First Presbyterian Church
Near Majesty
Sermon for February 22, 2004
by Pastor
Susan Barnes
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Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets full of God's law. Moses didn't know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. When the Israelites saw his shining face, they were afraid. But Moses told them to come, and they did. After he finished talking with them, he put a veil over his face. He took it off every time he went to speak with the Lord, and when he talked to the people, but then he put it back on. Why do you think his face shone after he had been talking with God? Why do you think he put the veil on? I don't know. Look at this big fat book. Listen to what this theologian says: “In this difficult passage, tow motifs are at work that are not easily reconciled.” (1) And “Thus it is exceedingly difficult to determine its purpose or function.” He doesn't know either! Sometimes the Bible has stories about God being close by and friendly, and sometimes the stories about God are not so friendly- God is far away and awesome and scary. Why do you think that is? For some people who believe in God, like Jews, saying God's name is mean. God's name is so holy, no one would pronounce it. Even in writing it, they would use special letters, so no one would say it by mistake. They'd say Adonai, which is Hebrew for Lord. To them it's a sign of respect. I like using God's name, Yahweh. I think it's ok to say it, and write it. But I try to be careful. When I am leading worship, and Jews are there, I don't say Yahweh. I say Adonai or Lord. We are going to read Psalm 99 responsively. I like to remind people that the old testament was written in Hebrew, and the English bible we have is a translation. In our reading today, we're going to use my translation of Psalm 99. To do the litany, we're going to learn two Hebrew words. One you already know. Does anyone remember what Yahweh means? The other word is Kadosh. It means holy. Say kadosh. So when you say Kadosh Yahweh, it means God is holy. Let's practice. Yahweh is holy, Kadosh Yahweh. We'll do a litany based on my translation, so it's a little different from the pew Bibles. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Psalm 99. Yahweh rules, let the people shake, This ends our reading of the psalm. In contrast to the psalm, in our gospel text, God is near. In theological terms, God is immanent. God's glory came in a cloud to Peter, John, and James. Jesus was filled with light. Light is a sign of divinity, a sign of God's presence. Listen for the word of God as it is found in Luke 9:28-36. 28 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30 Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31 They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem . 32 Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"-- not knowing what he said. 34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35 Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen ; listen to him!" 36 When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen. This ends our gospel reading. As if the light and cloud weren't enough, a voice explain to Peter, John, and James who Jesus is: God's son, and what they should do: listen to him. Listening to Jesus is what we all are supposed to do. In contrast to the disciples seeing God's glory directly, Paul speaks of God's glory being indirect; God's glory is reflected to us, not seen directly. That theological term is transcendence. Paul wrote to the Corinthians when Romans and some Jews persecuted Christians. Christians were accused of breaking the laws of God that Moses brought down from Sinai. Moses protected the Israelites from God's glory when he put on the veil. Paul does not protect the Corinthians, but speaks frankly to them, not sugar-coating anything. To Paul, the veil is a sign of misunderstanding. Greater glory is available in Christ. Listen for the word of God as it is found in 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. Therefore, since it is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God's word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God. This ends our epistle reading. Paul expects the Corinthians to reflect God's glory. Let's listen to the choir sing about it. “This Little Light of Mine.” I mentioned the words immanence and transcendence. Immanence means God is near by; transcendence is when God is far away. Jesus, God in human flesh was immanent; God, far off on Mt. Sinai , was transcendent. There are times in my life when I have felt the majesty of God, especially looking up at a mountain, or standing on a cliff looking down at the vastness of the ocean. There are times in my life when I have felt God close by, like holding my baby for the first time. And then there are times when I haven't felt God at all, when God has just burst in. It happened to me two weeks ago. I apologize to the elders who have already heard this story when I filled in for the good news at session meeting. I had overworked myself, not been good about my work schedule, and was very overstressed. It was the week I had to go to San Francisco and back in a day, followed by a drive to Ketchum the next day, and the drive to Baker City the day after that. I was irritated with myself for letting myself get so tired, and overdoing my schedule. I arrived at the Boise airport later than I wanted, and made my flight in time, but only just. I couldn't find my itinerary, and I had to use one of that new automatic easy-to–use machines to get my boarding pass. I really hate using any machine when I'm in a hurry. The seconds ticked by, and an airline person had to help me because the automatic machines can't give you a boarding pass if you are within thirty minutes of the flight time as I was. I made it to the plane. To give you an example of how angry and overwhelmed I was, I had John Grisham's new book The Last Juror , and I couldn't read it on the plane. When we changed planes in I forget which city, I sat in seat 1, and the flight attendant took my briefcase and stowed it in the overhead bin. I couldn't have read if I wanted to. Most of you know how easy it is for me to get lost, even in familiar places, and so I was dreading arriving at the San Francisco airport, and trying to find a taxi to take me to the place for the meeting. It didn't help that the meeting was about the prevention of clergy sexual misconduct, and the message that day was about encouraging the clergy to take better care of themselves so they won't act inappropriately out of desperation and exhaustion. I was feeling desperate and exhausted. When we landed in San Francisco , and I geared myself to find a taxi driver who knew where Mercy Center was, I turned to the man behind me who was getting his suitcase out from the overhead bin to ask him to get my briefcase also. And that's when God intervened in my life. The man behind me was Phil Moran, a Presbyterian pastor in Boise who had been a pastor at my home church fifteen years ago. Phil was going to the same meeting I was, and he was renting a car, along with another man from Boise presbytery going to a different meeting in the same building. What a relief. God was taking care of me when I hadn't been good at taking care of myself. Sometimes God breaks in. I found these words from a theologian about the Corinthian's text. “How true of life, that God's surprises break out in the most unexpected ways and places: in that little moment where someone reaches out to you in a time of need; where you have joy over being of assistance to someone; or where a baby shows up in a manger and changes lives and history. Maybe God has to surprise us in order to get our attention sometimes. The problem with that however, is that we might not notice the reflections of God's glory that are happening around us. Part of the task of worship is the rehearsing of how we learn not only to look for God's surprises in life, but also how to recognize them.” (2) I've recognized some reflections of God's glory this week: the work of those who attended and supported the 30 hour famine, the service the Deacons provided at Doris ' memorial service yesterday, the Sunday School teaching and learning that happened this morning, and the AA meeting that's happening here in the afternoon. We don't do these things just to keep busy, or to give back to the community, but to show others who Christ is in us, and to find who Christ is in others. May God continue to transform us. (2) New Interpreter's Bible, vol. XI, p. 78 |
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