Self-examination
The first practice we’ll try is something called the Prayer of Examen, a way of praying that looks back over the day to see what has happened in our walk with God. Created by Ignatius of Loyola for his fellow Jesuits to use, it’s a process of reviewing our day in God’s presence, to begin to know ourselves better in our walk with God – the good parts, but also the temptations and where we fall short. Because all of us have those temptations, ways we struggle to keep our faith and trust in God.
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Lent is for...what again?
But to make of Lent another chance for self-improvement is to set ourselves up for failure. Not only will we fail at our well-intentioned efforts to make things better – you know what they say about the road being paved with those – but we fail at the most important thing of all: our relationship with God. For when we spend our focus and energy on ourselves and what we have done wrong, how we could improve – what many see as the point of penitence – we lose sight of where we should be focused, on God.
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Being transfigured
On this Sunday in the church year, we all get a little time together on the mountaintop: the gospel story of the Transfiguration takes us there. All three synoptic gospels include this story, so it’s clearly an important one. It shows the disciples (and us) who Jesus really is, a glimpse of his divinity. It also tells us something of our own response to that revelation – seen through the behavior of Peter, who’s kind of our stand-in in the gospel stories. But what we in the Western church sometimes forget is something the Eastern Orthodox church teaches: this story tells us about what God intends for us, the process that God is working in us even now. Transfiguration is not just about Jesus; it’s what God is drawing us all toward.
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Jesus' teachings for us
Because there are times when the Bible just turns around and punches you in the nose. When it becomes clear that real people taught and wrote real words so that we would actually change our hearts and lives and live differently. And all the airy intellectualizing we are so fond of doing just turns out to be avoidance of the clear simple truth. When we hear scripture like this, then to say ‘the Word of the Lord, thanks be to God’ and to go off to coffee hour unchanged might just be one of the oh-so-many ways we have of making Jesus weep, yet again.
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Pilgrimage and trust
I think this is why those fishermen Jesus walked by on the Sea of Galilee were so ready to drop it all and follow him. They were plenty busy with their work and their livelihoods and their families; they were mending their nets and tending to their boats and bringing in fish to sell to support themselves…and then Jesus came along. ‘Follow me,’ he said. And it became crystal clear to them in that moment what was really important, and what really wasn’t so necessary after all. The only activity that mattered was getting up and walking after Jesus, making community with one another as they went. There wasn’t anything else they needed.
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The risk of promise
After all, what is it we’re looking for? Maybe it’s meaning, making sense of life or the world around us in a confusing time. Maybe it’s comfort and companionship, the deep love that comes from being truly known. Maybe we want to make things change in the world, bring about the beloved community we long for. I think each of us would answer Jesus’ question differently, if we were speaking honestly from our heart of hearts.
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You are My beloved child
And of course Jesus goes on over the next three years to show that unexpected truth, that as God’s Messiah he is a model of humility and self-sacrifice – not of power and dominance over others. Right there at his baptism he sets the tone for what his whole witness will be. It’s a message I think we’re still struggling to understand, this profound example of God’s strength made perfect in weakness. Even the King of kings is not exempt: this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased…and he will live and die like any other of God’s beloved children. And all of us will be called to follow him.
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No fear
The feast that celebrates the appearance of Jesus, good news to all the world, is laced with fear and uncertainty. And there’s plenty of reason for the fear. The Magi ask, where is he who is called ‘King of the Jews’? That title will next be heard when Pilate is questioning Jesus during his trial, then in the mockery from the soldiers who torture him, and finally as a sign posted on the cross over his head. The sweet story of the Christmas baby has Good Friday close on its heels.
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God in the darkness
But sometimes our devotion can distract us from the message. Sometimes we need to be reminded: God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world to reduce to nothing things that are (1 Cor 1:27-28). Not on accident, but on purpose, God came to be one of us as a fragile child in a dark, scary place. Not as a plan B, but as the plan all along. That ought to tell us something.
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Joseph's Choice
What he knew was that his betrothed was pregnant and it wasn’t his; that they were poor; that even with Mary heavily pregnant they would have to travel to Bethlehem like others of their family and clan to satisfy the regime; that when they arrived there they would find no place to stay, would be homeless at the birth; that nearly as soon as the child was born they would be fleeing as refugees to Egypt. It’s a story of hopelessness and sadness for Joseph, not anticipatory joy. His own dreams were being replaced with God’s dream, and he couldn’t understand what God was about.
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Go and tell what you see and hear
It's such a poignant moment. We don’t really know whether John the Baptist ever makes up his mind – whether he ever understands just what he was preparing the way for. Does he get a glimpse of the world transformed? Or is he forever waiting? Those two disciples walk off stage and what happens next? – what do they make of Jesus’ answer, what do they talk about with John? So it’s one of those open questions left for us to answer. We see all that Jesus did and what God can still do in this world. What do we make of it?
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Repent in Advent
Advent is a season with two faces. One face is a sweet and lovely one, preparing for the birth of a baby, a vision of peace and joy and all creation singing together. But the other face is a fierce one, with winnowing forks and fire, judgment and wrath.
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Holy Emptiness
But meanwhile, in the church, Advent is happening. We light one candle each Sunday – just one candle. We pray for mercy and sing quieter hymns and chants in a minor key. We hear scriptures of longing for the coming of God’s kingdom, the time of peace for all people. We do one thing: hold the space for our longing because we know we need it.
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Which King?
No leader, elected or kingly, and no human system, can be the focus of our trust. They all fail; they cannot heal us or bring us life or bring about the beloved community here on earth. Only God can do that. Jesus is Lord – not anyone else. Not the false shepherds that Jeremiah rails at, who destroy and scatter the sheep. Not the powers and rulers who crucified Jesus on the cross. No one but God is God. No power except God’s is true.
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Gratitude in Hard Times
We start first with expressing our thanks – which serves to remind us of what God has done and is doing for us. When we start with thanking God, it’s like writing those thank you notes. We pause to remember that everything we have is not just a given – and neither is our life. What we have and what we are can’t be taken for granted. Even when we’re at our worst, or the situation around us is completely dire, we begin our prayers with thanks because there is always something to be thankful for – even if it is just that God is with us in the suffering.
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Resurrection Hope
Lots of answers to one strange question. But we might have a whole lot of other questions to ask about resurrection besides the one the Sadducees throw out. Jesus doesn’t go into detail about what resurrection looks like, you notice. He
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Saints on the Run
All Saints is a feast day with a lot of room in it: it’s one where we remember all the saints named and unnamed of the church, and where we also know ourselves again to be part of the communion of saints past, present, and yet to come. This Sunday is for all of us.
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The Humility to Share Grace
That’s what’s at the core of the parable Jesus tells today in the gospel, the one about the Pharisee and the tax collector. Two extreme characters, one main point. It begins, Jesus told this parable ‘to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.’ Tell me that you don’t immediately have someone in mind when you hear that description.
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Do Not Lose Heart
And yet it does strike a chord, somehow – because prayer is a practice that does sometimes feel like we’re pressing our case over and over again, and the response can definitely take a long time coming. In dark times, hope can feel hard to hold onto. All of us has been there – maybe even now.
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Beyond Our Expectatio
All of this is meant to be good news. And it is good news, albeit sometimes terribly and frighteningly good news. God wants a relationship with us – all of us, our whole selves, every bit of us. And God wants us to fulfill a purpose – God’s purpose, God’s intention for our lives.
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