Feb. 26.2017, Transfiguration of Our Lord

Matthew 17:1-9  (The Promise)

1 Six days later, three of them saw that glory. Jesus took Peter and the brothers, James and John, and led them up a high mountain. 2 His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes. Sunlight poured from his face. His clothes were filled with light. 3 Then they realized that Moses and Elijah were also there in deep conversation with him. 4 Peter broke in, "Master, this is a great moment! What would you think if I built three memorials here on the mountain - one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah?" 5 While he was going on like this, babbling, a light-radiant cloud enveloped them, and sounding from deep in the cloud a voice: "This is my Son, marked by my love, focus of my delight. Listen to him." 6 When the disciples heard it, they fell flat on their faces, scared to death. 7 But Jesus came over and touched them. "Don't be afraid." 8 When they opened their eyes and looked around all they saw was Jesus, only Jesus. 9 Coming down the mountain, Jesus swore them to secrecy. "Don't breathe a word of what you've seen. After the Son of Man is raised from the dead, you are free to talk."

This was a ‘stop the clock’ experience.  An experience to be savored and consumed;
an experience to be lived in and not go on.  But the truth is, this cannot be.  We cannot stay on the mountain.  We have to come down into the real world, the valley.  (Jesus couldn’t either!  He came down to the cross!)

On the Mountain top we see what cannot be seen in the valley;  it is a high point of faith.
The temptation is to want to stay there - escape from life.
The challenge is to take it with us into the rest of life and let it make a difference in who we are.

We are to leave the mountain top with its experience hidden in our hearts and  live, listening to Jesus, letting our lives show that we have been transformed.

“We are to leave the mountain top
with its experience hidden in our
hearts and live,  letting our lives
show what we have seen.”




Picture: Sarah Pearson



Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, take me to the mountain top and fill me with your love; then go with me into the valleys of life, making a difference where ever we go.”

Seventh Sunday after Epiphany
February 23, 2014

Matthew 5:38-44, 48 (The Promise)

38 "Here's another old saying that deserves a second look: 'Eye for eye, tooth for tooth.' 39 Is that going to get us anywhere? Here's what I propose: 'Don't hit back at all.' If someone strikes you, stand there and take it. 40 If someone drags you into court and sues for the shirt off your back, gift wrap your best coat and make a present of it. 41 And if someone takes unfair advantage of you, use the occasion to practice the servant life. 42 No more tit-for-tat stuff. Live generously. 43 "You're familiar with the old written law, 'Love your friend,' and its unwritten companion, 'Hate your enemy.' 44 I'm challenging that. I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. 48 "In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.

With these words we are challenged to absorb evil rather than pass it on.
Easier said than done.
And maybe there are times when we have to fight fire with fire;
destroy rather than go the extra mile.

Yet, at it’s best this is still far from perfect and leaves much to be desired.
The “more excellent way” is to “over come evil with good.”  Rom. 12:21
As Martin Luther King said and did.

“To our most better opponents we say: ‘We shall match your capacity to inflict suffering
by our capacity to endure suffering.  We shall meets your physical force with soul force.
Do to us what you will, and we shall continue to love you…Throw us in jail, and we shall still love you.  Bomb our homes ands threaten our children, land owe shall still love you.
Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our community ate the midnight hour and beat us and leave us hals dead, land we sill still love you.  But be ye assured that we will wear you down by our capacity to suffer.  One day we shall win freedom, but not only for ourselves.  We shall so appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.’”  Strength To Love





“The best way to stop evil is to
absorb it rather than pass it on.”








Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord, help me to love more than hate, even love those I hate.”

Feb. 13, 2011 6th Sunday after Epiphany

Matthew 5:21-36  (The Promise)

21 "You're familiar with the command to the ancients, 'Do not murder.' 22 I'm telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. Carelessly call a brother 'idiot!' and you just might find yourself hauled into court. Thoughtlessly yell 'stupid!' at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire. The simple moral fact is that words kill.
27 "You know the next commandment pretty well, too: 'Don't go to bed with another's spouse.' 28 But don't think you've preserved your virtue simply by staying out of bed. Your heart can be corrupted by lust even quicker than your body. Those leering looks you think nobody notices - they also corrupt. 29 "Let's not pretend this is easier than it really is. If you want to live a morally pure life, here's what you have to do: You have to blind your right eye the moment you catch it in a lustful leer. You have to choose to live one-eyed or else be dumped on a moral trash pile. 30 And you have to chop off your right hand the moment you notice it raised threateningly. Better a bloody stump than your entire being discarded for good in the dump.
33 "And don't say anything you don't mean. This counsel is embedded deep in our traditions. 34 You only make things worse when you lay down a smoke screen of pious talk, saying, 'I'll pray for you,' and never doing it, or saying, 'God be with you,' and not meaning it. You don't make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true.

Our living, our righteousness, is to exceed that of the most obviously religious.

We are to go beyond the letter of the law to the spirit of the law.
We are to read the Bible looking not for a rule to live by but a hope to live with.
We are to hang in there - practicing a  lot of confession and forgiveness - always choosing the way which has a chance to lead to life - no matter what.

Our challenge is to try love no matter what!  For God is love and love is the closest thing we have to perfect on this side of the grave.  We are to live with love at the center of our lives.  Love born of God’s never ending grace.

For no one can make it without grace.  There is no religiousness which makes grace unnecessary!

“No one can make it without grace.” 

Prayer thought for the week:  "Lord, help me to loving even when I don't want to."

February 5,2017 Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

Matthew 5:13-16  (The Promise)

13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
   14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
 
With God we always get more then we bargained for.  We get more love, more forgiveness, more acceptance, more grace.
And we are asked to give more then we bargained for.
For God never lets us go, never lets us down, nor does God ever let us OFF!

We are to be salt;  salt brings out the natural flavor; gets lost in the ingredients; and too much of it spoils the taste.  Our love for our God is hidden in our living.  It enhances someone else's living. It dare not be overdone (self-righteous living) lest it spoil the good we seek to accomplish.

We are to be a light on a hill - so it cannot be missed.  A light which shines in the darkness and the darkness can not overcome it because it comes from He who IS the light of the world.

We are to be salt and light in a real way.  So that what we say and do might be a part of the real world; might be something of God’s grace at work in the real world.

“You can’t just talk it;
you have to live it!”







Picture:  Amy Sykora



Prayer thought for the week:  “Lord help me to live what I believe, in a way
which does make a difference in my world.”