1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,840 May God use and overrule my words. 2 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:14,600 May God's word only be spoken, God's word only be heard. 3 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:18,000 Amen. 4 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:20,000 Good morning, Ascension. 5 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,400 Wow, you look beautiful. 6 00:00:23,400 --> 00:00:29,800 I've had such a great morning already with the early service and then seeing all the 7 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:33,000 folks that are being confirmed and received. 8 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:41,700 And then Sidney Warren, who is being baptized, Warren is what we are calling him. 9 00:00:41,700 --> 00:00:51,300 And he's beautiful already and so the Holy Spirit will just make him more so. 10 00:00:51,300 --> 00:00:58,600 I bring you greetings from the 87 churches and Camp and Conference Center called Camp 11 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:02,200 McDowell that most of you know and love. 12 00:01:02,200 --> 00:01:06,600 They are hearing about your ministry across the diocese. 13 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:12,640 You have some really strong leadership in your lay leaders and also in your ordained 14 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:14,640 leaders. 15 00:01:14,640 --> 00:01:21,080 I've known Jack Alvey a little while and he seems to be doing really well. 16 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:26,360 I'm really pleased with him and if I wasn't, he would know it. 17 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:33,040 And Emily, they seem to be a real team, a real team and you're being blessed with that. 18 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:39,480 All of us are being blessed by their work together and by the support that you are giving them. 19 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:45,760 And I want to thank you for that and thank you for the support that you give our diocese. 20 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:52,640 A priest friend of mine tells a parable of the pearl of great price to some junior high 21 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:55,560 kids at Camp McDowell. 22 00:01:55,560 --> 00:02:02,200 He says a merchant searches all over the world for the finest pearls and when he finds it, 23 00:02:02,200 --> 00:02:08,360 he sells everything he has and he spends every penny to buy it. 24 00:02:08,360 --> 00:02:15,320 Now you get to go on a treasure hunt, go to the woods and search for pearls, he tells 25 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:16,480 them. 26 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:24,000 And if you find anything unusual, look at it and see if it shows you something of great 27 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:25,920 value. 28 00:02:25,920 --> 00:02:31,040 Now what the kids don't know is that the priest and his wife have already been to the woods 29 00:02:31,040 --> 00:02:37,600 ahead of them and they have hidden little mirrors everywhere. 30 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:45,320 And so the young people go looking for pearls and they find these mirrors and almost immediately 31 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:49,040 they discover themselves. 32 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:55,000 They come back to the priest and he reminds them that they are utterly and absolutely 33 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:59,840 valuable to God, cherished by God. 34 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:07,920 The father spends all he has, his only begotten son, so that the children he treasures can 35 00:03:07,920 --> 00:03:10,160 live with him forever. 36 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:12,600 I love that story. 37 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:19,920 Think about how self-conscious junior high kids can be, how much it hurts to feel unloved 38 00:03:19,920 --> 00:03:21,840 or unattractive. 39 00:03:21,840 --> 00:03:28,160 I have a friend who says there are moments in life when we are all in the seventh grade 40 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:30,520 all over again. 41 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:36,640 We're terrified, awkward, hopeless, unsure of what to do. 42 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:40,480 Each of you is a pearl of great price. 43 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:47,920 God searches for you and when you are found, God will go to any length to bring you home 44 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:49,720 with him. 45 00:03:49,720 --> 00:03:51,080 That is the truth. 46 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:53,120 It's good to remember. 47 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:56,520 God will never let us go and we are not alone. 48 00:03:56,520 --> 00:04:01,000 Everyone feels forgotten and lost sometimes, even bishops. 49 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:02,960 No one escapes it. 50 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:06,560 We might feel lost, but we are never really lost. 51 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:13,760 And no matter what we've done, those things done or left undone, repeatedly, God keeps 52 00:04:13,760 --> 00:04:18,280 working on us, patiently transforming us. 53 00:04:18,280 --> 00:04:24,920 It takes a long old time and it's hard to wait, but the miracle is happening. 54 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:32,120 No matter how slow and painful the process, God knows that we are priceless and beautiful 55 00:04:32,120 --> 00:04:36,640 because the love of Jesus makes us that way. 56 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:43,200 In our story today, Jesus goes up a very high mountain like Moses and Elijah before him, 57 00:04:43,200 --> 00:04:47,320 mountains were where you would expect to find God. 58 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:52,880 And he takes three trusted followers to witness the meeting and they are not disappointed. 59 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:59,360 Jesus is transfigured, it says, transformed by power from God. 60 00:04:59,360 --> 00:05:03,800 One kind of light turns his clothes dazzling white. 61 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:09,480 Moses and Elijah appear and they talk to Jesus and they talk about Jesus. 62 00:05:09,480 --> 00:05:14,880 And Peter is so terrified, which seems like a perfectly good thing to be. 63 00:05:14,880 --> 00:05:16,800 He has to say something. 64 00:05:16,800 --> 00:05:20,600 So he says, this is good, let's build a tent. 65 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:27,120 A tent to meet God is what was built on Mount Sinai, a place to meet God. 66 00:05:27,120 --> 00:05:33,600 And as they watch the scene, a bright cloud moves over the mountain and God speaks words 67 00:05:33,600 --> 00:05:34,600 to Jesus. 68 00:05:34,600 --> 00:05:39,680 He says, this is my son, my chosen. 69 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:45,200 And then for everyone watching, he adds, listen to him. 70 00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:50,520 And they're terrified as the cloud covers them or as they enter it, Luke says. 71 00:05:50,520 --> 00:05:55,960 And when the cloud disappears, they can see only Jesus standing there in silence. 72 00:05:55,960 --> 00:06:01,280 And as they leave the mountain, somehow they figure out they're not supposed to tell anyone 73 00:06:01,280 --> 00:06:07,400 about this experience until after he is raised from the dead. 74 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:13,880 Traditional interpretation says Moses represents the law, Elijah the prophets, and God's voice 75 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:22,080 saying, listen to him places the gospel of Jesus over against the law and the prophets. 76 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:27,440 It's like God saying now there's Jesus and here's the law and the prophets and Mark and 77 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:30,400 Matthew's account of this amazing scene. 78 00:06:30,400 --> 00:06:38,040 God's voice says to Jesus, this is my beloved, my son, and him I am well pleased. 79 00:06:38,040 --> 00:06:46,960 The words that God says to Jesus are the same words that Jesus hears at Jesus' baptism. 80 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:53,840 baptism is when we get a special grace given by God that says you are mine and I am really 81 00:06:53,840 --> 00:06:55,640 pleased with you. 82 00:06:55,640 --> 00:07:00,840 It's the same thing as saying you are a pearl of great price. 83 00:07:00,840 --> 00:07:07,200 You see because of Jesus, God says the same words to us and we are God's children and 84 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:13,360 the water is living water that gives us forgiveness of sin that we can always have. 85 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:20,640 The oil is a sign that we are sealed by the spirit deep in us and the sign of the cross 86 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:24,720 there never washes off even though it's invisible. 87 00:07:24,720 --> 00:07:30,120 And when things are hard or scary we can always remember we have the sign of Jesus on our hearts 88 00:07:30,120 --> 00:07:36,080 and in our lives and we can say relax, you're baptized. 89 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:38,040 I knew a little boy named Jacob. 90 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:43,640 He was four years old at the field site where I did my field work many years ago. 91 00:07:43,640 --> 00:07:46,480 He had a sister named Robin. 92 00:07:46,480 --> 00:07:48,480 He started to call her Robin. 93 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:51,440 That wasn't really her name. 94 00:07:51,440 --> 00:07:58,160 His mom had a black car and he suddenly began to call it the Batmobile. 95 00:07:58,160 --> 00:08:07,560 We explained that he was going to be baptized and he loved that and we said we'll put water 96 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:14,920 on your head three times and he said yes and we said and then you'll be baptized and he 97 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:24,400 said no I'll be baptized and then I'll be Batman he said. 98 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:26,760 He's a great theologian. 99 00:08:26,760 --> 00:08:31,040 He knew he was going to be connected to a superhero. 100 00:08:31,040 --> 00:08:33,840 He just had the name wrong. 101 00:08:33,840 --> 00:08:39,960 According to Jesus forever is what one will be made in a few moments. 102 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:41,800 All of us are. 103 00:08:41,800 --> 00:08:46,400 We'll baptize Sidney Warren and Mark him as Christ's own forever and then we'll confirm 104 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:53,320 that the Holy Spirit is still working in all of us but we will pray with all the faithful 105 00:08:53,320 --> 00:09:00,760 people who've come to become part of officially the Episcopal Jesus way of love. 106 00:09:00,760 --> 00:09:07,400 And remembers our own baptism and simply says yes it is true. 107 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:12,920 There was a theologian named Carl Bart once who said we come to church every Sunday with 108 00:09:12,920 --> 00:09:15,600 only one question. 109 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:18,120 Is it really true? 110 00:09:18,120 --> 00:09:21,000 We're all carrying that secretly somewhere. 111 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:25,680 Yes, it is all true and here's how I know. 112 00:09:25,680 --> 00:09:31,320 I know it's true because I have watched the Ministry of Ascension for several years now 113 00:09:31,320 --> 00:09:35,480 and I've seen it love people through terrible losses. 114 00:09:35,480 --> 00:09:41,040 I've seen it feed the hungry celebrate the coming of the light at Christmas celebrate 115 00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:43,440 the resurrection at Easter. 116 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:50,400 I've watched as new people have come here and found a home and a path to love. 117 00:09:50,400 --> 00:09:56,640 These are schools for love we're all learning how and you are a growing and thriving one 118 00:09:56,640 --> 00:10:01,160 and there are fruits of the spirit all around. 119 00:10:01,160 --> 00:10:06,040 We saw some of them march out of here behind a cross a few minutes ago. 120 00:10:06,040 --> 00:10:10,840 I've seen how you pray for each other and miracles happen. 121 00:10:10,840 --> 00:10:14,520 People walk through sickness without feeling alone. 122 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:15,720 That's a miracle. 123 00:10:15,720 --> 00:10:18,760 They find healing when they're hurting. 124 00:10:18,760 --> 00:10:22,720 They meet strangers and then those become friends. 125 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:28,600 I've seen people find a new purpose and hope in the middle of this sometimes very hopeless 126 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:29,880 world. 127 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:36,600 I've seen God's glory in your worship already today many times. 128 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:39,600 Do we all agree on politics? 129 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:41,640 Do we all agree on theology? 130 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:44,120 No, we don't. 131 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:51,440 But do we find a common life together sharing bread and wine and these prayers we say yes. 132 00:10:51,440 --> 00:10:58,400 Do we learn how to respect each other's dignity and fight for justice and recognize peace? 133 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:04,680 Yes somehow we learn that in the middle of our differences. 134 00:11:04,680 --> 00:11:11,680 That's how I know when Moses comes down from the mountain his face shines for all to see 135 00:11:11,680 --> 00:11:15,480 after he delivers God's commands to the people. 136 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:21,520 Whenever Jesus enters any scene one writer says Jesus just stands there like a big perfect 137 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:25,360 mirror that someone has brought into the room. 138 00:11:25,360 --> 00:11:29,520 When people look at the mirror they can really see themselves. 139 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:35,120 I look at him and see his compassion and it exposes my self-centeredness. 140 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:40,640 I see his deep love for God and for us and my heart heart is revealed. 141 00:11:40,640 --> 00:11:46,040 We see his courage and we realize that sometimes we're afraid and we doubt. 142 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:51,440 You take Jesus out of the room and all those things become relative. 143 00:11:51,440 --> 00:11:56,360 Compared to only you maybe I can think I'm not much worse off but you put him in the 144 00:11:56,360 --> 00:11:59,140 room and there's no place to hide. 145 00:11:59,140 --> 00:12:02,080 Someone said he is the light of the world. 146 00:12:02,080 --> 00:12:07,760 In his presence people either fall down to worship or do everything in their power to 147 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:10,560 extinguish his light. 148 00:12:10,560 --> 00:12:17,800 NT Wright who's a brilliant scholar and theologian says for many people dramatic visions and spiritual 149 00:12:17,800 --> 00:12:24,760 experiences like going up that mountain are balanced by huge demands. 150 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:31,800 The more open we are to God and to the different dimensions of God's glory the more we seem 151 00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:35,040 to be open to the pain of the world. 152 00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:40,960 When Jesus leaves the mountain he'll find a little boy waiting for him at the bottom 153 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:44,440 who needs healing and he will heal him. 154 00:12:44,440 --> 00:12:47,480 We cannot escape the world's pain. 155 00:12:47,480 --> 00:12:52,360 Instead God calls us to love in the middle of that pain. 156 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:55,560 God transfigures Jesus suddenly. 157 00:12:55,560 --> 00:13:00,880 One minute he's a dusty rabbi on his way to betrayal and death and the next he's blazing 158 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:05,240 with resurrection life and talking with residents of heaven. 159 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:11,040 His outward appearance changes revealing the glory of God, glory that is now and yet to 160 00:13:11,040 --> 00:13:12,280 come. 161 00:13:12,280 --> 00:13:15,920 I believe God transfigures us. 162 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:19,560 We are changing just very slowly. 163 00:13:19,560 --> 00:13:24,480 All our prayer and worship, our work and love for each other created by the grace of God 164 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:30,560 gradually whittles away at our sin and sickness and sorrow. 165 00:13:30,560 --> 00:13:33,160 Surely we too will shine. 166 00:13:33,160 --> 00:13:36,720 That reminds me of a saying attributed to Winston Churchill. 167 00:13:36,720 --> 00:13:38,080 Maybe you've heard it. 168 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:44,200 He said we are all worms but I do believe I am a glow worm. 169 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:50,360 Imagine this church is our holy mountain and when we come down and meet the pain of the 170 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:54,240 world what will God ask of us? 171 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:56,720 A prayer for someone in trouble maybe? 172 00:13:56,720 --> 00:13:59,880 A kind word for someone who is sad? 173 00:13:59,880 --> 00:14:04,320 A note to someone who no longer can come to church. 174 00:14:04,320 --> 00:14:10,040 Giving a backpack of food to someone who's hungry or to a homeless family. 175 00:14:10,040 --> 00:14:13,960 Maybe learning more about a disciplined spiritual life. 176 00:14:13,960 --> 00:14:16,160 What will God ask? 177 00:14:16,160 --> 00:14:23,040 God will show us and as we see and serve we will see a light and a mirror and God's voice 178 00:14:23,040 --> 00:14:28,840 will say this is my beloved child and you I am well pleased. 179 00:14:28,840 --> 00:14:30,600 Amen.