Sermon preached by Fr. Tom
at St. Thomas Episcopal – Plymouth
March 2, 2014
Transfiguration Sunday
Exodus 24:12-18
Psalm 2
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9
“May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be an acceptable offering in your sight, Oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer.”
One of my priest friends on Facebook posted that her cat had written her sermon. I thought to myself that my dog Poly is in a contemplative mood, and she is not doing much writing these days. You have read the poem by Robert Frost perhaps called “The Span of Life”?
The old dog barks backwards without getting up.
I can remember when [s]he was a pup.
The fact is that when Poly was younger, she was a dog of action. Everything that happened got a reaction and she would run to see or bark. These days she is more likely to watch from a safe distance and quietly soak it all in. When she was a puppy though Poly was all about doing something. You have heard and perhaps been told “Don’t just stand there; do something!” That used to be Poly’s motto.
Faced with the Transfiguration in today’s Gospel, Peter wants to do something. I read an interesting description of Peter once. This explained that he was not the rock until after the resurrection. He is more of a flake at this point in the Gospels, and like Poly the puppy he wanted to have something to do. Peter suggests they build tents or booths for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. There are a lot of reasons he may have wanted to do this besides the busyness.
He may have wanted to preserve the moment. I can understand that. I will confess I can also understand a desire to do something just in general. I am guilty as charged on that one. I am a busy guy, and always have something to do. I can really identify with Peter. It is not enough to savor the moment. I have to be doing something to feel justified.
Here is another issue. Jesus has also just told the disciples about his death and resurrection. I can believe this is something they did not want to hear. They were stuck on another vision of the Messiah where he was going to be a political and military power. The transfiguration is more glorious than the cross, and so maybe Peter wants to get his mind off the reality with some work. Who knows the motives?
We are a busy culture. It is not just St. Peter. It is the town of Plymouth and the places we work. It is the way we live, and it is second nature in many ways. We occupy every moment of our lives with things to do. It may be the “state religion” really. We produce and achieve. We talk about the Protestant work ethic as if it is something good.
There is a flip side to that “produce and achieve” coin though. Every person I talk to seems to be tired. We base our identity on what we do. We have bought into the myth that we have to accomplish things to be someone. The harder we work, the more we accomplish.
So you get on an airplane and that chatty guy in the seat next to you starts asking questions. There is the name question, but you will get asked “What do you do?” As far as a stranger is concerned, we are defined by what we do. There is some advantage probably to wearing a clergy collar when you travel to cut down on these conversations, but then you open yourself up to new ones. This is probably a wash.
Peter’s insistence on doing something seems pretty normal to us really, but look what happens. God Himself speaks from the cloud. He interrupts Peter and says, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”
Peter wants to act and be busy. God wants Peter to stop what he is doing and listen.
Christ’s call to discipleship requires us to do things. You may remember the Parable of the Good Samaritan. At the end Jesus asked “Who was the neighbor of the man who fell into the hands of robbers?” The lawyer responds it was the man who showed mercy. Jesus tells him to go and do likewise. It is not that doing is bad.
The problem is that we put the cart before the horse. We should do because of who we are. Instead we are defined as people by what we do. We have gotten it mixed up.
What’s the most popular hardback book besides the Bible ever sold in America? The Purpose-Driven Life! Look at the best seller lists. They are full of self help books. We want people to tell us what to do. But we get so action-oriented that we can fail, like Peter, to be contemplative, spiritual, grounded and centered. God is present in our lives. We need to be able to stand still and in silence and in awe in the presence of God.
Pope John XXIII was asked once in about 1960, “Holy father, how many people work in the Vatican?” he paused a moment then replied, “Oh, about half of them I suppose.” This such a classic response, and it can be read in so many ways. You can have contempt for people goofing off on the job and not being productive. You can also be in awe of an employer that understands that not working might be more important sometimes than working.
The trick, as in most things, is balance. There is the Benedictine Latin inscription you see sometimes “ora et labora.” There is prayer AND work. Perhaps Pope John thought the balance at the Vatican should be 50/50. Whatever the ideal ratio for us. they complement each other. There is such a thing as too much work. We have to know when to “do” and when and how to just “be.” We have to learn to take our calling and our work seriously, but not too seriously! We need to let go of our needs to control, and listen for the voice of God so that our actions are not just running around “doing” with no sense of direction or context.
So why are we so busy? Are we trying to justify ourselves with good works? I think that may be part of it. We stay busy also because if we ever let up, we might hear God calling us to do something. If we are ever quiet and contemplate where God is moving in our lives then we might have to deal with that. It might not be exactly what we want. It is not that we are afraid that God will not speak to us in the stillness. We are afraid that he will.
I read something written by a French priest this week. This was a guy whose father died when he was 14, and he devoted his life to youth ministry.
To the question, “Can we experience a Transfiguration Moment in our lives,” Quoist says:
“If we knew how to listen to God,
we would hear him speaking to us.
For God does speak.
He speaks in His gospels.
He also speaks through life ––
that new gospel to which we ourselves add a page each day.”
In our scripture today, after the disciples see the transfigured Jesus, a voice from heaven says, “This is my Son, the Beloved… listen to him.”
This is the same voice that is speaking to us as we are about to start Lent. The Transfiguration prepares the disciples for the cross and the resurrection. Transfiguration Sunday is preparing us.
Lent, which begins this coming Wednesday, calls us to rediscover our spirituality. It calls us to be and to pay attention. Through baptism, we are God’s children. It is because of who we are that we are gifted and called to do God’s work in the world. If we don’t get the “being” part, then the doing will only be a mess.
If your doing seems crazy and pointless, I want to invite you to stop and listen to Jesus. There will be plenty of chance for us to live out our call and take up our cross. In order to do that, the difficult thing today’s Gospel tells us is “Don’t just do something! Sit there!”
My takeaways are these.
- God speaks to us, and he calls us to ministry.
- Sometimes we are busy because we don’t want to hear.
- Lent is around the corner, and I am inviting you to use that as a reason to be still and listen to what Jesus has to say.
I have said these words in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.