Sermon preached by Mark Smith at Watchung Avenue Presbyterian Church, North Plainfield, NJ<\/p>\n
Audio: Mark Smith Sermon 2013-02-10 Luke 9 Transfiguration Sunday<\/a><\/p>\n Psalm 99 It was a really unusual experience for Peter, John and James.\u00a0 It started simply enough \u2013 Jesus took them off onto a mountain to pray.\u00a0 And that wasn\u2019t all that unusual \u2013 Jesus was known for praying in isolated places and had gone to a mountain to pray before.\u00a0 He had prayed with his disciples before as well.<\/p>\n While he was praying, things started to happen.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019s face changed.\u00a0 His clothes became a glowing white \u2013 in Greek it says that his clothes were so bright that they flashed like lightning.\u00a0 Maybe these disciples knew their Jewish scriptures well enough to remember that Moses\u2019s face had shone when Moses spoke to God.\u00a0 Maybe they remembered how the sky flashed with lightning when Ezekiel saw his vision of God, or when Daniel saw the figure in his vision that was clothed in fine linen and who had a face like lightning.<\/p>\n And then they were joined by two figures, Moses and Elijah.\u00a0 I imagine that this looked a little bit like the end Star Wars, where the deceased Jedi appeared to Luke Skywalker.\u00a0 Moses and Elijah spoke to Jesus and told him of his departure – of his future death and resurrection at Jerusalem.\u00a0 Peter and the others saw all of this even though they were sleepy \u2013 they saw Jesus\u2019s glory, and the return of the man who received the Law from God, and the Prophet of God.\u00a0 This was a holy moment.<\/p>\n And then Moses and Elijah left.\u00a0 Peter asked Jesus if they should build three tents \u2013 one for Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah.\u00a0 Peter recognized them as three holy figures, heavenly figures, and wanted to create a special home for them here on earth.\u00a0 The word in Greek in the scripture that I read, that read as \u201cdwelling,\u201d can also mean \u201cTabernacle.\u201d\u00a0 And the famous Tabernacle was the tent that God instructed Moses to construct to hold the Ark of the Covenant \u2013 God\u2019s home on earth among the Israelites from the time of their wandering in the wilderness.\u00a0 That Tabernacle was used until God commanded Solomon to build The Temple in Jerusalem to be God\u2019s place.\u00a0 Peter wanted to create a single place to commemorate the holy moment for these three great holy men, as if holy things happened in one place.\u00a0 The text says that Peter did not know what he was saying \u2013 he reacted reflexively, mirroring what had been done before.<\/p>\n Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, very much like the way that a cloud covered Mount Sinai when Moses spoke to God.\u00a0 God spoke from the cloud.\u00a0 \u201cThis is my Son, my Chosen.\u00a0 Listen to him!\u201d\u00a0 And this is a lot like the words that we heard at Jesus\u2019s baptism. \u00a0God says that Jesus is God\u2019s son.\u00a0 And this time we are told to listen<\/span> to him.<\/p>\n In the time of the Old Testament, from Moses until Jesus, there was one place that they might have called the church back then, and that was the Tabernacle that was carried around from place to place in Moses\u2019s time.\u00a0 In the psalm that I read it talks about God sitting enthroned on the cherubim \u2013 and that\u2019s what the top of the Ark looked like.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve seen Raiders of the Lost Ark it looks exactly like it\u2019s described in the Bible, and there are the two winged cherubim with their wings pointing towards the center, and that\u2019s where the priests made their sacrifices to God, to fulfill God\u2019s covenant with the Israelites.\u00a0 Later the place of this church settled in the Temple in Jerusalem.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0The church was in a building, at least a temporary building.\u00a0 God\u2019s main way of interacting with God\u2019s people was in one place.<\/p>\n A day after all of these things happened on the mountain Jesus and the disciples came down, and a man came to them because his son needed healing, and Jesus healed his son.\u00a0 The man didn\u2019t need to go to The Temple in Jerusalem.\u00a0 He \u00a0didn\u2019t need to go to the top of the mountain where Moses and Elijah had appeared.\u00a0 He met Jesus where the man was \u2013 at the bottom of the mountain.\u00a0 He met Jesus in the world, not inside of a church building.<\/p>\n Jesus did most of his work in the world, rather than in a building.\u00a0 He did appear in the Temple, and he appeared in the synagogue a few times, but most of his work was done outside, among the people.\u00a0 He worked with people as he traveled.\u00a0 He worked with people as he preached outdoors, on a hillside or a lake.\u00a0 He worked with people in their homes.\u00a0 He talked to and ate with and healed and helped people who couldn\u2019t come into the Temple \u2013 those who could not walk, those who were ritually unclean, and those who worked in professions that made them less acceptable in the Temple.\u00a0 Jesus did more of his ministry among those who were on the edges of society, than those who were on the inside.\u00a0 He did his work in the world, rather than in a building.<\/p>\n Here at Watchung Avenue, we do a lot of good work inside our building.\u00a0 We meet every week to praise God, to hear the scripture read, and to hear a message.\u00a0 We are a community that is learning and growing and building each other up.\u00a0 We do a lot of good for others in this building as well.\u00a0 We serve meals to those who need them.\u00a0 We collect and distribute groceries.\u00a0 We offer space to Headstart and WIC and the Y.\u00a0 And we share our worship space with Christo mi Rey.\u00a0 We invite others in to learn and grow, as we did with the Love Free or Die movie, with diversity training, and as we will in March with the upcoming Trigger documentary on gun violence.\u00a0 We do a lot of good inside our building when someone is here.\u00a0 The church is where we are.<\/p>\n It becomes an interesting venture, and that is exactly the same ingredient of davidfraymusic.com<\/a> buy viagra. 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These are mainly accountable for cachexia or accelerated wholesale cialis price<\/a> muscle wasting. <\/span>We also do a lot of good outside of our building.\u00a0 Together we walked in October to raise money to fight hunger.\u00a0 We have been networking with others on hurricane relief and how we might best participate.\u00a0 Our youth and our adults have gone to Stony Point and other places to do mission work.\u00a0 Cameron has been working outside of our building on hunger and disaster relief.\u00a0 We also do a lot of good outside of our building.\u00a0 The church is where we are.<\/p>\n And our lives are God\u2019s work as well.\u00a0 Each of us brings our Christian faith with us \u2026 to home, to work, to volunteer.\u00a0 The way that we live is a reflection of Christ within us.\u00a0 I worked in the corporate world for a while before starting seminary, and many times I found myself asking is this thing that I\u2019m doing \u2026 this decision or this action \u2026 a good idea?\u00a0 Is this software that I\u2019m writing to support an advertising campaign helping people to buy things that they want, or is it just finding new ways to take money from people?\u00a0 Is this report that I\u2019m writing being used to support integrity in the business, or is it just being written to make somebody else in the company look bad?\u00a0 There was simply no way to act in the world without my faith coloring my thoughts and decisions.\u00a0 Sometimes I was able to push back when my faith told me that an action was not the right thing to do.\u00a0 Sometimes I wasn\u2019t able to push back, and then it hurt.\u00a0 So I wonder if you\u2019ve ever faced that \u2013 a situation at work where your values conflicted with what you\u2019ve asked to do?\u00a0 How did you handle it?\u00a0 I brought my faith to my work every day.\u00a0 But it\u2019s not just me.\u00a0 We create common everyday miracles of faith when we act with God in mind.\u00a0 When Bob helps someone plan their financial life, Bob is reflecting his Christian faith.\u00a0 His actions and decisions are colored by his faith and he brings the church with him to work.\u00a0 When Pat works with residents in senior housing, she brings her faith with her, and the image of God within her shines through in the help that she gives.\u00a0 She brings the church with her as well.\u00a0 When Virginia goes to the Senior club, she brings her faith along, and brings the church with her in all that she does.\u00a0 When Cori cares for her niece, when Andrew cares for his grandson, they bring their faith into their families and the church comes with them.\u00a0 When Ryan participates in the Boy Scouts, he brings his faith and the church.\u00a0 When Shelby and Chris create their art and music, they use their God-given talents to create beauty in God\u2019s creation.\u00a0 They are inspired in part by their relationship with Christ, and the church comes with them.\u00a0 There are so many other examples in this congregation and everywhere, and if I tried to include all of them we\u2019d be here for a while.\u00a0 What\u2019s important is that the church is where we are, in this building or someplace else.<\/p>\n So what is common to all of this?\u00a0 Is it the building?\u00a0 No, it\u2019s the people.\u00a0 We bring our talents, our time and our energy to the work that all of us do.\u00a0 We bring the image of God that is within each of us to our service to others and our faith and our values ride along with us in everything that we do.\u00a0 Is the church a building?\u00a0 The church is people.\u00a0 Jesus said \u201cWhere two or three are gathered in my name, I am there with them.\u201d\u00a0 When we are in the world interacting with others, there are at least two gathered and wherever we are, Christ is.\u00a0 And we bring our community with us as well.\u00a0 We can draw on the resources of the church, on our fellow churchgoers, in everything that we do to help others.\u00a0 We can talk through issues with our church friends \u2013 whether that\u2019s a question about what<\/span> to do at work or where<\/span> to go to get people the help that they need.\u00a0 And we can always show our faith to others, in the hope that our faith may help them, and perhaps may become their faith.\u00a0 The church exists where we are, doing our common everyday miracles.<\/p>\n I\u2019m going to ask you all a question.\u00a0 This isn\u2019t a rhetorical question \u2013 I\u2019m actually looking for an answer.<\/p>\n Where is the church?<\/p>\n \u201cWhere we are! \u2026 Where we are\u2026we are\u2026 where we are!\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n OK, not bad.\u00a0 That was a little ragged.\u00a0 (laughter)<\/i>\u00a0 Let\u2019s try it one more time.\u00a0 Where is the church?<\/p>\n \u201cWhere we are!\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n OK, and one more time \u2026. Where is the church?<\/p>\n \u201cWhere we are!\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n And that is a wonderful thing.<\/p>\n Amen.<\/p>\n
\nLuke 9:28-43<\/p>\n