July 22, 2018

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56        Jeremiah 23:1-6                Ephesians 2:11-22

                It was fun this week at Bible School watching a transformation that took less than 3 days.  Children arrived, shy and stand-offish, and gradually they came out of their shell, by the last day ran to greet their friends, and shared smiles and laughter with one another. 

                I enjoy hearing stories from people about who they used to be verses who they are now, and what it was that caused that transformation in them.  For instance, I related when someone told me this week, “I used to be so shy when I was younger, but now I just strike up these conversations.  I guess I just got used to it.”  She was telling me about all these random people she’s met lately, just standing in line, or waiting for an appointment and how she’s discovered these connections, several people who went to the same elementary school that she did.  What transformed her?  It is partly to do with community, coming together and taking a risk to engage with people.  Then each time a connection is made, it strengthens the drive to reach out again.

I definitely feel that way about how I’ve changed over the past 14 years since you called me to be your pastor.  I am very different from who I was when I arrived, and thanks to your care and nurturing and compassion, here I find myself more clear about who I am, more self-assured, more focused.  I am very different from who I was before I had my son.  I even feel different from who I was a month ago, since I started reading this very enlightening parenting book that is making me feel hopeful that maybe I can be an empowering parent and maybe even translate that learning to this congregation.  What transformed me?  I have to say it has been community: all of you, my colleagues, neighbors, and friends and let’s not forget God who is there when any two or three are gathered.

                The story in Jeremiah is one of transformation.  This world inevitably hurts us and we hurt each other.  We might call this original sin, or not.  Sometimes the shepherds we trust, lead us astray.  We get scattered.  We start to mistrust each other.  We become afraid.  In this reading the shepherds are the kings.  The very ones that are supposed to look out for the people misuse their power.  They hurt the people to get what they want.  They forget their role is to protect the flock.  But the scattered flock still has hope.

                We have a Good Shepherd, one who never forgets the purpose, who never forgets the people or the lost sheep.  This is the one who intervenes.  Because of the compassion of this shepherd, the flock will be gathered, healed, and fruitful.  No one will be afraid.  No one will be missing.  No one will even be dismayed!  Wow, I am dismayed every day.  But there is a promise, a transformation coming through God in which that dismay will be gone.  There will be safety.  There will be justice. 

                The story of the Gentiles in Ephesians was one of transformation.  They had been adrift, aliens and strangers, without hope, far away, hostile and recipients of hostility.  Yet Jesus has entered the picture.  His life and death have brought these outsiders in, and not just in, but members of the family.  Jesus has broken down the dividing walls, creating peace in the family of God, building a structure strong and lasting, a community for God to dwell in.  We were far away and now we are near.  We were hostile and now we have peace.  We were strangers and aliens and now we’re family.  We were nobodies, and now we are part of God’s own family, brothers and sisters with Jesus, eating at the table, making decisions, cooperating, caring, and building the Kingdom of God.

                Sometimes longtime church folk say we want to be transformed, but we really have in mind is the days long past when there were 50 kids in Sunday School, or when people put church first, when there was no sports on Sundays and Wednesday evening was church night.  It was a time when Christianity wasn’t a bad word.  It was a time of prosperity and community and comfort.  We are no longer in those times.  We are a little off kilter, feeling confused, and wondering what happened.  We want to be transformed.  However, transformation never goes backward.  What we were then is in the past.  What we are now is somewhat confused, but Jesus is right here with us, teaching us, transforming us, giving us new life.  What we will be, we don’t know, but that we will be part of something bigger than ourselves, that justice will be rolling down, that the hungry will be fed, those without a place to lay their heads will live in safety, and every tear will be wiped away.  Grave enemies will be best friends, and we won’t hurt each other anymore.  God was with us in the 50s and 60s and God is with us now, but the world has changed and we are learning to be transformed in this current context.

                Even the 23^rd Psalm can be seen as a Psalm of transformation.  We were in want, we were lost and wandering, we were hungry, we were sick, we were pursued by our enemies, we walked through the valley of the shadow of death.  That was probably the point of transformation, the lowest point, the point of confusion.  But walking through those times can give us clarity, can help us focus on hope, can make us reach out to connect with those around us, can help us give of ourselves to others living in dark valleys.  So we come through, transformed, led by the shepherd, trusting, hopeful, fruitful, fed, and part of the flock, in community, in safety.

                Jesus’ disciples were being transformed.  They were afraid to go out and share the good news.  They failed at many of their attempts to heal.  They were always misunderstanding Jesus.  But finally, they have gone out and been witnessing God’s power for healing and community in this ministry.  They come back, full of stories and questions.  They are exhausted.  They need to process what they’ve been learning.  And they’ve missed each other.  They are in the midst of transformation, of seeing what the power of God can do through ordinary people like them.  But not only are they being transformed, so are all these people around them, and they are wanting a little more attention from Jesus.  There have been too many healings to count, the verses that are skipped we’ll pick up on in the coming weeks with the feeding of the 5000, so they also need teaching and food.  They just want to be close to him.

                And the good news is that there is enough of Jesus to go around.  He is available to the insiders.  He’s available to the outsiders.  He’s available to the sick, to the grieving, to the hungry, to those who are important, to those who are ordinary.  He has compassion on them and so he goes to them.  We are among the them.  Jesus knows we are tired, confused, hungry, wanting to tell him and ask him things, and he has time to be in our midst, he has compassion to listen and to share himself with us.  He shares his words with us in these readings.  He shares his body and blood with us in this meal.  He shares his power with us through the Holy Spirit and as part of community, working together to live the Kingdom vision and be Kingdom people.

                Maybe we are being transformed, and maybe we are simply opening our eyes.  We live in this world and we see brokenness and division and despair and dismay.  We see the way people hurt each other and misuse their power.  But there is another reality that Jesus holds before us, and if we open our eyes we can see it.  We can witness people speaking up for themselves and for other troubled people who have never done so before.  We can see the beauty of this earth.  We can live in the unity of community and work together with people we would ordinarily never encounter.  We can take a moment to talk to someone who is hurting.  We can visit someone who is dying and remember with joy all the memories and give thanks to God.  We can give thanks for the life of someone who has died, and even in our grief know we are joined to them and that healing can take so many forms.  We can live boldly and love fiercely and open our eyes to the reality God is creating among us and between us and within us.  We can cross to the other side, and realize the other side is not so far away, and instead of finding a stranger, find ourselves, find who God made us to be, find a wholeness we never thought possible.