Sermon Blog
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Sermon Blog
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Mark Twain once said that a classic piece of literature is a book that everyone talks about, but no one ever reads. He placed the Bible at the top of his list of classics.
This does not mean that people do not know something about the Bible. The highly regarded pollster, George Barna, who happens to be an Episcopalian, has been tracking what he calls the “State of the Bible” for years (https://www.barna.com/research/sotb-2021/). His results are fascinating and sobering. In 2021, 73% of Americans identified as Christian. 50% of Americans claim to be “Bible users,” which Barna defines as one who reads some part of the Bible four or more times a year. This is a low bar, for sure, but it is up from 48% in 2020. When asked where Jesus was born, only 72% of those claiming to be Christian Bible users could identify Jesus birthplace as Bethlehem. In reading the whole Barna report, the findings tend to bear out what Twain said over 100 years ago. This is not to throw shade on anyone who does any Bible reading. While the Bible is the best seller of all times, four billion and going strong, is a complicated collection of stories that span more than four thousand years or storytelling. The title, Bible, comes from the Latin word for library, and that is really what it is. Each book comes from a different time, place, author, or group of authors, and has been translated from Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Latin into most all but the most obscure of written world languages. The Bible’s existence is a miracle, really, having been preserved more or less intact for a massive chunk of human history. If you have shown up for worship, tuned in on-line, or read the Bible on your own four or more times of the year, you are deeper in your Bible engagement than most. The fact we can read the Bible for ourselves, or even own one, sets us apart from the majority of those across time who have lived with the Bible as text for their faith. Polling of self-identified Christian “Bible users” also tells us that most favorite story in all of the Bible is… Noah’s Ark. The most well-known story, meaning people can recount it in detail, is Noah’s Ark. It is no wonder people think God is mean. Jesus’ birth story is third. In both categories, the miracle of Jesus turning water into wine and Jesus feeding the five thousand come next. Crucifixion and Resurrection just barely crack the top ten. You all can draw your own conclusions, remembering that Mark Twain also said there lies, damn lies, and statistics. Or the cynical quip that 90% of all statistics are just made up. As we tell and consider the stories we read today, we are engaging in precious, rare and important work of Biblical study. I am suspicious as to why today’s stories, for all of their familiar bigness, are not among the most memorable or most favorite of stories. Moses is a major player in the Old Testament. Our Gospel mountain top, glowing white Jesus event, called the Transfiguration, is a story we tell often, twice a year. In our three-year cycle of lessons, where most of the stories only come up once in three years, We start today with Moses. If it were not for Cecil B DeMille’s epic movie “The Ten Commandments,” I am not sure we would know it as well. Remember that scene where Charlton Heston as Moses comes down from the mountain, toting two stone tablets, and clearly, wearing a coat of red makeup on his face, and having had his hair teased out all frizzy? I laughed out loud when I saw the film. That was the cinematic attempt at capturing the glow and aura of one who has encountered God. Moses had gone into the clouds, and he came back to tell the Israelites what God revealed to him. Proof this divine encounter was the hairy, showy, glowy countenance. Due credit to DeMille, it is a hard thing to convey. When Jesus goes up on the mountain, he takes three followers as witnesses. A cloud descends. Their report is that Jesus was praying, and suddenly, he glowed radiant white, then Moses and Elijah appeared for a heavenly conversation. About the best Peter, James, and John could do was watch and listen, as a straight up mystery was happening right before their eyes. But, Peter, whose middle name might as well be ‘bless his heart,’ pipes up: “Why don’t we build a house for each of the holy rockstars, and hang out here with God.” But then comes the booming voice, the same voice from Jesus’ baptism, “This is my Son, the chosen, listen to him!” Peter got the message. Listen. Yeah. From this point forward, the text will tell us over and over that Jesus had set his face toward Jerusalem. If we were writing a movie script for this, the music would get more serious, and the pace would quicken. This central moment provides triumph, and clear revelation of identity, but it creates urgency as well. We might need an intermission here. When we come back, the music is more foreboding. The quaint stone and thatch villages and seaside miracles are fading into the background. The pace is quickening. The story is moving toward a confrontation toward Jerusalem, the center of politics, religion, and commerce. The time to face all of the worldly powers is at hand. The Transfiguration this story is not among the favorite or most popular ones, but it deserves a good look. It is hard to get our mind around it. The details are wispy. How we see it depends on perspective. It looks like a Moses scene, but the light does not come from the outside, burning the subject’s face. The light comes from the subject himself. That light has always been there, veiled as it were in Jesus’ humanity, but now the divine light is Jesus. This is a hard story to tell. It is impossible to understand humanity and divinity all rolled into One. It is good idea to hear it often and see it regularly. Mysteries are really important to lively faith. This time around, I hear this story differently. I have always thought this was about the disciples seeing Jesus transfigured before them. I have always thought that they were witnesses and by standers for a holy moment where Jesus changed, transformed, and converted from earth stuff to God stuff. Lucky disciples. But then, Jesus has always been the earthy God. He is always changing, transforming, and converting darkness into light. What happens on that mountain is not Jesus’ transfiguration. The transfiguration happens is in its witnesses as they know Jesus as God. The change this story is happening all of the time, as we come closer to the light, the mystery, the Power and the Glory as the prayer says. The transfiguration, yearning to be known, embraced, and lived… is ours. Amen. Comments are closed.
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AuthorThe Rev. John Thomas is Rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Greenwood Archives
October 2024
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