The Trqnsfigurqtion of Earth

Last Epiphany+A+2014        2 March  2014       Fr. Robert RM Bagwell+          Exodus 24:12-18                                                                                                  Psalm 99 

 2 Peter 1:16-21                                                                                               Matthew 17:1-9

An antique dealer was speaking with one of his clients and remarking that he had found an old Bible printed by some guy, Gutten… something.  The client exclaimed Guttenberg! that's the first Bible ever printed!  One just sold for a million dollars!  Oh, I don't think that one would have such a value.  It was written all over the margins by some guy named Martin Luther……

Perhaps we don't realize what we have until it's gone.  Surely the disciples today could express such sentiment! Today we experience the disciples of Jesus as they experience such an event.  Why is this event so important that it has been celebrated in the church for centuries?  It is a day that draws a clear line in the sand. 

The transfiguration says clearly that Jesus is the Messiah; that no matter how seemingly good, or meritorious other religions may seem, this Jesus is the Areal thing@. Jesus, in a profound act of love for the inner circle of disciples, Peter, James and John, includes them on the final. check, the final Ago ahead@ for the mission.  He includes them as God gives his blessing to the mission and they see for a moment the glory of God shining out from within the very person of Jesus.  This glory of God, the Hebrew word, Ashekinah is what God wants to place in the souls of the human race.  That glory that was lost to us by the sins of our first parents; that restoration of the wholeness and completeness of that image of God that he has bestowed upon each of us.

I.                   Websters dictionary defines transfiguration as an exalting glorifying or spiritual change.

A.                A church growth consultant that I read a few years ago spoke about what it is that the church is selling. What is the product if you will that we offer to the world?

B.                 We offer an exalting glorifying and spiritual and life change. 

1.                  Life change!  If our lives are not beginning to change to be conformed more and more to the image of Christ, then we are missing something.

2.                  That is partially why we live together in this body that Jesus both established and paid for with his own blood, this body he calls the Church.

That was it about Paul=s experience, the experience of the other disciples and all of those who so freely abandoned Judaism and other religions in those early years and caused them to follow Christ.  It was the power of transfiguration. 

a)                 St. Francis de Sales once said. We cannot help conforming ourselves to what we love.@  It has been an experience over the ages that as people come to really fall in love with Jesus the Son of the living God, they change.

II.                Today the disciples experienced a transfiguration experience. It is this reading today from which we get the colloquial expression, a mountain top experience.

A.                What is the Transfiguration?   It is an event which nothing else in the Gospels even remotely resembles.  It is both inward and outward for the disciples.

1.                  It is the "epiphany" that closes our season of Epiphany. The manifestation of God in the person of Jesus.

B.                 The word in Greek is metamorpho metamorphosis translated to Latin transfiguratus, transfigured: 

1.                  Perhaps you heard the word in biology class?  Probably our most familiar use is with the caterpillar who after the cocoon becomes the magnificent butterfly!  It refers to the real essence of a thing. 

2.                  We sometimes say "God sees our hearts" and indeed he does.  Our hearts are the REAL person that we are. 

C.                 When Jesus was "transfigured" before the disciples, the glory that is God was manifest. . The transfiguration says clearly that Jesus is the Messiah; that no matter how seemingly good, or meritorious other religions may seem, this Jesus is the Areal thing.

1.                  This glory of God, is the Hebrew word, Ashekinah is what God wants to place in the souls of the human race.  That glory that was lost to us by the sins of our first parents; that restoration of the wholeness and

 completeness of that image of God that he has bestowed upon each of us.

D.                Perhaps you've heard of the "shekinah" the Kabod, the glory of God.  It is the glory of God manifested in the Testament whenever the Spirit of God appeared or through those whom God acted.  It is the essence of God manifested to humanity.  It is like someone with cataracts having them removed or John Newton writing Amazing Grace: "was blind but now I see!" 

1.                  John speaks of Jesus as the Light in John chapter one. The angels announced his birth with shekinah to the shepherds.  It signifies,  it means "the dwelling" as in God dwelling among humanity. 

a.                   It means to reveal the true nature of a person; who they really are.  It is like one having cataracts removed they suddenly see clearly.

E.                 The Transfiguration is a view behind the scenes of God=s productions.

1.                  But this is not an illusion or special effects.

a.                   Moses, who gave the Laws given to him by God and Elijah, greatest of the prophets supporting all that Jesus is doing and about to do.

b.                  It prefigures the second coming of Christ in glory

(1)               The glory of God is present in the cloud just as at Mt. Sinai when Moses received the Law.

2.                  Today we see Jesus as the creed says Light from Light.

III.             In the Jewish Law and in both testaments it is written  and here quoting the words of Jesus,  " every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses."  (Matt 18)’  At the Transfiguration are Peter and James and John: the law fulfilled!  This is why Peter could later write: "we did not follow cleverly devised myths".  He had witnessed the miraculous signs from the catch of fish when he met Jesus, to the Ascension when Jesus was received into heaven.

A.                The voice of the Father is heard almost sharply saying:  This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.  Listen to Him!

1.                  Were there any more doubts about just who this was? It was this experience that the disciples would cling to as they say the Son of God crucified.  It was this experience that perhaps gave them the courage to face what lay ahead during the first Holy Week.

2.                  "Listen to Him"!  And in our age when there are thousands of voices clamoring for us to listen, let us make time to LISTEN to the voice of God's Spirit in our hearts.   

B.                                      The Transfiguration is a reminder that our faith claims Jesus as the Way, the Truth and the Life. It proclaims Him as the fulfillment of Judaism. The transfiguration is a defining moment for us if we would enter into the heart of God through Jesus the Messiah. 

I.                   What was God doing in this event?

A.                I believe He was galvanizing the faith of the inner three.  Have you ever seen those previews in movie theaters before our featured presentations?  They give you a peek of what is yet to come!

1.                  After this event, that shows IHS to be superior to Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets. Can you imagine their doubting His mission, even if outward circumstances seem to deny who he was?

a.                   So that later they would not lose hope or faith when the time of testing came.

2.                  God=s Epiphanies are all around us, yet most of the time we don't see them. Life goes on, God is around  us, but most of the time we take him for granted. We forget the light, the  transfiguration, the power and glory of Jesus Christ. We seldom see God's  glory in the world because we do not look or expect it.

a.                   Each Sunday God is transfigured in this Holy Eucharist, this Holy Communion..

B.                 Each Sunday God gives us the opportunity to see Christ in the person in the pew beside us as they are transfigured by his grace.

1.                  It has been said that if we could see the reality of Jesus Christ in those other brothers and sisters in Christ around us that we would be tempted to fall down in awe and worship before the reality that is.

2.                  One of my favorite Bible verses it found in 2 Corinthians 4:6 It reads: "For God you said 'let light shine out of darkness' has caused his Light to shine in our hearts to give the knowledge of his glory I the face of Christ.

 

In this country, people are desperate to find love at its core.  People are desperate for meaning. And Jesus Christ is meaning itself.  Once that intimate, loving, passionate and accepting, forgiving and long-suffering Savior has taken root in our souls, we will begin that wonderful process, that painful process, that long process of becoming transfigured in His light.  But then, that Divine Light will shine through us to others and they may see Jesus Christ and be drawn to him as in our hymn "I want to walk as a child of the Light"

In the collect today, we prayed: "O God, who before the passion of your only­ begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen. Let this be the prayer of our lives each and every moment of every day.

Epiphany 7 + A + 2014

Epiphany  VII+A       February 23,2014          The Rev. Robert R.M. Bagwell+

Leviticus 19:1-2,9-18                                                                                 Psalm 119:33-40

1 Corinthians 3:10-11,16-23                                                                      Matthew 5:38-48

After getting all Pope John Paul II's luggage loaded in the limo (and His Holiness doesn't travel light) in NYC, the driver notices that the Pope is still standing on the curb. "Excuse me, Your Holiness." says the driver, "Would you please take your seat so we can leave?" "Well, to tell you the truth," says the Pope, "They never let me drive at the Vatican, and I'd really like to drive today." "I'm sorry but I cannot let you do that. I'd lose my job! And what if something should happen?" protests the driver, wishing he'd never gone to work that morning

."There might be something extra in it for you," says the Pope. Reluctantly, the driver gets in the back as the Pope climbs in behind the wheel. The driver quickly regrets his decision when, after exiting the airport, the Supreme Pontiff floors it, accelerating the limo to 105mph."Please slow down, Your Holiness!!!," pleads the worried driver, but the Pope keeps the pedal to the metal until they hear sirens. "Oh, my God, I'm gonna lose my license," moans the driver.

The Pope pulls over and rolls down the window as the patrolman approaches, but the cop takes one look at him, goes back to his motorcycle, and gets on the radio. "I need to talk to the Chief," he says to the dispatch. The Chief gets on the radio and the cop tells him that he's stopped a limo going a hundred and five."So bust him," said the Chief."I think the guy's a big shot," said the cop."All the more reason.""No, I mean really a big shot," said the cop."

What'd ya got there, the Mayor?""Bigger.""Governor.""Bigger.""Well," said the Chief, "Who is it?"

"I don't know", said the cop, "but he's got the Pope driving for him."

We just prayed:  "O Lord, you have taught us that without love whatever we do is worth nothing:"  Our culture teaches us that "actions speak louder than words."   Most of us want to be judged on our good "intentions" even if the outcome of a situation is a disaster.   However people can rarely see our "intentions", but our actions are self evident.

I.                   Today our texts seem to convey a common theme.  They are a call to the mission and ministry God has called the church to undertake. What then is the Church?  If this building were not here, would this still St Thomas' Church? I would suggest that the unbelieving world would think so. I would also suggest that too many over the centuries may also have defined this in such terms.  When enemies of Christ have tried to stamp out the faith, they first seem to outlaw the gathering of Christians together. 

A.                That is the heart of the matter.  When we gather together, we are the Church.  The Church IS the people.  Do we realize that? The earliest Christians under persecution met in the Catacombs,  one of the "graveyards" of the population of the time.

B.                 The edifices we build are not the "church" (a word that means "assembly") but like a picture of a loved one.  They remind us of God and his people.  

1.                  We ARE God's people and are BECOMING God's people.  The Christian life is a journey of progress and regress.  It is only possible by the indwelling of God's Spirit who transforms us into the image of Christ.

C.                 If you have been confirmed in the years since 1979, you may have been taught the following in the Catechism.  It's in the Prayerbook, if you may not have noticed. On page 852 of the Book of Common prayer we are asked this question:

1.                  Q. What is the Church?  A. The Church is the community of the New Covenant…then

2.                   Q. How is the Church described in the Bible?  A. The Church is described as the Body of which Jesus Christ is the Head and of which all baptized persons are members. It is called the People of God, the New Israel, a holy nation, a royal priesthood, and the pillar and ground of truth.

D.                We are a Community, a Common unity engaged in Mission!  That is supposed to be US!!  We are the children who have inherited the family business: the business of God and His Kingdom. We internalize a new way of thinking, a new way of acting proactively rather than reactively.

1.                  In 1 Peter 2:9 we read: "But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. "

2.                  Sometimes the gospel "good news" is tough news, gospel is seemingly hurtful news!  This is not the simple love of the gospel but the response of what the Bible calls the "world, the flesh and the devil."  

a)                  Have you ever noticed how angry, how much in denial and how pretended in virtue are those as it were, "caught in the act?"  Jesus speaks of this in context of the LIGHT.  John speaks of this in chapter 3 of his gospel:

E.                  " For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. ¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son."  but then, the lesser heard verses that follow tell us: " ¹⁹ This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. ²⁰ Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. ²¹ But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God."

1.                 Have you ever noticed when someone is trying to get away with something they shouldn't do, they get angry and defensive when they get caught.  They cast blame everywhere but on themselves.  Maybe even you have been there.  I am sure that I have.

II.                We are leaving the season of Epiphany, a season of the Light, of manifestation and witness. We are coming up to a season we call the "holy season of Lent, of self-examination and revival." 

A.                I usually refer to Lent as "Spiritual Boot camp." The word merely means "spring".  What happens in Spring?  Things that appeared dead are starting to come back alive. It is a time of Spiritual Self-Examination as to where we are in our walk with God in Christ

B.                 Do we take advantage of opportunities that we have?  We don't need  more time for God, we need to MAKE TIME for God. How many of you know that we make time for things that are important to us?  1.                  Faith is upward moving, vertical to God.  Love on the other hand is outward moving, horizontal to our neighbor known or unknown. What is the Great Commandment from the prayerbook?  On page 321 we read: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.   Matthew 22:37-40   Familiar words…difficult words at times but they define our love to God and neighbor. Returning to the Catechism we read: 2.                  Q. What is the mission of the Church? 3.                  A. The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. 4.                  Q. How does the Church pursue its mission? 5.                  A. The Church pursues its mission as it prays and worships, proclaims the Gospel, and promotes justice, peace, and love. 6.                   Q. Through whom does the Church carry out its mission? 7.                  A.The church carries out its mission through the ministry of all its members.

III.             Pastor Tullian Tchividjian of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft Lauderdale says this :   A.                " Faith is vertical (it’s upward)—it’s trusting that everything I need and long for, I already have because of what Jesus has accomplished for me. Love, on the other hand, is horizontal (it’s outward)—because Jesus has done everything for me (faith) I can now do everything for you without needing you to do anything for me (love)." You could put it this way: love is faith worked out by us for our neighbor horizontally; faith is love worked into us from God vertically." B.                 Paul describes what this looks like in the Christian life saying to the Church in Galatia: 1.                  " But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.." (Galatians 5:22-23) Are we actively seeking to nurture those fruits in our daily lives?    2.                  It has well been said that "you may be the only Jesus that someone will ever see." What would Jesus do?  I would suggest that this is one of the most difficult passages in the gospels.  Our flesh resists it.  It takes God in us by the Holy Spirit to walk such a road.  It is "tough love" for every Christian. C.                 It is not a natural impulse to LOVE your enemies!  It is unnatural to turn the other                               cheek.  1.                  Jesus closes this section of the gospel in this way: " For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the unbelievers do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."  2.                  Well, he does have a point! Unnatural? Incidentally our Lord recalled for his audience what is written in modern case law, as it spoke about retaliation    a)                  But Jesus' point is this: the Holy Spirit is living in you, the urge to 'get even', self-justify, return  evil with good is natural to the flesh.  But it is unnatural as the Spirit gains more and more control in us as we "walk in the Spirit"  b)                  Paul says our foundation, the basis upon which everything in the Christian life stands is Jesus Christ. You are God's temple.  I shudder to think how I have defiled my temple since I received the grace of God in Jesus Christ.  (1)               He writes: in I Corinthians 3  "For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God."  Who is in the driver's seat of our lives?  I admit that I often want God to move over and let me drive.  (2)               One problem: I don't have a map to the specific destination!  As the fruits of the Spirit are more manifest in our daily living, we will move gradually into the Spirit of God and he into us. We must do more than speak, but our speaking must be reflected in our lives.    Let us return to the petition of the Collect:  "Send your Holy Spirit and pour into our hearts your greatest gift, which is love, the true bond of peace and of all virtue, without which whoever lives is accounted dead before you…."  The LOVE of God is all in all.  As we hear with our ears, may be receive in our hearts the Spirit of God each day that we may as one of our confessions say: "we may delight in his will and walk in his way to the glory of your Name."  AMEN

Epiphany 1 + Year A + The Baptism of Jesus

Epiphany 1 +A          12,  January AD  2014           Fr. Robert R.M. Bagwell+

Isaiah 42:1-9                                                                                                              Psalm 29    Acts 10:34-43                                                                                                         Matthew 3:13-17

There once was  a young man who was going into his "confirmation" interview with a semi retired priest.  He first asked the young man how many sacraments there were and to name them.  He then started his questions on Baptism and asked, "What happens to the baby when the water is poured on its head?"  The young man was so nervous by  this point that he blurted out, "it cries!!"

 

Epiphany--Baptism.  Those are the themes we enter this morning.  But beyond entering we encounter God as God intended it.  God the "big tent" Creator if you will.  Jesus the "big tent" savior.

 

Have you ever heard the expression: "I had an epiphany?"  Perhaps you've used it yourself.  An epiphany often happens when something that previously was puzzling or difficult to "figure out" becomes clear.  Remember the question and response:  get it? got it? good!" Holy Scripture is replete with such incidences when one of God's people "gets it"  and we again see one of the most profound of those in today's gospel.

 

Last Monday,  we began the second oldest liturgical season in the history of the church, that of Epiphany.  Only the period between Easter and Pentecost is older in Church tradition.  It=s name, AEpiphany@ is Greek because it is in the church in Greece that the feast was first celebrated.  What does it mean?  Does anyone know? 

 

It means Amanifestation@.  Light shining in darkness.  God's love overcoming the hatred of this world. If you will: revelation, proclamation and invitation. It speaks of God manifesting His power, His presence, His mighty actions in the world.  It may not seem that significant to us until we see what it is about.  It is about mission.

 

In the West, the tradition is to remember the three perhaps holy wise men, who along with many others of that day believed that something significant was about to happen in the world.  Some believed that a great one was to arise, a king or deliverer.  We do not know for sure how many of them there were.  We assume three because of the three gifts.

 

In the Eastern Church the focus is different.  If we should go to Tarpon Springs, Florida for the Epiphany festival, after several hours of liturgical prayers and singing, the time comes when the water is blessed.  It is the center, the high point of the celebration.  The Eastern Church focuses on the Baptism of Jesus on Epiphany.  What makes Jesus= Baptism so important? Because it is the archetype, the model for all baptisms, yours and mine.  In fact scripture only speaks of one baptism!  Ephesians 4 says " There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.."  It isn't your baptism or mine.  It's God's and Ours.

 

Theologians consider the baptism of Jesus the inauguration of his Messiah-ship if you will.  His commissioning for ministry.  Almost like an ordination. Before this time Jesus was presumably growing  in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man as Luke chapter 2 puts it.

 

Very early in the Bible, we have God's Name being proclaimed. Perhaps as early as Seth and Enoch in and later Noah in Genesis.  Some theologians call the charge God gave Adam, then Noah and lastly Abraham; covenants.  Like the covenant of marriage and the covenant of baptism. They are sacred charges between God and human beings. From the beginning God desired to bring the whole world back to himself. 

 

The prophet Isaiah wrote: " And foreigners who bind themselves to the Lord  … these I will bring to my holy mountain. and give them joy … Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” and  later he writes “‘Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other’” (Isa. 45:22).  I wonder if you knew that.

 

.So what happened?  They stuck to themselves.  Those other people don't need God.  He loves us--our God!  So in the fullness of time God sent his Son.  As a gospel  parable says: "perhaps they will hear my Son."  Have we heard him?  As we go through the baptismal covenant this morning, let us sincerely, individually, seriously look at what we are saying.  It's not an "I do" it is an "I will"--"we will".  We are a part of that mission.  We are EPIPHANY people--not just the clergy but ALL of the baptized.

 

What does Baptism mean to you?   What does YOUR baptism mean to you?   Is it something that just "happened a long time ago that really has no influence on my life today?"  Martin Luther said,  that baptism is "the daily garment which the Christian is to wear all of the time."   Today,  as we commemorate the baptism of the Lord Jesus, let us ask God  that each of us may find new depth of meaning in our own baptisms,  a new way of helping us to live each day in the life of God in His Son,  Jesus Christ, as Alittle Christs@ to the world, for that is what we are called to be. In the 1928 Prayer book service of holy baptism there is a "rubric" instruction for the parents to hand the child to the priest.  Small parental problem, there is not a rubric to tell the priest to give the child back!  Accidental?  I think not.  We are given to God in baptism.  We now belong to Him!

 

The manifestation of baptism is Christ in us the hope of glory.  I want to explain something to you about our "sacraments".  We name two primary and five secondary.  Sacrament is from the word "sacramentum"  and it refers to the oath Roman soldiers took to Caesar before going to war.  Every sacrament of the Church refers to an oath: the sacramentum.  Yes, we take oaths personally or in another's name with infants, at baptism.  We take oaths at confirmation, We take oaths at marriage and ordination.  The thing about the Christian "oaths" is that Christianity is the only religion where God takes the oath first and God will not break the oath although we surely will.  The oath of Jesus begins in the covenant of salvation and proceeds with "signs".  Every sacrament has at least one sign.  What do signs do?  They tell you something, a message, or they point to something, a direction.  So it is with sacraments.  They all speak of God's love for us in his son Jesus Christ.  In that sense, we can say they are signs of love, manifestations, epiphanies of Christ living in us and our living in Him.  They are our commission and we are God's army of peace, love and redemption. God doesn't make "secret disciples."  He makes "ambassadors or Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:20)  But we must own our commission…our co-Mission! If not we then who?  Epiphany is a recall to action, love and faith.

 

A priest  once called on a man who was baptized but not a believer.  The man frequently attended church; he had been baptized many, many  years before.  He was showing the priest  around the house, and he  pointed out his framed baptismal certificate, saying , "I was baptized in our church, you know."  The priest  replied, "Ah, your baptismal  certificate.  Very good.  Tell me, when are you going to cash it in?"

 

Baptism is like a check from Almighty God with your name on it, but you must endorse it or it cannot be cashed. 

 

What is our mission and purpose? As St Paul wrote: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— ⁹ not by works, so that no one can boast. ¹⁰ For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do". Ephesians 2 

 

In a moment we will reiterate the Covenant of Baptism.  Let us take these to heart, not reading from the Prayer book only, but reading from the heart.  One of my favorite verses in the Bible is this:  For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness ^] made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ " .2 Corinthians 4:6

 

In the hymn: "God Himself is with Us" we read:

 

Thou pervadest all things;
let thy radiant beauty
light mine eyes to see my duty.
As the tender flowers
eagerly unfold them,
to the sunlight calmly hold them,
so let me quietly
in thy rays imbue me;
let thy light shine through me.

 

Let that Light of the face of Jesus be our face to him, to one another and to the world.