God Says, “LISTEN TO ME!”

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Ancient Songs Sung Anew, deeper, gratitude, hear, joy, listening, psalm 50, thankfulness, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transformed

I’m always interested when the Psalm response in the lectionary consists of some verses from a long psalm that fit a specific purpose directly without any extraneous “sidebars” of intervening verses. Today my antenna was up because the stated title of Psalm 50 in the book Ancient Songs Sung Anew was “God Calls the World to Listen.” Since I had spent yesterday presenting to two different groups on the topic of “The Art of Sacred Listening” I was, you might say, “all ears” for the message. I wasn’t disappointed. Here are the salient points.

Hear me, my people, I am your God…I do not fault you for your offerings; your holocausts are clear. But I ask for no more heifers to be brought from flocks and farms. I need no more goats offered up from all your herds. Do you not realize I have all these and more? I’ve made my case; here’s what I want, a sacrifice of thankfulness in all that honors me. (vs. 8-10a, 23)

I have this vision of someone sitting on an over-stuffed recliner chair (a Lazy Boy?) surrounded by all kinds of material gifts – but all alone with the stuff – looking very sad. Perhaps we might interpret God as saying to us in our own time and place something like this: “I know you’re doing your duty – coming to church with items for the food pantry and your weekly envelope – but it seems lately that it is just that – a duty! I don’t need your duty! I want your heart!”

I’m not suggesting that we stop supporting the place where we worship, nor do I think God would want that. I do think, however, that this might be a good time to go to a deeper place to see if we are being transformed by our participation in the worship services, awakened to love of those who worship with us. If so, it seems that our only response would be one of consistent gratitude and heartfelt joy. And God would be happy too.

 

 

 

 

 

Transfiguration

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being of light, darkness, enlightenment, illuminate, James, Jesus, John, Mount Tabor, Peter, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, transfiguration, transformed

When it’s dark outside, we flick a switch or look for a candle so that we can dispel the darkness in order to see. In a similar way, people on a spiritual path most often frame their journey as moving toward enlightenment. That process is not as simple as lighting a lamp or a flame and, although we need to be awake and participative, we are not “the doer.” It is our cooperation with Spirit, that spark of divinity in us, that needs to be activated in order for enlightenment to occur. Moreover, in most cases, it is a momentary experience, but one which changes our perspective such that our living is different – more conscious and loving – because we see more deeply than we did before.

Such was the experience of Peter, James and John one day when they accompanied Jesus up Mount Tabor to pray. It was an extraordinary experience. They saw Jesus transformed into a being of light as he communed with God and with Moses and Elijah. So my question this morning is: who was transformed? The feast celebrated today is called The Transfiguration, meaning “the change of form or appearance into a more beautiful or spiritual state” (dictionary definition) which is attributed to Jesus as he prays. The vision shocked the men and was so powerfully transformative that Peter wanted to set up tents and stay there – a reasonable response to such an event. As is usually the case, the moment passed and they needed to return to their “ordinary life” but there is no doubt that they were changed and from then on knew a deeper calling to follow even while still not totally understanding all that was involved in their discipleship.

So it is, perhaps, with us. Some of us go through life moving as best we can toward the God in whom we have believed since childhood with nothing but that “still small voice” inside to guide us. Our transformation is organic and steady. Others have bursts of recognition that cause us to change our lives radically toward the good. The goal is the same. We are all called to transformation and the more we cooperate with that impulse, the closer we move toward becoming those beings of light who in time will illuminate the world with love.