Sermons from the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer

So, as the light of Christ shines its brightest and fullest, excited Peter continues speaking. And while he's just yacking away, a bright cloud dramatically overshadows the mountain. God is trying to get a word in edgewise. God affirms Jesus is God's very own, and only, beloved Son. "With him I am well pleased," God says. Then God is obliged to interrupt Peter with this powerful command, "listen to him."

The point of our commandments, the point of the Great Commandment of God, is that we will live in love with our God and with our neighbor. That our hearts will be set outward towards those around us. That is the commandment of God. That our lives will be devoted not simply to following a set of rules so we can say we're good people. But that our lives might be devoted to one another, fully and totally, that we might give ourselves sacrificially to one another. And that by giving ourselves to one another, give ourselves to God.

"The message of God is: You are loved, act like it! Stop acting like you need to prove you're lovable. You're loved. You all are still trying to woo God and prove to God you're worth it and God's already died for you. It's done. Stop acting like you've got to win God over. You've got God in your corner. You are deep in the heart of God. And you're still thinking that you're going on your first date. It's done. You belong. Now what?"

It's easy for us to believe we don't need purification. And it can be tempting for me to cry out, "Where is the God of justice?" when I see injustice around me. And then I'm reminded from Malachi, that I'm part of the injustice in this world.

For a bunch of people across different age groups wondering, "do I matter yet?" or "do I matter now?" or "do I matter, still?" that is a profoundly scary thing to feel and to wonder. And what Jesus does in this Gospel, and what Jesus does in our lives, is that he imbues every single one of us, whatever stage and age we are, with this sense of our importance to God and to this world. Whatever age we are, we have something to give to this world and we shouldn't be scared that we don't matter.

The inevitability of God's presence, God's love, and God's redeeming power is palpable in the story. So, when we get to the point where Jesus shows up to the disciples and says, "Follow me," yeah, sure, they have a choice, but it doesn't feel like it. It feels like part of the inevitability. When they are confronted with the reality of God's presence, what else are they going to say but "yes, yes, I'm in".

Jesus walks to Capernaum to start his ministry. Why in the world would he go there? It's an amazing thing he does, he goes to the middle of nowhere to start a movement that will change the world. Part of the reason why he goes there, is that Jesus' message is for the whole world.

It's the greatest book ever written and I'm so glad that we get to read it together, here in our book club. People may look at us and think we are just sitting around talking, but we are actually being transformed. So that we, in turn, can help transform the world. Onlookers might think that we are just living in a fantasy world. Some alternate reality. Some dream of what could be. But we are experiencing the divine nature of God in our midst.

We, surrounded as we are by prosperity, do not comfortably see ourselves as captives of our culture, estranged from our true home in God. But that is what Isaiah invites. He is calling both the discouraged faithful and those who have been assimilated into Babylonian culture back to a center that will hold.

Jesus cares about participating with John in John's work of blessing, and this shifts everything. It becomes about a mutual, relational act. And in that mutual, relational act, God's presence and the Glory of God working in the world in Jesus Christ is revealed to us, is manifest, is obvious.