Transfiguration

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faithfulness, James, Jesus, John, learning, Peter, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transfiguration

Today is a significant day for many people in religious communities, including mine. It is the anniversary of “vow day” when we pledged our lives to God. Akin to the marriage ceremony, it was the beginning of a lifetime of learning. It is called the Feast of the Transfiguration because the gospel for today recounts the story of Jesus taking three of his closest followers up a mountain to pray. That was not an uncommon event but something significant happened on that particular climb. Peter, James and John had a vision that day of Jesus, transformed into a being of light—his true identity. This was likely early in their following of Jesus and after it, because of the experience, they were ready to set up tents and stay on that mountain forever. Jesus had no intention, however, of allowing that to happen. It was a beginning, not an end.

And so it is with us. Although we had come to know in some way that our relationship with God was to be the motivating force of our life and we said so publicly on this day, it was not a day of completion. Rather, it was just the beginning of what has been the journey toward the light we had seen then. Today calls us (and by extension all of you reading this) to reflect on our movement toward the light of God, the light that we are growing into on our earthly journey. We celebrate the ups and downs, the ins and outs and the faithfulness of God in whom it began and whose presence calls us ever forward in grace. And on we go.

The Power of Attention

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faith, focus, goal, Jesus, Matthew, Peter, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, trust

Today’s gospel is a lesson in trust and focus: trusting in ourselves and God at the same time as getting the task done. It’s one of the familiar scenes of the apostles in a boat (MT 14: 22-36) and is clearly a test for them as Jesus is not with them. Rather, he has sent them ahead while he goes away – as is his custom – to refuel spiritually on a mountain alone.

Everything is fine until a serious wind comes up and rocks the boat so much that it is in danger of capsizing. Enter Jesus walking on the water toward them creating a double reason for distress: the possibility that they’re seeing a ghost as well as the danger of drowning. Jesus tells them not to be afraid. “It is I,” he says, and Peter tests the vision by challenging Jesus to have him walk to meet him in the water. Jesus obliges by the simple command: “Come!” Peter, ever the impetuous one, climbs out of the boat and is walking until he realizes that he is, in fact, walking on top of the water – an impossible thing to do. So, of course he starts to sink. As we expect, Jesus catches him, saves him and then remonstrates with him for his lack of faith.

Peter would have been fine if he had just kept walking…if he didn’t lose focus on his goal which was getting to Jesus. Losing focus and allowing our fear of failure – sometimes by over-thinking things – to be the actual cause of the failure comes from a lack of trust in ourselves as well as in God.

I’m much more willing to put my trust in God than in myself sometimes. Reflecting on this passage today, however, makes me more conscious that the two efforts are really one if we are living a life of faith. God and I have to be working together in everything. My focus needs to be that of the Spirit of God within me. If not, I will surely stumble and could even drown. So it appears today that the lesson is vigilance: staying awake is a must every day.

(N.B. Ironic that I wrote about paying attention on this date and then commented on the wrong readings! It never pays to skip a day of your chosen practice! It makes the message even more important. VIGILANCE!)

And Again!

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discipleship, follow Jesus, James, Jesus, John, Peter, sheep, shepherd, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transfiguration

AGAIN WITH THE SHEEP! The gospel acclamation this morning is a short verse surrounded before and after with “ALLELUIA, ALLELUIA.” I actually think the word “alleluia” should always be written in all upper case letters and followed by an exclamation point. Otherwise it’s hard to get the enthusiastic meaning…but I digress. The verse itself reminds us once again that “my sheep hear my voice; I know them and they follow me.”

I started to wonder why Jesus spent so much time talking about sheep as a metaphor, so I did some searching on the internet. In addition to what is quite evident, e.g. that their “undercoat” is soft and generally a good market product, here’s what I found.

A sheep is a meek animal, usually very quiet and gentle, holding itself aloof from the world. In a herd, all the sheep tend to listen to the leaders and show esteem to them…

I read lots more but that was the gist of what I found to be necessary. It helped me to understand why Jesus chose to reference them—in addition, of course, to the fact that shepherding was a very common occupation in that era and area. If I were Jesus, I probably would have loved all my followers to be like sheep. I’m sure it would have made his life simpler, his mission easier to achieve. But we know it wasn’t like that for him, and, in reality, he sometimes goaded them into accomplishing amazing things (some after he was gone from this realm). Take for example the feeding of the 5,000 or the vision he showed to Peter, James and John on the mount of Transfiguration…Some of what he presented as lessons took some serious reflection after the fact!

All in all, discipleship is always complicated. It seems that the description of sheep (see above) even fits Jesus somewhat and could be all rolled into a definition of what love is like, so maybe he was trying to teach by example. Jesus needed his followers to exhibit those qualities, but life is never just like that. Often we are, as the disciples were, called to more complicated situations that necessitated stepping out of the “simple life’ that had been theirs before Jesus arrived on the scene. They floundered sometimes in those situations, as do we, but in the end they stepped up for what was needed to further the mission of Jesus.

Now it’s our turn.

Healing Hands

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Acts of the Apostles, for the life of the world, gifts, Jesus, John, Peter, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

This is the season in which we read about all the miraculous happenings around the resurrected life of Jesus. Today there is a great moment we might miss because of being more attentive to the extraordinary outcome of the conversation.

Peter and John are on their way into the temple when they are accosted by a beggar who asks them for alms (ACTS 3: 1-10). It’s the next sentence that stopped me. Having heard the request for alms, “Peter looked intently at him, as did John and said, ‘Look at us.’ (Were they trying to tell him something? Did they want him to know they were just “regular guys?” Or were they ready to test themselves with the confidence that Jesus had in them?) Next Peter said, “I have neither silver nor gold but what I do have, I give to you.” (Was Peter sure of the power of his faith now? He was the one who had been so unwilling or unable to trust in the power of Jesus in the events before the Crucifixion. Was he able to believe now that he was ready to accept the power that flowed through him because of Jesus? Was he as surprised as the man whose hand he took and raised up and who was healed in the next moment – or did he now understand the gift that had been given to him for the life of the world?)

I go back to the beginning now and invite us all to look in a mirror today and say to ourselves: “Look at me.” Do I believe in the gifts I have been given for the life of the world? As I write this I think of the amazing woman, my physical therapist who, with her touch, freed my neck and shoulders so I could see again in my peripheral vision what had been out of my sight range for months – maybe years. And for the first time, I could actually feel the energy in her hands flowing in my body. Knowing her, I know that she is a gifted healer and that she attributes her gifts to the God who is the center of her life.

I may not have healed anyone physically but I need to ask myself what I have done to help someone in some way be lifted up “for the life of the world.” What is your gift – spiritual, physical or otherwise – that you name as given through the power of God in you?

All At Once…A Mix

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God's work, gratitude, heartbreak, James, John, kindness of God, lessons of life, Matthew, miracle, multiple emotions, Peter, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, Transfiguration of Christ

As I read Matthew’s account of the Transfiguration in today’s lectionary readings (MT 17: 1-9) I was struck by the reported mix of emotions that the “lucky” three disciples (Peter, James and John) felt in that experience. I always wonder how the disciples were changed in their everyday life after that day on the mountain with Jesus.

This morning I was gratified to read something that I have come to hold as a deep truth in life experience but have never before seen in print. (Perhaps I have come late to this reality and everyone else takes it for granted by now, but I’ll recount it anyway…)

Tami Simon of Sounds True speaks today on the internet of her encounter with Lance Allred, the first legally deaf basketball player in the U.S. National Basketball League. In answer to her question about what he was feeling as they spoke, Allred says, “A mix of heartbreak and gratitude…A new alpha* is someone who is unafraid of heartbreak because he knows that as he works through it, he will have so much gratitude for the lessons learned. What makes us human is not our ability to think and analyze. It is our ability to feel multiple emotions at once.”

Life is certainly complicated these days. We feel so conflicted with personal experiences as well as what we hear and see in events around our country and the world. Sometimes we find ourselves wondering “How can we go on?” The miracle is that we do. I am often amazed, when everything seems so bleak, that I can go outside and stand under a glorious full moon and feel a rejoicing in my heart. (I just looked out my back bedroom window and saw that the sky had become overcast while I was writing. A turn of my head to my side window sees only lovely blue…All part of the same sky.)

What do you make of all this? For me it is the kindness and inexplicable work of God in me and all around. May you find the same today.

*Alpha male or female = “In studies of social animals, the highest ranking individual is sometimes designated as the alpha…”(Wikipedia)

Lower the Nets

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asked, command, Jesus, Luke, Peter, Simon Peter, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today’s gospel from Luke 5:1-11 recounts a rather unique way of finding followers for his ministry. The scene is familiar. Jesus is by the lake. Not walking as usual, however, he just gets into a boat belonging to the fisherman named Simon (Peter). The fishermen have already been out on the lake all night with nothing to show for their work and are washing their nets, ready to go home for the day – somewhat discouraged, I would guess. As if he is in charge of things at the lake, Jesus tells Simon to “put out into deep water and lower the nets for a catch.”

There could have been many responses to that directive. Simon could have said, “Are you crazy? Do you see what we’re doing here?” or “No way! We’re going home!” or any of a number of reactions to what seemed a ridiculous suggestion at that point. But Simon must have encountered Jesus before – or at least have heard of him – because he addressed him as “Master.” Then came the decision that changed Simon’s life. He stated the obvious but then acquiesced to a possibility that Jesus knew something that he, Simon, did not or simply that there was more in the command than a simple request. “Master,” Simon said,” we have worked all night and have caught nothing, BUT at your command I will lower the nets.”

Has God (or God’s envoy) ever asked you to do anything that seemed impossible? ridiculous? just nonsensical? Are you listening for that kind of challenge? Could it change your life? Just a thought…a call to be ready, just in case…

Transfiguration

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Elijah, faith, Hebrews, James, Jesus, John, Moses, Mount Tabor, Peter, St. Paul, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transfiguration

Today is a feast in Christianity that is difficult to explain. The word itself: transfiguration, if broken apart, speaks of a change from something into something else, a change in figure or form. What we know from each of the three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) is a similar recounting of the same event that took place on Mount Tabor. Jesus had taken his friends Peter, James and John to that mountain for a time of prayer and something inexplicable happened. Jesus appeared to change into a “being of light” – as if from another realm. It seemed that the space-time continuum had been breached because he was seen by his friends to be in conversation with Moses and Elijah the prophet, both Old Testament figures.

Clearly, this event was something “other-worldly” for the three disciples of Jesus, something that they wanted to hold onto. (“Let us set up three tents here, Master, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah…”) but that was not to be. The vision disappeared as quickly as it had come and they were left in the presence of “only Jesus” again.

Why was this gift given to these three and not all twelve of the apostles? What did it mean for their lives? How are we to interpret the story? These questions and more can only be answered as conjecture. Perhaps our experiences of meeting Jesus are not as real in this physical realm. Perhaps we meet him in imaginal space or simply in our deepest moments of prayer. Perhaps we have yet to trust ourselves to some holiness in ourselves that might allow a deeper understanding of our connection to the divine.

Paul’s Letter to the Hebrews (11:1) tells us that ” faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen…” Perhaps we might benefit on this day from sitting quietly and putting ourselves in the gospel story of the Transfiguration (LK 9:28-36) to see what cannot be seen with our physical eyes but which might be grasped through the eyes of faith.

Listening for the Spirit

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Acts of the Apostles, Jesus, Peter, Pope John XXIII, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Each time the Church reads lectionary texts from the book entitled Acts of the Apostles I come to appreciate these followers of Jesus in a deeper way. One might call this book “The rest of the story” – when the followers of Christ became the major characters and needed to listen inwardly to God’s directives rather than having recourse to the physical presence of Jesus. Peter is especially interesting to me this year as he takes the leadership that Christ called him to at that famous catch of fish in the early morning of breakfast on the beach.

Today’s reading from chapter 11 (1-18) Is especially timely in our day, I think, as Peter related his vision which indicated acceptance of others whose ritual laws were different from his own. Listen to Peter’s words:

1. But a second time a voice from heaven answered, “What God has made clean, you are not to call profane.”
2. The Spirit told me to accompany them without discriminating.
3. If then, God gave them the same gift he gave to us when we came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to be able to hinder God?

It must have taken a lot of courage for Peter to veer from what had always been his beliefs to consider those of others. It could only have been grace that allowed him to see more clearly and deeply what was needed. I think of Pope John XXIII, now a canonized saint of the Roman Catholic Church, who was similarly called in 1959 to announce the Second Vatican Council, a world-wide gathering of prelates and consultants to “update” the Church to deal with issues of the times. By the end of the Council that occurred each autumn season from 1962 to 1965, the participants had produced 16 foundational documents, five of which spoke directly to relationships with other religious groups – Christians and beyond. Different in scope but similar in intent, Peter and John XXIII changed the face and welcome of what had been to what might be for a better future.

We do not need to abandon our own beliefs in order to welcome others. We simply (or not so simply) need a clear eye and an open heart to hear the deep yearnings of people. If we listen carefully, we will likely find more to accept than to deny and a widening of understanding will benefit the whole.

May the Spirit of God be found in us and be spoken aloud for the good of the world!

Fidelity to the Call

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challenge, discipleship, feed my sheep, Jesus, John, Peter, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

I’ve often said that chapter 21 of John’s gospel contains one of my favorite stories. People have heard me enthuse over “breakfast on the beach” more than once each year – the latest, just 9 days ago in fact! It has so many elements to recommend it: Peter’s impetuosity (jumping out of the boat to get to Jesus sooner), the miraculous catch, the image of Jesus as cook and servant to others and the love that was so palpable among the men gathered on the beach.

I don’t often spoil the mood created by all those elements by talking about the second part of the text which is really the heart of the message. It’s too hard to leave the serene message of love at the beginning in order to hear the words of Jesus about the last test that Peter will endure for the sake of Christ at the end of his life. Jesus would not be around much longer in his physical body so Peter would have to remember the entire conversation on the beach if he was to take love all the way to the end.

A question, three times asked, a response and then a command the full impact of which Peter could not have foreseen at that moment comprise perhaps the mission of a lifetime for this greatest, most human apostle.

Do you love me? Yes, Lord. Feed my sheep.

Why repeat the question two more times? (Peter wondered that too, sounding more frustrated each time Jesus posed it.) It’s doubtful that he didn’t believe Peter’s answer. After all, Peter did jump out of the boat and swim to him rather than waiting the few minutes it took to row to shore. Some would say it was a way for Jesus to bring to Peter’s mind the time that he betrayed Jesus, disavowing any knowledge of him – to blame him of his failure to love. I doubt that. It doesn’t seem like a tactic Jesus would use and Jesus certainly knew Peter’s heart.

Most likely Jesus was trying to fortify Peter for the cost of discipleship. Feeding the lambs and sheep of the Christian flock in the face of the persecution leveled against the them was not going to be easy. Remembering the words of Jesus and coming to understand the significance of the charge would need to grow within Peter, deepening the love that would be the anchor of the rest of his life and the courage to endure his painful death.

I sit this morning not knowing what the future will bring to my life. I would do well to open my hands and heart to the question of Jesus and hear his challenge. May we all answer as Peter did the third time the question was put to him: Yes, Lord. You know all things. You know that I love you. And may it be the answer on our lips until our last breath.

Breakfast on the Beach

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breakfast on the beach with Jesus, Easter, Jesus, John, Peter, simple joy of being, The Sophia Center for Spirituality

Today we read my favorite post-Easter gospel (JN 21: 1-14).

Seven of the disciples are together and probably still asking one another, “What do we do now?” The three brilliant years are over and they probably don’t see any sense in going on without Jesus around. Reports differ about sightings of Him and nothing seems to be happening to prove anything miraculous, so Peter decides to do the only thing he knows how to do. “I’m going fishing,” he says. They all decide to go with him but even that doesn’t seem worthwhile as they fish all night without any success. It’s only when the dawn comes and Jesus gives them a new way to fish that everything changes. “Cast your nets over the right side of the boat and you will find something.”

(Have you ever been prompted to try a new way to do something and realize that in the willingness to do so you have success? It’s all about letting go of the habitual to find the prize sometimes, isn’t it?)

Peter, ever the impulsive one, jumps into the lake as soon as he hears that it is Jesus who gave the advice that caused the reversal. I love that. (Have you ever seen the commercials or news clips of a soldier surprising family members by returning home without their knowledge? Everyone is trying to “hug the stuffing out” of the returnee amidst tears and cries of joy and relief.) That’s Peter, of course. Everything changes for him in that moment.

And Jesus…what a tender soul! He does such a simple, elemental service for his friends. He cooks them breakfast. I think of all the “old days,” – Sunday mornings when I was working in a parish – when all the religious education classes were over. I would steal a little time to drive the 3 or 4 minutes to my friend’s house for a visit. She always acted as if I were a great dignitary (or even Jesus himself) with her joyful exclamations of welcome and her command to “Come and eat!”

Sometimes it’s not the monumental moments in life but rather the simple things that we do for each other that mean the most and stay in our memory. I would wager that until his dying day Peter could still see that fire on the beach and taste the fish that Jesus cooked for him that morning that made everything worthwhile again and gave him the confidence to say, “Yes, Lord. You know all things. You know that I love you.”