Transforming Lent… Get LIT!
March 2, 2014
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
The Last Sunday after Epiphany – Year A RCL
Exodus 24:12-18, 2 Peter 1:16-21, Matthew 17:1-9
Peter, John and James go up the mountain with Jesus and Jesus is transfigured. His face beams like the sun and his clothes are dazzling white. In Luke’s version, this transfiguration occurs while Jesus is praying, but today’s reading from Matthew doesn’t provide any context for the change, it just happens.
And when it happens, and Elijah and Moses appear there with Jesus, this doesn’t seem to frighten the disciples in any way. Peter actually wants to set up camp for them. He offers to build three dwellings, one for each of them. This is a glorious event, and although he doesn’t fully understand what’s happening, Peter’s instinct, probably not unlike our own, is to hold onto it as long as he can!
It reminds me of a conversation I had with Bob Rea a few months ago. You never have to wonder if Bob is listening during a sermon because after the service he always shares some thought or insight about what he heard. It’s really quite refreshing, even if what he shares challenges me from time to time.
I had just preached a sermon, and in it I talked about the Sirius XM radio subscription that came with my new car. I confessed that I had found a Contemporary Christian music station that I actually liked, explaining how uplifting the music was for me.
After the service, Bob came up to me and conveyed a cautionary note – explaining quite seriously, that while this kind of music can be inspiring, it can also be quite addictive! If we listen to is all the time, it’s intoxicating in its own way, not unlike setting up tents on the mountain top. Read the rest of this entry »
Breaking News: Episcopalian says “Evangelism”… Come & See!
January 19, 2014
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
2nd Sunday after Epiphany – RCL Year A
Isaiah 49:1-7, 1 Cor 1:1-9, John 1:29-42
If you were here on Christmas morning you heard me talk about God breaking into our lives with the coming of Jesus into the world. I shared my own tendencies through the years to keep my life “safe and unchanged” within the comfort of darkness. But Jesus’ presence was God’s way of turning on a new light, and once we are exposed to this light, the world appears differently and we are called to respond differently in it.
Now, with the Christmas season behind us, we face the weeks between Epiphany and Lent. It’s a time in the church year when we focus on the revelation of Jesus as the Messiah. This is a central theme of the Gospel of John, where Jesus is explicitly revealed, right up front, as the one who was sent by God and was with God from the very beginning.
In the first verses of Genesis, when darkness covered the face of the deep, God said, “Let there be light; and there was light.” And now, in John’s gospel the creation story is retold:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God… In Him was life and the life was the Light of all people. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” (Jn 1:1-2,4-5, NASB).
Kindling a New Fire, Bull Durham style
August 18, 2013
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
Proper 15 – Year C RCL
Luke 12:49-56
Those of you who are baseball fans are probably familiar with the movie Bull Durham. For those less familiar, it’s a story about a struggling minor league baseball team, the Durham Bulls. There’s a scene in the movie… when the team is into their season, and at this point, they’ve lost twice as many games as they’ve won, and the coach is struggling with how to turn things around.
After an especially dismal game, the team and coaches head down to the locker room. While the players are getting cleaned up after the game, the usually mild-mannered coach picks up an armful of baseball bats, and throws them wildly into the team shower. They bang onto the hard tile floor and scatter all over the place, sending the towel-clad players jumping; trying not to get hit or fall down! The coach yells for all the other players in the locker room to get into the showers, and starts counting to ten! One Mississippi, Two Mississippi…
Come as you are… You are Enough!
July 7, 2013
Christ Church Episcopal, Norcross, GA
Proper 9 – Year C RCL
2 Kings 5:1-14, Galatians 6:1-16 & Luke 10:1-11, 16-20
When I was young, one of my family’s favorite summer-trips involved the seven of us piling into our wood-paneled station wagon for a two-day drive from Houston to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. A few days before the trip, Mom would pull out the vacation trunk and begin layering in a week’s worth of clothes for five kids and two adults – warmer clothes for the cool Colorado evenings, hiking boots, and various other vacation necessities. She was a master-packer, but even so, when it came time to close the trunk, one or more of us kids would usually need to climb on top to get the lid latched.
I couldn’t help but think of this summer packing ritual, as a stark contrast to the travel mentioned in today’s gospel lesson.
We are told that Jesus appointed 70 to go out to other towns in the region – they are headed out on a journey, but this is no vacation. Instead, Jesus tells them plainly, “I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.” And if that isn’t daunting enough, they are then told to take nothing with them – no purse, no bag, and no sandals.
jodygreenwood 