It is over a month past Christmas and we have come to the last Sunday following Epiphany; the season where we celebrate and remember the light of Christ revealed to the world.  The Scripture readings for this Sunday tell some fairly bizarre stories.  In Exodus we have the story of Moses going up to the mountain and receiving the commandments of God.  While he was there, the mountain was covered with a bright cloud for the entire forty days.  This cloud was not unusual, the Bible tells us that the Israelites followed a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night as they journeyed through the desert to the Promised Land.

The Gospel reading tells of Christ taking Peter, James, and John up on a mountain with him.  On this secluded mountain, Jesus was changed and appeared to emanate a bright light and figures of Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus.  Naturally, this caused the disciples to be a bit frightened.  Then the bright cloud appeared and a voice spoke identifying Jesus as the Son of God and reminding the disciples to listen to Jesus.  Peter was so excited with this experience that he wanted to pitch a tent and stay a while.  However, Christ challenged them to keep this experience to themselves and led them back down the mountain.

All of these strange ideas of figures appearing out of nothing, and bright misty clouds sound very much like something from a fantasy novel.  It is hard to understand why these stories are included in Scripture for modern readers, but I imagine at the time of the writing these stories would have received a great deal of attention.  Theologians today may be a bit embarrassed by these kinds of stories, but more primitive believers would have been amazed and awestruck with the excitement of it all.

The Scripture is full of stories of these bright lights and clouds.  It is usually translated as a reflection of the “glory” of God.  According to John Macarthur, “The glory of the Lord is the expression of God's person. It is any manifestation of God's character, any manifestation of God’s attributes in the world, in the universe is God’s glory. In other words, the glory is to God what the brightness is to the sun. The glory is to God what wet is to water. The glory is what heat is to fire. In other words, it is the emanation, it is the effulgence, it is the brightness, it is the product of God’s presence, and it is the revelation of God.

Our reading from Peter is the first Apostle’s account of seeing God’s glory on the mountain.  He believed that he was able to see the fulfillment of prophecy because of the brightness and eminence of Christ. Peter also included a challenge.  Since Jesus shines so brightly, those who follow Jesus are to be lanterns in dark places.  We are to walk faithfully out in the darkness and allow the light of God to shine through us.

Jesus is quoted in John 17:22 as saying, “The glory which you have given me, I have given to them,” speaking of his followers.  Jesus also claimed to be the “light of the world” while also saying “you are the light of the world.”  The letter to the Corinthians adds, “Whether then you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 

The Hebrew and Greek words translated glory in the Bible indicate “true Presence.”  In other words, glory reflects who God is.  It is a term of admiration, honor and respect.  The bright light caused many to become fearful and to tremble. So the glory of God is something that is also very awesome and wonderful.  All of these words are very limited attempts at describing what is indescribable.  It is our effort to explain what cannot be explained and somehow express what words cannot truly express.

These passages of Scripture cause me to think of those who believe they understand God.  They know what there is to know, and have made a science, called theology, out of studying God.  I like theology, and even have an earned doctorate in the subject, but I am always concerned when we place God in our limited understanding without seeing that the awesome presence of God is more than we can possibly imagine.  We may have glimpses, and we see the light shine through the cracks of our humanity, but we should never make absolute pronouncements about a God who is so much beyond our thinking that descriptions, even by the most conservative among us, compare god to the brightness of the sun.

The wonderful thing is that God has invited you and me to share in deity.  The presence of God was in Christ, and is passed on to those of us who follow.  We now reflect the presence and glory of God.  The Spirit in all her variations and contexts, with all of the voluminous words like glory, eminence, brightness, shining, now springs forth in each of us so that we too can find peace and freedom. 

The Spirit of the Sovereign brings freedom and joy to those who trust in Christ.  When life appears dark and gloomy; when depression and sadness appear to be the rule of the day, we can stir up the gift of God within each of us, the presence of God’s Spirit, and find hope to conquer the darkness.  No matter what form the darkness takes, light always causes darkness to flee.  As long as the light is shining darkness cannot overpower the strength, courage and hope that comes from light.

There are times when we need to allow the light of the Spirit to shine in our own minds because we are tempted to be overcome by the darkness.  At other times we must shine our light to give strength to others when they are facing great darkness.  The presence and glory of God is within each of us.  When the Spirit is bursting forth, the power of being present, touching, or even a hug, can give enough strength find joy and laughter against the dark.  

Scripture Readings for Sunday February 3, 2008:

Exodus 24:12-18

2 Peter 1:16-21

Matthew 17:1-9

Many years ago, I was convinced that I understood many absolute truths.  I learned to quote Scripture and could explain much of the background of the passages.  I read the Bible many times through.  I knew the Apostles Creed and recited the Creed of the Church Council of Nicea.  I could describe and explain various theological concepts and studies.  I knew what is meant by Christology, Ecclesiology, Soteriology, and even Eschatology.

Things seem to change as we experience life.  Many of the absolute things that I thought were so important years ago have slipped from my mind and have been replaced with a different kind of thinking.  The human mind is finite and limited; we cannot completely comprehend the infinite and unlimited-ness of deity.  The best we can do is describe and use analogy and metaphor. There are far fewer absolutes in my life now than there were two or three decades ago.  It isn’t unusual for us to grow and change.  Often youth is filled with absolutes, but it takes maturity to understand that life and faith are filled with wonderful abstractions that make life more rich and fulfilling.

This is the liturgical season of Epiphany.  It is the time when we remember the revelation of Christ.  The light of the world shines in darkness.  Those who were to become the disciples of Jesus, and later Apostles, had to first meet and understand who Jesus is. 

The Scripture lessons for this Sunday speak of a time when those who walked with Jesus passed down recollections about Christ.  The Gospel lesson speaks of John the Baptist introducing Jesus to his disciples. 

The first disciples in the Gospel of John used various titles to address Jesus.  Jesus was called, “The Lamb of God.”  He was also called the Son of God.  Rabbi and Messiah were also used to describe Jesus.  Christ was also called the “Son of Joseph from Nazareth.”   Some of these titles seem a bit contradictory.  How can he be both the Lamb of God, indicating the suffering Jesus would endure, but also the Son of God, signifying a triumphant ruler?  On the one hand Jesus was a suffering servant of all, but at the same time Jesus was the triumphant ruler of a new domain.

Jesus asked these early disciples a very relevant question.   It is one that spiritual seekers are very conscious of to this day.  Jesus asked, “What are you looking for.”  Many people approach faith not as a way of seeking or looking, but as if it were something already established.  People are often not encouraged to discover faith for themselves, but instead they are asked to accept and integrate the faith of others. 

The Church has gone so far as to put together multiple tests of faith to determine if one is true.  For some, they must believe that the Bible is the absolute Word of God for all time.  Other people require a pledge of devotion to a set of doctrinal beliefs like a creed or covenant.  Interestingly, even those who claim to have no creed, still have their list of fundamentals that everyone must adhere to in order to be considered a part of the congregation of saints.

This approach to faith may be fine for youth and immaturity, but heart-felt faith is dynamic and open to experiencing the Spirit of Christ in new and refreshing ways.  There are those, even today, who would scream heresy if anyone finds a new analogy for understanding God and Christ.  Unfortunately the church has reached the place where new insights are not encouraged and they are quite often discouraged under threat of some kind of ecclesiastical censure or another.  Fortunately, we are beyond the days when the church officially sanctioned violence against those who did not explain spiritual truths following the same pattern as those in power. 

In the gospel lesson, each of the disciples who came to Jesus had a slightly different understanding of Christ, each had their own perspective and they expressed their truth using the best terms they could based on their experience.  The disciples responded to Jesus, by asking “where are you staying?”  The question was not truly about Christ’s residence.  The question was more, “Where do you fit in?”  The Gospel of John is full of rich metaphors.  They wanted to understand how Christ fit into their messianic hopes.  Jesus did not give them an answer, but instead he challenged them to “come and see.”  Christ wanted to do more than explain things to the disciples, he wanted them to experience him, and have a relationship with him. 

Faith must never be limited to a set dogma that was decided by church councils hundreds of years ago.  Surely the centuries of human experience can contribute to our understanding of faith.  We don’t have to use the same old language, but can have a dynamic spiritual relationship that may not fit into the mold of generations past. Surely God is not so limited that human beings cannot be free to experience deity in a myriad of ways and through multiple metaphors, titles, and truths.  If we limit our faith to the absolutes of the past we risk missing the dynamic experience of spiritual reality that Jesus offers.  The church doesn’t have to be suspicious of those who have a different understanding. 

Perhaps we can find the strength of character found in following the example of Jesus. Maybe we can allow ourselves to have our own personal walk of faith and express that walk in ways that add a great depth and richness to spiritual life.  If there is one thing that we must admit is true of God, it is that God enjoys great diversity.  Nature, scripture and human history all point to the fact that God is bigger than any one simple explanation or understanding.  We must not forget that, as humans made in the image of deity, we express God best when we shine the light of diversity.

lectionary Readings for January 20, 2008:

Isaiah 49:1-7

I Corinthians 1:1-9

John 1:29-42

Several years ago I received an email in response to an article that I posted on our “Different Spirit” website. These articles were often published in several independent publications across the country that had web sites of their own.  It was prior to the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq and the email was from a young man in Iraq who was in trouble.

As I recall, he revealed to me that a cousin had caught him in an intimate moment with another man and his cousin was a part of Saddam Hussein’s Revolutionary Guard.  He was in hiding and afraid for his life.  His cousin was looking for him, along with several other members of the Guard.  He did not know if they would turn him in to the Islamic court, which could mean a long prison sentence or death, or if they would torture and kill him without a trial.  His email was a cry for help.

This young man took a tremendous risk when he revealed himself to me.  He didn’t know me except from what he had read on the internet.  He could have made himself even more vulnerable if someone was monitoring email traffic.  It would not be surprising to find that a government would scan email for key words and read those emails that contained those words.  He took a great risk; so I wanted to do something, although I knew my resources were very limited.  I prayed for him, and I contacted an agency that I knew had worked to get Islamic homosexuals out of countries where they were in danger.  I gave them his contact information.  Several weeks later I was contacted from London.  The young man had met with the representatives of the agency on the Syrian border and they took him to England where he applied for refugee status.  He was very thankful that someone was there to help him.

It is always a bit of a risk when we reveal something about ourselves to someone else.  The Scripture lessons for the Sunday after Epiphany, January 13, 2008, remind us of another time Jesus was revealed to others.  Something happened when Jesus went to be baptized by John in the Jordan.  We believe he was about thirty years old by this time, so a great deal of time had passed since the visit of the Magi.  The legend tells us that the Holy Spirit took on the visible shape of a dove and lighted on Christ and God spoke from heaven with a booming voice saying “This is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.”  Theologians argue about the validity of the story; whether the voice was actually audible and the dove actually visible.  Regardless of whether it was through a spiritual revelation or something detectible with our physical senses, the unique nature of Christ was revealed to others that day.

From a human perspective it would have been a tremendous challenge to live up to the expectation of being the messiah.  It was also very dangerous.  It was against the law to claim to be equal to God, and was punishable by death, as Jesus was to learn in a few short years.  This story is placed at the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.  He enjoyed a few years of favor with the people, so the politicians left him alone, but eventually the rulers of Israel could not tolerate what was being claimed of Jesus.  He spoke of being the son of man, the prince of peace; Lord of lords, all these and others were titles that were reserved for the emperor of Rome.  Caesar claimed these same titles of deity.  Christians replaced the mantra “Caesar is Lord” with “Jesus is Lord.”  Since there was a rumored son of Caesar who could have traveled up from Egypt, these claims became increasingly difficult for the politicians to handle.

Christ gives us the example of one who was able, at least with his closest confidants, to open up and share his inner feelings and thoughts.  He shared his beliefs, his values, and even his doubts to an ever larger crowd.  When anyone shares their inner thoughts they make themselves vulnerable to those around them.  Yet, we cannot truly commune with others and have intimacy without having open and honest communication about who we are, what we think, and what we believe.  It is a risk; but it is a risk that makes life more meaningful and fulfilling.  Showing some degree of vulnerability is not weakness, it is strength.  It means we are comfortable in our own skin and know who we are. 

The lesson from Acts, tells the story of how the Holy Spirit was first revealed to a non-Jewish group of people.  Peter had to overcome some very serious prejudice to learn to accept that someone who isn’t Jewish could also be included in God’s plan for the world.  He had to be vulnerable and admit his false belief in order to replace that belief with one that is inclusive and loving of all.  He had to reach the point where he could teach those at Cornelius’ house that forgiveness is given to everyone through Jesus.  There is no sin that is greater than Christ.

Christ did not come like the Roman Emperor and bring peace by killing all those who opposed him.  Instead Jesus came to bring justice.  Justice cannot include any kind of partiality or prejudice.  Jesus talked about loving your enemy and turning the other cheek.  The domain of God that Jesus taught is a domain of love, mercy and justice rather than violence, warfare and military dominance.  Matthew was probably referring to the Isaiah passage that reads “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him; and he will bring forth justice to the nations.” (42:1)

We all put up walls to protect ourselves.  Sometimes they are physical walls, but there are mental, emotional and psychological barriers as well.  We wear emotional masks so people don’t see who we are deep within.  However, living inside walls and masks is a lonely place.  We must take the risk of revealing ourselves to others at times, even if it makes us vulnerable. 

Without allowing others to see past our masks we will never be able to be truly intimate and enjoy all the blessings of life that God has planned for us.  Like the Islamic young man in Iraq who took the risk of revealing himself to a stranger, we must follow Jesus by tearing down some walls, and taking off our psychological or spiritual masks and revealing ourselves to others if we truly want all that life has to offer.

Scripture Lessons for December 13, 2008

Isaiah 42:1-9

Acts 10:34-43

Matthew 3:13-17

I always I knew that I was different.  I felt a bit peculiar.  I didn’t feel like I fit in with those around me during childhood.  I didn’t like many of the things other boys my age enjoyed.  My mother taught me to read before I went to school, so I enjoyed books a great deal.  My sister took me to the library for my first library card when I was in first grade.  I learned to appreciate the world of imagination that books opened up to me.

I don’t think any of my friends liked to read.  They wanted to play sports.  I wasn’t any good at sports at all.  I was always the last kid picked for a baseball team in gym class.  Over the years I came up with some fairly imaginative ways of not being embarrassed at sports when I had to go to gym.  (That’s not totally true; I did like football, and often played football with some friends in an empty lot on the block.)  For the most part however, I wasn’t interested in the same things as other boys my age.  As I got older, my dad couldn’t understand why I didn’t like to work on automobiles with him like my older brothers did.  I didn’t like to fight, but I talked myself out of some fairly rough situations in the inner city when I was a teenager.  I was more of a negotiator.

The Scripture lessons for Epiphany, January 6, 2008, may help explain why God didn’t make me like everyone else.  God appreciates great diversity among human beings.  Those who think God is limited to a small narrow group of people have decided to ignore some very important facts about the Gospel and the historical record of God’s dealings with humanity.

This is the day we celebrate Epiphany.  According to western church tradition, Epiphany is the day Christ was revealed to the world through the visit of the Magi, three wise men from the east.  Matthew explains that they saw something in the stars that drew them to Palestine to look for the Christ.  By the time they arrived, the baby was in a house, and had probably returned home to Nazareth after being born in Bethlehem.  We don’t know how much time elapsed between the visit of the shepherds from the field and the visit of the Magi from the east, but it could have been up to two years.

Who were these wise men supposed to have been?  We don’t really know much more than what is in Matthew.  Tradition going back to the middle ages holds that they were three kings from three different races according to the western church.  Eastern churches have always felt there were twelve wise men.  There is a Chinese tradition that at least one of the visitors was from China.  However, Matthew provides some hints to help us understand the importance of the story of the Magi’s visit.

They were from the east, called Magi, and they studied the stars. Magi were a priestly caste who rose to power in Persia, what is known as Iran today.  They practiced the religion of Zoroastrianism, which believed in one creator God and that all of nature, including the stars fit together in harmony with one another.  Therefore, you could look at one part of nature, such as the stars, and discover truths about another part of nature, like human destiny.  This religion spread throughout the east as far as India and China, so it is possible these visitors may have traveled a great distance.

An amazing thing about this story is that the Magi were not Jewish.  Christ is not limited to a chosen people, but the Christ is for everyone, everywhere.  Our lesson from Ephesians explains clearly that Paul was called to be a teacher to the gentiles.  A gentile is anyone who isn’t Jewish.  The good news was to be preached to the entire world.  The very essence of the teaching of the Apostles is that grace is extended to everyone. Gentiles have become fellow-heirs of all the promises of God.  The writer believed this was a mystery hidden for ages, but revealed in Christianity.

Each and every one of us is unique and wonderfully made.  Some of us have darker colored skin than others.  Some of us like music.  Others like sports.  Some like to read and explore the imagination, others like to see pictures and are stimulated visually.  Some are rich; others are poor.  We are tall, short, thin, wide, light, heavy, speak many different languages, worship differently, eat various kinds of food, some people even enjoy ballet and opera.  There are folks who are attracted to the opposite sex, some who are attracted to the same sex, and still others who are attracted to both sexes.  The church is made up of all different kinds of people and that is what contributes to the richness of the body of Christ through great variety.  The reason God never changed my sexual orientation is that people who are different have as much a contribution to make as anyone else.

The story of the visit of the Magi tells us that the doors of God’s acceptance are open.  Speaking of Christ, Isaiah wrote, “Lift up your eyes and look around; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from far away, and your daughters shall be carried on their nurses’ arms. Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and rejoice… They shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord.”  (Isaiah 60:4-6)

Not everyone fits into the mold of what society may consider acceptable.  We have been shaped by God through genetics and our environment to be a separate and special person.  Some of us show our uniqueness on the outside.  Others may keep their uniqueness more hidden.  The truth remains that there is rich diversity in the world and all of creation is granted the wonderful riches of God’s Grace.  That even includes someone as peculiar as me.

Scripture Readings for Epiphany, December 6, 2008

Isaiah 60:1-6

Ephesians 3:1-12

Matthew 2:1-12