The Transfiguration: Story of Christian Axiology

Last Epiphany C         February 7, 2016

Exodus 34:29-35     Ps. 99

2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2    Luke 9:28-36    

Lectionary Link

  Have you ever done an honest axiology review of your life?  You might say, "Well, I don't know.  Depends upon what axiology means."  Axiology is a study of values.  Have you done a Values Review of your life?  In a general sense we know that our values are expressed in how we use the time, talent and treasure of our lives.  But how can one do a more thorough and explicit value review?  An honest value review.  We can sometimes be like those who answer the poll questions with the politically correct answers which betray what we really feel or believe.
  How can one do an honest axiology review?  It does no good to say our values are what we wish them to be if our current life is not expressive of those desired ideal values.   To do an honest value review, I suggest people do in private their own top 10 lists.  What are the best 10 things that have happened to you?  What are your top ten favorite things to do?  Who are the 10 most influential persons in your life?  Who are the 10 people you have loved the most in your life?  What are the 10 top ideas which have influenced you or changed your life. 
  By doing these top 10 lists we can attain an honest distribution of our real values because our values are truly reflected in how the desires and loves of our lives are projected upon the people, things, ideas and activities of our lives.  And if we can do a personal axiological review, what about doing one on our parish community?  What are the true values of St. John the Divine as a community?
  The entire New Testament was written because continuous groups of people came to value the life, ministry and the continuing witness of Jesus Christ.  The early Christian embedded the ways in which they valued Jesus in the stories which they shared about him.  And in sharing their stories they had their own top 10 lists of valued people.  Who did the contemporaries of Jesus value?  They valued the living; they valued John the Baptist.  But they also valued people in their tradition, the great figures who had given them their community identity.  Who were these great people?  Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Samuel, Deborah, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elijah, Elisha, Ezekiel, Nehemiah and Ezra.  And when times are really bad what does one wish for?  One has a nostalgia for people who are like the great people of the past to return and bring back the order of life that was represented by these great people.  And what happens when one meets the new person of value, the new love of one's life.  The new love is so special and beyond comparison and one waxes poetic to speak about a special person, but one also has to use comparison to speak about the surpassing greatness of the one who is the new love of one's life.
  The early Christians were in love with Jesus Christ.  They could be said to be "madly" in love with Jesus.  And they inherited comparative ways to speak about how much they valued Jesus.  The used the poetic comparative forms to speak about Jesus.  They compared him with other great people.  They used geographical metaphors, metaphors from physics and metaphors from weather and climate.
  A common metaphor for a superlative experience is to say, "it was a mountain top experience."  This is a common expression whether one is speaking about a religious experience or whether a hippie is praising a pharmacological event.  Mountain top experiences have biblical bases.  Moses and Elijah were mountain men; they were regarded to be people who went to the highest human experiential places where the natural met the spiritual and the two became so mingled that experience became fuzzy and cloudy and yet within the mingling of natural and spiritual there occurred the experience of light.  For the spiritual experiences of highest value the Gospel writers used  the familiar poetic metaphors of the geography of mountain top, the physics of light, and the weather and climatic effects of clouds to extol the value of the experience.
  Christians came to know the value of Jesus; he was valued more than the law of Moses; he was valued more than the prophetic witness of Elijah.  The followers of Jesus fell in love with him and this love determined his value to their lives.  This love of Jesus shared within their community created an effervescence which resulted in the creation and maintenance of communities of "lovers of Jesus Christ."  The New Testament is the literature which derived from the communities of people who came to love Jesus Christ.
  The Gospel story of the Transfiguration is a story of the superlative axiology or value of Jesus Christ to the people who were completely taken by Him.  And why is the word Transfiguration important?  Transfiguration is a translation of the Greek word from which derives the English word metamorphosis.
  What does love do to a person?  Love transforms the person.  It can make one "bat silly" and irrational.  Love of the Risen Christ is the power which drives Christian metamorphosis, Christian transfiguration and spiritual transformation.
  What is the one of the results of conducting an honest value survey?  Self-disillusionment.  Now that I am honest about the things which I value, how do I change some of the habitual value behaviors which I seem to be so programmed to follow?
  In the experience of self disillusionment about some of our inferior values which control our lives, we come to know that we always need the intervention of the power of the One with the Highest Values.  And this is when we experience the need to be in Love of Jesus Christ because that love attraction is the experience of the Higher Power which is going to drive our metamorphosis into the Christly values which we do not yet fully express in our lives.
  The story of the Transfiguration of Jesus is the story of the love which the early Christians had for Jesus; they believed that their love for Jesus could drive the continuous transformation, transfiguration, metamorphosis of their lives toward the higher values which could help in the continuous process of surpassing of themselves in future states.
  Today, we are welcomed to the transfiguration of our lives through our love of Jesus Christ.  May this love always beckon us to higher values as we seek to surpass ourselves in future states.  Amen.

Sunday School, February 7, 2016 Last Epiphany C

Sunday School, February 7, 2016  Last Sunday after the Epiphany

Themes:

The last Sunday before the Lenten fast from the word Alleluia.

Saving this special word of celebration for the Easter celebration.  During Lent we do not use this special word of celebration.

Event: Make a “mock” coffin and put the word “Alleluia” in it and put it in a “burial place” for Lent.

Other themes:

Mountain tops in the geography of the Bible.  Important things happened on the tops of mountains.

The Story of Moses:  He received the Law, the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai.  When he received the Law, he got so close to God that his face shone.  Mount Sinai was covered with clouds so that people could not see the presence of God.

Elijah had special experiences on top of mountains.  On Mount Carmel, he challenged the prophets of the god Baal.  And the God of Elijah sent down fire from heaven.  When Elijah was in a Mountain cave, he had a special experience of God speaking to him in a “still small voice.”

Moses and Elijah had special endings to their lives on earth.  Moses had an unwitnessed death and God buried Moses.   Elijah was carried away into heaven on the chariots of fire.  So Moses and Elijah were like “space men.”  They could travel back and forth from the heavenly space to the earthly space.  So Moses and Elijah met with Jesus and three of his disciple on the Mount of Transfiguration.  In this special event, the voice of God declared Jesus to be God’s chosen Son.  This declaration was witnessed by Moses, Elijah, Peter, James and John.

Mountains are the highest places on earth.  They symbolize the place where earth touches the sky.  They symbolize the event of the God experience of men and women.

Each of us has a “mountain top” within us where God meets us and shows us how important Jesus is to our lives.

Sermon

Today the Last Sunday of the Season of Epiphany.  And it is also called transfiguration Sunday.

  We have read the story about how the face of Jesus shone very bright.  And we have made some sunshine haloes to wear today to remember the transfiguration of Jesus.

  Do you think that you could ever make your face shine like a light bulb?

  Let’s try something.  Let us try to make our faces look real sad.  Can you do that?  And what if we walked around all of the time with sad faces?  Would you like that?  No, the world would seem dark, if we had to have sad faces all of the time.

  Okay, let switch.  Let make happy faces and faces of surprise and excitement.  Isn’t that better?  When we have faces of happiness, joy and gladness, doesn’t it make it seem as though our faces are shining?

  When do you have a happy face?  When good things happen to you.  When some one is kind and nice to you.  We smile and we get happy.  When we are happy our face is full of light.

  So we should learn to make our faces shine with happiness.  And we should learn how to make the faces of other people shine with joy and happiness.

  The word Gospel means good news.  To receive the good news about God’s love makes us happy.  It makes our faces shine.  And there are many people who help us to have good news in our lives.

  But getting good news and being happy is not enough.  We need to do something else.  We need to learn how to make the faces of other people shine with happiness.  How can we do that?

  By being kind.  By helping.  By loving.

  When you play nicely with your friends and brothers and sisters, you make them happy.  You make your parents happy when you help with house work.  You make your parent happy when you study hard.  And your parents love to make you happy by doing nice things for us.

  So remember today, the Transfiguration of Jesus when his face shone with a bright light.

  We too can have faces that shine with happiness and joy because of the good things in our life.  And also we can help the faces of other people shine with happiness and joy as we practice love and kindness.

  Okay let me see your best happy face!  Wow is room getting bright.  I’m going to have to put on my sun glasses. 

St. John the Divine Episcopal Church

17740 Peak Avenue, Morgan Hill, CA 95037

Family Service with Holy Eucharist

February 7, 2016: The Last Sunday after the Epiphany

Gathering Songs: Climb up Sunshine Mountain; Shine, Jesus, Shine; You are My All in All; Awesome God

Liturgist: Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

People: And blessed be God’s kingdom, now and for ever.  Amen.

Liturgist:  Oh God, Our hearts are open to you.

And you know us and we can hide nothing from you.

Prepare our hearts and our minds to love you and worship you.

Through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Song: Climb, Climb up Sunshine Mountain (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 30)

Climb, climb up sunshine mountain heavenly breezes blow.  Climb, climb up sunshine mountain faces all aglow.  Turn, turn from sin and doubting, look to God on high.  Climb, climb up Sunshine Mountain, you and I.

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

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, for ever and ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Chant: Alleluia

O God, you are Great!  Alleluia

O God, you have made us! Alleluia

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Alleluia

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Alleluia

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Alleluia

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Alleluia

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Alleluia

Liturgist: A reading from the Book of Genesis

Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 99

The LORD is great in Zion; * he is high above all peoples.

Let them confess his Name, which is great and awesome; * he is the Holy One.

Litany Phrase: Thanks be to God! (chanted)

Litanist:

For the good earth, for our food and clothing. Thanks be to God!

For our families and friends. Thanks be to God!

For the talents and gifts that you have given to us. Thanks be to God!

For this day of worship. Thanks be to God!

For health and for a good night’s sleep. Thanks be to God!

For work and for play. Thanks be to God!

For teaching and for learning. Thanks be to God!

For the happy events of our lives. Thanks be to God!

For the celebration of the birthdays and anniversaries of our friends and parish family.

   Thanks be to God!

Liturgist:         The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to Luke

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

About eight days after Peter had acknowledged Jesus as the Christ of God, 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.

Liturgist:         The Gospel of the Lord.

People:            Praise to you, Lord Christ.

Sermon – Father Phil

Children’s Creed

We did not make ourselves, so we believe that God the Father is the maker of the world.

Since God is so great and we are so small,

We believe God came into our world and was born as Jesus, son of the Virgin Mary.

We need God’s help and we believe that God saved us by the life, death and

     resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We believe that God is present with us now as the Holy Spirit.

We believe that we are baptized into God’s family the Church where everyone is

     welcome.

We believe that Christ is kind and fair.

We believe that we have a future in knowing Jesus Christ.

And since we all must die, we believe that God will preserve us forever.  Amen.

Litany Phrase: Christ, have mercy.

For fighting and war to cease in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For peace on earth and good will towards all. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety of all who travel. Christ, have mercy.

For jobs for all who need them. Christ, have mercy.

For care of those who are growing old. Christ, have mercy.

For the safety, health and nutrition of all the children in our world. Christ, have mercy.

For the well-being of our families and friends. Christ, have mercy.

For the good health of those we know to be ill. Christ, have mercy.

For the remembrance of those who have died. Christ, have mercy.

For the forgiveness of all of our sins. Christ, have mercy.

Youth Liturgist:          The Peace of the Lord be always with you.

People:                        And also with you.

Song during the preparation of the Altar and the receiving of an offering

Offertory Hymn: Shine, Jesus Shine (Renew! # 247)

Lord the light of your love is shining, in the midst of the darkness shining. Jesus, light of the world, shine upon us. Set us free by the truth you now bring us. Shine on me.  Shine on me.

Refrain: Shine Jesus Shine, fill this land with the Father’s glory.  Blaze, Spirit, blaze set our hearts on fire.  Flow, rivers, flow, fill the nations with thy grace and mercy.  Send forth your word, Lord, and let there be light.

Doxology

Praise God from whom all blessings flow. Praise Him, all creatures here below.

Praise Him above, ye heavenly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Prologue to the Eucharist

Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, for to them belong the kingdom of heaven.”

All become members of a family by birth or adoption.

Baptism is a celebration of birth into the family of God.

A family meal gathers and sustains each human family.

The Holy Eucharist is the special meal that Jesus gave to his friends to keep us together as the family of Christ.

The Lord be with you

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to God.

It is right to give God thanks and praise.

It is very good and right to give thanks, because God made us, Jesus redeemed us and the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts.  Therefore with Angels and Archangels and all of the world that we see and don’t see, we forever sing this hymn of praise:

Holy, Holy, Holy (Intoned)

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Power and Might.  Heav’n and earth are full of your glory.

Hosanna in the highest.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. 

Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna in the Highest.

All may gather around the altar

The Celebrant now praises God for the salvation of the world through

Jesus Christ our Lord.

Our grateful praise we offer to you God, our Creator;

You have made us in your image

And you gave us many men and women of faith to help us to live by faith:

Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachael.

And then you gave us your Son, Jesus, born of Mary, nurtured by Joseph

And he called us to be sons and daughters of God.

Your Son called us to live better lives and he gave us this Holy Meal so that when we eat

  the bread and drink the wine, we can  know that the Presence of Christ is as near to us as  

  this food and drink  that becomes a part of us.

And so, Father, we bring you these gifts of bread and wine. Bless and sanctify them by your Holy Spirit to be for your people the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.  Sanctify us by your Holy Spirit so that we may love God and our neighbor.

On the night when Jesus was betrayed he took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread, and gave it to his friends, and said, "Take, eat: This is my Body, which is given for you. Do this for the remembrance of me."

After supper, Jesus took the cup of wine, gave thanks, and said, "Drink this, all of you. This is my Blood of the new Covenant, which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins. Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me."

Father, we now celebrate the memorial of your Son. When we eat this holy Meal of Bread and Wine, we are telling the entire world about the life, death and resurrection of Christ and that his presence will be with us in our future.

Let this holy meal keep us together as friends who share a special relationship because of your Son Jesus Christ.  May we forever live with praise to God to whom we belong as sons and daughters.

By Christ, and with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit all honor and glory

 is yours, Almighty Father, now and for ever. AMEN.

And now as our Savior Christ has taught us, we now sing,

(Children rejoin their parents and take up their instruments)

Our Father: (Renew # 180, West Indian Lord’s Prayer)

Our Father who art in heaven:  Hallowed be thy name.

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done: Hallowed be thy name.

Done on earth as it is in heaven: Hallowed be thy name.

Give us this day our daily bread: Hallowed be thy name.

And forgive us all our debts: Hallowed be thy name.

As we forgive our debtors: Hallowed be thy name.

Lead us not into temptation: Hallowed be thy name.

But deliver us from evil: Hallowed be thy name.

Thine is the kingdom, power, and glory: Hallowed be thy name.

Forever and ever: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Amen, amen, amen: Hallowed be thy name.

Breaking of the Bread

Celebrant:       Alleluia! Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast.  Alleluia!

Words of Administration

Communion Hymn: You are My All in All (WR#427)

You are my strength when I am weak, you are the Treasure that I seek, you are my All in All. Seeking you as a precious jewel, Lord, to give up I’d be a fool, you are my All in All! Jesus, Lamb of God, Worthy is your name. Jesus, Lamb of God, Worthy is your name.

Post-Communion Prayer

Everlasting God, we have gathered for the meal that Jesus asked us to keep;

We have remembered his words of blessing on the bread and the wine.

And His Presence has been known to us.

We have remembered that we are sons and daughters of God and brothers

    and sisters in Christ.

Send us forth now into our everyday lives remembering that the blessing in the

     bread and wine spreads into each time, place and person in our lives,

As we are ever blessed by you, O Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Closing Song: Awesome God (Renew! # 245)

Our God is an awesome God, he reigns from heaven above, with wisdom, power and love.

(Sung three times)

Dismissal:   

Liturgist: Let us go forth in the Name of Christ. 

People: Thanks be to God! 

Transfiguration as Process of Life

Last Epiphany c          February 10, 2013

Exodus 34:29-35     Ps. 99

2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2    Luke 9:28-36    

   

Lectionary Link

   How did many of our favorite fairy tales end?  They ended with these words, “And they all lived happily ever after.”  We know it isn’t exactly true even though we like to promote optimism with our children.  Even though we know it really would be “they all lived happily until they finally died.”

  Living happily ever after is suggestion about a state of bliss in a world where bliss is not the only experience.  One of the functions of art, music and religion is to “transport” us to access a place within our own experience where we touch the sublime, the eternal and the blissful.  It really is not escapism unless it hinders the realistic dealing with all of the other experiences in our lives.

  The Bible and the Gospels are literature; they are art, they are stories.  They are transporting stories.  They are not exact representations of reality.  When we read about Jesus bringing Lazarus back to life that is where the story ends; we don’t read about Lazarus getting old and dying a slow painful death.  Today, on Transfiguration Sunday, you noticed that we read the aftermath of coming down from the mountain top experience; Jesus whispers the inner life of a child and that child is freed from a terrible inner torment.  But that’s all we know about the child; did he have a relapse?  Did he become a disciple?  Or did he get arrested for stealing chariot wheels in Jerusalem?  Gospel stories give us such time lapsed scenarios and the phenomenon of time lapsing tricks us to another better place within ourselves.

  The Gospel is a spiritual literary art that transports us to another place, a parallel existence that we can access in our lives.  And this other place is perhaps an ongoing process of life; this on-going process of life can also be called the life of the Holy Spirit.  And another name for this life process is transfiguration. A pessimistic materialist might say that the main process of life is called entropy or a running out of energy in life but does not energy just change form and shape and what ends or dies is transformed into another shape or form or manifestation of energy?  Transfiguration is the English word for translating the Greek word from which we get metamorphosis. 

   Our encounter with metamorphosis came in our elementary school science classes.  We studied the phases of life of frogs and butterflies and moths.   We watched little fuzzy-wuzzy caterpillars appear to go lifeless in the pupa or cocoon phase, and if we were lucky we would see the butterfly break out of the cocoon and take to flight.  And this entire process of change is called metamorphosis.  We don’t so much know why it happens; we can but record and witness that it does happen and try to name this marvelous process.

  Metamorphosis is incognito in many costumes; the tiny egg, the larva, the pupa and finally the butterfly that in turn lays the eggs.  Metamorphosis or transfiguration is the energy of life, the life force that pulsates through all of life and this force is impartial to all of it guises.  We on the other hand are human and all too human and we in community become very attached to certain appearances and manifestations of the process of metamorphosis.  If we took a survey, probably most people would prefer to look at butterflies rather than tiny eggs, caterpillar or cocoons.   In human vestiges we perhaps all have favorite states of appearance; we want to have the wisdom of Methuselah and the physical prowess of Adonis and the beauty of Venus.  It is very human to be attached to certain states of our manifest appearances.  But metamorphosis does not discriminate; it gives us no choice.  Metamorphosis is equal in the egg, in the larva, in the cocoon and in the butterfly even though it does not seem to be equal in the experience of each phase.

  The process of this life force of Transfiguration provides us with encounters of an enchanted kind.  Such an enchanted kind is chronicled in the mountain trek of Jesus, Peter, James and John.   In the state of enchantment the interior life of people become like incredible projectors putting in their environment things, people and events not normally seen:  Clouds and lights and space travelers of two saints of old who did not have natural deaths, Moses and Elijah.  If a Jewish person were influenced and formed by the Sadduceean tradition, they would honor Moses as the final authority.  Pharisees and other Judaic sects allowed that the writings and acts of the prophets were authoritative. So Moses and Elijah were seen in the visionary event as endorsing Jesus to be the Successor within the line of salvation history. But beyond Moses and Elijah came the testimony of the direct heavenly voice of the Speaker who declared Jesus to be the beloved Son.  

  This enchanting experience was like a dream that one does not want to wake up from.  Peter was so nervous with enchantment, he suggested that they build temporary dwellings in honor of the three so they could camp out and stay awhile.  And why would anyone want to leave the event when enchantment awakens us to the appearance of discovering a person with whom one experiences love and friendship and guidance and comfort and warmth and light.  The transfiguration process of life became apparent in a most poignant way in the way in which Peter, James and John encountered Jesus.

  But they could not remain on the mountain top in the preferred state of ecstatic encounter; they had to go down into the “demon possessed” valley.  The reality of transfiguration on the mountain top had to accomplish some creative reclamation within the valley of chaos.  And we sure do not like the ugly states of chaos in the phases of transformation.  But transfiguration does not avoid the valley of chaos and the demon possessed.  The power of transfiguration is evident in the life of Jesus to do some serious people whispering in the valley of the demon possessed.  Transfiguration does not keep Jesus or us in the state of spiritual ecstasy; it brings us into the world where apparently chaos reigns.  We who have been transfigured need to activate our transfiguring energy; we need to activate our life force as personal charisma or graceful creativity and do some people whispering ourselves to help each other and the people to whom we are called to come into new states of mental and spiritual peace.

  We need to find the rhythm of transfiguration within our lives; learning to be recharged in the ecstatic of the sublime, but then called to release and advance transfiguring energy for people who need their lives whispered to the next creative and peaceful state of existence.

  You and I are called to the transfigured life.  It is a process of God’s Holy Spirit that impels us through many apparent states; sometimes we’re breathless with awe and wonder and sometimes we’re holding on in intense waiting for what seems an interminably delay of transformation into the next phase.  Transfiguring life is equal and same in all phases, even though we naturally prefer certain phases over others.

  Let us embrace Transfiguration as the Creative process of God’s Spirit within us now and within the life of our world.  And let us make ourselves available to the power of transfiguration to be people who are willing to whisper the lives of other people to a greater sense of peace, love, care and kindness.  Let the transfiguring Spirit of God within us be a heavenly voice that says to each person:  You are God’s beloved and unique and special son and daughter.  And God is pleased with you.  Amen.