Salvation Through Work

Beginning the Story

 The long walk to freedom, to paraphrase Nelson Mandela, is frequently difficult and almost always confusing.

I don't know about the rest of you – but my life journey sure has had a few twists and turns. If you listen to the experts who talk about life stories – they all do. We find ourselves facing challenges, changing directions, starting over, choosing friends for the journey, killing them, hiding the bodies and choosing new friends…. There is, to say it a different way, nothing more constant than change.

So here we are, trekking through life, and the thing is – sometimes we get stuck. Who knows, we find ourselves stuck in a job, our house burns down, a bad relationship, we goi bankrupt – somehow we find ourselves not knowing which way to go – not capable of finding a way forward.

What then?

Sometimes we are lucky enough that the answer comes to us and we just set out in a new direction..

But that is certainly not usually the case. Most of the time we need something to happen, someone to come along, or some sort of kick in the proverbial can to push us out of the rut.

When I was in school this was often a daily occurrence. A teacher would have to tell me to stop daydreaming and do my work – or I would be stuck on a math problem and they would have to show me a different way to think about it. That is basically a teacher’s job – to show people a different way to move forward, a new way to think about things, and create a path forward

I have been lucky enough to have friends, teachers, colleagues, even enemies that have pushed me forward all the time. And in doing that I have always had those “aha”moments when I could say – oh… I see…. This is what I need to do!

I think that might be the easy part. I think most of us have someone or something show up when we stop dead. Life just has a way of moving around us and carrying forward.

Another bit of wisdom I heard once is that you can never put your foot into the same stream twice. So we may get stuck – but when we look up, the change we need will be there for us….
But there are always complications – right? That is life.

A Reading: Exodus 14:5-7, 10-14, 21-29

Then the Lord said to Moses: Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall camp opposite it, by the sea. Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, “They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has closed in on them.” I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, so that I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.  And they did so.
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials were changed toward the people, and they said, “What have we done, letting Israel leave our service?” So he had his chariot made ready, and took his army with him; he took six hundred picked chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt and he pursued the Israelites, who were going out boldly. The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, his chariot drivers and his army; they overtook them camped by the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the Lord will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again. The Lordwill fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. But you lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the Israelites may go into the sea on dry ground. Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and so I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his chariot drivers.”

The angel of God who was going before the Israelite army moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and took its place behind them. It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. And so the cloud was there with the darkness, and it lit up the night; one did not come near the other all night.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land; and the waters were divided. The Israelites went into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. The Egyptians pursued, and went into the sea after them, all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and chariot drivers. At the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and cloud looked down upon the Egyptian army, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth. As the Egyptians fled before it, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the chariot drivers, the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not one of them remained. But the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left.

Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great work that the Lord did against the Egyptians. So the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Seeing it Through Story

Mazes

The Story Unfolds

The psychologist Jung had a term for the ideas that matter most to us. He called them archetypes. Good and Evil, for example, are archetypes... we all understand what they mean instinctually. And they show up in every story from All in the Family to Little Red Riding Hood...

The way we understand the world is through story - and the way we understand story is by repetition of things we already know.

There is always a hero - there is always a villain - someone always has to go on a quest and someone usually falls in love. There are more - but I am hoping you see what I am saying... there are patterns and there are archetypes...

And the Bible is no different. It is a story that is told in the same way over and over so that the moral sinks in.

Well - not quite. The heroes and events have different names, they take place in different locals and involved different villains. But the idea is that we will get it one of these times...

This is the reason I chose to do the Narrative Lectionary this year - I want us to get a picture of the Bible as a whole - and see why it is what it is.

And September was Prehistory. The beginning. And the archetypes.

You might remember we have talked about Noah Jacob, and Abraham, and now we are on to Moses.

Anyone know what all of these characters have in common? No seriously, tell me some ideas of the point that Genesis makes over and over...

How about this... God gives us something, we do not entirely trust God, we are given a quest to test our faith, we do the right thing, life gets better.

That is the story of Adam, Eve, Cain, Abel, Noah, Abraham, Jacob and Moses.

Each of them faces a different challenge, rebels in their own way, and accomplishes their quest in their own way.... but it really is the same story again and again and again.

You realize what that means right? It means it is a pretty darn important story!

So why is this the story that needs to be told in so many different words? The answer comes in today’s passage when we finally get to see how it works out in a crowd. In case you did not see yourself in ANY of the characters so far - YOU are the Israelites...

God says, follow this guy I sent to help you and I will lead you out of captivity to freedom and new life. The going gets rough and we realize that the journey is gonna be long and hard and we decide not to trust God. We were better off back there, weren’t we? What was so bad about Egypt that we need to spend our whole lives wandering around in a desert? Is God really involved in any of this?

That is right. The people of Israel, in the middle of being saved, stop dead and complain that they would rather go back.

Does that sound familiar to anyone?

Well - it should. It is the human condition. But these stories are also very clear about what happens if we have a little faith and keep going.

Ideas to Take With Us

I want you to see that these stories are all making the same point because it is an archetypal point, it is a foundational point, it is the point that underlies every other point and has to come first.

We need to follow where God is leading to get to a better place and we are not going to like the journey.

Translate that in any way you want - we need to love our neighbour in order to find out what true love is, but it is not going to be easy.

We need to open our hearts if we expect to have someone love us but it is going to hurt a lot.

We need to leave the past behind to find out who we truly are but the journey is going to be difficult.

To untangle what this whole faith thing is all about - we really need to start here.... none of us want to leave our comfortable nest. All of us have to. We will find something better.

Of course, I do not envy Moses. At least there was some food in Egypt. Water. Sure, there was the whole slavery thing, but you try and convince a hundred people that it is for their own good to leave home with nothing but the shirt on their back.

You would really have to have faith to do that....

TRANSFIGURATION C

“To put it simply: the Holy Spirit bothers us. Because he moves us, he makes us walk, he pushes the Church to go forward. And we are like Peter at the Transfiguration: 'Ah, how wonderful it is to be here like this, all together!' ... But don't bother us. We want the Holy Spirit to doze off ... we want to domesticate the Holy Spirit. And that's no good. Because he is God… he is the one who gives us consolation and strength to move forward. But: to move forward! And this bothers us. It's so much nicer to be comfortable.”

                               ― Pope Francis, Encountering Truth: Meeting God in the Everyday

INTRODUCTION OF THEME

If you look at the top of the Bulletin, you will see a quote from Pope Francis – I had never seen it before this week, but I totally agree with him… One of the problems with the Spirit of God is that it is so active – the spirit blows here, the spirit blows there; and no matter where it blows – it brings change.

The winds of change – you have heard that expression I suppose – and the winds of change do blow – they blow all the time… and that is a problem. It is a problem because there are very few of us who like change. There is no doubt, however, that the Spirit of God brings change.

Almost every character mentioned in the Bible had the spirit of God come and blow them in a new direction. It blew into Adam and made him aware of the world, it blew into Abraham and made him go to a new country and get a wife, it blew into Moses and convinced him to lead the people, it blew into Jesus and began his ministry, it blew into the disciples and strengthened them to risk their lives…

Every single time the spirit of God comes to us it pushes us in a different direction. And honestly, I am not sure about you, but I am pretty comfortable with my life. I don’t really need any major changes. I don’t want to move to a new country. I don’t want EVERYTHING to change.

Today we are talking about transformation – about change – and about how encountering God changes us. Specifically, we are talking about Jesus and a trip up the mountain where his conversation with God would forever change who he was and what he was going to do…

What would an encounter with God be like, I wonder? Could we ever have one and remain untouched? Let’s think about that and continue to focus our attention as we turn to God in prayer. 

TIME WITH THE YOUNG AND THE YOUNG AT HEART

(There is probably no better story in the Bible for the idea that the Holy Spirit changes us than this story from the life of Moses – Moses goes and talks one on one with God and because of this, his face is glowing….

Imagine it was that simple – listen to the glowing person – they are speaking for God.

We have trouble listening to other people, we have trouble believing someone else has good answers. We struggle to think that God is speaking to us. And so, there are times, unfortunately, when we do not listen.

I know, I know, we want to listen to God and we think we are good people. But life is not as simple as the glowing Moses would have us believe. .. at least, not anymore… when Moses came down from the mountain and you could see he had actually talked to God and he gave the people 10 simple rules to follow that would change everything… that was simple.

But thousands of years later we start to distrust the simplicity. It cannot be as simple as do not lie for instance, because we all know we need to lie sometimes. Like when the love of your life says, do you think I this shirt makes me look fat. There is no good answer to that, it is a trap.

And the more complex our lives, the less likely we are to believe the simple answers… the less likely we are to listen)

KIDS

If we try to listen to everyone we will just get confused. I’ll show you what I mean. Let’s think of a question we can ask the congregation. Here’s a question. Let’s ask the congregation how we should live and what we should do with our lives. Members of the congregation when I count to three I want you to call out together how you think these children should live and what they should do with their lives. Ready? Listen closely children. 1, 2, 3 Go. (Let the children listen to the chaos for a few seconds and then give a “time out” gesture to the congregation.) Well children. Was that helpful? No? Why not? You’re right. It was a very confusing trying to listen to everybody. It was crazy!. I think this teaches us something important. Sometimes it can get very confusing trying to listen to everyone’s advice. Sometimes everyone we talk to has a different idea of what we should do or not do. We need to remember what our Heavenly Father said to Peter up on the mountain of transfiguration when he was confused. He said to Peter, “This is my Son whom I have chosen, Listen to Him!” Listening to God’s Son Jesus is so very important. Getting ideas and suggestions from other people is important but it is most important that we listen to Jesus. We can listen to Jesus by reading about the life of Jesus in the bible. We can read what he said and taught and we can ask the Holy Spirit to help us understand too.

ENGAGING THE THEME

We all want answers. That is a part of being human I think – we wish we had answers for all those deep questions. Why do people die, what is the purpose of life, why did people in the 1970’s have lime green appliances?

We go through life feeling like if we only knew some of these answers it would be so much easier. We could accept things that happen, we could feel some sense of control; we could find peace. And we do try to find them. We read books and go to church, we watch movies and talk to friends – maybe we even try things like meditating, or yoga… Think about it – self-help books are the biggest sales out there. Everyone wishes they could find a deeper meaning for the things that happen.

The problem is – we do not really believe this – we are lying to ourselves.

I mean, I think we have the best intentions and I do think we seek out answers but there is a part of us that is never satisfied with what we hear. If I told you all you had to do to be healthy was to not eat any fried foods and walk five miles a day a part of you would say; no way, I love onion rings, I need to find something easier.

There are a lot of Biblical precedents for this – one upon a time there was a general named Namaan who had leprosy. He asked Elijah what he should do to cure the leprosy and the answer was wash in the River Jordan… but it seemed too simple, too foolish, and Namaan almost never even tried it.

Or how about the Rich Young Ruler who comes to Jesus and says I go to church, I help the poor, I follow the rules, what else do I have to do to feel good about myself? And Jesus says go and sell everything you own, give the money to the poor and follow me… does he do it? No. Was Jesus right? Yes.

So there is the thing – part of us wants the answer – part of us is really scared that the answer will mean we have to change something we do not want to change.

Who is Jesus? That is a question the disciples ask themselves every day? What is going to happen? How is he going to save us? Should we really be listening to him, because some of what he says sounds crazy!

And then they go up the mountain… They see Jesus pray. They see Moses and Elijah come to counsel Jesus. They watch as speaking to God makes Jesus seem to glow, to light up with the power of the holy Spirit…

So here is the answer. Yes, Jesus is special. Yes, God is at work in him. Yes, the Holy Spirit is inside Jesus. Yes, Moses and the Prophets support Jesus…. So…. Listen to him.

Still – like I said – Listening is hard. And it is especially hard when listening means having to do something, having to change…

How much do we really want to change?

CONCLUSION OF THEME

I wonder if it is fear. Are we afraid of change? Are we are afraid things are changing too fast? Are we thinking that following God is going to change us so much that we will no longer be ourselves?

Perhaps.

What the disciples were essentially saying when they saw Jesus is that they were comfortable the way things are. And we cannot really blame them – they are disciples of a great teacher, people are listening to them, people are feeding them, they are travelling, and they have found someone they believe in… why would they want to change that?

Listen – comes the voice of God – Listen to what Jesus is saying: Even if it is uncomfortable (and it was, Jesus has been talking about dying, about people not liking them, about all of this ending – it is certainly not going to be the same as it always has.)

And the disciples know this is true, they see the evidence, and all of a sudden they want to stay on top of the mountain – fear takes over.

Here is the thing: First, we have to really listen… which means tuning out some of the distraction, letting go of our expectations and being open to whatever God is saying.

Second: we have to accept that when the spirit is at work, everything changes. When we hear God speaking to us through our dreams and visions, WE are going to change. We have to have the courage for that.

Last but not least – we need to follow through; and when we do that, when we hear the voice and react – things really will get better – the voice of God is never going to lead us astray. So as we try to live out what we have heard we will be truly following Jesus.

Transfiguration

Let Your Light Shine

Introduction

Sunday Schools the world over have been singing a song since the 1920’s; this little light of mine; but have you ever stopped to think about the words.

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine

This little light of min, I'm gonna let it shine

Let it shine/Let it shine/Let it shine…

Now, what does that mean? What are we saying? What “light” do we have that we are singing about? What does it mean to shine?

This is Transformation Sunday. The time when we think about Jesus on the mountaintop and the way that he revealed God’s light to the world.

The idea of the light of God being revealed through people did not begin there though, it is as ancient as we are… Before Jesus, think about Moses; who went up on the mountain to talk to God about the ten commandments and came down with a glowing face… we are talking about people who are a lightning rod to the divine. Siddhartha Buddha for example became enlightened while meditating under a tree; or Mohammed who is said to have spoken to the angel Gabriel e on Mount Hira outside of Mecca and came away from that experience totally changed.

When someone is transfigured, it means, literally, that we become able to see the holy in that person, it means that they become on fire for God. It means seeing the light.

And it is not only in people that this can stop us in our tracks. Who has not stopped to look at a sunset, or the Northern Lights, or even the lights of fishing boats bobbing on the sea… Light has a power to make us feel awe and beauty. It brings out the best in the world around us…

So today we explore light.

Children’s Time

Stained Glass – Seeing the beauty means seeing the light inside…

Down the Mountain

So, if God came down the mountain right now and stood in front of you, glowing, I would wager that none of us would have a problem believing it.

It would be easy to see that this was someone different, powerful, holy… and we would probably listen to what they had to say.  Just like the folks did to Moses, or to Jesus…

But the thing is, those moments are rare, or non-existent in our lives. Even those perfect sunsets and candlelight dinners and northern lights are rare. The things that make us stop and focus on the beauty of the world are rare… in our day to day lives, it is harder to see God; it is difficult to see the light when it isn’t so obvious. We have to look for it.

The thing of it is, transfiguration is not something that happened once, a long time ago, it is something that has happened over and over to those who become closer to God.

In our gospel story we have Jesus taking his closest friends up the mountain with him while he prays. And there are a lot of things that could be said about the imagery here; about the people he seems to talk to, about the reaction of the disciples… but instead I want you to see it, with your mind’s eye, for what it is.

All of a sudden Jesus lights up. Whether he glows with real flames, or the sun shines through the clouds and falls on him, or what does not matter. What matters is that in this instant he becomes transfigured, he becomes alive with the light of God.  He becomes, if it is possible, even closer to God and even more Holy.

And even those who see this, even after they have looked closely and opened themselves up to this… even then, the disciples do not see it for what it is.

What matters most is that in being transfigured Jesus becomes capable of something he might not have been before; he becomes capable of coming down the mountain.

Walking in the Darkness

Hide it under a bushel, no, I’m gonna let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel, no, I’m gonna let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel, no… I’m gonna let it shine,

let it shine, let it shine, let it shine….

You realize that is the disciple’s reaction, right? Wow, you are the son of God, this is great, let’s stay up here… I don’t know, there could be a hundred reasons for this reaction, they had everything they ever dreamed of and wanted to stay, they were afraid of what people would do when they saw the glowing Jesus, they just sensed, rightly, that this was not going to work out well….

So they want to hide the light, keep the light, maybe even pretend they never saw it.

Again, this is not a once long ago story. This is a story that plays out every day in almost every place… everyone has those moments where they see the light… but what good is it if we don't recognize it?  What good is it if we don't see that God is shining through?  What good is it if we don't embrace these moments?

Perhaps the reason that we don’t always recognize the light of God in our midst is because transfiguration can only be seen in action.

When I began I pointed out places where we see light and it overwhelms us. And light is easy to see… the lights of a city, a candle, the stars, a campfire…. But what about the light in people… is that as easy to see?

Well, I think if I asked you for a list of famous people who have been light to others you could make a fairly good list. Think about Martin Luther King Jr. from last week, or Ghandi, Mother Theresa, even Pierre Trudeau seems to have made a difference to people.

Even if I asked you to name the types of people – a teacher or a firefighter… perhaps the stranger who stops to help someone stranded on the side of the road…

All of these people are the types of people who bring light to others.  The weird thing, is that we do not regularly talk about them as bringing God to others. In essence, we hide goodness… ask someone why they went into a burning building to save a cat, and they will say, I did not do anything special, I am no one special, anyone would do it.

But doesn’t that take away from the fact that there are people out there modelling God all the time? There are people out there BEING God all the time. And most of them have no idea they are doing it.

We do not need to hide these things under a bushel, we need to be celebrating the people who do the right things, those that do the good things, those that love unconditionally… these should be our heros. And we can find them around us every single day.

Bring it on Home Jesus

This is the transformation we witness. This is the transformation for today. This is how God is seen these days.

And a funny thing will happen when you start to recognize this. When you start to see the light in the world...when you really see it...you will start to change the way you live your life; the light will change who you are.

This week we are having an annual meeting. Let's see if we can see where the light is shining in our church, in our community. Let’s see where there are opportunities for us to reflect God’s love into the world.

We are also about to go into the season of Lent...a darker season.  Amidst the stories of fear and struggle and challenge and suffering, it will be hard for us to see the light. But I want you to remember the images that you saw here today.  Know that the world is overflowing with light.

Some days it might be a blinding light that you can't deny as if Jesus is aglow on top of a mountain. Other days it might be a little flicker that you have to search deep for. But you will find it.  And when you do, use it.  Let it shine for all the world to see.  Amen.