Jesus, it was God. And that made all the difference. Lent calls us back to faithfulness. In Jesus, we see how much God loves us. You know, you’ve heard it before. God loves us enough to become one of us, to live and die and rise again in order to bring us back to God’s self. The Garden of Eden that Adam and Eve lost was just that, the ease, the deep comfort, of living in right relationship with God. Take the time this Lent to grown in faith and understanding. Read the scripture stories that shape us. Pray for that change of heart and life captured in the word repentance. Let Jesus lead you into renewed faithfulness that is deeper and fuller than anything you’ve known before. Let Jesus bring you away from the temptation to stand on your own balanced on the pinnacle of the temple. Let Jesus draw you into a relationship with God that is more than you can imagine. Amen.
 
(my thanks to Rev Dr Susanna Metz and her sermon on these lessons found in Sermons that work, 2-10-08)
 
 
 

Ash Wednesday 2017
                                                                                                Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
                                                                                                1 March 2017
                                                                                                Trinity, Monroe
 
Take my lips, Oh Lord, and speak through them; take our minds and think with them. Take our hearts and set them on fire, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
 
I’m going to begin tonight with a story from a Forward Day by Day meditation published in 2013.
(Ash Wednesday, 2013?) It seems a friend had asked the author of the meditation to store a priceless possession while he was away. The treasure was a 16th century Flemish craving of Christ crucified at Calvary. The author stored the carving in a closet where the family dogs could not chew on it and where, they hoped, thieves would not find it if their home was broken into. In the meditation, the author speaks of how she was “gently aware” of the treasure hidden in her home. It was for her a symbol of the reality of Christ crucified and risen, of Christ living within her. She says this: “The perishable wood represented an imperishable relationship, and I saw not an antique Christ, but the merciful savior for our century, present for everyday life in our world.”
The author speaks of that carving, I think, in sacramental language. You remember, a sacrament provides an “outward and visible sign”, something we can touch, something to feel or taste or hear or see. Sacraments give solid reality to “inward and spiritual grace”, as the Book of Common Prayer puts it, “given by Christ as sure and certain means by which we receive that grace”. In this church, the Eucharist, with its bread, and wine, is a sacrament. Baptism, with its water and oil, is a sacrament. I got to wondering, after reading the meditation, what I might treasure above all things? Is there any one thing that I treasure because it in some way represents that reality of Christ crucified, risen and always present in my life, in this world, a sacramental sign, so to speak? I can’t say I came to a clear answer for myself. Though surely the cross my mother and father-in-law gave me when I graduated from seminary would be included as would the cross my daughter gave me when she was in high school. I might include glass paperweights and prisms that remind me of the light of God’s presence and, well you get the point. There are too many to count and, while none meet the financial treasure of that sixteenth century wood carving, all in some way remind me of God’s grace, God’s goodness and the all-important relationship God offers to all persons. Those are treasures indeed for me. Is there something that reminds you of the relationship you have with God in Christ? Is there something that reminds you on both good days and bad, in times of both joy and sorrow, that God is always with you at all times and in all places? Because that knowledge, that God is always and everywhere with you in all things is the real treasure in our Christian lives. Here’s the thing. Tonight we are invited to observe a holy Lent. A holy Lent. What do I mean by that phrase? I think a ‘holy Lent” would be one in which we prepare ourselves for Easter certainly, but also for life after Easter, life lived in that sure knowledge of Christ crucified, resurrected, ascended and present with us always.  It’s fair to say that a “holy Lent” is one in which we nurture ourselves in relationship with God. It is one in which we allow God to grow within us, to fill us, and to empower us.
How might we do that? Traditionally fasting has been a part of Lent. Now, one could fast from chocolate, or wine, or any number of other things. But. Are any of those actually hurtful to your relationship with God? Use your imagination. What really keeps you from the treasure of living fully, secure in the knowledge that you are beloved of God? What might it mean to fast from pride or from putting oneself down? How might your life change if you could fast from anger, or from fear, or from pre-conceived notions about yourself or others?  Some folks find it helpful to take on some discipline in Lent, maybe something like intentionally only speaking kind words about others, or volunteering to help someone twice a week. That kind of action can certainly be helpful. Of course, the primary discipline that nurtures our relationship with God is prayer. We open ourselves to God’s presence and reach out to God by practicing prayer day by day, moment by moment. Prayer takes many forms of course, maybe you pray best using the prayers given in the Book of common Prayer. Maybe for you learning to sit in silence, listening for God’s voice, is what you need. Maybe you pray best while walking or knitting or, well, use your holy imagination. There are so many ways to pray because prayer at its best is, as Richard Foster put it, “Interactive conversation with God about what we and God are thinking and doing together.” 
(The Spiritual Formation Bible, Richard Foster, ed, Spiritual Disciples Index, “Prayer”) There is no wrong way to pray. It’s just important to do it. The Gospel reading today reminds us to store up “treasure” in heaven. It’s good advice for the beginning of Lent. What is the real treasure in your life? What do you want to store up during this Lent? Think back to that story in Forward. The “treasure” stored, that old and valuable word carving, was not the true treasure. For the author the true treasure was that “imperishable relationship” with God in Christ. Think back to my “treasure”, a gold necklace, or a silver one, glass that captures and bends light.Yes, treasures to me but really only reminders,  signs and symbols of the deeper treasure, a living breathing, always growing and ever changing relationship with God. May you grow, during this Lent and always, in your blessed relationship with God.  Amen.
 
 
 

                                                                                    Last Sunday After Epiphany ‘17
                                                                                    Matthew 17:1-9
                                                                                    26 February 2017
                                                                                    Trinity, Monroe
 
“Take my lips, Oh Lord, and speak through them; take our minds and think with them. Take our hearts and set them on fire, through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Amen
 
Today is the last Sunday after the Epiphany. It’s been quite a journey, hasn’t it? We began with Jesus’ baptism. We’ve watched Jesus growing in ministry as he taught and drew people to himself by living out God’s love. Today we have the climax of the season, the story of Jesus’ transfiguration. To be clear, Transfiguration is a change so radical that it turns things inside out and upside down entirely. In the transfiguration of Jesus we have a
breath-taking darkness into light experience. We see Jesus transformed completely from his human self until he shone with God’s light. Did you notice the signs of God’s presence in this story? It is placed on a mountain, it involves a cloud And, oh yes, there’s a voice from the heavens. Be careful to note what that voice from heaven has to say. “This is my son, the Beloved, with him I am well pleased;”. Interesting, isn’t it? Those words echo the ones we heard at the beginning of this season when we celebrated Jesus’ Baptism. There is an addition this time though, did you hear it? “listen to him.”: the voice said, “listen to him”. Scripture tells us the transfiguration was something that happened to Jesus. But, I wonder, what if we dared to think of it as something that can also happen to us? Recall what we proclaim at Baptism. We are buried with Christ in his death and are reborn by the power of the Holy Spirit to share in his resurrection. It is powerful stuff, but I come to my usual question. So what? What’s the point? What does it mean in practical terms to be buried, reborn and resurrected with Jesus Christ, to listen to him and be transformed? Let me share a story. I’ve taken it from a book of stories by John Sumwalt that illustrate the lectionary readings. The story concerns Mabel and her husband Ralph. As Sumwalt tells the story they owned and operated a café in a college town for some 40 years, most of their working life. The cafe was located just across the street from “Greek row”, that side of the street lined with fraternity and sorority houses and the college kids would stop in between classes or in the afternoon for coffee and pie or for a milkshake. At the time Mabel and Ralph had no kids of their own. The story was that they had a boy once, but something happened, he died young. Now they just had the café. You can probably imagine, it must have about killed Mabel when her boy died, so she focused herself on that café. Over the years, Mabel and Ralph came to be almost like parents away from home for some of those kids. Perhaps some of them wouldn’t have made it through school without their support and help. The thing is that Mabel and Ralph were always interested, always ready to hear and respond to the kids who came in. They helped some find part time work, they loaned a little money in an emergency, they even helped with course work. Mabel especially had a real gift to share with the kids. She had a talent for math and would tutor kids who were having an especially hard time. She would sit them down in a back booth and go through their work with them, asking them to check it carefully until they got it right. She clearly had a real soft spot for those kids.
If one came in with a broken heart she had a way of listening for just long enough and then reminding them that there is always more than one fish in the sea. Somehow Mabel could always recognize serious trouble. When it arrived she would ask Ralph to handle things for a bit, then she would sit down and say something like: “Now tell me what’s wrong”. It seldom failed, before long the story would come pouring out. Maybe it was being caught cheating, or failing grades. Maybe it was a problem with drinking or an unplanned pregnancy. Mabel was a good listener. But she did more than just listen. She always knew just what was needed and she would send people on to a pastor or a counselor. More often than not those back booth counseling sessions ended with prayer.
Ralph often said of Mabel that she was just in her glory when kids were around. He would go on to say, “they bring out the very best in her, and she in them”. Of course, many of those kids kept in touch long after graduation. Mabel got letters and Christmas cards, wedding invitations and birth announcements from all over the country. She had a bulletin board behind the cash register that was covered with the photos that came with those letters. Eventually Mabel and Ralph retired, then Ralph died. By the time Mabel died her only relative was a niece who really didn’t know her very well. The niece decided on a private burial which was attended by just three or four people. The surprise came the next Sunday. The church where Mabel had worshipped was full to bursting. When it was time to share blessings and concerns Mabel’s oldest friend stood to remember Mabel. They had been friends since girlhood after all. She recollected how for a while after Mabel’s boy was killed Mabel just floundered. Then she seemed to find her bearings again. According to her friend, Mabel said that it was the power of God at work in her life through others that turned things around.  Her friend shared how Mabel’s Christian witness had changed so many lives over time just by Mabel’s being present for those God sent her way. When that friend sat down another person stood and told another story about the difference Mabel had made in their life. And that was followed by another and yet another. The church was just full of people who had come to give thanks for Mabel and all the gifts she had quietly given over the course of her life. It was Mabel’s best friend who said it best when she said of Mabel, “Her face just shone” when she was able to offer something to make life better for someone else. It’s been my experience that we all have darkness in our lives just as Mabel did. We all have times of deep pain or fear, of suffering of some sort or another. We all need the transforming, transfiguring, power of knowing Christ’s love in our lives. So, listen again to our Gospel. “This is my son, the Beloved, with him I am well pleased;” “listen to him.” Now that Jesus himself has gone on from this world into resurrection life, who does God have to use as a vehicle for that love? As people baptized in Christ’s name we are privileged to be God’s hands in this world, to provide God’s voice in the here and now, to carry the God light into our world so that others can also be transformed. We are fast moving into Lent, the time when the ancient church prepared those who had come to know Christ for Baptism. It is a good time for us to look at what baptism means for us and how we are transformed as God’s people through Baptism. It is a good season to consider how we, both as individuals and as a congregation, can make Christ present in the world around us. I wonder, how will any one of us make a difference for someone in our world as we live out our Christian lives?  Amen