Feast of the Transfiguration
Feb 27, 2022

Luke 9: 28-36

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah “ – not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen. 

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Something to Do

…and went up on the mountain to pray

Jesus often goes away to pray – up mountains, into gardens, off to quiet places. Sometimes he goes alone and sometimes he takes friends with him.

Go away to pray sometime this week. Go somewhere that feels like a praying place. Go somewhere that does not feel like a praying place. Go alone. Go with a friend.

What does prayer feel like in those different situations?
 

Stay awake

Peter and his companions were weighed down by sleep but, since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory

Sometimes, the temptation to stop paying attention and just fall asleep is very hard to resist. Challenge yourself to stay awake (not necessarily by not going to bed!) and watch for signs of the glory of God even in the midst of trouble – or of tedium.

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Something to Wonder

A conversation with your teachers

What questions do you think Jesus had for Moses and Elijah?
What questions do you think Moses and Elijah had for Jesus?

If you could meet with one or two of your most significant life teachers, what would you ask them? What they ask you? How would you answer?

“This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him.”

What does it mean for us, in 2022, to listen to Jesus?

Are there methods you have found effective in listening to Jesus? What are they? Why are do they work?
Do you struggle with the instruction to listen to Jesus? Why do you think that is?

Have you ever been sure you were hearing Jesus (or, more broadly, God)? What was that like?

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Something to Learn

Looking to Lent – Burying the Alleluia

This Sunday is not only the Feast of the Transfiguration, it is also the last Sunday before Lent. As such, it is the last day on which alleluia! will ring out before the joyful celebration of Easter morning.

The practice of fasting from alleluia marks Lent as a season of somber reflection rather than easy joy and calls on us to find other ways to offer our praise to God – ways like making space for reflection and self-awareness through fasting or by offering gifts and acts of love and generosity to those in need or focusing more thoughtfully on prayer or study. Instead of shouting with joy, we whisper our confession, our thanks, and our desire to know God more fully. In this way, we prepare ourselves for the fullness of the celebration of the Resurrection at Easter.

Burying the alleluia is a way of marking the movement into our Lenten observance. Read more about the custom here.

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Something to Pray

Holy God, we do not always understand your word or your ways. 
Give us wisdom and imagination and courage as we learn and grow. 

The story this week has made me wonder about…
         (what questions are still on your heart?)
Receive my questions and help me hear your answers.

The story this week has filled me with…
         (how are you feeling?)
Accept my praise, heal my hurt, ease my worry.

The story this week has reminded me of…
         (are there situations or people you are thinking of?)
Be with all who are in need of you.

In Jesus’ name, we pray.
Amen.

Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany
Feb 20, 2022
(a rerun Story at Home from February 2019)

1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven. What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 

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Something to Do

Waiting for Spring

It’s nearing the end of February, the end of months and months of snow and ice and cold.  It can be hard to believe that spring will ever come…but it will. Paul reminds us that the miracle of Resurrection is built into the very order of creation.  Bare seeds are planted in the earth and green life comes forth.
 
Plant a seed this week. Check out this guide for an easy seed starting kit.

Appreciating Winter

It’s the end of February.  Winter will only be with us for a short while longer.  Go out and find a way to enjoy it.  The first man was made of dust – make one out of snow.  You are made of flesh and blood – rejoice in your body’s ability to keep you warm (with help from the right clothes, of course!) and go for a skate or a skit or a snowshoe tramp.  The perishable will not last for ever – enjoy it while you can!   

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Something to Wonder

“What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.”

Paul reminds us that Resurrection is built into the very order of creation.

Where in your life have you experienced resurrection?
What might be buried now, in preparation for new life?
What might you need to allow to die in order to experience new life?

“…you know that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.” 

We are not only set free after resurrection.  We are set free now, in this life.  Knowing that death and sin have lost their power, we can confront injustice and suffering knowing that the victory is assured – even if we can’t see it now. 

What does that promise mean to you?  How might you remind yourself of this promise when things are hard?

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Something to Learn

The Resurrection of the Body

We usually think of life-after-death in terms of an immortal soul that leaves our bodies behind when we die but where does this idea come from and what does it mean?  These two (very brief) essays, one by the dean of an ecumencial evangelical seminary and one by an Orthodox priest, discuss the source of this philosophy and the implications of the Biblical idea of the bodily resurrection.
 
What do we gain from a bodily resurrection? by Timothy George, Beeson Divinity School
 
The Immortal Soul and the Resurrected Body by Fr. Ted Bobosh, Orthodox Church in America.

Purgatory

“Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed…”
Paul doesn’t know how we will be changed – but he knows that our mortal bodies are not equipped for immortality and so, since we have been promised freedom from death, he knows we will be changed somehow. And it is not only our mortal bodies that need to be changed – we need to come to bear the image of the man of heaven, rather than of dust.
 
The idea of purgatory is, in part, an attempt to deal with this sense that we are not, as we are, ready for heaven.  Turn to wikipedia for a primer on purgatory.  
 
Lucy Maud Montgomery, author of the Anne of Green Gables books and an astute Presbyterian theological thinker, reflected on the need to ready yourself for heaven by the way you live your life on earth.  Otherwise, the beauty of heaven might be experienced as a condemnation of a selfish life.  Purgatory can, perhaps, be shifted from the afterlife to this one.

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Something to Pray

Holy God, we do not always understand your word or your ways. 
Give us wisdom and imagination and courage as we learn and grow. 

The story this week has made me wonder about…
         (what questions are still on your heart?)
Receive my questions and help me hear your answers.

The story this week has filled me with…
         (how are you feeling?)
Accept my praise, heal my hurt, ease my worry.

The story this week has reminded me of…
         (are there situations or people you are thinking of?)
Be with all who are in need of you.

In Jesus’ name, we pray.
Amen.