My Father's House

I've been very much living in John's writings of late. The words that Jesus speaks to us, that He brings to us from the Father, He invites us to find a home in them ("If you abide in my word..." John 8) and for us to welcome them into us that they might find a home in us ("If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home in him..." John 14). And the Father is literally in those words. I think this means that as we sojourn in this world, we learn to make the Word of God our home, to dwell in His stories, and to let His stories dwell in us. This is how God dwells in us. The liturgy in its greatest depth is this house of God. We move into that house that that house may move into us.

Once, Dr. Nagel was challenged to define liturgy in a way that some students (who came from a different confession than the Lutheran) could grasp what he was talking about. He said the oddest thing: "The liturgy is wherein we live as the people of God." The liturgy holds forth the Word for us to be our home that we may live in it, children in the house of the Father.

Luther said that Augustine never said anything better than Verbum accedat ad elementum et fit sacramentum. I think we hear it too narrowly, though. This is first Incarnation. The Word comes to the element - and element here is the thing held as an object in itself - and suddenly the element is no longer in isolation, it is restored to what God would have creation be: sacrament, gift, alive with His presence. A man who was utterly and fully alive and connected to all. And the Verbum Dei comes in His incarnation to the whole of creation, to all our disjointed and singular "elements" by which we break down the inherent unity of creation's original gift and try to have each thing as its own. And this is death. So even into death, comes the Word of God, to fill it with Himself and suddenly even that last enemy becomes gift. The cup received from the hand of the Father who loves us.

And so all things cohere as liturgy. "All times and in all places" isn't a statement of moral duty, but a confession of eyes opened to the stunning lavishness of the Creator's gift that never ceases to rain down at every point in our lives. 

The passions of the flesh that Peter warns us against as warring on our souls, our very selves, are in each instance the attempt to extract a good, a pleasure, from the gift in which the Giver gave it and to enjoy it as a thing unto itself. And each instance fails. Cannot but fail. This attempt at extraction characterizes the whole of our modern lives. Don't give me the whole gift in the food; put it into a pill I can buy. Don't give me a marriage;  I'll just take the sex. Don't give me the friends gathered together enjoying each other's company, I'll just take the wine. Every time we yank the original pleasure from its gift context, it becomes "passion of the flesh" and by very definition insatiable. Doesn't matter what you throw at it, "too much is never enough." 

And we have no way out of this fragmentation that extends even to the way we treat our bodies and the bodies of others and all things as mere objects. We have no way out. But into this intense objectification stepped the Man for whom all was gift, even our sin, even our death, and who thus opened the way home to the Father, IS the way home to the Father. 

When His words dwell in us and we in them, then the Word that came to the element makes of the isolated stuff of life sacrament and the world becomes again a home. He gives us the words He carried from the heart of the Father that we might dwell in them and from them touching all the isolated "elements" of our lives, all might become sacrament, gift, the Presence of the Giver in the gifts uniting them all.

Celebrating!

Sandy and the volunteers at the IC have been working on this project for a long time, but as of today the Worship Library is catalogued and shelved and my office is back to a pleasant workspace. Yay! Thanks, ladies. Kinda makes me eager to get to work tomorrow! Last week I'd already "Konmaried" my own stuff there and tossed tons. 

Homily for Good Shepherd at St. Paul's

There's a lot of thinking out there that the Lord only has time for you when you, more or less, have your act together.  That God loves you when you are lovable.  Against such a notion comes this glorious Sunday with its readings.  Miscericordias Domini - the Loving-kindness of the Lord.  That's it's name in Latin, but we usually just call it "Good Shepherd Sunday."

The Lord Jesus lets us know that that's who He is.  "I am the Good Shepherd."  So in today's Gospel reading.  But in saying that He lays claim to be the one speaking in the Old Testament reading from Ezekiel:  "I myself" - that is Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel - "I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God.  I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak." 

Bless Carl Steinmann's heart. Good thing he's not here to hear me say this. He shepherded those paintings through to make sure that the sheep turned out just right. They only thing I've never liked about that beautiful painting is how the little lamb and the others are all so clean and white and beautiful. In the reading from Ezekiel, they're a mess! The sheep that are dirty, wounded, torn up, damaged. They've wandered off, gotten lost, strayed into all the byways of sin and all its sorrows.  They've injured themselves, inflicted damaged on their own persons and those around them. Some are so weary, just plumb worn out, they don't know if they can go on.  The Lord is in the business of gathering them together and making them lie down while He tends them, heals them, loves them.

"Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest!" - that is the cry of your Lord's heart to you.  You see He knows you.  He knows you in your sin.  The lies you've told.  The gossip you've passed on with glee.  The hatred you've harbored.  The bitter words you've let flow from your heart through your lips to sting and hurt the people you were supposed to love.  The betrayal of the promises you made your spouse.  He knows every click of the mouse and every video you've watched. He knows the distrust that overwhelms your heart at times when you wonder if there really even is a God who can bring good out of this mess.  The misuse of your body, treating it as though it were yours to do with as you please, forgetting that you were bought with a price.  The stinginess of your heart that  judges your brother and hypocritically holds him to a standard that you know perfectly well you do not keep yourself.  Oh, yes.  He knows you inside and out.  Me too.  In all the things I've ever done, thought, or said - and the countless good I have failed to do.  

But that's the miracle of grace we celebrate this Sunday.  The One who knows us inside and out like that, didn't come among us to destroy us.  For some utterly unfathomable reason that we'll never understand and will marvel at for all eternity, He loves us.  He came to heal us.  He came to set right the things broken.  He came to bind up the wounds and heal them.  He came above all, to protect us from the wolf.  

You see, to Him the wolf is personal.  To the hired hand, his own life is more valuable than the sheep.  He runs at the first sign of the trouble on four legs with a bush tail. Why?  Jesus puts it so simply:  "he doesn't own the sheep."

To Him, you are valuable.  Don't go scrounging around inside yourself to discover what it is that He finds valuable.  You can't find it that way.  Your value comes from the outside in: you have value because He values you; He doesn't value you because you have intrinsic value.  You're His.  No matter how damaged you are, not matter how beaten up and bruised and wandering.  Now matter how worn out and tired.  You're His.  He made you His own in the font of living water, plopped His name on you and said:  "Mine.  Mine forever."

So the wolf coming after you is very personal business to Him.  And He has no intention of allowing you to end up as a canine snack.  So He interposes His own life.  "The Good Shepherd lays down His LIFE for the sheep."  

"Here, little wolfie!  Come over here and eat me!  Let them go free!"  Of course, the little wolfie has no intention of letting anyone go free, but he freely gobbles down the snack offered.  Bait.  Poison.  You know the story.  The wolf couldn't keep that Good Shepherd in his stinking gullet.  The Good Shepherd burst right through.  Raised from the dead on the third day.  Leaving a hole behind in the wolf's belly that will never ever heal or mend.  And so when the wolf comes after you, you can go cheerfully down its stinking throat without a thought of fear - for you know that your Good Shepherd has already travelled this way, has gone down into the valley of shadow of death, and come up again, and He will bring you with Him.  When all is darkness, and it closes around you - you needn't fear.  His voice rings out:  "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me will live though he die and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."  Death had no right to Him because He had no sin; but it took Him; and so Death forfeited its right to hold you forever.  

Tending the wounds of your sins, giving you rich pasture in His word, refreshing you at His table with His own body and blood, forgiving you every sin - the table set in the very presence of your enemies as the sign and seal of your triumph over them - you begin to see how Good your Shepherd truly is.  Good beyond all deserving, good beyond anything we could even imagine. 

In all of this gift, St. Peter tells us, our Lord has left us also an example - so that we might follow in His steps.  The pattern He set is clear:  trust in the Father who loves you and who will vindicate you and then you have no need to extract vengeance and such on your own.  Rather, like the Lord, when He suffered, He did not threaten, when mocked and reviled He did not revile in return.  He bore our sins in His body on the tree so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.  By His wounds you have been healed.  For you were straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.  

No, He's not the God and Lord of those who have their act together.  Those who imagine they do are, in fact, not His proper clientele and the only ones He really ever chews out.  He's the God and Lord of the sick, injured, and weak, the straying and foolish ones.  He will not turn you away.  He died to release you from sin's power.  He rose to proclaim to you that death itself would never be the end of you.  He invites you to come to Him today at His table and be refreshed and then leave this place to follow His example - to die to your sin and to live in the righteousness that is His gift to you, forgiving and loving those who mistreat you and cause you suffering as you yourself have been forgiven and loved by Him, by Jesus, your Good Shepherd.  Amen.  

Now All the Vault

The final hymn of the Divine Service for the Resurrection at St. Paul's, Hamel today:

Now All the Vault

Lumen Christi!

As the darkness grew, the light grew more. It was wondrous feast for ear, for eye, for mouth and for heart. We began outside fighting the wind to keep our candles lit, but this is Illinois and the prairie. We relit upon entrance into the narthex. "Rejoice!" and "This is the night!" Then the readings. Pastor is no trimmer. We read all of them. Canticles after the crossing of the Red Sea, Jonah, and the Fiery Furnace. Two confirmations and remembrance of our baptism. The Litany of the Resurrection. Full light in the Church and the Easter announcement with the return of the Gloria in Excelsis, just like an old friend you've missed. The Paschal Homily of St. John Chrysostom, the triumphant Victimae Paschali with the "Christ Is Arisen" and a timpani played almost antiphonally. It was amazing. Then the joys of the Easter Eucharist and we went out with Wesley's "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today." No, it was not an all-night Vigil, but it was a great joy indeed. Bekah and David both commented at the end on why on earth would anyone miss that service and Bekah said, "I'm afraid tomorrow is going to be a bit of a disappointment after that." I think not, but that's how it felt: you couldn't imagine greater joy. And yet with the Lord there is always more. Matins shortly and then the Divine Service for the Resurrection. Alleluia! Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

"And on the seventh day He rested..."

The hours of Holy Saturday creep past. Our faithful hound got us up at 4:30 to get her out and then again at 6:30 begging for food. Ugh. So we enjoyed our coffee and Treasury with that splendid writing from St. Ephrem the Syrian, the closed tomb and the closed womb. The Formula would add the bread and wine of the Eucharist! 

Then to the kitchen to work. Tomorrow we plan to celebrate not just the Easter feast, but Cindi's birthday a few days late. So I undertook to set up the menu and prepare the food. First, made a chocolate cheesecake (thank you, Abel James), then made two kinds of deviled eggs (one regular; one with bacon, avocado and hot sauce), made a big batch of coleslaw, put the porkbutt in the fridge after coating it with a boatload of spices and I'll slip that in the slow cooker right before we head out to Vigil tonight. Put together the homemade sauce for the pulled pork. David's bringing his now famous home-made light rolls; Bekah is bringing a pecan pie (we'll see if we get to eat it before Lucy this time!). Cindi chopped up some fresh and parboiled veggies and made the oh-so-popular Greek dip for those. She rolled up cheese and deli meats, which we'll enjoy after Vigil tonight, along with some brie and salmon. She also set up a tray of chocolates, to which we will add tomorrow the home-made fudge Stephanie gave us at Christmas. Paleo or not, Easter demands chocolate!

While I was occupied in the kitchen, Cindi did the Saturday cleaning.  We planted a lovely Azalea that Dave gave her for her birthday, and did a quick stroll around the neighborhood in the sun and wind. I thought we were done, but when we got home she set to work on a coffee cake for Easter breakfast tomorrow. 

Now, I think all that's left is to extend the table (there will be nine of us tomorrow) and wait for the fast to wend to its joyous end after sunset tonight as the Light of Christ illumines the darkness with a love that death could not hold.

Good Start to Good Friday

So, we have this cool alarm. It's a light. About half an hour before you want to get up, it starts to glow dimly and then gets brighter and brighter. At the time you're supposed to be up, the light is at its brightest and a sound begins. One of the options for the sound was birds chirping. We did that for a long a time. Houston, we have a problem...

Now, when I hear the birds OUTSIDE start in at 4 a.m. or so, the old bod wakes up! So, yes, we were up bright and early on this fine spring day. We enjoyed our bulletproof coffee and said our prayers from Treasury, and did some planning for the day. Threw some eggs on to boil for Sunday's feast. Then did our workouts. Pushups and pullups done (well, may add a few more pullups as the day wears on) and sprints run. Cindi has started tackling planting her kitchen garden and I'm finishing up one more cup offrench press, straight java before heading out to mow our yard. Not too much dew last night, so the grass is actually quite cuttable, and they're forecasting rain.

Still ahead, Cindi is singing at a funeral, then we have the Chief Service at noon and Tenebrae this evening. The pool folks are coming to open the pool (optimistic we are!) before we're due back from chief service. Have some writing to do, one more run through the Passion to make sure of my lines and part, and then more food to prepare for the upcoming feast. 

Birds. You can't be mad at them; they're just singing their Matins to the Lord. 

Triduum

And so the great three days begins. What a glorious Divine Service this evening at St. Paul's. Pretty much straight out of the Altar Book, except pastor used the traditional Lenten preface with the old wording (yeah!). Maundy Thursday is one of the days we can usually count on Divine Service, Setting Five, and I dearly love singing “Isaiah, Mighty Seer” and “Lamb of God.” The choir sang a lovely piece, another Agnus by Jeffrey Blersch as the offering was gathered. The solemn singing of Psalm 22 as the altar is stripped...it just does something to you. The bulletin always instructs us to leave in strict silence, but I don't think we really need the printed rubric. The Psalm and the stripping hushes you all the way down deep inside. The Chief Service continues our worship tomorrow at noon with the Passion of John, the Bidding Prayer, the Reproaches, the Adoration of the Crucified. Tomorrow evening's Tenebrae will use the lovely sung Passion of St. John by Hillert at 7 p.m. And then we wait for the Vigil to commence on Saturday at 8 p.m.

Just have to love Saturdays

The dog actually slept in! Leisurely cups of bullet proof coffee, sipped as we prayed Treasury together. Then planning the day. Breakfast was sausage and eggs (with mushrooms, onions and spinach!). I did my exercise, while Cindi tackled some wash. Cindi dusted. I vacuumed. She headed outside to start on her dad's yard while I made some loaves of paleo french bread. When the bread came out, I did our yard. A break for a bite of lunch (left overs: buffalo chicken wings with some artichoke spinach dip for veggies). A lovely walk in the sunshine. Home to sit out on the deck and enjoy a green smoothie, and it felt so good out there we decided to eat dinner on the deck. April 1st and we ate outside! Simple fare: a bowl of asparagus soup and some of that bread with cheese. Then Cindi was off to bowl. I swept the driveways and road to get off the grass clippings and then a stroll around the neighborhood, did my day's writing at the dining room table watching the sunset, sipping oolong. Then tackled the rest of cleaning up the kitchen: dishwasher emptied, counters cleaned, table extended. All done, all set and ready for Sunday brunch. And I'm guessing Cindi will be home before too much longer. 

Noted in the past

but it hit me again today, how profound the parallel thought tracks between the classic anaphorae and that all but vanished feature of Lutheran liturgy, the Admonition to Communicants. Looking at the Bugenhagen piece for Braunschweig:

Our plight + the sending of the Son culminating in cross and resurrection + (so that we may more confidently believe this and be strengthened in faith and holy living) the Institution Narrative + Anamnesis of His death and resurrection (do this for His remembrance, showing His death—that He was delivered for our offenses and raised for our justification) + Thanksgiving  + the unity of the Church through the Eucharist in love + a prayer that God may accomplish this (a faithful reception of the Sacrament and a life of love) for us by His Spirit.

Institute on Liturgy, Preaching, and Church Music

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Tea

(Francis S. Saltus)

From what enchanted Eden came thy leaves 

That hide such subtle spirits of perfume?

Did eyes preadamite first see the bloom,

Luscious nepenthe of the soul that grieves? 

By thee the tired and torpid mind conceives 

Fairer than roses brightening life's gloom,

Thy protean charm can every form assume

And turn December nights to April eves.

Thy amber-tinted drops bring back to me 

Fantastic shapes of great Mongolian towers,

Emblazoned banners, and the booming gong;

I hear the sound of feast and revelry,

And smell, far sweeter than the sweetest flowers,

The kiosks of Pekin, fragrant of Oolong.

I remember once reading that poetry is essentially words put together in such a way that they are hard to forget. For many, many years I have had the last line of this sonnet my head as unforgettable. The kiosks of Pekin, fragrant of Oolong.

I'm sipping a cup now of it now. 

A very cool video

My son pointed this out to me some time ago. I find myself returning to it in amazement at its beauty. Aled Jones, thanks to the marvels of modern tech, does a duet with himself as a young boy.

Fitting for today, as we celebrate our youngest daughter's 26th birthday and yet the memories of her childhood still seem like yesterday in my mind. A time warp, just like this video:

Walking in the Air

Some photos from Felicity's Baptism

God has His timing. Felicity Lynn Herberts was baptized into Christ's endless life one year to the day upon which her grandmother, Lynn Herberts, had her baptism completed and fell asleep in Jesus. The beautiful crucifix that adorns the altar in the background of these pictures was given in memory of Lynn. "With angels and archangels and all the company of heaven..." and I think everyone very clearly sensed ONE member of that company of heaven who was having special joy today! Indeed, "death you cannot end my gladness; I am baptized into Christ!" just as we all belted out at the start of the liturgy.

P.S. We were laughing so hard because Felicity was screaming for her food and Sawyer was upset with the picture arrangements and was fussing a bit too. Flynn and Annabelle were just happy as clams, though.

Lift Every Voice

Victoria Taylor sings Lift Every Voice and Sing after Chapel this a.m. She actually sang it for yesterday's chapel, but we didn't get a full recording until today.

Victoria

A beautiful homily

upon Quinquagesima...by Pr. Ball:

St. Paul Lutheran Church
Quinquagesima – February 25/26, 2017 a.d.
St. Luke 18:31-43 – 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
The Rev. BT Ball

"See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.  For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon.  After after flogging him, they will kill him and on the third day he will rise.  But they understood none of these things."

"So now faith, hope and love abide, these, three, but the greatest of them is love."

                   God loves you in Jesus Christ.  The Father has shown his love in sending his Son to accomplish everything written by the prophets.  He was delivered over to the Gentiles, mocked, shamefully treated, spit upon, flogged and killed on the third day he rose again   This is how God loves you.   In this way.   By nature we do not know love, not this Kind.  You can have all kinds of things, the ability to speak in a glorious way, understanding and knowledge and even faith strong enough to uproot a rocky mountain and move it around and without the love that is from Christ and is Christ, it is nothing.  Faith and hope are both passing away.  What lasts forever is love - God's love in Jesus Christ.  God the Father has always loved his Son and in him He always has been loving you.  Before the world was made, He loved you in His Son.  When the Blessed Trinity thought it right, this world was made, and the Three in One created an object of Divine affection.  From forever in the mind of God that object was this world, and more closely, the object of that affection was the Holy Church, and even still, the object of that love, the place right where it is focused -  is you.  And this is why love is the greatest.  It is before time and place, but in time and in place it is directed, all the way, completely to you in Christ.

Sinful man does not want the love in the way that it is given, sinful man seeks to destroy love and the one who loves.  A sinful heart does not want God loving by the cross.  Sinful hearts simply cannot understand or grasp God's love in Jesus Christ.   God sends his Son, and what does the world do in response, the scriptures show it - deliverance over to enemies, mockery, shameful treatment.  Sinful mankind spits on love.  Tries to destroy love by whipping it.  Sinful man would kill love by nailing him to a cross.   And this is true even for you as a Christian, for what do we do?  We crucify the Son of God again (Hebrews 6:6) in our sin as love is redefined to be about self and feelings, false definitions of love that provide only emptiness and shame.  Look how confused and fallen the love of mankind is.  God's law is a revelation of perfect love.  Love is the fulfilling of the law.  But we turn from that with our own sinful selfish desires.  Turning from both the Law of God and from the Gospel by seeking mercy and good and fulfillment from every place, from everything except the One who loves, the One who is love that never ends.

But yet God loves.  His love shown to you, given to you, in the word of the Gospel.  Jesus is headed up to Jerusalem to accomplish everything for you.  To love you, knowing your sin and taking it and its punishment.  That is the depth of his love.  He wants nothing else than to love you to death.   He fulfills His Father's will, He loves His Father and His Father loves you, so Jesus is willing to fulfill the Scriptures to be mocked, and be treated shamefully.  He does not turn from being spat upon and flogged.  He goes to be killed because in all of this He is loving you.  The Passion of Jesus.  His love.  All for you.  And you can see how the disciples couldn't understand it, how they couldn't grasp it.  How to their minds it was incomprehensible.  The foolishness of it all.  Right, only God could love in this way.  Only God does.  And freely, completely, He loves you and the Gospel is the revelation of such love, and the Spirit uses the words to create in you faith and hope in the love of God revealed. 

With God's love, you call out in hope and in faith, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me."  You are the object of divine affection.  This is what the passion of Jesus reveals to you.  That the mercy of Jesus is yours.  That he will give you what you need, because he has given you himself.  God the Father has given you His Son, and with His Son, all love.  All this in the words and promises backed up by actions.  God said he loved his world, his people, you.  He does.  He showed it, He gave His Son that you, a sinner, would receive divine love, be the object of divine affection.  Now he says it and shows it again.  Love is patient, love is kind.  The cross of Jesus reveals the patience God has toward sinners, the kindness of divine mercy, and such loving kindness can be found.   It is at the altar for you today.  Here is great love of God, which was given and shed on the cross, given right to you.  Love for sure.  With no doubt.  And with this love, all sins taken away and faith and hope have their center, their foundation, their certainty.   And with this love all death  is destroyed.  And with this love – you have mercy, healing and peace.  Then in your life becomes and is one of praise, thanksgiving, following your Savior, keeping His law.  Loving God, loving those around you.  God loves you in Christ, the sinner, the weak, the sorrowing, the downcast, and the poor in spirit.  You love too, because  God first loved you in His Son.  He does right now.  He always will.  Amen.

Some Lenten Music?

I worked with Kevin Armbrust again to put together some Lenten music. I think of it as reflections on  a few of the great hymns of Lent and offer it for any who are interested:

Praise the Precious Blood

A big thank you to Steve Blakey for the use of the image. Too often the “precious blood” is thought of as something of the past, long ago, far away. No. As near as the holy chalice. “Take and drink; this cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins.”

Today's Homily

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Psalm 99

Reading: Exodus 34:29–35
"When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

Whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him. "

Homily

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

So when he spent time in the presence of Yahweh, Moses was changed. And changed in a way that he himself didn't realize or know at first. But others noticed it about him. And it scared them. Maybe particularly those, like Aaron and Miriam who knew him best. And they were afraid to come near to him.

Fallen man senses that there's something, well, threatening a man who has spent time with Yahweh. It may be glory shining on the face like Moses. It may be a new limp like Jacob sported after the Jabbok wrestling match, up close and intimate, grabbed by Yahweh and grabbing him back. It's the odor of resurrection. It's the sense that Yahweh, good and glorious, is DEATH to things that we are not ready to have destroyed, but also compellingly that He is life and His presence, His grabbing hold of us and changing us, is what we were made for. So this glory that frightens us also at the same time, curiously draws us. It leaves one in that wondrous state called "awe." Frightened, intrigued, curious, but above all frightened. Freaked out.

And it's not just that something is "out of the ordinary," something that shakes up our world and turns upside down our sense of what is normal. It is that. But it is more. It is that haunting sense that we're looking at normal for the very time and realizing in its presence how abnormal, and dark, and dull, and twisted, and well, how hopelessly off base our usual thoughts about normal are, indeed, we ourselves are.

You see, don't you, that Moses here doesn't manifest a miraculous exception. Moses manifests what humanity was created to be, what indeed by God's grace it still may become, when it experiences the gracious presence of God: our bodies were made to be transfigured, we were meant to shine.

Jesus on the mountain top, then, gives the disciples a taste, but even bigger, of what Aaron and the Israelites had. Moses' glory wasn't permanent, as Paul does the midrash on this story in Second Corinthians. Moses' glory would fade. It was always a borrowed reality. A glory that came from being in the presence of Yahweh. Not something he had natively or that he could possess. Only always receive. You know, the way tans fade when you no longer spend time in the sun? So this glory faded. And because it was a borrowed light, kind of like the moon borrows light from the sun, it could be veiled over. Covered up. But in the Transfiguration there is no borrowing. The source of glory has come into human flesh. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among...and we have seen His glory, glory as the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" one of the eye witnesses would later write. And so even His clothes shine, His garments become light-bearing. The light isn't ON Him, but IN Him, from HIM. And in that glory Moses and Elijah appear. And the disciples freak out.

And this time the glory for Moses doesn't fade because He with unveiled face now beholds the glory of the Lord, beholds his Jesus. And this is what you were made for, and what you fell from: "all have fallen short of the glory of God." But this is precisely why Jesus has come to you. Come into your flesh to make YOUR flesh shine. And to do so He is headed to the Tree where instead of being wrapped in garments of glory he will bear the naked shame of the human race. Naked, not clothed in glory as humans were meant to be. Naked because He will own all our alien normality that is really foreign to the creatures He made us to be. He will own it all. All our inexplicable "no's" to divine love, all our fleeing and running away from glory and our embrace of shame and sorrow, cruelty and death. He will own it all. He will get into another wrestling match. This time with sin and death and He will hug them tight. So tight He'll squeeze the life out of them. All to effect the sweet swap, to hug YOU so tight that He can now give you the glory that Moses had but a taste of in his life, the glory that Aaron and the Israelites found so compelling and so terrifying, and the glory that Peter, James, and John saw that night on that mountain.

We wrap the newly baptized up in garments of white and cover coffins in white to hint at and suggest it: you've been embraced by Christ and now you are his and your destiny, son of Adam, daughter of Eve, is to shine with the glory of being a child of God! It's weird, scary, spooky, and all that. Yes. But it's where you're headed.

So grab it. Look at it. This stuff. This skin. Kin now to the Son of God, baptized into Him, fed with His immortal body and blood, it will shine! When He returns and you see Him as He is this will shine.  And sometimes even now, a hint of the light sneaks through and people sense it, they smell the odor of resurrection on you, intuit a glory hidden underneath the very present sin and struggles of your life that both draws and repels them. It's the mark that you've been in the presence of God and sometimes, you know, it just shows.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Hymn: "Jesus On The Mountain Peak" #415

RP 1 p. 282

Remember, kind Father, in Your infinite mercy all Your children who call out to You in time of need, especially Allen, Jan, Roger, Paula; Jonathan and his doctors and care givers; Joel and Krista; Randy and all who mourn the passing of his mother; Donna as she mourns the passing of her brother. Grant them a share in Your peace and the hope of Your promises. Remember also Vicar Paul Flo, serving in the Dominican Republic, and bless his time of service and learning in Your name. We ask these things through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Old Lutheran Quote of the Day

And the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David. I believe that the meaning of this passage is very simple, for in Christ's kingdom the merit of the faithful will no longer be looked at, but only the mercy, grace, and goodness of God, because of which Christ's kingdom is also called the kingdom of grace. In sum, the meaning is: All things work together for good for those who believe, because they are the children of grace. All things are forgiven them. They can't go wrong. Even if they have been foolish and weak at times, divine goodness shuts its eyes to that.—Luther on Zechariah 12, AE 20:137

Patristic Quote of the Day

For, when any one is brought to the font of baptism, not by the sweetness of preaching, but by compulsion, he returns to his former superstition, and dies the worse from having been born again. Let, therefore, your Fraternity stir up such men by frequent preaching, to the end that through the sweetness of their teacher they may desire the more to change their old life.—St. Gregory the Great, Book I, Letter 47