Anticipating Lent
A Sermon by the Reverend Shearon Sykes Williams on The Last Sunday after the Epiphany, February 27th, 2022.
“…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…”. Luke 9: 28-43
Our hearts are heavy this morning as we come together knowing that the people of Ukraine are suffering so terribly. It has been awful to see and hear the reports of the violence in the capital city and across the country. We give thanks for the support that NATO and our government are giving Ukraine and that sanctions are being imposed on Russia, and yet we are still left with a profound sense of dis-ease. And rightly so. When one suffers, we all suffer. We would hope that we would have all learned that lesson these past two years as we have endured a worldwide pandemic. We are part of one human family, whether we want to acknowledge it or not. We are all interconnected - we feel each other’s suffering and we feel each other’s joy. Both are contagious.
Jesus left a suffering world to climb a mountain to pray and he returned to a suffering world. In Luke’s telling of the Transfiguration story Jesus heals a young boy after coming down from his mountaintop experience. Prayer and service to others go hand in hand. Spending time nurturing our relationship with God strengthens us to respond to the needs of others.
During a broadcast on Thursday morning by CNN reporter Clarissa Ward, just a few hours after the invasion of Ukraine had begun, the world saw a group of seven people kneeling in freezing temperatures on the cold stones of the town square in Kharkiv. A simple and profound act of faith. A quiet and courageous act. People who you would have thought would be hunkered down at home, who instead chose to come together, out in the open, to pray.
When Jesus took his closest disciples up on the mountain to pray, they weren’t trying to escape reality, they were seeking to see reality at its deepest level. They were getting in touch with the Source of life itself. That is, I imagine, what the 7 Ukranians, kneeling in the town square were trying to do, connecting with the source of the “peace that passes all understanding” as the world as they knew it was falling apart. Jesus left a hurting world and he went back to a hurting world to bring healing. The Ukranians prayed with shelling going on in the distance and they went back to their homes to a long day and night of more shelling. We can go to the mountaintop anytime, even when we are in the bowels of hell.
As soon as Jesus came down from the mountain, he began his journey to Jerusalem, where he would suffer and die and then rise again in glory. But first, he prayed and as he prayed he was transfigured, he shone with glory, just as Moses had shone with God’s glory when he went up the mountain to receive a revelation from God, the gift of the law that he brought back down to the people of Israel to help them live in right relationship with God and with each other. When the disciples in today’s story see Jesus talking with Moses and the prophet Elijah on the mountain, God shows them that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. God shows them that Jesus is the ultimate revelation of God. Jesus came in the flesh, to sanctify this life, to heal us and to remake us into the people God created us to be. In Jesus, heaven and earth meet. When we get in touch with him in prayer, we are transfigured too. We are given the peace that only he can give and we are empowered to bring healing to others.
We hear the Transfiguration Gospel every year on this Sunday, the Last Sunday after the Epiphany. It is the grand finale of the Epiphany season. It is a glorious vision that prepares us for the Lenten season. Lent begins 3 days from now on Ash Wednesday. Lent is an introspective 40 day season that helps us to fully experience the joy of Easter. So, the Transfiguration and the Resurrection are the book-ends for Lent, they frame the 40 day journey that we are about to take with Jesus as he heads to Jerusalem to suffer and die a very real and horrible death and then rise again in glory.
Today is a day to rejoice and it is also a day to get ready for our 40 day Lenten hike up the mountain. Lent has traditionally been understood as a penitential season, and that is good. There is a lot for which to repent in our own lives and for which to lament in the world. But Lent is also an opportunity to ask ourselves, “How do I want to be different when Easter arrives?” “How can our family become more intentional about our faith?” “How do we want to ask God to transform us?”
So, I am inviting us all to reflect on these questions between now and Ash Wednesday and commit to one practice that you are going to ask God to use to help you become an even more faithful follower of Jesus. And as you might imagine, I have a few suggestions about what that might look like. First and foremost, is worship. If you are able to come to in-person worship, I encourage you to commit to coming to church in the flesh on Ash Wednesday and then every Sunday during Lent. We can do almost anything for 6 weeks. That is the beauty of Lent. It is so important to be together in worship. The people in the square in Ukraine came together to pray. Christians throughout the ages have come together. So, if you do not have a health concern prohibiting you, please come. It’s so convenient to stay at home in your jammies. It’s really hard to get back in the habit. So I hope you will consider making coming to church your Lenten commitment if its not already. This is not about judgment. Its about claiming the joy and the privilege of being together. And please know that if you do have a significant health concern, we are very thankful that you are with us on-line and we fully support you and rejoice that you are with us. The live stream has been such a Godsend and a great means of being together spiritually when we truly aren’t able to be here.
The second suggestion that I have for your Lenten practice is committing to attending one of our many classes or small groups. We have both in-person and on-line offerings. Starting next Sunday at 9:10, a prayer group will meet in the Rhodes Room to pray for social justice. And at 9:30, we will return to in-person classes for both children and adults. There will be Sunday school upstairs for children 18 months through 7th grade. And the choristers are singing again as well. Also at 9:30, RevMo Crystal will lead a discussion group for parents and caregivers in the Rhodes Room on “Developing a Personal Rule of Life during Uncertain Times”. We know that the last 2 years have been particulary hard on parents and this will be about claiming a hopeful path forward. There will also be an adult forum at the same time on the Stations of the Cross led by our seminarian Paddy Cavanaugh. It will be offered again on Zoom on Sunday evenings. The 20s 30 group, led by Allison Otto, will be meeting in-person on Sunday nights in various locations to explore the tradition of Passover .
There are on-line classes and small groups meeting throughout the week as well. The Life, Community and Faith class will meet on Zoom with me on Tuesdays. LCF is for people who are discerning if the Episcopal Church is the right fit for you or if you would like to get a refresher on the basics of our particular expression of faith. There are also 9 different virtual house churches that meet once a week to share joys and concerns, reflect on Scripture and pray together. Some of these on-line groups meet in the morning, some at lunchtime and some in the evening throughout the week. They are led by amazing lay leaders and were created at the beginning of the pandemic and continue to be a phenomenal source of strength and community.
And finally, we have a very special opportunity on Sat morning, March 12th, from 9 to noon. Bishop Porter Taylor, Assisting Bishop in our diocese, will be offering a Lenten Quiet Day here in our nave. Bishop Taylor is a wonderful and much sought-after retreat leader and we were blessed to get his last available time during Lent. The format of the retreat will be presentation with periods of personal reflection and the labyrinth in the center of the nave will be open as well. All of the information about these offerings and all of the contact information is in your “Lent at Saint Georges’” bulletin insert.
Opportunities for transformation abound as we anticipate Lent today. What one commitment do we want to make for the next 6 weeks? How will God transform us in prayer? How can we become more connected to our deepest selves and our faith community? How will God change us so that we can be agents of change in the world?
“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…On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. Just then a man shouted, ‘Teacher, I beg you to look at my son…Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And all were astounded at the greatness of God.” Luke 9: 28-43