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Mystics and spiritual pilgrims may be familiar with The Cloud of Unknowing, that stormy weather of the soul in which the fog-bound traveler can do nothing except put her hand in God’s and take one step at a time.  Tech-savvy users are aware of The Cloud, some cyber-space place where good little bytes are stored until retrieved for further use.  This Sunday is Transfiguration Sunday, where we’ll hear again the awesome story of Jesus in holy conversation with the bright glory of the Father.

“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.”  This reading from Exodus (24:17) speaks of  God coming to The Pilgrim People journeying to the Promised Land.  Volcanic Mt. Sinai (or Horeb) was where God had intercepted Moses before the Exodus, and where now Moses brought his extended faith-community for further instructions.  “Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain….Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain…[and he] was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.”  (vv. 15, 18)  What would he experience?

The Second Letter ascribed to St. Peter tells a bit in retrospect about his own eyewitness trip with Jesus to a mountain-top. (1:16-21)  “For (Jesus) 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.’   Peter considers this to be a prophecy of the eternal validity of Christ, a sign of the Holy Spirit speaking for the world’s edification.  “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.”

Matthew’s account of the Transfiguration (17:1-9)  continues his argument about the fulfillment of the Messiah-promise to the Jewish community.  They of course remembered the Exodus story, especially the segment about Moses conversing with Yahweh face to face.  Here is the Divine Glory, wrapped in the cloud for mystery, including Jesus along with Moses & Elijah–the Law and the Prophets!  To faithful Jews, this was blasphemy; but to early Believers, it became an affirmation to dispel doubt.  Here Jesus the rabbinic teacher was acclaimed as the Eternal Christ, God’s Beloved.  Therefore it was correct to build a community of faith on him.

As we prepare to enter the roller-coaster of Lent, we do well to contemplate both the Cloud of Mystery and the Thunder of Spoken Glory.  There are new horizons of an unfolding Kingdom to glimpse — and the rifts in the cloud come few and far between.  “I’ve looked at clouds from both sides, now….I really don’t know clouds at all.”  But listen for the thunder!

God Bless Us,Every One                                           Horace Brown King

“Holy” isn’t a word that’s used much nowadays.  Outside Church, I doubt if ANYone says it; and inside Church, we’re all too busy assuring each other that we’re Good Enough.  “Holy” implies strict standards and high hurdles.  Some people train to jump higher and higher, but most of us just say that it can’t be done.   There’s a recognizable fear that we can’t maintain our pampered-child lifestyle if we get too holy….which, of course, this week’s lessons address.

Leviticus?  Are you kidding?  Isn’t that the book with all the prohibitions about eating bacon and getting tattoos?  Today’s text, 19:1,2, 9-18, reminds its hearers, “You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy….”, then gives some f’rinstances:  leave some of your harvest for the poor; don’t lie or cheat; don’t take advantage of your employee or the physically challenged; neither slander nor attack others; “love your neighbor as yourself:  I am the Lord.”   Like any parent, God expects us to do our best work!

Paul begins the Epistle reading well:  “According to the grace of God given me…” (I Corinthians 3:10).  Train as hard as we can, we’ll still have a “holiness ceiling” which can only be surpassed by such grace.  No saints have realized their potential due to their human exertions, they had to have Divine Help.  The key is to acknowledge this Help and thus to align their aspirations to it.  Oft-quoted are verses 16 & 17, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?  …For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”  Lord, help me to know what you’ve created me to be!

And we continue to explore the Sermon on the Mount, this time in Matthew 5:38-48.  Jesus contrasts the Old Way with God’s Way:  don’t retaliate like kids on the playground, but gain the respect of the bully by going one better.  Don’t question the beggar’s worth, but share what you can.  Go outside your comfort zone to love the unlovable and those from other cultures and religions.  And then, right between the eyes, “Be perfect, therefore, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  Omigosh.

The Methodist movement was built around this concept of holiness for everyone.  At Oxford, John & Charles Wesley and some other students met “methodically” in what they called “the Holy Club” to study scripture and inform their lives around its integrity.  They became convinced that holiness involved taking food to the slums, standing by those in hospital and the drunk-tank, and offering hope to the prisoners.  As Methodism spread to America, Wesley instructed his missionary preachers to “spread scriptural holiness throughout  the land”.   As a preacher this Sunday, I hope to inspire others to know themselves as Children of God’s Perfect Creation:  sustained by Grace and taking their Holiness as an amazing gift!

God Bless Us!  Every One!                                               Horace Brown King

“Would you like to see a menu?”, she asked as I slid into a booth.   And then she produced a large document which well could have been the latest Tax Code, or perhaps an illustrated version of “War & Peace”.    Too many choices!   I liked it better when it was between a BLT or a burger without a cute name.   Vanilla or chocolate.  Baked or mashed.   Readings for this weekend help us to navigate the complex menu which Life hands us.

Moses gave The People a pep-talk as they stood on the doorstep of the Promised Land:  “See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity.”  (Deuteronomy 30:15)   If they stay with Yahweh’s ordinances and commandments (The Law), then they’ll be blessed in their new land.  BUT if they turn away towards other gods–what foresight!–then calamity will ensue.  “Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him….”  Just then, the menu seemed pretty simple, with its binary choices.

Yet humanity can always come up with the “What If…?” clauses.  What situations define our ethics?   Paul reminds the Corinthians that their faith still has too many loose ends, for they are trading in their allegiance to God in favor of following specific leaders.  “For when one says, ‘I belong to Paul,’ and another, ‘I belong to Apollos’, are you not merely human?” (I Corinthians 3:4)  [Apollos was the missionary who led the Corinthian church after Paul’s departure.]   The vital choice was not between the styles & preaching of various leaders, but between the relationship with God as opposed to imperfect wisdom.

The portion of the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21-37) brings home this Holy Choice:   “you have heard it said…but I say to you…”   Jesus acknowledges the conventional wisdom, and sets against it God’s Plan.  Believers are called to be counter-cultural, to stand over and against business-as-usual — which can be really painful.   Here are four instances:  in God’s plan, anger towards another brings judgment just as murder does; lustful fantasies are just as severe as physical adultery; divorce is neither expected nor condoned; in the New Order, there’s no need to take an oath, since commitment  is the  order of the day.

In the 1970’s, Thomas Oden wrote that  “choice demands negation”,  an affirmation that a person cannot be in Boston AND Atlanta at the same time!  Oden says that when we make a choice, we are automatically discarding all the other possibilities.  My grandma put it this way:  “You can’t have your cake and eat it, too.”  To this citizen of the 21st Century, another choice can be made tomorrow, or at least when the video-game is played again.   But how many lives do I get?

God Bless Us, Every One.                                   Horace Brown King

It’s almost an archaic term, isn’t it?  Who thinks much about being “Righteous” today?  We try to be “Good enough” for the boss, and a satisfactory lover/spouse or grandparent.   Performers all, we gear ourselves to the applause and care little about what may happen off-camera.  In Biblical terms, “righteousness” meant being square with God.  In current jargon, “righteousness” means merely being square.

Isaiah the Prophet lays it squarely on the line:  “Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sin(s).” (58:1)   Then comes God’s contention with those who claim Godliness yet practice it not:  attending to your own interests on fast days, and oppressing your workers; quarreling and fighting; abuse and intimidation.  “Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high.”   But “is not THIS the fast that I choose?….to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free…to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house…?”  “THEN shall your light rise in the darkness, and your gloom be like the noonday.”   Now THAT’s a sermon!

St. Paul almost buries Holy Living under a wordy discourse to the Corinthian churches. (Ist, 2:1-16)   I think what he’s getting at is that Righteousness/Being Square with God isn’t something that we do, but something we receive.  Having been warmed by the Spirit of Christ, it becomes our desire to express justice and compassion to God’s Creation.  “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God.”  (v.12)

The Gospel lesson continues our brief foray into the Sermon on the Mount, remembered by Matthew in the Fifth Chapter, vv.13-20.   “You”, Jesus said, “are the salt of the earth…the light of the world.”   Now go and season our understanding of God, go shine so that others can get their bearings!   Adhere to God’s expectations, he says, “for I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Scribes and Pharisees were nice enough folks, but they thought they were Doing Enough by fasting in sackcloth, dust and ashes.  Yet the Holy Word puts more emphasis on demonstrating the new reality which God coaxes out of those touched by the Spirit.   In “My Fair Lady”, Eliza sings to Freddy, “If you’re in love, then show me!”     In this Season of Signs, the Believer is obviously changed, having been to the Manger.

God Bless Us, Every One!                 Horace Brown King