transformed

a dialogue sermon with Tina Carter from Parker Lane UMC, on Transfiguration of the Lord, from Mark 9:2-9

I'm upset....YOU'RE UPSET, WHY?
I've been reading a book...THE BIBLE?
No, yes, that and another book called Simple Church...READING THIS BOOK HAS GOTTEN YOU UPSET.
See, I am in this cont. ed. course called Healthy Church Initiative. 12 of us pastors get together 1/month to talk after reading these books. We have 2 group leaders who are taking us thr this process of really looking at what is going on in our churches. We also have 3 laypersons from our congregation who are meeting with other laypeople for other churches reading the same bookd & going thru the sam class...THIS DOESN'T SOUND TOO UPSETTING.
I know it is just a book, words on a page. But hese particular wors have rung true to me. I have been telling some of our church leaders that this book has been kicking my theological butt. The authors talk about there being 2 kinds of church: 1 is a program church and the other is one that makes disciples. The program church is busy, it fills the calendar with good events, many that have been going on for years, and it has highly qualified staff who are loved and respected. The 2nd one has a clearly defined path that leads people to fall in love with God, grow their souls in small group relationships, & sends them out to serve others. What has me upset is that we do lots of great programs, but we don't always make lots of followers of Christ. ....OUCH
Ouch is right. We do great programs like last night's That's Amore' Y'all. It was such fun. Jean was taking tickets at the door. I don't know why, but she found found several of us males to be suspect, and insisted on doing a pat down search of us in a dark room. The 3 tenors made another appearance. Many generations came together and had a good time. We do so many programs: we have men's groups, women's groups, youth groups, Sunday School classes, Bible studies, mission projects, music ministries for all ages, and on and on. At staff meetings, we spend a lot of time just trying to fit in 1 more thing on the calendar. Do we have the space? Who will be in charge? We can tire ourselves out just working on the logistics. But what has convicted me is this: are any lives changed? Has anyone grown closer to Christ? Has anyone matured in their faith?.....I SEE YOUR STRUGGLE.
So I shared this concern with my accountability group, 3 pastor friends, this past Monday morning at 7 at Chick Fil-A. They nodded their heads. They too are busy trying to keep up with all of the church programming. They cautioned me though, saying some of the programming does lead to life-changing relationships. I agree. But some doesn't. How do we choose? What might need to be cut in order to get rid of the clutter so that people can see what is the next step in following Christ?....SO WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH THE SCRIPTURE WE READ?
Right. This is the story of the transfiguration of Jesus. We don't use that word everyday...transfiguration. I'll come back to it. So Jesus is on a high mtn, figuratively closer to God, paralleling what Moses did in summit meetings with God in Exodus. Jesus is glorified, surounded by light, so bright, no earthly light comes close. 2 major players, all stars from the Hebrew faith join Jesus. Funny side note: how do we know the identity of these 2? A pastor/scholar that I read wondered if they had their names stenciled on the back of their robes like football players' jerseys: #22 Elijah and #10 Moses. The inner circle of Jesus is with him, Peter, John, James. In the presence of all this holiness, beyond description, Peter tries to tame it with words. he tries to domesticate it with memorial structures. He doesn't know what to say. He is so afraid. My fear is that we avoid encountering the Holy with words as we go to meetings and take minutes, or as we try to hang onto something good from the past by building structures and programs adn don't want to move on. We find it hard to stay in the glory of Jesus & to simply listen to him. It is much easier to crowd our lives & our churches & our calendars with our words & our programs. We especially don't want to go down the mtn to see what happens when we follow Jesus all the way to Jerusalem and to his death....SO WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO?
The 1st thing I acknowledge is that I am being changed. This book the Bible and this book Simple Church and this course Healthy Church Initiative are shaking me up. We have a meeting on Tuesday where church leaders are going to be looking at 15 goals for this congregation. All of this and more are God's way of saying, "I am not through with you yet." Sometimes, I can feel old & cynical & tired. Then God comes along with a new revelation of glory. And I am transformed. The 2nd thing is that we have the right vision statement: Following One, Serving All. We need to align what we do here with that statement. We are really robust at the serving all part. But we have lots of challenges where it comes to Following One. I confess this day that we have attracted many guests here, and some have even become members here, but I am not sure we have helped them grow in their relationship with Christ. I am not sure anyone here could even tell me what would be the next step in their spiritual journey. We have not done well at making disciples, followers of Christ. Now I would like to hear about your experience at PLUM.
OUR EXPERIENCE AT PLUM IS A LITTLE DIFFERNT. ALTHOUGH WE ARE LOCATED IN A POOR NEIGBORHOOD, WE ARE A MIXTURE OF GENERATIONALLY POOR MARGIN PEOPLE & MIDDLE CLASS POPEL WHO HAVE BEEN CALLED BY GOD TO TRANSFORMATIONS RELATIONSHIPS. SO WE ARE A MIX OF BLACK, GROWN & WHITE. WE ARE A MIX OF POOR & MIDDLE CLASS. WE ARE A MIX OF EDUCATED & NOT EDUCATED. AND THE PEOPLE AT PLUM IN GENERAL ARE COMMITED TO TEH CONCEPT THAT GOD IS TRANSFORMING US ALL IN WONDERFUL & NON-PREDICTABLE WAYS. AND WE ARE THERE FOR THE LONG HAUL. QUITE FRANKLY EVERYON WHO WAS AT THE CHURCH FOR OTHER REASONS HAS LONG AGO LEFT IN FRUSTRATION. SO WE ARE PEOPLE WHO EXPECT GOD TO CHANGE US RADICALLY THROUGH RELATIONSHIP WITH ONE ANOTHER AND WITH GOD. AND BECAUSE WE COME FROM A VARIETY OF BACKGROUNDS, AND ARE GENERALLY CURIOUS, WE WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT EACH OTHER. WE UNDERSTAND THAT LIFE IS MESSY AND RELATIONSHIP IS MESSY AND SO WE EXPECT CHURCH TO BE A LITTLE MESSY.

ONE STORY MIGHT HELP TO ILLUSTRAT. I WAS RECENTLY WITH 1 OF OUR YOUNGERS. THIS LITTLE 1 WILL PROBABLY IDENTIFY HERSELF IN THE FUTURE AS BI-RACIAL, BUT RIGHT NOW SHE JUST SEES HERSELF AS 9. SHE LIVES IN HER FAMILY WITH HER ADOPTIVE FATHER. SHE HAS BEEN IN FOSTER CARE IN HER LIFETIME AND NOW HAS A FOREVER HOME. SHE ASKED ME, "PASTOR, HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO JAIL?" AND I SAID, "YES, LOTS OF TIMES." HER RESPONSE, "FOR WHAT?' "WELL TO VISIT FOLKS, TO PRAY, TO SUPPORT STAFF WHO WORK IN PRISONS, & EVEN ONCE TO DO A WEDDING." IN HER DISGUSTING LITTLE 9 YR. OLD VOICE SHE SAID, "NO, I MEAN HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO JAIL FOR SOMETHING?" WHEN I RESPONDED IN THE NEGATIVE, SHE SAID, "WHY NOT?" LET THAT SINK IN FOR A MOMENT. HER RESPONSE WAS WHY NOT. SO I SAID, "ACTUALLY, YOU ARE KIND OF SPECIAL BECAUSE YOU KNOW PEOPLE WHO HAVE GONE TO PRISON. MOST PEOPLE DON'T GO TO PRISON. MANY PEOPLE DON'T EVEN KNOW ANYONE WHO HAS GONE TO PRISON." SHE WAS AMAZED. I WASN'T AMAZED. THE TRUTH IS THAT STATISTICALLY SPEAKING THERE SHOULD BE AT LEAST 1 FAMIL HERE WHO HAS PERSON EXPERIENC WITH PRISON OR WHO HAS A LOVED 1 IN PRISON. THERE IS SO MUCH SHAME ASSOCIATED WITH HAVING SOMEONE IN PRISON, THAT WE FIND IT HARD TO EVEN ASK FOR PRAYERS ABOUT IT. BUT IN OUR CONGREGATION IT'S COMMON. AND ACTUALLY IT'S FAR TOO COMMON FOR OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS OF COLOR. READ THE NEW JIM CROW: MASS INCARCERATION IN THE AGE OF COLORBLINDNESS. IT WILL BREAK YOUR HEART. THAT KIND OF CONVERSATION DOESN'T HAPPEN WITHOUT TRUE RELATIONSHIP. AND THAT KIND OF CONVERSATION IS TRANSFORMATIONAL FOR BOTH PARTIES INVOLVED. MY HEART WAS INDEED BROKEN THAT DAY.
We connect with your story here at WUMC as we have begun a ministry called the Storybook Project where women from here go to the prison in Gatesville to help women in white read bedtime stories on tape so that their children can go to sleep hearing the sound of their voices. I am proud of this church as we go out into the community to serve. I was scared when the Bishop appointed me here at WUMC. I was afraid we would be an isolated island of rich, white folks insulated from the rest of the world. But I have been pleasantly surprised by how engaged we are with the problems of our neighbors. Any Baby Can grew out of this congregation. Mobile Loaves and Fishes are strongly supported by WUMC. Foundation for the Homeless and so many more ministries are backed by us. I just don't want us to be a bunch of do-gooders though, another service club. I want our motivation to be because we are following Jesus.
I think our denomination has the right vision statement: making disciples for the transformation of the world. I pray that we may be transformed. I looked up the Greek word that is translated as transfiguration. It is literally metamorphasis. Our English comes directly from the Greek. I pray that we may not get stuck in our cocoon of comfortableness, of "we've always done it that way." I pray we may become the butterflies God intends us to be. Jesus was transformed on the mountain. I pray we may be also. Amen.