Sunday School, March 1, 2020 1 Lent A

Sunday School, March 1, 2020   1 Lent A

Themes for Sunday School about the Temptation of Jesus

We believe that even though Jesus is God, he was human that he was bi-lingual.  He could speak the language of God and he could also speak our human language because he lived and faced the good and bad things in life.  And Jesus faced the hard tests in lives.  We call some of these tests, temptations.

What was the temptation of Jesus about?  Jesus faced an inner enemy, Satan, who came to Jesus as a lying and an accusing voice.  He tried to trick Jesus by lying about some things.

Is food good for you?

Is fame and recognition okay?

Is dying something that will happen to everyone?

Yes, yes, yes.

Is too much food and food at the wrong time go for you?  No.  So we have to learn how and when to eat food in the right amounts at the right time.  Food is like drink and many things that we need in life; we need to choose to use them in the right time and right amounts.  If we take too much food and don’t share food with others who need it then we use food wrongly.   If we eat too much food we can make ourselves sick and unhealthy.  When God the Father wanted Jesus to fast, Satan tried to get Jesus to disobey his father and forget his fast.

Has Jesus become famous?  How?  By dying on the cross and by rising again and by bringing good news to billions of people through the Holy Spirit.  Satan tried to trick Jesus in making seek fame by disobeying God the Father and God’s plan for making Jesus famous in our lives.

Does everyone die?  Yes.  Should we make ourselves die or cause someone else to die?  No.  We want to live in the right way.  We want to die in the right way.  Satan wanted Jesus to jump from a high place so that when he fell some angels would catch him.  But this was not the way Jesus was to die or be rescued.  How did Jesus die?  On the cross.  How was he rescued from death?  By his resurrection.

Can we be tempted to use food and many good things in our lives to use them in the wrong way, at the wrong time and by over using good things.  Yes.  So we need to learn how to use all of the good things in God’s creation properly for our own good and for the good of others in the world.

Is fame and recognition okay?  Yes, because we from childhood need to have self-esteem.  We need to be told that God’s loves us, cares for us and we need caring people in our lives to tell us that we are important for them.  We do seek to be famous, we seek to be as good as we can and we work hard to make a difference in the world.  Sometimes we might be recognized by others for what we do and sometimes we might not.  Remember the best reward and the best fame is when we do good.  Nobody else can make us really good and important.  Satan tried to tell Jesus that he could make him famous and Jesus knew that he was lying.  Jesus did not want the kind of fame that Satan offered.  Remember bad people in life have a different kind of fame than good people.  We want good people fame because we want to inspire others to be good.

Will we all die?  We should not be tempted from anger or self-anger to ever hurt others or ourselves.  When we die and how we die is not our choice and so we look to Jesus to obey God by having faith to place our life and death in God’s hand.  What we can know from Jesus is that when we die, God will resurrect and preserve us in the only special way that God can.

Sermon

  Is chocolate cake good?  Is it okay to like chocolate cake?  Is candy good?  Is it okay to like candy?  Is playing outside fun?  Is it okay to play outside?

  Is it okay to eat ten pieces of chocolate cake?  No, why not?  It might make you sick.  And your body needs other kinds of food besides chocolate cake.

  Is it okay to ten pieces of candy?  No.  Because your body needs other foods and getting too much sugar is not good for you.

  Is it okay to play outside, when you still have lots of homework to do?  Or when your Mom has told you that it is time to come in and take your bath or clean your room?

  So, eating cake, eating candy and playing outside.  All of these things are good things.  But they can be bad things, if they are done at the wrong time.

  And I am going to teach you a new word.  Temptation.  Temptation is when we get tricked into doing something at the wrong time.

  Speeding in the car might be good for a racer on the race track.  But is it good on the streets of the city?  No.  But sometimes drivers drive too fast in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  So how can we learn to deal with temptation?    We learn to do all good things at the right time.  God gives us parents to help us do the right things at the right time.  And sometimes it is hard for us to hear our parents say no to us.  Our parents might say, “Wait and eat your cake after you eat a good healthy meal.”  They might say, “Eat only one piece of candy and then brush your teeth.”

  They might say, “Put on your helmet when you ride your bike and do not ride in the street.”

  God gives you parents and teachers to help us do the right things at the right time.  And parents too, they need to learn to do the right things at the right time in their behavior too.

  Jesus was tempted by the devil.  The devil tried to get Jesus to do things in the wrong time.  And he did not follow the devil.  He followed God his Father.

  Jesus showed us that we can learn to do the right things at the right time.  How many of you want to learn to do the right things at the right time?  If you learn to do this, you will learn to say no to temptation.  Amen.

Intergeneration Family Service with Holy Eucharist

March 1, 2020: The First Sunday in Lent

Gathering Songs: It’s Me O Lord,  As a Deer, Yield Not To Temptation,  Simple Gifts

Liturgist: Bless the Lord who forgives all of our sins.

People: God’s mercy endures forever.  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: It’s Me O Lord (LEVAS, # 797 or CCS, # 210)

Refrain: It’s me, it’s me, it’s me, O Lord.  Standing in the need of prayer.  It’s me, it’s me, it’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.

Not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me O Lord.  Standing in the need of prayer.  Not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me, O Lord.  Standing in the need of prayer. Refrain

Not the stranger, not the neighbor but it’s me O Lord.  Standing in the need of prayer.  Not the stranger, not the neighbor but it’s me O Lord.  Standing in the need of prayer.  Refrain

Liturgist:         The Lord be with you.

People:            And also with you.

Liturgist:  Let us pray

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Litany of Praise: Praise be to God! (chanted)

O God, you are Great!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have made us! Praise be to God!

O God, you have made yourself known to us!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have provided us with us a Savior!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have given us a Christian family!  Praise be to God!

O God, you have forgiven our sins!  Praise be to God!

O God, you brought your Son Jesus back from the dead!  Praise be to God!

Liturgist: A reading from the Book Genesis

The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die." Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God say, `You shall not eat from any tree in the garden'?" The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, `You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Liturgist: The Word of the Lord

People: Thanks be to God

Liturgist: Let us read together from Psalm 32

I said," I will confess my transgressions to the LORD." * Then you forgave me the guilt of my sin.

Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in time of trouble; * when the great waters overflow, they shall not reach them.

You are my hiding-place; you preserve me from trouble; * you surround me with shouts of deliverance.

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way that you should go; * I will guide you with my eye.

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 Matthew

People:            Glory to you, Lord Christ.

After Jesus was baptized, he was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But he answered, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'"  Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'"

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:  As the Deer Pants for the Water, (Renew # 9)

1          As the deer pants for the water, so my soul longs after you; you alone are my heart’s desire and I long to worship you.  Refrain: You alone are my strength, my shield, to you alone may my spirit yield; you alone are my heart’s desire, and I long to worship you!

2          I want you more than gold or silver, only you can satisfy; you alone are the real joy-giver and the apple of my eye.  Refrain

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

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.  Bless and 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,

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:       Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

People:            Therefore let us keep the feast. 

Words of Administration

Communion Hymn: Yield Not To Temptation (LEVAS # 170)

Yield not to temptation for yielding is sin. Each victory will help you some other to win.  Fight still pressing onward, dark passions subdue.  Ask the Savior to help you, he will carry you through.  Refrain.  Ask the Savior to help you, comfort, strengthen and keep you.  He is willing to aid you, he will carry you through.

Shun evil companions, bad language disdain. God’s name hold in reverence, nor take it in vain.  Be thoughtful and earnest, kind-hearted and true.  Ask the Savior to help you, he will carry you through.  Refrain.

To him that overcometh, God giveth a crown.  Through faith we will conquer, though often cast down.  He who is our savior, our strength will renew.  Ask the savior to help you he will carry you through.  Refrain

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: Simple Gifts  (Christian Children’s Songbook, # 206)

‘Tis a gift to be simple, ‘tis a gift to be free, ‘tis a gift to come down where you ought to be, and when we find ourselves in the place just right, ‘twill be in the valley of love and delight.  When true simplicity is gain, to bow and to bend we won’t be ashamed.  To turn, turn will be our delight till by turning and turning we come out right.

Dismissal:   

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

People: Thanks be to God! 

 

Recovering Hypocrites?

Ash Wednesday        February 26, 2020

Isaiah 58:1-12        Ps.103       

1 Cor. 5:20b-6:10    Matt. 6:1-6, 16-21

Lectionary Link

Welcome to our annual face painting event.  Our foreheads were painted with the invisible oil of Chrism when at our baptism it was said, "You are sealed with the Holy Spirit in baptism and marked as Christ own forever."  We belong to Christ in our life.

Tonight the ink is the black of palm ashes.  We recognize our dual natures; our spiritual and our physical.  In the creation story, we were made with dust and deity as the Spirit formed the human person from the clay to become our body and the Spirit left something of the divine upon us in the formation.  The conjoining of spirit and dust left a mediating soul, nephesh, a soul of mind, emotions and will, to negotiate between our bodies and the divine image spirit upon us.

Today we cherish the unity of body, soul and spirit, even as we know that at some point in the times of our lives this unity will suffer division.  The body, our flesh, will like a wooden home burned by fire, will eventually return to dust.  Our bodily home will return to dust.  And we use the ash paint to retrace the mark of our first branding.  We confess that we will still belong to Christ in our deaths.

We know that our bodies will return to dust, and so we prepare for this, in part in this Ash Wednesday liturgy.  The ashes represent in our imaginations the fast forwarding of our bodily lives to their ashen state.  Like Native American Braves going to war,  we paint our face with the image of our future state as preparation and as spiritual, emotional, and intellectual inoculation of our lives against the death that we know that we will face.

This is not a macabre scene of Goth-like face painting; this is a poignant reminder to cherish our lives in which our souls and spirits are unified with our bodies.  It is to cherish our lives and the lives of other with the best of holy living as the only way to celebrate the unity of body, soul and spirit.

This is event is not an event of private piety even though we feel it in a very personal way; it is a deeply social event because just as we are personally connected in body, soul, and spirit, we are also irretrievably connected with each other and with all brothers and sisters in our world.  We don't live alone; we live in community.  We are our brothers' keeper; we are our sisters' keeper.  The law was given to us to let us know that we belong to each other, together caring for each other and being committed to justice for each other.

We know that our bodies are connected to this earth as well.  And if we steal from the good earth by mistreating our environment we are harming our brothers and sisters of the future.

Today, you and I are invited to a holy Lent.  I would suggest to you that as the words of Jesus rebuked the hypocrites of his day, the actors of piety who did not perform justice, so too, we are the hypocrites who bear the rebuke of the words of Jesus.

And if we be hypocrites, I would suggest there is only one kind of hypocrite to be; let us be the good kind of hypocrite, what I would call "recovering hypocrites."

How do we become hypocrites?  We divide the first and second great commandments.  We might say that we love God and point to all of our religious behaviors as proof of our love of God.  But these practices become hypocritical if we do not show an equal commitment to love our neighbors.

The Isaian prophet was rebuking his people for having religious fasts and religious behaviors without having the behaviors of care for the people who were neighbors in obvious need.

So today let us admit our hypocrisy.  Let us admit that we often are proof of "do as I say and not as I do."  The positive aspect of being a recovering hypocrite is the fact that we always proclaim a perfect standard which we always are failing at completely living up to.  God is holy and perfect and asks us to keep and profess this high standard even while we know that we can never attain it.

So it should keep us always as humbled recovering hypocrite, always on the path of repentance.   Let this day be the first day of our Lenten program to admit ourselves into the program of recovering hypocrites.  Let this Lenten season inspire us to plan some recovering behaviors, of more prayer, more study, reading the Bible, giving up bad habits to devote our energy to causes of care for other people and our earth.

Would you join me in this season of Lent in a program of recovering from hypocrisy? With the help of Christ and the Holy Spirit, may we become more successful at holding together the first and second great commandments: You shall love the Lord your God with all your life resources and love your neighbor as you love yourself.  Amen.

Change as the Process of Spiritual Metamorphosis

Last Epiphany A      February 23,2020

Ex.24:12,15-18,      Ps.99        

2 Peter 1:16-21  Matt. 17:1-9

Lectionary Link

Today in our Collect, the prayer for today, we asked that we might be changed into the likeness of Christ, from glory to glory as we behold the light of his countenance.

One of the basic requirements of human life is to learn how to deal with change.  To be human is to become aware of the passage of time.  And in our aging, we know ourselves as appearing to be different in time, even as we try to cover up the aging process cosmetically.  In our physical, lives we experience entropy, the running out of energy because the end of our physical lives is death.  But we encounter in our lives a counter force to the forces of entropy; we experience in our inner lives the optimism of assuming that some part of us will live forever.  We ponder the possibility that we will recognize ourselves as ourselves in the afterlife in a continuity with who we have been in this life.

In our lives of change how do we live toward the person that we might continue to be, rather than toward our physical homes, our bodies, which are in decline?

The word for transfiguration in Greek might be better translated metamorphosis and all of learn about this in elementary school science class as we were taught to observe the changes in the life cycles of butterflies.  And the church is so fascinated with butterflies, that the butterfly hatching out of a dead looking cocoon has become an oft used metaphor for the resurrection of Christ.

What insights can we gain from the metamorphosis of Jesus Christ event on the Mount of his special Epiphany, called the Transfiguration?

First, we know that the writers of the Gospels revisited themes from Hebrew Scripture to show the surpassing greatness of Jesus.  The event of the Transfiguration was presented to be akin to the event of Mount Sinai.  Moses had a shiny face in his encounter with God; the face of Jesus shone on the Mount of the Transfiguration.  The clouds and the elevation are in keeping with the traditions of describing significant manifestation of the divine.  In biblical symbology, cloud, elevation and light signify mystery, closeness to the divine presence of elevated realm and enlightenment through divine encounter.  Biblical landscape corresponds to personal inscape in the spiritual metamorphosis of those baptized and on the mystical path.

The chief gift of the former covenant was the Law.  The gift of the New Covenant is the person of Jesus Christ.  This contrast is presented in the description of the Transfiguration.

The apparitional appearances of Moses and Elijah meant that followers of Jesus believed him to be in continuity and in succession with the great traditions of the Hebrew Scriptures.  Moses and Elijah were mountain men; Moses saw God on Mount Sinai.  Elijah heard the still small voice of God in a mountain cave.  Elijah called down fire from heaven on the altar on Mount Carmel as he confronted the prophets of Baal.  To the members of the Judaic faith, the poignant references of Moses and Elijah on the Messianic resume of Jesus were important.  How can you go wrong in following Jesus if Moses and Elijah followed and affirmed him in their afterlife appearances?

The Transfiguration event stands between the baptism of Jesus and his resurrection.  The heavenly voice is heard again, like at his baptism, to proclaim Jesus as God beloved Son.  The lit face of Jesus is like a preview of what his appearances will be like in his resurrection.

Further, the Transfiguration visionary event allowed the friends of Jesus to witness a special experience of Jesus, Moses and Elijah.  Jesus invited his willing friend to climb the mountain with him to receive epiphany insights.

The sharing of the visionary event with his friends, is also an invitation for us to embrace the metamorphosis of the presence of the Risen Christ in our paths of mystical transformation.  Since change is inevitable in life, how do we embrace, and process change in the best possible way?  We do it in spiritual metamorphosis with the Risen Christ.

One of the natural tendencies of spiritual metamorphosis is our resistance to change and, in such resistance, we interpret the apparent absence of Christ as the real absence of Christ.  In spiritual metamorphosis, we prefer certain spiritual states over others.

We all perhaps prefer butterflies to cocoons, even as we know that there is not butterfly without the cocoon and the life of the cocoon is equal from the life of the butterfly, equal but different.  In faith, we have to learn how to accept the equal presence of the Risen Christ within the different phases of spiritual metamorphosis.

The mystics have written about the apparent states of deprivation in their mystical journey, as caught in the cloud of unknowing, or the dark night of the soul, or the state of purgation.  When Jesus said on the cross, "My God, why have you forsaken me," is this not the state of the apparent absence of God?

When Peter was on the Mount of the Transfiguration, he wanted to build tents or shrines for the three heroes to have permanent dwelling places.  This meant that he could try to retain endlessly a particular "butterfly" state of Jesus Christ.  Peter, like us, wanted to live on the mountain top; he did not want to descend to the demon possessed valley anymore.

Spiritual metamorphosis is learning to embrace dynamic change.  It is learning to have faith that the same presence of the Risen Christ is with us whether in the dark valley of human loss or on the mountain top of such apparent presence when faith is easy.  

We can be like Peter too in our spiritual lives.  We want to build a permanent dwelling place at the place of our significant spiritual break through.  We try to build rituals, readings, practice and songs around those breakthrough events.  And the assumption is that our spiritual growth has reached it height.  One of the pitfalls of trying to retain the states of our significant spiritual break throughs, is that we make them final and we can judge as lacking people who have not had that same superior experience that we had when we went on retreat.

Yes, we retain the insights of our mountain top experiences; but in spiritual metamorphosis, we are given a mountain top experience, only to see higher mountains which remain for us to climb, and to get there, we must go through valley, desert, storm, cloud and darkness and the exertion of another ascent.

The event of the Transfiguration is presented to us as we prepare for the ordeal of the forty days of Lent.  The church calendar is program which presents to us the rhythm of the life of spiritual metamorphosis.

Today, let us be reminded that we are dealing with change gracefully by accepting the path of spiritual metamorphosis as the Risen Christ asks us to identify with him as he works the process of transformation in our lives.

Enjoy the mountain top!  Enjoy the butterfly events!  But in faith let us also know that Christ is equally present in the valley, in times of loss, times of sin, times of failure and times of disappointment.  In the times when we seem deprived of the apparent presence of Christ, we need to recall the mountain top experience as a reminder to keep on, keeping on because we are in spiritual metamorphosis.

I wish for you many mountain top experiences and from them I pray that you will have the faith to celebrate the equal presence of the Risen Christ in all phases of our spiritual metamorphosis.  Amen.