Lent 2012 at Trinity will be a time to ponder God-Promises - those promises God vows throughout the Hebrew Bible (our Old Testament), culminating in the ultimate promise of salvation and eternal life through the resurrection of Jesus the Christ. We will celebrate this final, climactic covenant on Easter, April 8th.
Meanwhile, in Genesis 9: 8-17, God initiates and establishes God's first covenant. After flooding the corrupt and wicked earth, saving 2 of every creature and Noah's extended family, God shoots his unstrung war bow across the sky to remind us of God's vow never to destroy the earth again. In God's act of re-creation (beginning again with a remnant) is the promise of new life.
The problem is: we continue to sin. And as we begin Lent - 40 days for contemplation to consider our wicked ways - Jesus begins his ministry with his baptism in Mark 1: 9-15. Immediately following his baptism, Jesus is driven into the wilderness, where temptation besets him. This is the same wilderness of our lives, where temptations flood us with the attractiveness of the idols and lies that we can be in control and be our own gods.
The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting. In this permanent, eternal covenant, God's mercy trumps God's judgment. God's Promise of everlasting life, with the possibilities of new life that only God is mighty enough to grant, we find the comfort and challenges to partner with God in our kingdom wilderness. May the rainbow always remind us of the possibilities that we might bridge the gap between what is and what can be as God works through us.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
The Edge of Glory
“I'm on the edge of glory, and I'm hanging on a moment of truth / Out on the edge of glory, and I'm hanging on a moment with you...”
Have you ever witnessed something glorious? Maybe it was the birth of your first child. Maybe it was that child’s graduation from high school. Maybe it was someone who let you have that parking space up close, or let you go through the grocery line first.
Check out the glory witnessed in 2 Kings 2:1-12 and Mark 9:2-9. Three of the disciples – Peter, James, and John – are on the edge of glory in our Gospel passage this week. Jesus is transfigured – transformed, goes through a metamorphosis, becomes radiant, shining – before their very eyes. The disciples contribute nothing to the transfiguration – they are merely witnesses, absorbing what is shown and told to them up on that mountaintop, watching on the edge of glory.
Many of us, particularly those going through a spiritual wilderness, hunger for this witnessing, for a mountaintop experience, for hearing God’s voice so clearly and directly, for seeing with our eyes the transfiguration of Jesus. We hunger and thirst to just be on the edge of glory. And then, when it happens, when we are dragged to the top by Jesus, when we are finally on the edge…all we want to do is cling to that moment of truth, to hang onto that moment forever. We are frozen in terror, in awe, as we glimpse a part of the divine, a new reality. Peter, nervous and a little confused, begs Jesus to stay – to make dwelling-tabernacles for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. They don’t understand the edge of glory – but they don’t want to leave it and return to the ordinary, mundane, day to day existence.
Chances are you’ve heard this story once or ten times before. You might think the most important part is Jesus being transfigured, or Moses or Elijah (the Law and the Prophets) appearing, or God speaking from a cloud. I would argue that the first part of verse 9 holds the most power: “ As they were coming down the mountain…” The disciples were on the edge of glory – Jesus was in the middle of it. And yet they all came down the mountain to continue the journey to the cross, the journey to death, to transforming the world through the ministry of Jesus and the witnessing of the disciples.
When you’re on the edge of glory, will you cling to that moment? Or will you travel down that mountain to continue the path of discipleship, the path of learning and struggling, the path of working for the kin-dom of God in our ordinary world?
Grace and peace,
Pastor Kate
Check out the glory witnessed in 2 Kings 2:1-12 and Mark 9:2-9. Three of the disciples – Peter, James, and John – are on the edge of glory in our Gospel passage this week. Jesus is transfigured – transformed, goes through a metamorphosis, becomes radiant, shining – before their very eyes. The disciples contribute nothing to the transfiguration – they are merely witnesses, absorbing what is shown and told to them up on that mountaintop, watching on the edge of glory.
Many of us, particularly those going through a spiritual wilderness, hunger for this witnessing, for a mountaintop experience, for hearing God’s voice so clearly and directly, for seeing with our eyes the transfiguration of Jesus. We hunger and thirst to just be on the edge of glory. And then, when it happens, when we are dragged to the top by Jesus, when we are finally on the edge…all we want to do is cling to that moment of truth, to hang onto that moment forever. We are frozen in terror, in awe, as we glimpse a part of the divine, a new reality. Peter, nervous and a little confused, begs Jesus to stay – to make dwelling-tabernacles for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. They don’t understand the edge of glory – but they don’t want to leave it and return to the ordinary, mundane, day to day existence.
Chances are you’ve heard this story once or ten times before. You might think the most important part is Jesus being transfigured, or Moses or Elijah (the Law and the Prophets) appearing, or God speaking from a cloud. I would argue that the first part of verse 9 holds the most power: “ As they were coming down the mountain…” The disciples were on the edge of glory – Jesus was in the middle of it. And yet they all came down the mountain to continue the journey to the cross, the journey to death, to transforming the world through the ministry of Jesus and the witnessing of the disciples.
When you’re on the edge of glory, will you cling to that moment? Or will you travel down that mountain to continue the path of discipleship, the path of learning and struggling, the path of working for the kin-dom of God in our ordinary world?
Grace and peace,
Pastor Kate
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Mighty, Mystical, Mysterious Healing
Naaman, a mighty general of Aram (present day Syria) is cured of his leprosy by Israel's prophet, Elisha. That Aram and Israel are enemies makes the story intriguing. That a slave girl captured from Israel taken into captivity in Aram to serve Naaman's wife is an instigator for Naaman's healing adds to the intrigue. After misunderstandings between the two kings of Aram and Israel, the healing is effected by Naaman's servants who persuade him to wash in the Jordan River seven times according to invisible Elisha's instructions. It's a thriller story worthy of our best movie efforts. It's a story of God's providential care that extends beyond God's chosen people of Israel. Our God is an inclusive God. Read the whole story in 2 Kings 5: 1-14.
Jesus heals another leper who doesn't have the status of General Naaman, but who bows before Jesus, confessing his faith in Jesus' power to heal. The leper says to Jesus, "If you choose to heal me, you can make me clean." Jesus responds, "I do choose." With his healing the leper, unable to stop himself, goes forth proclaiming the word about Jesus throughout the countryside. Read the leper's story in Mark 1: 40-45.
Both Naaman and the leper are cured as they engage with God. For Naaman, engaging with God was hard work. Remaining in "conversation", which was threatened at several points by Naaman himself, took perseverance. The leper recognizes that Jesus has a choice and is humbly on his knees begging, recognizing the healing power of Jesus. For us to see God at work in mighty, mystical, mysterious ways also takes perseverance, humility, vulnerability, and hard work. Sometimes we set our expectations so high, that we are blind to the many miracles that come along regularly. As we engage daily with the person of Jesus and our belief in Jesus, we can move beyond debating the reality or non-reality of mighty, mystical, mysterious miracles and our expectations of what constitutes a miracle to welcoming being invited into Jesus' presence.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley
Jesus heals another leper who doesn't have the status of General Naaman, but who bows before Jesus, confessing his faith in Jesus' power to heal. The leper says to Jesus, "If you choose to heal me, you can make me clean." Jesus responds, "I do choose." With his healing the leper, unable to stop himself, goes forth proclaiming the word about Jesus throughout the countryside. Read the leper's story in Mark 1: 40-45.
Both Naaman and the leper are cured as they engage with God. For Naaman, engaging with God was hard work. Remaining in "conversation", which was threatened at several points by Naaman himself, took perseverance. The leper recognizes that Jesus has a choice and is humbly on his knees begging, recognizing the healing power of Jesus. For us to see God at work in mighty, mystical, mysterious ways also takes perseverance, humility, vulnerability, and hard work. Sometimes we set our expectations so high, that we are blind to the many miracles that come along regularly. As we engage daily with the person of Jesus and our belief in Jesus, we can move beyond debating the reality or non-reality of mighty, mystical, mysterious miracles and our expectations of what constitutes a miracle to welcoming being invited into Jesus' presence.
Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley
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