May God use and overrule my words.
May God's word only be spoken, God's word only be heard.
Amen.
Good morning, Ascension.
Wow, you look beautiful.
I've had such a great morning already with the early service and then seeing all the
folks that are being confirmed and received.
And then Sidney Warren, who is being baptized, Warren is what we are calling him.
And he's beautiful already and so the Holy Spirit will just make him more so.
I bring you greetings from the 87 churches and Camp and Conference Center called Camp
McDowell that most of you know and love.
They are hearing about your ministry across the diocese.
You have some really strong leadership in your lay leaders and also in your ordained
leaders.
I've known Jack Alvey a little while and he seems to be doing really well.
I'm really pleased with him and if I wasn't, he would know it.
And Emily, they seem to be a real team, a real team and you're being blessed with that.
All of us are being blessed by their work together and by the support that you are giving them.
And I want to thank you for that and thank you for the support that you give our diocese.
A priest friend of mine tells a parable of the pearl of great price to some junior high
kids at Camp McDowell.
He says a merchant searches all over the world for the finest pearls and when he finds it,
he sells everything he has and he spends every penny to buy it.
Now you get to go on a treasure hunt, go to the woods and search for pearls, he tells
them.
And if you find anything unusual, look at it and see if it shows you something of great
value.
Now what the kids don't know is that the priest and his wife have already been to the woods
ahead of them and they have hidden little mirrors everywhere.
And so the young people go looking for pearls and they find these mirrors and almost immediately
they discover themselves.
They come back to the priest and he reminds them that they are utterly and absolutely
valuable to God, cherished by God.
The father spends all he has, his only begotten son, so that the children he treasures can
live with him forever.
I love that story.
Think about how self-conscious junior high kids can be, how much it hurts to feel unloved
or unattractive.
I have a friend who says there are moments in life when we are all in the seventh grade
all over again.
We're terrified, awkward, hopeless, unsure of what to do.
Each of you is a pearl of great price.
God searches for you and when you are found, God will go to any length to bring you home
with him.
That is the truth.
It's good to remember.
God will never let us go and we are not alone.
Everyone feels forgotten and lost sometimes, even bishops.
No one escapes it.
We might feel lost, but we are never really lost.
And no matter what we've done, those things done or left undone, repeatedly, God keeps
working on us, patiently transforming us.
It takes a long old time and it's hard to wait, but the miracle is happening.
No matter how slow and painful the process, God knows that we are priceless and beautiful
because the love of Jesus makes us that way.
In our story today, Jesus goes up a very high mountain like Moses and Elijah before him,
mountains were where you would expect to find God.
And he takes three trusted followers to witness the meeting and they are not disappointed.
Jesus is transfigured, it says, transformed by power from God.
One kind of light turns his clothes dazzling white.
Moses and Elijah appear and they talk to Jesus and they talk about Jesus.
And Peter is so terrified, which seems like a perfectly good thing to be.
He has to say something.
So he says, this is good, let's build a tent.
A tent to meet God is what was built on Mount Sinai, a place to meet God.
And as they watch the scene, a bright cloud moves over the mountain and God speaks words
to Jesus.
He says, this is my son, my chosen.
And then for everyone watching, he adds, listen to him.
And they're terrified as the cloud covers them or as they enter it, Luke says.
And when the cloud disappears, they can see only Jesus standing there in silence.
And as they leave the mountain, somehow they figure out they're not supposed to tell anyone
about this experience until after he is raised from the dead.
Traditional interpretation says Moses represents the law, Elijah the prophets, and God's voice
saying, listen to him places the gospel of Jesus over against the law and the prophets.
It's like God saying now there's Jesus and here's the law and the prophets and Mark and
Matthew's account of this amazing scene.
God's voice says to Jesus, this is my beloved, my son, and him I am well pleased.
The words that God says to Jesus are the same words that Jesus hears at Jesus' baptism.
baptism is when we get a special grace given by God that says you are mine and I am really
pleased with you.
It's the same thing as saying you are a pearl of great price.
You see because of Jesus, God says the same words to us and we are God's children and
the water is living water that gives us forgiveness of sin that we can always have.
The oil is a sign that we are sealed by the spirit deep in us and the sign of the cross
there never washes off even though it's invisible.
And when things are hard or scary we can always remember we have the sign of Jesus on our hearts
and in our lives and we can say relax, you're baptized.
I knew a little boy named Jacob.
He was four years old at the field site where I did my field work many years ago.
He had a sister named Robin.
He started to call her Robin.
That wasn't really her name.
His mom had a black car and he suddenly began to call it the Batmobile.
We explained that he was going to be baptized and he loved that and we said we'll put water
on your head three times and he said yes and we said and then you'll be baptized and he
said no I'll be baptized and then I'll be Batman he said.
He's a great theologian.
He knew he was going to be connected to a superhero.
He just had the name wrong.
According to Jesus forever is what one will be made in a few moments.
All of us are.
We'll baptize Sidney Warren and Mark him as Christ's own forever and then we'll confirm
that the Holy Spirit is still working in all of us but we will pray with all the faithful
people who've come to become part of officially the Episcopal Jesus way of love.
And remembers our own baptism and simply says yes it is true.
There was a theologian named Carl Bart once who said we come to church every Sunday with
only one question.
Is it really true?
We're all carrying that secretly somewhere.
Yes, it is all true and here's how I know.
I know it's true because I have watched the Ministry of Ascension for several years now
and I've seen it love people through terrible losses.
I've seen it feed the hungry celebrate the coming of the light at Christmas celebrate
the resurrection at Easter.
I've watched as new people have come here and found a home and a path to love.
These are schools for love we're all learning how and you are a growing and thriving one
and there are fruits of the spirit all around.
We saw some of them march out of here behind a cross a few minutes ago.
I've seen how you pray for each other and miracles happen.
People walk through sickness without feeling alone.
That's a miracle.
They find healing when they're hurting.
They meet strangers and then those become friends.
I've seen people find a new purpose and hope in the middle of this sometimes very hopeless
world.
I've seen God's glory in your worship already today many times.
Do we all agree on politics?
Do we all agree on theology?
No, we don't.
But do we find a common life together sharing bread and wine and these prayers we say yes.
Do we learn how to respect each other's dignity and fight for justice and recognize peace?
Yes somehow we learn that in the middle of our differences.
That's how I know when Moses comes down from the mountain his face shines for all to see
after he delivers God's commands to the people.
Whenever Jesus enters any scene one writer says Jesus just stands there like a big perfect
mirror that someone has brought into the room.
When people look at the mirror they can really see themselves.
I look at him and see his compassion and it exposes my self-centeredness.
I see his deep love for God and for us and my heart heart is revealed.
We see his courage and we realize that sometimes we're afraid and we doubt.
You take Jesus out of the room and all those things become relative.
Compared to only you maybe I can think I'm not much worse off but you put him in the
room and there's no place to hide.
Someone said he is the light of the world.
In his presence people either fall down to worship or do everything in their power to
extinguish his light.
NT Wright who's a brilliant scholar and theologian says for many people dramatic visions and spiritual
experiences like going up that mountain are balanced by huge demands.
The more open we are to God and to the different dimensions of God's glory the more we seem
to be open to the pain of the world.
When Jesus leaves the mountain he'll find a little boy waiting for him at the bottom
who needs healing and he will heal him.
We cannot escape the world's pain.
Instead God calls us to love in the middle of that pain.
God transfigures Jesus suddenly.
One minute he's a dusty rabbi on his way to betrayal and death and the next he's blazing
with resurrection life and talking with residents of heaven.
His outward appearance changes revealing the glory of God, glory that is now and yet to
come.
I believe God transfigures us.
We are changing just very slowly.
All our prayer and worship, our work and love for each other created by the grace of God
gradually whittles away at our sin and sickness and sorrow.
Surely we too will shine.
That reminds me of a saying attributed to Winston Churchill.
Maybe you've heard it.
He said we are all worms but I do believe I am a glow worm.
Imagine this church is our holy mountain and when we come down and meet the pain of the
world what will God ask of us?
A prayer for someone in trouble maybe?
A kind word for someone who is sad?
A note to someone who no longer can come to church.
Giving a backpack of food to someone who's hungry or to a homeless family.
Maybe learning more about a disciplined spiritual life.
What will God ask?
God will show us and as we see and serve we will see a light and a mirror and God's voice
will say this is my beloved child and you I am well pleased.
Amen.