Praise the Lord for this new day. It has snowed profusely. We have seen some crocuses in full bloom beside the parsonage. Some of the spring birds have returned, including the robins. It is a glorious morning as fresh and friendly snow has covered the landscape making it look stainless and pure. "Lord, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow." All the schools are closed over a very widespread region.
Praise the Lord for the first weekend in March. The Lord blessed with a beautiful worship service at the First UMC on Saturday night. Earle Cowden brought the message and Aric Phinney, Betty Phinney, and Mary Haskel ministered in music. It was a wonderful evening of worship, praise, and thanksgiving. Our young friend Amanda made a cake to celebrate the birthday of Mark Tripp. Mark prepares the coffee every Saturday and serves it up with a smile.
The Lord has also blessed our Communion worship services at Union Center and at Wesley UMC this Sunday. On this rainy Sunday morning two of our youngest - Cassidy and Lilly - were both in attendance at the 8:30 worship service. Joyanna was joyfully gracing all with her presence at the second service. Praise the Lord for each of you who come, rain or shine, to encourage each other and edify one another in the Body of Christ. We praise the Lord for the ministry of the choir - those who are there every Sunday, sharing faithfully and joyfully. Praise the Lord for the Youth who had just returned from their overnight retreat at Greek Peak. They spent Friday night and all of Saturday with the youth from Hawleyton.
Yesterday was Transfiguration Sunday. The historian Luke records for us that Jesus took Peter, James and John up the mountain to pray. The mountain carries great significance in the biblical tradition. At God’s command, Abraham took his son, Issac, up on Mount Horeb to offer him as a sacrifice. Moses encountered God on the mountain and answered the call to lead the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt, and this very scene causes us to remember when Moses came back down Mount Sinai (the mountain of God) carrying the Ten Commandments. In Exodus 34, we are told that Moses face “glowed because he had spoken to the Lord face to face” (Ex. 34:29). Moses brought a glimpse of God’s glory back down the mountain with him. Elijah also had the greatest victory in his life on Mount Carmel as he called fire down from the sky that consumed the 600 priests of Baal. Thus, Jesus took the disciples up the mountain and there on the mountain they experienced a glimpse of the glory of God.
The mountain and God’s glory have a history in the Hebrew tradition. This unique moment recalls the “shekinah” glory of God in the Old Testament—the glory of God’s presence. It was the "shining" glory of God’s presence on Mt. Sinai in the Old Testament days of Moses that led the Hebrews in a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night. It was the glory of God’s presence that filled the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle during the nation of Israel’s wilderness wanderings, and that would also fill the Temple built by Solomon in their later history. This moment was a brief moment in time when three disciples who couldn’t even stay awake had the opportunity to glimpse the divine nature shining through Jesus Christ. They had the amazing opportunity to glimpse behind the veil of eternity and they literally saw the brilliance of God’s glory in human form. They were so amazed that Peter wanted to build some shrines to all three men in the vision. Before Jesus could respond, the cloud of God’s presence overshadowed the scene, speaking to reveal the unique person of Jesus—“This is my Son, my chosen One.”
The voice confirmed the message spoken at Jesus' baptism at the beginning of his ministry. Here, however, the voice from the cloud added “my chosen One” to the pronouncement of his son. "My chosen One" is the Messiah whom the nation of Israel had so long awaited. This pronouncement highlights the fact that Jesus is God’s chosen person to bring salvation to His people. Jesus was, in fact, God coming down to humanity in human flesh.
It was after this encounter on the mountain that the Apostle John would say about Jesus, “the Word became flesh” (John 1:1). Peter, who was here on the mountain, would later write, “For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the power of our Lord Jesus Christ and his coming again. We have seen his majestic splendor with our own eyes. And he received honor and glory from God the Father when God’s glorious, majestic voice called down from heaven, ‘This is my beloved Son,’…we ourselves heard the voice when we were there with him on the holy mountain” (2 Pet. 1:16-18). They testified to Jesus as Messiah.
The person of Jesus Christ is still unique today. He is still the Messiah. He is still the One sent from God to save us from our sins. He is still God who loves us and calls us to himself. He stands apart from every other religious leader ever in history. Even Moses and Elijah, whose presence in this scene could well represent the Law and the Prophets, could not fully reveal the true nature of God. The Law, given through Moses, could only point people to God. Elijah and the other prophets could only tell people what God’s great expectations were. But Jesus could show us God, could allow us to touch God, and to be touched by God. The Law and the Prophets were only partial revelations of God, but here on the mountain, God was revealing himself fully and finally through his Son, Jesus.
Someone once said, “Jesus is God spelling himself out in language that man can understand.” Jesus was unique in every way, as no person had ever been or has been since. Jesus was unique in his mission. Of the Gospel writers who record the Transfiguration, only Luke tells us the course of the conversation that Jesus had with Moses and Elijah. Luke tells us “they were speaking of how he was about to fulfill God’s plan by dying in Jerusalem” (v. 31). The KJV says they were speaking of his “departure”; in the Greek the word is exodus, which is familiar to us from the Old Testament. The Exodus tells us the story of the Hebrew journey from slavery to the promised land of Canaan. So Jesus was on a journey to the cross, the place where God’s wrath and judgment were poured out upon Jesus to pay the penalty for the sins of humanity. That was his mission—through the cross to redeem sinful humanity to the God of creation. Jesus had only eight days earlier (if we follow Luke’s account) told his disciples that he would suffer and die.
Jesus’ mission is unlike any other mission or purpose of religion. Religion has been defined as man’s attempt to reach up to God. Christianity is defined as God’s attempt to reach down to humanity. Christianity is not a mere religion. It is the person Jesus Christ as he fulfilled his unique mission who beckons us to the cross to find forgiveness and reconciliation. Jesus' journey did not end at the cross, for on the third day he arose and gained the victory over death, hell, and the grave. He sits enthroned with the Father in heaven, and he will one day come again with the same glory that clothed him on the mountain that day. His mission is unique, unlike any other in the history of time, and his “departure” was just another leg of the journey that we wait to be complete.
There was a unique message given on the mountain. The voice which said, “This is my Son, my Chosen One,” also said, “Listen to Him.” Jesus said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside selfish ambition, shoulder your cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23). Jesus came to show the way to God was through self-denial and self-sacrifice. He came to show that the way to God was the way of the cross. Jesus came to show that there is great redemption in suffering.
Self-sacrifice and self-denial are not the only concepts any disciples must hear. We need always be reminded to “Love God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.” A disciple also needs to hear, “come to me all who are weary and I will give you rest” and, “come you hungry and eat the bread of life.” A disciple needs to be reminded to “come you thirsty and drink from the spring of living water” and “come you sinner and find forgiveness.” These are the unique messages of Jesus Christ, and the unique responsibility of a disciple is to “listen to him.”
The irony of the Transfiguration is that as revolutionary as Jesus was in the first Century he is just as revolutionary today. In an age marked by religious pluralism and multi-culturalism, to claim the unique nature of Jesus Christ as God’s chosen One is open one’s self up to charges of intolerance. The transfiguration reminds us that Jesus transcends all cultures and is called to minister to all humanity as God’s chosen servant. Jesus is the multicultural icon for every generation, and his call is an equal opportunity call.
If the greatest need of humanity had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent an entertainer. Our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior. The world needs a Savior, not another just another religious example. The transfiguration is God’s declaration that Jesus is, and ever shall be, that unique person.
In Christ,
Brown
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N0iVysrykU
We will begin our new Bible study on Wednesday, March 9, and continue throughout Lent. The study is called, "Gospel in Life - Grace Changes Everything".
It is an intensive eight-session course on the Gospel and how it is lived out in all of life, first in your heart, then in your community, and then out into the world.
In each session, Timothy Keller presents a ten-minute teaching segment on the Gospel. Session 1 opens the course with the theme of the city: your home now, the world that is. Session 8 closed with the theme of the eternal city: your heavenly home, the world that is to come. In between you will look at how the Gospel changes your heart, changes your community, and changes how you live in the world.
Week #1: City - The World That Is
#2: Heart - Three Ways To Live
#3: Idolatry - The Sin Beneath The Sin
#4: Community - The Context For Change
#5: Witness - An Alternate City
#6: Work - Cultivating The Garden
#7: Justice - A People For Others
#8: Eternity - The World That Is To Come
Saturday evening worship service.
Location: First United Methodist Church. Endicott
53 McKinley Avenue, Endicott.
Sponsored by the Union Center United Methodist Church, 128, Maple Drive, Endicott
Saturday February 26, 2011
6PM Coffee Fellowship
6:30 PM Worship Service
Worship Music: Laureen Naik
Speaker: Rev. Bill Turner
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