Transfiguration

Because Pastor Shannon and his family are in Florida, Chuck Vanderscheuren led our service this morning, with Elsa Holmgren taking the pulpit to deliver the message. Chuck began by giving us an update on the Shannon’s vacation that included the adventure of a fire alarm at the hotel where they were staying. No harm, just another bit of unexpected excitement.

Announcements
1. Covenant Park registration for summer camp… next Sunday last day for discounted rates. See Cheryl Borndal for details.
2. The youth will have pasties here for sale next Sunday, $4 each, to help raise money for CHIC.
3. Wednesday Ash Wednesday soup and sandwich at 6:15 for family time dinner and service at 7:00
4. Next Sunday we'll be decorating the Youth Room after church… Bring an extra pair of clothes you can paint in.

The quartet opened the service with their uplifting rendition of Jesus and Me. Duane officially opened our service with a prayer and then they quartet chimed in again with Heavenward Bound followed by a time of congregational worship with songs from the silver songbook.

As the offering was taken, three young people from the River Falls Covenant, who are here for the weekend, sang the song, “Come, let your glory fall…” After the prayer time they returned to share more special music.

Steve Borndal read from Psalm 50:1-6 and Mark 9:2-13. In the subsequent prayer time there were many requests shared, revealing many needs.

Transfiguration

Elsa began by reminding us that this morning we’re celebrating Transfiguration Sunday, a remembrance of that special mountaintop moment on the last Sunday before Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Here's the passage from Mark from which Elsa gleaned today's insights.

2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)

7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant.

11 And they asked him, “Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?”

12 Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? 13 But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.”

The incident is remarkable and profound, but in the middle of it we find Peter saying silly thing about making tents for Elijah and Moses. It's not the first time Peter says things out of left field. Just the week before Peter got Jesus’ identity right… that He was the Messiah. Jesus follows this revelation with comments about going to the cross, being killed, then rising again. Peter exclaims, "Never, Lord! This will never happen to You!" and Jesus says, “Get thee behind me, Satan.”

The mountaintop experience with Peter, James and John happened six days later.

These three men were present to witness Jesus’ transfiguration, which was described this way in The Message: His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes. His clothes shimmered, glistening white, whiter than any bleach could make them. Then Moses and Elijah appeared and the three disciples saw Jesus consulting with Moses and Elijah.

But Peter in a panic gets all worked up, is practically frantic and needs to respond to all this. He says, "Let's put up tents." The writer of this Gospel notes that this absurd remark was only made because he didn't know what else to say.

God intervenes, “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him.” Suddenly only Jesus is left.

Elsa pointed out that this is the first time in the Gospel when Jesus’ identity is revealed. God speaks, "This is My Son."

Now imagine you’re Peter. It has been a week since Jesus said He was going to be killed, so you’ve spent a week all anxious about your friend. Now, on this mountain, God affirms that He loves His Son, and Jesus will be glorified.

This is what is true, the ultimate truth… no matter how bad things get, this is how the story ends. Glorified, not buried.

“Listen to Him.” It's interesting that Jesus is not talking in this scene.

Mountaintops and visions are temporary. We relish them but they can’t nourish us forever. God the Father is fully aware of the suffering that awaits Jesus. God says, “Listen to Him,” because mountaintop experiences fade like a mist. His words live forever. The words and promises of God are what are true forever.

Some of you have been on mountains or have received powerful affirmations of God’s greatness… but even if you have not, the Lord’s words are here for all of us. “This is My Beloved Son. You can trust Him.”

Life is lived at the bottom of the mountain, not on the mountaintop. Often the valleys are deep, and sometimes our sorrows are so awful it feels like our lives are being lived on the bottom of the ocean.

The only hope worth having is the kind that you can take into the darkest hell, and yet it’s still true. God’s promises are His strong arms. These are not greeting card sentiments. This is a living hope.

Keep Your Fork

Pastor Brad began by noting that this is Transfiguration Sunday. The Transfiguration was when the glory of Christ was revealed before his disciples Peter, James and John on the mountain. Brad said his sermon for the day would be diametrically opposed to this, as it is about the winter of the soul, when we do not see or feel that glory.

It may have been cold and wintry, but the church was full, and Brad requested a couple of ushers to set up a few more chairs in the back.

We enjoyed seeing Pearl Harmon’s Sunday School class of 8 little children go forward and quote from Galatians 4:4... “God sent his Son.”

Brad began his sermon by confessing that he actually loves the winter season, but he understands that not all feel that way. He then quickly read through a list he had heard given somewhere of the words commonly associated with winter.

Death, ice, hypothermia, wind chill, death, snow shovels, shoveling more snow, buying a snow blower, death, salt trucks, black ice, dead battery, frostbite, gangrene, thermal underwear, decreased mental capacity, seasonal affective disorder, recreational eating, death.

Even Brad, a fan of winter, admits that a setting for the Garden of Eden would not be in Duluth.

Maybe you feel that you have no place to go to escape spiritual winter. Maybe you’ve experienced a loss, something has gone out of your life, and nothing has arisen to take its place. The books of Ecclesiastes, Job and Psalms in the Bible are all wintery books.

“I am utterly spent and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart.” ~ Ps. 38:8

Maybe you lost a job. Maybe you’re usure of who you are. Maybe you’ve had dreams for your life, and for your children, and now you’ve gotten results from a test from the doctor’s lab, and now you realize you won’t be there to see the things you dreamed of.

The Psalms state “man is a puff of wind.”

Maybe you feel that you’ve failed as a parent and are not sure what will happen with that child you had so many hopes for. Someone you love died. Someone betrayed you. You’ve had a broken marriage. You have a character trait that you battle and can’t overcome. The most painful gap in the world is the gap between the person you long to be, and the person you are. Your heart feels cold and barren.

In Psalm 88;13 the psalmist says, “I cried to you for help, Lord; why Lord do you reject me and hide your face from me?”

The most basic need in a child’s heart is a parent’s touch and face. The most painful thing is to have a parent avert their eyes, to look the other way.

Can I avoid winter? Are there five easy steps for winter avoidance? Some sunny types among us think we can live in a perpetual summer. According to Scripture that is not so. Jesus said that in this world we will have tribulation. Job 5:7 says, “Yet human beings are born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.” We think that due to our own cleverness, our faith, our virtue, or maybe our intelligence we will overcome and fare well, but no one of us is under ultimate control. We are a puff of wind. We cannot engineer a trouble free life.

We will be tempted to hibernate, to hide away the wintry part of us from others. Don’t do it! This is when we need the community of others the most. It has been found that the Amish suffer less depression than any other group of people in the US. The Amish have a strong sense of community.

Every fall, the animals make preparations for winter. The bears eat more, the squirrels hide nuts. The birds fly south. And during the first snow of the season the humans are at the hardware stores buying shovels, as if it had not occurred to them that it might snow. We can prepare ourselves for spiritual winter by calling the church, calling a friend, planning to be with people.

When Job lost everything and was sitting on an ash heap scraping his sores, his friends came to sympathize with and comfort him. They wept, and sat down on the ground with him, and didn’t say a word for seven days. We often say words that are not helpful. Sometimes there are no words that can take away the pain. The command from Scripture is to mourn with those who mourn, not to give advice, explanations, or say that everything will be ok. Just mourn with others. You don’t have to have the answers.

Also, mourning cannot be done in a hurry. Job’s friends mourned with him for seven days. God uses winter to grow compassion in us. Some of the greatest Christians such as Luther and Spurgeon suffered from depression.

Don’t give up! When things feel useless, futile and cruel, something is happening underground. Everything is not dead, it is not final -- there will be re-growth. Sorrow may last for the night but joy comes in the morning. Sometimes in winter when the leaves are all off the trees we can see farther and clearer, and it may be a period when we grow the most. You don’t know how long your night is going to last, but there will be morning.

The story was told of a woman who was dying and making funeral plans with her pastor. She told him she wanted to have a fork in her hand in her casket. She explained that at the many church suppers she had been at, after a good meal, she was sometimes told “keep your fork” and she knew that meant that a good dessert was coming. She wanted people at her funeral to ask, “what’s with the fork?” at which time he could tell people that we believers have a promise that something better is coming.

Winter is not final. God resurrects dead stuff. Spring is coming. Keep your fork.