Sermon notes for the Last Sunday after Epiphany Year C 2010

 

This sermon was preached in semi-extemporaneous fashion with out a fully written text.

 Below are the notes used by the preacher.

 

Last Sunday – Experiences of the Holy:

            Isaiah in Temple, Peter, miraculous catch of fish

 

Today – Peak of such in Gospels: Transfiguration

 

Mountain top:

            Jesus in dazzling white

            Moses and Elijah in glory

            Divine cloud

           

Peter thinks Gate of Heaven:

            Build 3 booths

            Stay with the Holy

Then God's voice from cloud—

            My Son, Chosen: Listen to him

Vision ends; Jesus alone left.

 

Down mountain they go, back to earth:

            Encounter with crowd and man with possessed son:          

            Jesus still there.

 

Seventy disciples sent out to preach;

            They return – Jesus still there.

 

All continue their journey to Jerusalem

            Jesus still there.

 

Disciples are taught about love, faith, prayer, forgiveness

             and the right use of money:

            Jesus still there.        

 

There are conflicts with the religious authorities

            Jesus still there.

 

They pass through Jericho and come to Jerusalem

            Jesus still there.

 

They eat a last meal and go to a Garden at night;

            Jesus still there.

 

In the morning, 3 crosses are raised against the sky:

            And Jesus is still there.

 

How long ago and far away the Transfiguration must have seemed then:

            The shining glory long since gone;

            Thieves, not prophets, on either side.

            The heavenly voice no longer speaking.     

Yet Jesus, God's Chosen, was still there.

 

From the mountain of vision

            through the up and downs of a difficult journey

            through the challenges of daily life

            to betrayal and desertion

            and a brutal death.

And always, always – Jesus is there.

 

Experiences when the Holy is palpably present are a great gift when received:

the visions of God given to Moses and Isaiah,

the glory of the Transfiguration seen by peter, James and John;

the moments in our lives when the Holy One comes near.

 

These are gifts we should receive with thanks – and then we come back to earth and our daily lives:

And always, always –  whether we see him or not – Jesus is there.

 

In the Book of Genesis, the patriarch Jacob takes a night's rest with a stone for a pillow and he dreams:

he sees his famous ladder, connecting earth to heaven, angels ascending and descending on it, and he hears God speak.

He awakes in awe and says:

"Surely the LORD is in this place-and I did not know it!" "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." [i]

Jacob builds a pillar to mark the spot where the Holy One had been revealed, as Peter wanted to build booths on the mountain top.

But I trust Jacob carried with him the words God had spoken in his dream:

“Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." [ii]

God promised to be with him always and in all places –   

so that in every place Jacob journeyed; every place he slept; every field he worked in, filled with awe or seeming very ordinary, Jacob could say to himself:

"Surely the LORD is in this place-and I did not know it!"  This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."

It matters that he could do that and that we can do, also.

Visions of the Holy – heavenly ladders; Transfigurations, are rare.

But the presence of God is not.

As for Jacob; as for the disciples, so for us:

            God is always, always there.

 

So often we walk through our days oblivious to this truth.  We act as if we are alone in the daily world; that there is no divine presence  there to support us, love us and, when needed to call us to account.

Bu the truth is otherwise:

            God is always present.

            Jesus is always, always there.

 

So wherever we are – at home, work, school, the mall, in our cars – no matter – with Jacob we can say: "Surely the LORD is in this place. This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."

 

 

 The Rev. Jack Zamboni

February 14^th 2010

 

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