Sunday, March 08, 2020

“Great and Awesome God” by Rev. Paul Berghout (@FatherPB)


“Great and Awesome God” by Rev. Paul Berghout (@FatherPB)


Piety
“Lord, great and awesome God,
you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you
and observe your commandments!
We have sinned, been wicked and done evil;
we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws.  Daniel 9:4B-5

Jesus said to his disciples: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
“Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.  Luke 6:36-37

Study
Jesus needed this hour. We need this hour.

In the valley below, the sick waited for him. Down below were the ceaseless problems; still farther on awaited the cross.    

But when we experience the Presence of the Lord in worship and in Lectio Divina, it has the power to affect all our days.

The Second Sunday of Lent offered us Matthew's Gospel of the Transfiguration. When the stammering disciples are overwhelmed at the reality of who Jesus really is they "were very much afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Rise, and do not be afraid.'"

The second week continues with Jesus telling us: “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”

All week we will be taught by Jesus about the simple lessons of being his followers. "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, but whoever humbles himself will be exalted,” Jesus predicts his passion again. Again, they misunderstand, and so he says, "whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant."  The disciples present at the Transfiguration did not have special honor.  They had an added burden.

Whether present at the Transfiguration or not, our primary goals are to do ministry and do good in this presence of the Lord.

Ryan LeStrange said [about the Transfiguration]: “Jesus saw into a space beyond physical death. He was in a realm where grieving was not the ultimate reality. He had to shift the current space to align with the reality of the spirit realm.

LeStrange spoke of his charismatic spiritual gift of healing, saying, “I remember a time when a family came to me at the altar while I was ministering to the sick. They shared a very negative report that a doctor gave to their loved one. As they spoke, I began to proclaim loudly, ‘No, no, no ... heaven says, no!’ It burst forth from my spirit with an uncommon velocity and intensity. I just knew what God was saying.

I broke free from the realm that I was standing in and even the words that I was speaking. I spoke from another space and dimension. My lips were overtaken with heaven’s decree and plan. The miracle power of God began to flow, and healing came forth. The healing came because I was not moved by what I heard in the natural realm. This is vital in the administration of the miraculous.”

The three disciples fell prostrate, which is the posture of those overwhelmed by God’s glory (See Genesis 17:3; Ezekiel 1:28; and Revelation 1:17).

Glory in Hebrew means “heavy, weighty, to be of great substance.” God is a heavyweight! This is a weight that makes everything in life lighter.

A second lesson we carry through this week and the Lenten season is that Peter wanted to experience a lasting transfiguration.

The realization of the presence of God must become habitual. It must become customary, easily found again, and easily enlivened in joy, even during periods of darkness or trial.

In the difference between the (1) occasional realization of God’s presence and (2) the habitual and predominate realization of His presence there lies all the stages and all the degrees of spiritual life and growth.

FROM ONE DEGREE OF GLORY TO ANOTHER

The process of spiritual growth is one in which God takes more and more possession of the soul. The person becomes increasingly docile to the workings of the Holy Spirit. “When the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone.” Matthew 17:8. Listen to Him...wanting to do God’s will.

The Transfiguration teaches us that the search for the holy continues and will not go away.

Over the years, however, our luminosity tends to fade.

Every uncharitable and inhospitable word spoken, every neighbor mistreated, every nursed resentment, and every resource hoarded, and habitat plundered are layers of grime and apathetic dust that covers our radiance.

“Drugs, elementary sexuality, and herd-intoxication — these are the three most popular avenues of downward self-transcendence.[i]  —[Aldous Huxley, published in 1953 by Harper and Brothers, New York].

With God’s help in repentance, we can become radiant again.

Adam Thomas wrote:  There are radiant people in our lives who seem to exist somewhere between the visible and glorious spectrums. Their grime and dust are gone (or were never accumulated), and they shine just the way God made them.

An elderly woman at my church is one of these special people. Every morning she greets me with a gentle handshake and a slip of paper with that day’s readings on it. She prays the same way she talks because for her praying and speaking are the same thing. On Fridays, she plays piano for the altar guild while they clean the brass.[ii]

God made us shine just as Moses and Jesus shone. There are those among us whose radiance bursts from them because nothing covers it up. Call them saints.  

Action 
Jesus talked with Moses and Elijah, who are residents of heaven. Am I truthful and kind in my conversation? Do I share or hide my faith in my conversations?



Peter wants to make three tents, but while he’s still making this suggestion, God interrupts him. When God interrupts us (on the level of conscience), do we stop talking and start yielding?

Do we discipline our thoughts and imagination when God calls? In our thoughts and heart can be a surpassing glory that lies concealed.

St. Paul, in Romans 12:1-2, speaks of transformation by the renewal of the mind:

“I appeal to you; therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed (metamorphose) by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

The word transform used in Romans 12:2 is metamorphose, which means to change into another form, whether it may be “an external one or a change of state, or an inner change.” (Kittel, 1985, 609).  

Amen.

[i] The Doors of Perception. Aldous Huxley. New York: 1953. Harper and Brothers.

[ii]Under All the Dust” by Adam Thomas, in The Christian Century, 2010.

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