1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,120 Welcome to Trinity Sermons. Here at Trinity Church, Streetsville, we want to share sermons 2 00:00:09,120 --> 00:00:15,280 with you as we journey together to love Jesus, live like Jesus, and lead others to Jesus. 3 00:00:15,280 --> 00:00:20,800 Today we read about the Transfiguration in the Gospel of Mark, and we had guest preacher, 4 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:25,920 Bishop Kevin Robertson with us today, and he talked to us about revisiting our baptismal 5 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:33,120 promises to reorient us towards doing God's work. Thanks for listening and we hope you enjoy. God bless. 6 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:45,760 A reading from the Gospel of Mark, chapter 9, verses 2 through 9. After six days, Jesus took 7 00:00:45,760 --> 00:00:51,280 Peter, James, and John with him, and led them up a high mountain where they were all alone. 8 00:00:51,280 --> 00:00:57,440 There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the 9 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:03,680 world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 10 00:01:04,480 --> 00:01:11,920 Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters, one for you, 11 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:18,960 one for Moses, and one for Elijah. He did not know what to say. They were so frightened. Then a cloud 12 00:01:18,960 --> 00:01:25,920 appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud. This is my son, whom I love, listen to him. 13 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:32,800 Suddenly when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. As they were 14 00:01:32,800 --> 00:01:38,480 coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the 15 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:46,480 son of man had risen from the dead. This is the word of the Lord. Thank you, Rob. What a lovely 16 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:52,560 introduction. Thank you. And so good to be with all of you here at Trinity this morning for 17 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:59,120 confirmation and for those who are being welcomed or received into the Anglican Church. I'm aware 18 00:01:59,120 --> 00:02:04,960 that some of you may not maybe have met a bishop before if you've come to Trinity from a different 19 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:10,480 tradition besides the Anglican Church. So if you want to know more about bishops, you can flip open 20 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:16,800 the pages of the Bible and read some of the things that bishops do and are about in 1st Timothy. 21 00:02:17,760 --> 00:02:23,200 So it's my real joy to be here today. Thank you for welcoming me. This is not my first visit to 22 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:29,520 Trinity, but it's my first visit here as a bishop. And whenever young people or whenever people 23 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:36,400 generally stand and confirm their faith in Jesus Christ, that's a great day. And the fact that all 24 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:41,760 of you are doing that today, that all of you have been praying about this and preparing for this day 25 00:02:42,320 --> 00:02:46,880 is not just a great thing for you and for your families, but also for this church. What a sign 26 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:53,520 of growth and vitality that we have people committing and recommitting themselves to Jesus 27 00:02:53,520 --> 00:03:00,160 Christ. Before I say a few words about the reading that we just heard, Transfiguration Sunday, we 28 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:05,440 often call this and we just heard the story of the Transfiguration of Jesus from Mark's Gospel, 29 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:09,360 from the 9th chapter of Mark's Gospel. But before I say a few words about that, 30 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:13,200 may I just say how blessed you are to have Rob Hirkman as your pastor? 31 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:25,040 I did have the joy and privilege of welcoming Rob into the diocese a few years ago when he was at 32 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:31,680 his previous appointment at St. Paul's Blur Street. And I didn't know Rob very well. I knew of him 33 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:37,840 through connections in the Diocese of Niagara. But as I came to know him and his gifts and saw 34 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:43,280 how he carried out and exercised those gifts at St. Paul's, I thought, you know, we have really 35 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:49,360 stolen a good one from the Diocese of Niagara. And the fact that he's been serving here with 36 00:03:49,360 --> 00:03:54,720 such faithfulness and passion and enthusiasm for the last three years, I mean, I only need to look 37 00:03:54,720 --> 00:04:00,640 out at the congregation today and see the fruit of that labor. Of course, it's not all on Rob's 38 00:04:00,640 --> 00:04:07,120 shoulders. All of us are ministers of the gospel. All of us are called to live into our vocation 39 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:12,960 as disciples of Jesus. But leadership matters. And Rob, I'm so grateful to you that you have 40 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:17,920 accepted this call from God to serve in this community of faith. Thank you. 41 00:04:21,280 --> 00:04:25,920 About 12 years ago now, maybe 10, no 12, 42 00:04:25,920 --> 00:04:30,640 I had the opportunity to be in Western Canada in Banff National Park. And if you've been, 43 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:35,760 how many of you have been to Banff? Lots of you? Yeah, yeah. Such a beautiful part of our country. 44 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:43,280 And just outside the town of Canmore, there is a relatively small mountain called Ha-Ling Peak. 45 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:50,080 And you can hike up Ha-Ling Peak. And when I was there with my spouse 12 years ago, 46 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:56,480 we decided that we would hike up there for kids. And so we decided to go into Canmore, 47 00:04:56,480 --> 00:05:01,360 get the trail map, and figure out how to get to the top of this mountain. We were told that we 48 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:05,040 could climb up and back in a day. And that seemed reasonable. We didn't have any camping 49 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:10,080 equipment or anything like that. So we went into the office and it was September. And they were 50 00:05:10,080 --> 00:05:15,680 showing us how to, you know, how to get to the base of the trail, how to make our way up. And 51 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:20,720 just as we were about to leave the office, one of the guys who worked there said, oh, by the way, 52 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:27,040 do you have any bear spray? Like, what? Why would I need bear spray? And they said, well, 53 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:30,960 it's September. And this is the time of year when bears are preparing to hibernate, 54 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:34,640 and they're hungry, and they're going to be looking for food wherever they can get it. 55 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:41,120 So I said, well, I don't think we want to take our chances of climbing up there without any 56 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:50,240 bear spray. So we bought an $80 canister of bear spray. I think it was. And I kind of got freaked 57 00:05:50,240 --> 00:05:54,800 out. I have to tell you, when we left the office that day, there was a little holster for it. 58 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:59,840 And I remember putting on this holster. And as we started to climb Ha-Ling Peak, 59 00:05:59,840 --> 00:06:09,280 I kept my finger on the trigger, just in case. And we get into hike and hike and hike and hike. 60 00:06:09,280 --> 00:06:14,720 And we get into hike and hike and every little sound in the bushes behind is that a bear? Is 61 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:21,040 that a bear? Is that a bear? Anyway, by the time we got to the top of Ha-Ling Peak, I had not seen 62 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:26,640 a single bear. All those noises were squirrels and chipmunks and that kind of thing. And I realized 63 00:06:26,640 --> 00:06:33,920 that I had been so distracted by the possibility of being lunged at by a bear from the bushes, 64 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:39,680 that I had failed to really appreciate this amazing place where we found ourselves. The 65 00:06:39,680 --> 00:06:45,920 beauty of the other mountains all around us. The beauty of nature, of trees and rocks and the view 66 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:51,600 looking back down into the valley. And so once we got to the top and didn't see a bear, I was a lot 67 00:06:51,600 --> 00:06:56,320 more relaxed on the way back down. I took my hand off the trigger and hoped for the best. 68 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:01,040 I tell you that story today. And I've been thinking about that because I don't do a whole 69 00:07:01,040 --> 00:07:06,000 lot of mountain climbing. But the story that we hear today from Mark's gospel is one of those 70 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:10,800 cases in the Bible where there's a mountain. Now, mountains, if you've been to the Holy Land, 71 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:15,680 the land of the Holy One, as I like to call it, you will know that the mountains there are not 72 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:21,440 like the Rockies. They're smaller, right? I mean, Mount Sinai, it's pretty big. But the Mount of 73 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:27,840 the Beatitudes that we hear about in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter five, and in fact, 74 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:32,400 the Mount of Transfiguration, as it's called, where this story takes place, are not really high 75 00:07:32,400 --> 00:07:39,760 mountains. They're not like Ha-Ling Peak. And yet, they're far enough away for Jesus and Peter and 76 00:07:39,760 --> 00:07:46,320 James and John to get away. And I think that's the purpose of them going up to a high mountain, 77 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:53,360 is to get away from all of the pressures that exist down below. We know from the pages of the 78 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:59,680 Gospels that Jesus was often pursued. In last Sunday's reading, at least in the church where I 79 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:05,120 was, it said the disciples at one time were hunting for him. That's a pretty strong word, 80 00:08:05,120 --> 00:08:11,920 right? And so for Jesus to be able to get away with his closest followers, with his closest disciples, 81 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:19,600 that inner circle, Peter, James, and John, he took them up to this peak. And there, something quite 82 00:08:19,600 --> 00:08:24,240 amazing happened, right? We know this story because it appears in three of the four Gospels, 83 00:08:24,800 --> 00:08:30,800 that as they get up to the top, Jesus' clothes become dazzling white. Some of the other Gospel 84 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:38,800 writers say, his face shone like the sun. This moment of unprecedented and uninterrupted 85 00:08:39,440 --> 00:08:46,560 glory for Peter and James and John. And so what do they try to do in this moment? They try to hang 86 00:08:46,560 --> 00:08:51,600 on to it, right? Like we've never experienced this before. Maybe we're never going to experience it 87 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:57,680 again. So let's just hang on and keep Jesus all to ourselves. Just the three of us, we're going to 88 00:08:57,680 --> 00:09:06,080 hang on to him and Moses and Elijah, the law and the prophets appearing there with Jesus on either 89 00:09:06,080 --> 00:09:13,440 side. Well, let's build not one shelter, not two, but three. And we'll keep Jesus and Moses and 90 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:19,600 Elijah all to ourselves. We won't share them. We'll just hang out up here at the top of the mountain 91 00:09:19,600 --> 00:09:25,680 where life feels so good. But of course, we know that that's not what happened. A voice 92 00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:30,960 boomed from the heavens, reminding us of that story of Jesus' own baptism, right? By John, 93 00:09:30,960 --> 00:09:39,520 this is my son. Listen to him. And when they looked up again, Moses and Elijah were gone. 94 00:09:39,520 --> 00:09:46,240 There was no more dazzling white clothing, just Jesus there by himself. And they come back down 95 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:52,240 the mountain and Jesus asks them, orders them not to tell anybody what they have seen and heard 96 00:09:52,240 --> 00:09:59,280 until after the son of man has been raised from the dead. I think preachers often look at this 97 00:09:59,280 --> 00:10:07,840 story and say, one of the lessons here is that we cannot simply glory in the four walls of our 98 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:16,640 temples. That as Peter and James and John wanted to be just with Jesus, just in the beautiful light 99 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:22,800 to bask in the glory, their mission, in fact, was to go back down the mountain, to go out into the 100 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:30,400 world and to do the work of Jesus, the work of healing and reconciliation, the good news of 101 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:36,800 proclaiming the goodness of God and the coming of the kingdom of God. They were of no use to anybody 102 00:10:36,800 --> 00:10:41,280 at the top of that mountain. Where they were called to be was down with the people doing the 103 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:48,240 work of the kingdom of God. I think there is some truth that, you know, we, and today I'm really 104 00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:54,720 reminded of it with this amazing singing and this incredible community of people who clearly love 105 00:10:54,720 --> 00:11:00,720 each other, that it would be very easy for us to just hang out in here, right? Like, this is a great 106 00:11:00,720 --> 00:11:05,680 church and you've got great music and you've probably got great coffee and it could be just 107 00:11:05,680 --> 00:11:12,000 a fun place to simply be with one another, to bask in the glory of one another's fellowship 108 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:18,080 and the knowledge that we are loved by God and Jesus Christ. But our call is to be out in the 109 00:11:18,080 --> 00:11:25,360 world. Our call is to proclaim by our lives and our words the good news of God and Christ and 110 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:32,080 his saving work, not only for us, but indeed for the whole world. Now, those of you who are being 111 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:38,720 confirmed today, you're going to take on some promises and some of those promises are anchored 112 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:44,720 here in these four walls. Some of them have to do with staying with Jesus in worship and praise and 113 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:52,720 thanksgiving, but some of those promises will send you out, will send us out. And I want to just 114 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:58,480 quickly go through those six promises because it's not just those of you who are being confirmed that 115 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:05,120 will recite them. In fact, it's all of us in the church today, whether we have been baptized and 116 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:11,680 confirmed, received into the Anglican church or not, all of us are going to be asked to say that we 117 00:12:11,680 --> 00:12:18,320 will do these things with God's help. The first promise is this. Will you continue in the Apostles' 118 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:24,720 teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers? That's one of those mountain 119 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:29,440 top moments, right? We get to do that right here. We get to come back here every Sunday or perhaps 120 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:36,080 to a different church and we get to bask in the glory of the Word broken open and the bread broken 121 00:12:36,080 --> 00:12:42,720 at the table. Will you continue in the Apostles' teaching and fellowship, that is grounding ourselves 122 00:12:42,720 --> 00:12:50,880 in 2,000 years of what it means to be a follower of Jesus? Second, will you persevere in resisting evil 123 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:59,920 and whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? So this baptismal promise, this 124 00:12:59,920 --> 00:13:06,640 confirmation promise is the one where we recognize that we all fall short of who God has called and 125 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:13,760 intended us to be. We are all broken. We all have broken relationships. We all screw up, some of us 126 00:13:13,760 --> 00:13:20,880 more than others. But we come back here to make our peace with one another and perhaps more 127 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:28,000 importantly to make our peace with God, to ask forgiveness and to be absolved of that sin and 128 00:13:28,000 --> 00:13:35,200 that brokenness and to begin again through the power of Jesus Christ. Third, and this is getting 129 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:41,440 us from the top of the mountain and out into the world, will you proclaim by word and example the 130 00:13:41,440 --> 00:13:48,640 good news of God in Christ? That is, when you leave this church today, will you find ways in your own 131 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:55,440 unique context at school or at work, in your family life, among your friends, to proclaim 132 00:13:55,440 --> 00:14:03,200 in your words and in your deeds the good news of God in Christ? That Jesus has come into the world 133 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:13,120 to save the world and that is our hope. Fourth, will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, 134 00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:19,360 loving yourself? The baptismal life, the confirmation life, is not just about that 135 00:14:19,360 --> 00:14:26,320 mountaintop. It's about serving others. It's about reclaiming or reclaiming that ministry that 136 00:14:26,320 --> 00:14:34,880 Jesus models the one who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. 137 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:44,160 Your call, our call, is one of service. Fifth, will you strive for justice and peace among all 138 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:50,240 people and respect the dignity of every human being? This is the promise that you're going to 139 00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:56,480 make today to say that your faith means something, that your faith needs to be put into action, 140 00:14:57,040 --> 00:15:01,600 that when we look around this church and we look around our communities and our world, 141 00:15:01,840 --> 00:15:08,800 every single person deserves to be treated with respect and dignity because each one of us is made 142 00:15:08,800 --> 00:15:17,120 in the loving image of God. Not one of us is beyond that. And so the gospel call is to respect the 143 00:15:17,120 --> 00:15:22,880 dignity of every human being and to seek justice and peace. And then the sixth promise, and this 144 00:15:22,880 --> 00:15:30,240 is the final one, will you strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and respect, sustain, 145 00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:36,960 and renew the life of the earth? This is the promise that is grounded in our creation as a 146 00:15:36,960 --> 00:15:42,720 part of this planet, sharing with all of the other beautiful creatures that God has created 147 00:15:42,720 --> 00:15:52,160 and our recognition that this is our home, this earth, at least in this life, this fragile earth, 148 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:59,040 our island home. We have to take care of the planet. All of the work that's being done around 149 00:15:59,040 --> 00:16:04,880 climate change and creation care reminds us as followers of Jesus that this is actually a sacred 150 00:16:04,880 --> 00:16:10,720 responsibility, that we have something to pass along to future generations, that this earth 151 00:16:10,720 --> 00:16:18,880 matters, and that God loves this world. Now those questions set a pretty high bar, right? Like, 152 00:16:18,880 --> 00:16:24,400 that's a lot to do. That's a lot to commit to today for those of you who are being confirmed. 153 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:28,960 For those of us who have been walking the way of Jesus for a while, it's a pretty stark reminder 154 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:36,800 that this is not an easy call. And yet it is the call of Jesus to come down from the mountain, 155 00:16:36,800 --> 00:16:43,840 to go out into the world, to be beacons of God's saving grace in every interaction, 156 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:50,720 at every opportunity, around every corner. Of course, we don't do that alone, right? 157 00:16:51,520 --> 00:16:57,200 God the Holy Spirit leads us and empowers us for all of this wonderful work that lies ahead, 158 00:16:57,200 --> 00:17:03,280 and so does the community of the church. Each one of us has a responsibility to the other to help 159 00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:09,360 support them in their life of faith. I hope you have been and will continue to pray for those who 160 00:17:09,360 --> 00:17:17,600 are being confirmed and received today. It is our sacred vocation to uphold one another in prayer 161 00:17:17,600 --> 00:17:21,280 and to help empower one another for the work of the gospel in the world. 162 00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:31,600 So here we are, ready to celebrate confirmation in just a few moments time, ready to hear these 163 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:38,960 courageous and bold promises that are being made by a number of young people. In so doing, may we 164 00:17:38,960 --> 00:17:47,680 be reminded of God's call on each one of us to be a faithful follower, a disciple of Jesus Christ, 165 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:53,360 and an instrument for the coming of God's kingdom here on earth. Amen. 166 00:17:54,720 --> 00:17:59,440 Thank you so much for joining us today, and we hope that as you come down from the mountain today, 167 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:02,560 you found the Bishop's Sermon 1 that you will carry with you all week. 168 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:07,520 And if you enjoyed the show, please take a minute to rate and review our podcast so that we can 169 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:12,800 continue to spread the good news with others. And please come back again next week as we begin a 170 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:18,880 brand new sermon series, Famous Last Words, where we will be looking at Jesus' final moments. 171 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:24,480 Today's sermon was taken from the February 11th, 2024 service at Trinity Church, 172 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:29,760 Streetsville in Mississauga, Ontario.