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Collect

Eternal God,
you revealed to the disciples
the everlasting glory of Jesus Christ.
Grant us, who have not seen and yet believe,
the gift of your Holy Spirit,
that we may boldly live the gospel
and shine with your transforming glory,
as people changed and changing
through the redeeming presence of our Saviour. Amen.

Readings

Exodus 34: 29-35

Psalm 99

2 Corinthians 3:12—4:2

Luke 9: 28-36

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’—not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’ When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

This Sunday we celebrate the Transfiguration as the finale of the Epiphany season. Since Christmas our worship has been focused on the revelation of God the Creator through the person of Jesus Christ. The readings have focused on who Jesus is in his full humanity and divinity and how Jesus reveals who God the Creator is.

In our time of great division, of people turning more and more to the separation of ‘us’ and ‘them’ we need to experience God’s inclusive love and show that inclusive love to the world in our words and actions.

We began with the visit of the Magi where it was revealed that the gift of Jesus Christ and through him salvation was not a gift meant only for the Jewish people but for all humanity and in fact for the whole of creation including the stars and celestial bodies. The symbol of the guiding light of the star and the Magi feeling this pull to the Christ child point to this.

The next Sunday we celebrated the Baptism of Jesus where the voice of the Creator announces that Jesus is the Son, directed related and connected to the Creator in essence they are one and that the energy that connects them is love and that Jesus’ ministry and person are blessed by the Creator.

In the weeks that follow we hear of Jesus’ miracles such as turning water into wine showing the abundance of God’s overflowing gifts, we hear Jesus stating that he is the embodiment of the servant of God prophesied by Isaiah who comes to “bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” (Luke 4:18-19) this revealed that Jesus is the one the prophets spoke of who would be the Messiah, to bring hope and healing to a broken world. We hear of Jesus’ miracle of a catch of fish beyond anything Peter, James and John could understand but that reveal to them that this Jesus is someone who they are willing to give everything up for to follow and to learn from.

As the weeks go on, we hear the Sermon on the Plain where Jesus speaks powerful words about how God works in the world, bringing blessings in the midst of trials, bringing about justice for the powerless, rewarding those who stand for peace and for those who are persecuted for their faith. Jesus reveals God not to be a warrior king but a loving parent, watching over all people, aware of the hardships people face, aware of the evil that roams the world and affects every area of our lives, aware of the imbalances of power that corrupt the world and that God works in and through all that with love.

On Transfiguration Sunday we receive one more story of revelation, one more epiphany to open our eyes to a deeper way to understand Jesus. It is the story of some of Jesus’ closest disciples receiving and being overwhelmed by a confusing vision. They see Jesus in his full humanity and divinity a sight which frightens them and which they don’t fully understand until after the resurrection. More than that though there is a secondary revelation of Jesus speaking with Moses and Elijah two of the great figures in Jewish history who represent God’s interaction with humans.

In their time Moses and Elijah were the mouth of God relaying God’s messages to the people, Moses brings to the people the Law, a way for the people to understand God’s expectations around how they are to understand and interact with God, the world and their neighbour. They are to know and love God above all else and the are to treat all people with dignity, respect and love, just the way they would want to be treated. The Law Moses brings reveals God through the relationship God desires with the Hebrew people.

Elijah on the other hand is the great symbol of the prophets, those willing to speak God’s truth into the world, challenging the people to return to a right relationship with God and with each other. Challenging them to be just, loving, respectful, fighting against envy, greed or collusion with the unjust rulers of the nations.

Both of these figures, Moses and Elijah symbolize God’s way of speaking and relating to the people of Israel until Jesus comes into the world. The reason some of the disciples witness this revelation is to help them understand that Jesus speaks of the same Creator God of the Hebrew scriptures even if the message seems different, this is further highlighted by the voice of God reminding the disciples who Jesus is and declaring to them that they are to listen to him.

Our readings today remind us of God’s great desire to have a relationship with us, God’s great love for us and God’s great desire that we know we are loved and that we in turn love others.

In our time of great division, of people turning more and more to the separation of ‘us’ and ‘them’ we need to experience God’s inclusive love and show that inclusive love to the world in our words and actions. This is a time when we need to hear God’s declaration of love for us and for all people loudly and allow it to wash over us and remove the fear which causes our divisions and fear is the root cause of those divisions and the opposite of love. We need to allow God’s love to calm our anxieties, to strength our resolves to do and say to others what we wish would be done and said to us. God is love and in loving God there is no fear. Jesus shows what the power of love can do giving him the strength not to fight back in anger or fear but rather to reach out in acceptance, understanding and love. Amen.

Collect

O perfect Love,
whose compassionate power transforms sin into health
and temporal dust into eternal glory:
grant us a gracious faith,
so that like Joseph, when he was sold into slavery,
we may face our trials with confidence,
and become a blessing
to friend and enemy alike in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Readings

Genesis 45: 3-11, 15

Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come closer to me.’ And they came closer. He said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither ploughing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, “Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. I will provide for you there—since there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.” And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.

Psalm 37: 1-12, 41-42

1 Corinthians 15: 35-38, 42-50

Luke 6: 27-38

‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.’

First of all let me start by saying we, who write these reflections, don’t get to choose which ones to write. I am slotted into the third Sunday of the month for February.

So, here I am writing about ‘Love’ again. That is the word or feeling that jumped out at me when I looked over the scripture readings for the week. Well, it was Valentine’s Day last week so I guess it is appropriate. But I also wondered how many more times would I need to convey to others about God’s love, the effects on us and the need to pass all of that love onto others; all others.

…all this comes in the name of love!

I looked up on the internet; how many times the word love was mentioned in the Bible and the answer was hundreds. It is not the most used word but it is one of the central themes and driving forces of God’s word. And this means that I will need to either write a reflection or preach about love again. But If I tried to preach to others about loving their neighbour, turning the other cheek or forgiving a past, hurtful event, then I had to make sure that I could do it myself. With that in mind, I decided to do an experiment. I sat at my desk and imagined a certain group of people in the room with me. (Don’t worry; none of them were any of you). I looked around the pretend crowded room and asked myself if I ‘loved’ them. For a few minutes I sped through the group without hesitation, very proud of myself of course, but then came one person, who stopped me from moving along. I decided to clear the room, so to speak and focus on why I could not say to myself that yes, I did love this person. After considerable thought and some prayer, I realized that yes I could love this person too, but why was it so hard? What had they done to me that I could maybe not forgive or forget? Oh, that’s it!!! The ‘forgive’ and ‘forget’ part. Forgiving the past and forgetting it may be the only way I can move forward. It is a burden to carry it so I needed to let it go.

And that my friends, brings us to the reading from Genesis and the story of the amazing Joseph, who forgave his brothers for selling him into Egypt. The path that his brothers sent him along would have been horrendous at times. However, just like most of us do when put in a difficult situation, Joseph came to the end of the path different than when he went in. He walked with God. We all know that it isn’t easy to find God in those extremely difficult times, or maybe we tend to forget to look for him. We are too busy, maybe being angry at God or asking why did this happen to us and although a natural response, it is a state that we cannot remain in for long. We must seek out God, pray, walk with him and let him carry us when necessary. Realizing that with God’s help we can get through all things and the faster we allow him on each and every path we take, the faster and easier it is to get through the difficult ones. We are never alone, even though we may think we are. We just need to reach out and grab that helping hand that is stretched out waiting.

Joseph took God’s hand and listened while God sent him back to his brothers to explain why he was there and who had sent him. To “preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors”. God uses Joseph in this way, to continue with his covenant with Abraham that he will have many descendants.

I hear the story of Jesus in this part of the story of Joseph. He (Joseph) is rejected by his brothers, imprisoned falsely, but ended up changing the course of events for many. Jesus is rejected by many, put to death unfairly yet ends up changing the world for ever.

And really, all this comes in the name of love!

Collect

God, you root those who trust in you
by streams of healing water.
Release us from the bonds of disease,
free us from the power of evil,
and turn us from falsehood and illusion,
that we may find the blessing of new life in you through the power of Christ. Amen.

Readings

Jeremiah 17: 5-10

Psalm 1

1 Corinthians 15: 12-20

Luke 6: 17-26

He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.

Then he looked up at his disciples and said: ‘Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God. ‘Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
‘Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
‘Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice on that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
‘But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation. ‘Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
‘Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep.
‘Woe to you when all speak well of you, for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

“You who are hungry now”

When we read the beautifully written Beatitudes, we must read them in the context of the struggle between harsh poverty and great wealth existing in Jesus’ time. John Dominic Crossan has brought to our understanding the conditions of social life in first century Palestine. Powerful men built great cities to reflect their own glory and name, and these cities created a huge drain on the resources of the area. The poor, as always, were exploited even more than they had been, as resources, especially food crops, were redirected to feed the needs of the city–rural values exploited by urban values. To understand the dynamics, you have to imagine a despot building palaces for his own pleasure and pride at the expense of his poor countrymen: think of Saddam Hussein and his many palaces, or Ceausescu of Rumania. The farmers of Jesus’ time were little more than indentured servants, virtual slaves, paying larger and larger portions of the fruits of their labours to their landlords and overlords, surviving at near subsistence levels. In this social context the Lord’s prayer for daily bread takes on an intense urgency.

Like me, you are probably very familiar with the Beatitudes as found in Matthew’s gospel:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God.

Those lines are certainly beautiful poetry, and the English teacher in me is ecstatic, but seen in the social, political context of the first century CE, the Beatitudes are not just pretty words, but a call to action, a call for social revolution.

This thrust becomes clear when we examine how the passage above is different from the version of the Beatitudes found in the earlier gospel of Luke. Luke presents only four Blessings, compared to Matthew’s nine, but they are less ethereal and more earthy:
Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you and de-
fame you…for my sake.
Furthermore, the second half of the poem in Luke’s gospel contains a series of four “woes” to balance the four “blessings”:
Woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you,
for that is what their ancestors did to the false prophets.

The New Revised Standard Version from which we read is very close in translation to the King James version; I checked to make sure the contemporary editors weren’t slanting the translation to fit their theological or political agenda.

When analyzing literature it is important to pay attention to repeated words; they are clues to meaning. In both gospels, there is, of course, the repetition of “Blessed,” and in Luke the four “blessed” are balanced with four “woes,” but the other repeated word in Luke’s version is significant–the word “now”:
Blessed are you who are hungry now…
Blessed are you who weep now…
Woe to you who are full now…
Woe to you who are laughing now…

The reference to “now,” to time present, is conspicuously absent from the Beatitudes in Matthew’s gospel: “great is your reward in heaven.” It is no wonder we know and love the Matthew version of the Beatitudes–far more comforting, far more politically and socially safe, for Luke’s series of Woes are also omitted. Matthew’s “Blessed are you who hunger and thirst after righteousness” is far more abstract and therefore less challenging than the very concrete statement in Luke: “Blessed are you who are hungry now.” The Beatitudes of Luke’s gospel are clearly a call to action, a warning to the wealthy: how long must the poor and the marginalized wait for the blessings of God? But the political and social context is nevertheless underlying Matthew’s version, just as they did in his version of the nativity.

In both gospels Jesus spoke to the wealthy about their obligations to meet the needs of the poor. Jesus talked more about money than he did about heaven or prayer; after “the Kingdom,” Jesus talked about money more than anything else. He was trying to make people, especially wealthy and religious people, realize that how they think about money is a major factor in determining their spiritual growth. “You can not serve God and Mammon.” The power of money was the number one idol in Jesus’ time, and it remains so in our culture. We really cannot grow spiritually beyond what we do with our wealth: “Woe to you who are full now.” We in Canada, in the Northern and Western developed nations, are richly blessed. We must share. The good news of Jesus is as simple as that. The actual bread and wine are to be shared. The multitudes are to be fed very real loaves and fishes. The gifts of God for the people of God, now.

Collect

Loving God,
you have called forth disciples and prophets
to live and speak your word.
Give us ears to hear,
lives to respond,
and voices to proclaim the good news of salvation, which we know in our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Readings

Isaiah 6: 1-8

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said:
‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.’
The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said: ‘Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’

Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said: ‘Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.’ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’

Psalm 138

Of David.
I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise;
I bow down towards your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness;
for you have exalted your name and your word
above everything.
On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul.

All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord,
for they have heard the words of your mouth.
They shall sing of the ways of the Lord,
for great is the glory of the Lord.
For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly; but the haughty he perceives from far away.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve me against the wrath of my enemies;
you stretch out your hand,
and your right hand delivers me.
The Lord will fulfil his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures for ever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.

1 Corinthians 15: 1-11

Now I should remind you, brothers and sisters, of the good news that I proclaimed to you, which you in turn received, in which also you stand, through which also you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the message that I proclaimed to you—unless you have come to believe in vain.

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to someone untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of
God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me has not been in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them—though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we proclaim and so you have come to believe.

Luke 5: 1-11

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’ When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signalled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!’ For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, ‘Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.’ When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

Collect

O God of all the prophets,
you knew us and chose us
before you formed us in the womb.
Fill us with faith that speaks your word,
hope that does not disappoint,
and love that bears all things for your sake, until that day when we shall know you fully,
even as we are known by you. Amen.

Readings

Jeremiah 1: 4-10

Psalm 71:1-6

1 Corinthians 13: 1-13

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

Luke 4: 21-30