A walk on the wild side

Scripture: Genesis 9:8-17; Psalm 25:1-10; 1 Peter 3:18-22; and Mark 1:9-15.

Last week, the Rev. Geoffrey Hoare told us to sharpen our focus if we are to be transformed - that the glory of God is not realized by staying on the mountain, or taking refuge in past security, but, instead, means leaving the past behind and following Jesus down off the mountain and into the wilderness - the first stop on the way to the cross and the kingdom of God. What awaits us in the wilderness?

This week, in "Enemies," Hoare challenges us to confront that, within and without us, which keeps us from becoming who we are called to be - beloved children of God - to confront the enemies which compromise our freedom and impair or impede us from being in a right relationship with God and our neighbor. How does being in the wilderness help us to do that?

The Rev. Dr. Lou Bouman in "Back to the Wilderness," tells us "To walk in that wilderness, to be alone with my thoughts and with God is one of the things that feeds my soul. But it is not safe. It is never safe. For each encounter with myself and with God changes me forever. Just as it changed Moses when he encountered God in the burning bush, so each encounter changes us. For in the wilderness I cannot escape from who I am, nor can I escape from the one who calls me to be so much more than just who I am. In the wilderness I am laid bare and open to all the things that God calls me to be." In the wilderness when everything else is taken away, we learn the value of things. What is most valuable to us? What is the value of testing? What can we learn in the wilderness?

Transformation - culmination of Epiphany

Scripture: 2 KIngs 2: 1-12; Psalm 50: 1-6: 2 Corinthians 4: 3-6; Mark 9: 2-9

               This last Sunday of Epiphany is also Transfiguratrion Sunday. In the transfiguration we again see the extraordinary come out of the ordinary, this time in the form of a glorious mountaintop experience. Can you think of any “mountaintop experiences” you have had? What does it mean to be “transfigured,” or “transformed?”  Can you think of any thing, person, or experience which transformed you, or altered your thinking or life in some important way?

            The Rev. Jeffrey Hoare in “Epiphanies,” shows us how we can be transformed by sharpening our focus in considering how and why we are doing things:

 “Years ago I was whining to a wise monk, a man now in his 90s, about how dull and fruitless and boring my prayer and my worship seemed to be. He pointed out to me that I was looking for the effects of my prayer and worship in the actions themselves. I was looking for some kind of experience of God, some kind of manifestation of God, some powerful sense of God's presence. I was trying to conjure one by my devotion or engender an epiphany by the fervency with which I sang or sense of wonder that I was able to find as I approached communion. He told me I was missing the point. I should rather be looking for the effects of my prayer in my life, he said, and not in the prayer itself.”

            Hoare shows how worship focusing on stirring up the emotions without discernment can result in “our” will, not God’s will and purposes being served. It can lead to an “us” and “them” mentality. What does he mean by “Nuremburg worship?” How are we to worship God?

            On the other hand, Kate Huey, in her “Reflections,” tells us worship can unintentionally dull us to awareness of God’s presence. She tells us we should be reassured in that Peter, James and John didn’t “get it” even when they experienced the Transfiguration. How did they not get it? What is she referring to by the “thin places” of Celtic spirituality? What do we mean when we say, use or think about “glory?” How is real “glory” obtained?

            Huey asks us to reflect on this year’s Epiphany season with a question or two:

“This text, which manifests Jesus' identity so dramatically, brings the season of Epiphany to a fitting close before we begin the journey of Lent. During this Epiphany season, how have you come to deeper understanding of who Jesus is, and then, a deeper understanding of who you are, as a person of faith? What are moments of insight, when you both saw God's glory and heard God still speaking to you, calling you to the path of discipleship? What are glimpses you have had of a light too bright for any of us to see, that drew a response from you, a desire to do something, as Peter had, to mark this event? Is that something our churches do, like Peter--mark the event, look backward, instead of forward, see only partial truths instead of the big picture? Is it possible that our "work," even in the church, may distract us from more important things? Do we walk right by the brightest lights and sweetest sounds and miss the most important moments of our journey in faith, those thin places, because we were paying attention to something else? God spoke to Jesus directly at his baptism and to the disciples at the Transfiguration, proclaiming him the Son of God: when have we been like the Roman centurion who saw Jesus on the cross and exclaimed, "Surely this man was the Son of God"? What do we need to see, and what do we need to hear, in order to understand, and to follow?”

"If you choose, you can make me clean..."

Scripture: 2 Kings 5:1-14; Psalm 30; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Mark 1:40-45

"If you choose, you can make me clean..." the leper said to Jesus, who was making his way to proclaim the good news of the nearness of the kingdom of God. Emily M. Brown, in her "Jesus Interrupted," offers insight, from the original Greek, of how Jesus must have felt, as well as what he did. She points out that some ancient manuscripts use the verb derived from οργιζω - to anger - that Jesus was angry at the request of the leper to heal him. Other manuscripts use the word  σπλαγχνιζομαι - to be moved with compassion. Why would Jesus have been angry? The particular Greek word for having compassion is of one being moved in a gut wrenching way, literally from the depths of one's own being so you can feel it in your gut. What is the depth and meaning of Jesus' compassion? He feels and knows the pain - he, and we, vicariously, as the body of Christ, are to feel the pain, be moved by it, and do what?

Our own Fr. Rodge Wood in his "So how do we get paid?" teaches us there is no quid pro quo in doing God's work. And when we have that "aha" moment of Epiphany, and experience God's nearness, accepting his call, we are to proclaim the good news of God's forgiving love, to "lift up," to serve, as Peter's mother-in-law showed us, to bring about healing and reconciliation, and as Father Rodge tells us:

 "The reward for what we do in the name of God is the bringing of the Kingdom of God into the world. That, in reality is not the job of the clergy, but the job of the whole Christian community.  We all are the ones who are to heal and preach without price that God may be made known in all the world.  The way that God is made known is by the work that we all do with those who are without resource, whether it is through illness or poverty.  Those who have lost their homes or their health or food for their table are the ones to whom we are sent,  not to convert them, but to help them.  That is the message that we get from the gospels and from all of scripture.  When we forget that, the whole of the Christian message is lost."

How did Jesus respond to the leper? Why did he do it? Why will we do it?