Homily for the Second Sunday of Lent
L2-2015-SPN
Can we talk? In today’s liturgy of the Word we reflect on two mountains, Mt. Moriah and Mt. Tabor both of which we are asked to climb. We remember Abraham and Isaac, Peter, James and John; two encounters with God. The first seems dark, even sinister, the second glorious. In fact, they are both glorious.
Abraham lived in an era when child sacrifice was common practice among other religious traditions. Abraham, delighted in a “new” God who had given him a child even when Sarah was barren, unable to give him a child. Sarah and Abraham delighted in Isaac — the precious gift. During the walk to Mt. Moriah Abraham must have suffered, must have wondered how in the world God would change joy into tragedy, leading him to the edge of committing the sin of murder. This story is not about a punitive God who asks deadly things of us, but of a God who wants our full and undivided attention. God wants all of us, wants to lift us out of our suffering. Abraham knew that suffering is inevitable but learns that it leads to new and fuller life.
Peter, James and John suffered from darkness, not understanding who Jesus really was. So, off to the mountain they go, and there, in an instant of insight they really SEE Jesus - for a single moment Jesus captured their full and undivided attention, lifting them out of their suffering and darkness. It doesn’t last long, Peter wants to nail it down, hold on to it and own it — and poof it disappears. .
Can we talk? I am tired of naming sins. It is a useless endeavor. I am tired of listening to people naming other people’s sins — “look at what they are doing.” It is even more useless endeavor, unless of course you just want to feel better than. In the course of a year I listen to the naming of thousands of sins, and it is boring. 95 percent of them are sexual in nature which I am sure God doesn’t care about in the first place. The naming and absolution go on and on and nothing changes. People feel frustrated and I come away thinking that everyone is having more fun than I am. Sin is not the problem, suffering is. Sin is something we can name, suffering is something we need to enter into in order for it to be healed. Naming is easier than entering into, so we settle for naming rather than going for transformation - even transfiguration.
The question is not, what sin have I committed but how am I suffering? How do I cause the suffering of others? How are others suffering, not how sinful are they.
Last Tuesday I buried a 92 year old man. Six times he went to the mountain and experienced transfiguration — during his life he had six holes in one, the last at age 86. Imagine the swoosh of the swing, the crack of the club against the ball — it is all coming together — kerplunk in the hold. For one, brief, moment singularity happens — all is one in wonder and excitement — all is well in the universe. Poof, the moment is gone, ego takes over and we walk to the next hold. These moments can happen not only on a golf course but any time we really let go and let God — when we push through the suffering of practice to glory that is simply given us, a gift, a precious gift.
This we can experience when we free ourselves and others of the sufferings we all endure. Lets go to the mountain, to the altar of God that tells us there is NOTHING THAT CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD IN JESUS CHRIST, except our own EGOS, our willfulness.
Can we talk? In today’s liturgy of the Word we reflect on two mountains, Mt. Moriah and Mt. Tabor both of which we are asked to climb. We remember Abraham and Isaac, Peter, James and John; two encounters with God. The first seems dark, even sinister, the second glorious. In fact, they are both glorious.
Abraham lived in an era when child sacrifice was common practice among other religious traditions. Abraham, delighted in a “new” God who had given him a child even when Sarah was barren, unable to give him a child. Sarah and Abraham delighted in Isaac — the precious gift. During the walk to Mt. Moriah Abraham must have suffered, must have wondered how in the world God would change joy into tragedy, leading him to the edge of committing the sin of murder. This story is not about a punitive God who asks deadly things of us, but of a God who wants our full and undivided attention. God wants all of us, wants to lift us out of our suffering. Abraham knew that suffering is inevitable but learns that it leads to new and fuller life.
Peter, James and John suffered from darkness, not understanding who Jesus really was. So, off to the mountain they go, and there, in an instant of insight they really SEE Jesus - for a single moment Jesus captured their full and undivided attention, lifting them out of their suffering and darkness. It doesn’t last long, Peter wants to nail it down, hold on to it and own it — and poof it disappears. .
Can we talk? I am tired of naming sins. It is a useless endeavor. I am tired of listening to people naming other people’s sins — “look at what they are doing.” It is even more useless endeavor, unless of course you just want to feel better than. In the course of a year I listen to the naming of thousands of sins, and it is boring. 95 percent of them are sexual in nature which I am sure God doesn’t care about in the first place. The naming and absolution go on and on and nothing changes. People feel frustrated and I come away thinking that everyone is having more fun than I am. Sin is not the problem, suffering is. Sin is something we can name, suffering is something we need to enter into in order for it to be healed. Naming is easier than entering into, so we settle for naming rather than going for transformation - even transfiguration.
The question is not, what sin have I committed but how am I suffering? How do I cause the suffering of others? How are others suffering, not how sinful are they.
Last Tuesday I buried a 92 year old man. Six times he went to the mountain and experienced transfiguration — during his life he had six holes in one, the last at age 86. Imagine the swoosh of the swing, the crack of the club against the ball — it is all coming together — kerplunk in the hold. For one, brief, moment singularity happens — all is one in wonder and excitement — all is well in the universe. Poof, the moment is gone, ego takes over and we walk to the next hold. These moments can happen not only on a golf course but any time we really let go and let God — when we push through the suffering of practice to glory that is simply given us, a gift, a precious gift.
This we can experience when we free ourselves and others of the sufferings we all endure. Lets go to the mountain, to the altar of God that tells us there is NOTHING THAT CAN SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF GOD IN JESUS CHRIST, except our own EGOS, our willfulness.
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