Coming Down from the Mountain

Yesterday I got to preach twice, once at Bethlehem in the morning, and then again in the afternoon at Luther House at Yale, which I'm on the board for.  


I used the following basic structure for both sermons, but the conversations varied a bit and overall had a different feel each time.  The sermon is based on the gospel for yesterday Mark 9:2-9.  


Enjoy it, and I wonder how the conversation would be different if I had it with you?

Take a moment and think about a “mountain top” experience that you have had.  A moment when you felt like you were the king of the world.  Or felt extremely close to God.  Or were at the top of your game.  What was it like coming down from that experience? 

What was it like when reality hit? Or the first time something bad happened after that experience.  Maybe you can’t think of a mountain top experience, can you then think of a rock bottom experience?  When you were in a valley of shadow and death?  What was that like?  Would you ever choose to be in that experience? 

Then why would Jesus, the Son of God, choose to come down to have such similar experiences?  Jesus who came to the top of a mountain physically and had THE mountain top experience of all mountain top experiences when he and his clothes changed physically, with Moses and Elijah appearing with him, the two people, who according to scripture, bodies were physically taken to heaven. And then God’s voice comes from a cloud claiming yet again – this is my Son, the beloved!  Why after this experience would Jesus choose to come down from it? 

He could have stayed up on the mountain and still have been worshiped. He already had crowds following him for healing.  He did not need to continue his ministry.  And yet he does.  And after coming down from the mountain, he does not just go back to what he was doing, which can be depressing enough, but he turns towards the cross.  He turns towards persecution from strangers.  He turns towards being rejected and betrayed by his closest friends.  He turns towards being arrested, beaten, and mocked.  Jesus turns towards his death once he comes down.  But he does it for us.  He does it because in the transfiguration, the full glory of God was revealed.  Something that was already in Jesus, him being the Son of God, was already there, and it was being shown through his healings and teachings.  But it is not until Jesus turns towards the cross, so that Jesus might die for our sins, that the full Glory of God was truly revealed.

And the full glory of God is in you already.  And it comes out at times.  Our goal, our hope, as a community of living saints, is to help the full Glory of God that is already inside us, to be revealed in each other and in others in this community.  So how is the full Glory of God shining through you? 

Catching Up.....Again

Okay yet another Monday, yet another weekend that I didn't post my God moments.  Maybe by the end of Lent I'll get this thing down.

Thursday I saw God at a meeting. Yes a place when most people see their lives slowwwwwlllllyyyyy passing in front of them, I saw God. I'm on the board for Lutheran Campus Ministries at Yale/Luther House.  Luther House is currently in the midst of a transition with the help of interim pastor Jack Saarela.  We are creating a mission statement, finding areas of ministry we want to focus on in the upcoming year or two and getting ready to start a search for another pastor on top of the normal board operations of making sure the finances, staff and building are running smoothly.  And yet with all that to do it is a delight to go to these meetings.  The meetings seem to be not only going well but also beyond expectations.  It is wonderful to go to these meetings and within an hour and a half make leaps and bounds towards opening the next chapter in Luther House's ministry.

Friday I again saw God at Yale (yes I was there a bit this week).  I went to an ecumenical gathering of full communion partners.  The ELCA Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson was one of the panel members along with representatives from the UCC, Presbyterian Church (USA), UMC and Episcopalian Church.  It was interesting to hear the history of how full communion partnerships have developed but boy id God show up at vespers.  The sermon was a phenomenal witness to ecumenical partnership and one psalm that was sung by two cantors was wonderful.  It was a jazzy version and just one filled with joy.

Saturday God appeared again to me at church.  I was there for Worship Together, the parent/child focus worship.  Two boys, who are brothers, were acting kind of goofy before we began and were pretending to be dogs.  And when I sat on the step to get started they both nuzzled up on either side of me, again pretending to be dogs and I just had this moment.  I realized that I was part of this family, someone that these two boy feel comfortable enough with to nuzzle up to when hearing a story.

Yesterday I told one of the longest gospel text in the three year lectionary cycle.  And for me I actually made the text longer by adding the 4 verses before the assigned text to give a little background of why Jesus ended up in Samaria.  Because the text was so long, I invited the congregation to remain seated during the gospel. And because Jesus was sitting in the gospel, I sat when I was speaking his words and stood for the woman at the well and the disciples.  There was three points in the gospel that the congregation especially responded. The first was when I sat down because I had a step stool in front of the altar railing and I'm sure many were curious about it.  The second was when Jesus said "The water I give will become like a spring of water in them gushing to eternal life".  At gushing people just responded like "yeah that is what I want to."  The third was when Jesus tells this disciples "I tell you look around and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting" and I gestured to the congregation.  Again there was some nods or other minor murmurings which I read as "oh yeah I'm part of that harvest".  I know those connections would not have been made if I just read the text.  (Granted if I just read the text there would not have been a step stool in front of the altar.)  And in those moments I felt God was with me and I became more relaxed and even more comfortable with biblical storytelling.