Trinity Episcopal Church
Hattiesburg, Mississippi
The Fourth and Last Sunday After the Epiphany
(Epiphany 4, Year A)
February 3, 2008
Go To Trinity's Home Page
Note: This page is optimized for a display size (screen resolution) of 1024 x768 or higher. How to change display size.
Trinity Episcopal Church |
|
Exodus 24:12-18
Psalm 99
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9
The Collect of the Day
From the Revised Common Lectionary as Adapted for Use by the Episcopal Church
and Authorized by the 74 th General Convention of the ECUSA
The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.” Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.(Exodus 24:12-18)
Be Touched by God’s Own Finger
The Rev. Dr. Bill Stroop, Rector
Can you believe it?! Today is Quinquageisma V – the last Sunday after the Epiphany. And that means that Lent starts this week with our traditional Ash Wednesday liturgy and the imposition of ashes. And speaking of dates, today is a silver anniversary. Exactly twenty-five years ago today, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed 1983 to be the “Year of the Bible.”[1] It was proclamation number 5018, and read in part,
“Deep religious beliefs stemming from the Old and New Testaments of the Bible inspired many of the early settlers of our country, providing them with the strength, character, convictions, and faith necessary to withstand great hardship and danger in this new and rugged land. These shared beliefs helped forge a sense of common purpose among the widely dispersed colonies -- a sense of community which laid the foundation for the spirit of nationhood that was to develop in later decades. The Bible and its teachings helped form the basis for the Founding Fathers’ abiding belief in the inalienable rights of the individual, rights which they found implicit in the Bible’s teachings of the inherent worth and dignity of each individual … The Congress of the United States … by Senate Joint Resolution 165, authorized and requested the President to designate the year 1983 as the ‘Year of the Bible’.’’
Do you remember that?
Do you remember 1983?
1983 was an eventful year. The last episode of M*A*S*H aired that year after an 11 year run. Sally Ride became the first American woman in space. And the Soviet Union shot down Korean Flight 007. And it was the year Microsoft Word Ô was first released. And while we may remember some of those things, I would wager than none of us remember Reagan’s proclamation.
The Bible still remains one of our greatest resources, although because we cannot read anything without interpreting it in light of our personal experience, our circumstances, culture, and social context, we will probably never agree fully about what every passage means, or about what it says about ‘right’ and ‘wrong.’
Many would argue that the giving of the law at Sinai is the origin of the view of the Bible as a moral guide. Wandering and grumbling throughout their sojourn, the Israelites finally ended up at Mount Sinai. There, God gave to Moses two tablets containing the law. God had in fact already given the commandments to Moses and the people in a fierce, Cecil B. DeMille like pyrotechnic display, but the people were too afraid to listen to God directly, and so asked Moses to do the listening for them; they promised to do as Moses said. God called Moses to come to the top of the mountain where he was surrounded by fire and a thick cloud, and he stayed there for a very long time, and no one really knew if Moses would return.
The first commandments that God gave dealt with God’s sovereignty: “I am the LORD your God … You shall have no other gods before me … You shall not make for yourself an idol” (Ex 20:2-4). Eventually after giving Moses many more laws and statutes, God wrote the commandments and the law on the tablets of stone with God’s own finger.
While Moses was on the mountain, the people grew impatient. They gathered around Aaron, Moses’ older brother, and asked him to make gods for us. Aaron fashioned the infamous golden calf out of their golden rings and earrings, and announced “These are your gods, O Israel.” Although Moses gave the people God’s commandments before God wrote them on stone, they forgot them, particularly two of them: “You shall have no other gods before me; you shall not make for yourself an idol.” The two tablets containing the law were apparently too hard for his people to swallow. They forgot the commandments perhaps just as quickly as we forgot that 1983 was the “Year of the Bible.”
When Moses saw what had happened, he smashed the tablets and burned the golden calf, ground it into powder, mixed it with water, and made the people drink it. Talk about bitter medicine! Eventually, Moses climbed back up the mountain, and got a second set of tablets. And from that point onward, we have been struggling to follow and to interpret them – not just the Ten Commandments but all of those other statutes and regulations that came from on high. And we have been arguing about them for centuries.
You would think that the people – and that means you and me too – would get the message given everything that the text tells us. Moses did all sorts of wonders that should have convinced the people of God’s intentions. They witnessed something terrifying on the mountain that they perceived as God. They made a covenant with Moses to have him serve as the intermediary between themselves and God. But then they broke that covenant. A good portion of the first five books of the Bible is devoted to humankind’s inability to stay in a covenanted relationship with God. Clearly the commandments are not going to be followed, whether there are ten of them or hundreds of them. People are not going to read the Bible because a president declares a given year to be “The Year of the Bible.” And scaring people with thunder and lightening and smoke and fire is not a sufficient motivator either.
So what is?
I think the answer to that lies just under the surface of much of the Old and New Testaments. It has to do with that very important Protestant concept of revelation: a personal experience of God. Reading about swimming does not make one a good swimmer. Only when one jumps into the pool does one stand a chance of learning to swim. Moses went to the top of the mountain and had an experience of God. That allowed Moses to develop a relationship with God. And being in relationship with someone is what propels us to want to do the right thing; it motivates us to give up a little of ourselves for the other. It is what allows us to live in commitment with one another.
The people were afraid of God, and they stood at a distance from God. They didn’t want to allow themselves to become fully engaged.
Jesus – God incarnate – came and walked among us. In so doing, God invites us into relationship with God.
As we move into Lent, it is traditional to “give something up.” People often tell me what they give up for Lent, and it includes things like caffeine, chocolate or other sweets, meat, cigarettes, and wine or other alcohol. I want to encourage you to do something different. O, give up something, if that has meaning to you. But I want to suggest that you take something on; to add a discipline or a practice that might draw you into a deeper relationship with God. Maybe you could do one or more of the daily devotionals that start on page 136 of the prayer book. Maybe you could join our weekly Bible study or start reading the Bible on your own. Maybe you could volunteer for the church, or work for a charity like Christian Services or the Salvation Army.
If we take something on – a study, a prayer practice, a devotional, a volunteer position – we just might encounter God, the Great “I AM” in the doing. I think we all need to move closer to God; to move into the cloud at the top of the mountain, and move into a deeper relationship with God. Jesus showed us how much God loves us. One thing I know for certain: God wants us to find God, and God has been trying to get us to do that throughout our history as a people, and all through our individual lives. God wants a relationship with you.
Climb that mountain this Lent.
Take on something.
Meet God.
And become transformed.
Note: The Back to Top button above requires Macromedia Plug In.
Click here to download Macromedia Player Version 7.
COMMENTS? E-Mail Me
The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.” Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.
1 The LORD is King; let the people tremble; *
he is enthroned upon the cherubim;
let the earth shake.
2 The LORD is great in Zion; *
he is high above all peoples.
3 Let them confess his Name, which is great and awesome; *
he is the Holy One.
4 “O mighty King, lover of justice,
you have established equity; *
you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.”
5 Proclaim the greatness of the LORD our God
and fall down before his footstool; *
he is the Holy One.
6 Moses and Aaron among his priests,
and Samuel among those who call upon his Name, *
they called upon the LORD, and he answered them.
7 He spoke to them out of the pillar of cloud; *
they kept his testimonies and the decree that he gave them.
8 O LORD our God, you answered them indeed; *
you were a God who forgave them,
yet punished them for their evil deeds.
9 Proclaim the greatness of the LORD our God
and worship him upon his holy hill; *
for the LORD our God is the Holy One.
We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
Six days after Peter had acknowledged Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
O God, who before the passion of your only begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
[1] The proclamation can be read at http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1983/20383b.htm. Material for this sermon was adapted from Timothy F. Merrill (Exec. Ed.). “Take Two Tablets.” Homiletics. 20(1):42-51, 2008.
The Mission of Trinity Episcopal Church is to be an open and diverse Christian family dedicated to serving God and all creation by fostering spiritual growth through worship, prayer, education, service, stewardship, and celebration. |
To Bill Stroop's Sermon Index Page
To Bill Stroop's Current Year A Sermon Index Page
Copyright Notice
Copyright © 2008, William G. Stroop - All Rights Reserved.
31 January 2008
This publication, ie. this page and the preceding document that has a link to this page, are copyrighted. Except as permitted by the Copyright Act, no part of it may in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or any other means be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or be broadcast or transmitted without the prior permission of the publisher.
_clip_image002.gif){kind=small}
trinityhattiesburg.org