LAKE JAMES
NORTH CAROLINA
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LAKE JAMES NORTH CAROLINA
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Last Sunday After the Epiphany + 2/18/07 + St. Paul’s Church
+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Strange things can happen when you lose your place in a book! I was browsing through a collection of meditations relating to the various seasons of the year with the intention of reading in the “late winter-time” section, but a phone call distracted me, I lost my place in the book, and unexpectedly happened on a little gem intended for the summertime! As I read it, I found it so fascinating that, regardless of this being February, I’d like to share it with you this morning. It’s entitled “Letter from Camp” and this is what it says: “Dear Sister: I am having a good time at Summer Camp. I do miss you very much. I promise not to fight with you any more when I come home. But you must promise not to be such a pain in the neck! Love, your big brother Phil” It was fun imagining that boy, away at camp long enough to miss the younger sister with whom he obviously often had battles. I could picture the earnestness with which he would have written his letter, and I wondered what had influenced him to write it. Had he been to a church service and heard a sermon on “forgiveness”? (maybe only a priest would think of that as a possibility) or had he been on the receiving end of a camp counselor’s pep talk on “Loving One’s Brothers And Sisters” (a topic written all in capital letters as in Winnie the Pooh). I don’t know the answer – it isn’t included in my book, but it was fun to speculate on what might have caused the letter to be written. I suspect that someone, or something had influenced Phil to the point where he actually sat down and wrote to his sister. On the other hand, based on many years not only as a priest and a psychologist, but as a father, I also had the hunch that, once Phil had come back home and the novelty of being back had worn off, the old battles might well resume. It would be nice to believe that big brother Phil never returned to fighting with his younger sister, and that she, to use his words, was never again a “pain in the neck,” but I think the odds are strongly against that. Each year, on this Last Sunday after the Epiphany, the Gospel has a dual function. It is intended to complete the Advent-Christmas-Epiphany themes, but also to prepare us for the profound change in mood and focus which comes with the season of Lent. The way the Church does that is by providing us with an account of the Transfiguration of Christ, that mysterious and wondrous event described in the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, and Luke. All three versions agree that Jesus chose Peter, James, and John to go with him to the mountain top and that, while there, they saw him in conversation with Moses and Elijah, figures representing the Law and the Prophets. Each year on this Sunday, we hear Peter’s impulsive exclamation which might be translated “Wow! This is great! Let’s build shelters for you, Jesus, and also for Moses and Elijah!” (In other words, “let’s stay here! Let’s remain in this exciting, wonderful moment instead of having to return to the reality we’ll find if we go back down the mountain to ordinary, daily life.”) Often, otherwise devout people are apt to have difficulty with Lent because their expectations for and understanding of that season are off the mark. The Church does not give us the 40 days of Lent so that we can somehow escape our real selves, withdrawing, as it were, to spiritual mountaintops while the dirty dishes remain unwashed in the sink. Lent is not a time when somehow we are to be magically transformed into “Big Brother Phils” who will never again fight with younger sisters. No, Lent is intended to be a time of growth: growth in faith, growth in hope, and growth in love for God and therefore, love for God’s creation and God’s creatures. It is the real you, the real me, who must grow, not a sanitized or idealized stranger, which, I think, is what a Big Brother Phil would be who never again fought with his sister. As we think ahead to Lent (which, after all, is only 3 days off), we do well to consider the many possible ways to use that time, and the many tools the Church offers us to enable us to do that. Lent is, (or should be) a time in which we pay more conscious attention to our relationship with God as expressed in and through daily prayer. It is also a time in which any casual complacency, or, dare I say it, even laziness, about regular, corporate worship should be replaced by intentional commitment and a making place for a spirit of awe as we share in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist. A time-tested way of making the Lenten season spiritually profitable is to adopt a written Lenten Rule of Life – that is, actually taking the time to consider how you will participate in the 40 days, what your needs for growth may be, and then, writing that down. A basic Lenten Rule of Life should include some intensification of the time one spends with others in worship, as well as in prayer when alone, time for the consecration of the mind and spirit through Bible study and spiritual reading, and a Lenten Rule should provide for some kind of changes in one’s ordinary pattern of eating and drinking. Giving up candy for Lent can be fine, if that would be not just a symbolic act, but a truly significant and meaningful thing for you to do. Otherwise, its value would be marginal at best. Finally, a Lenten Rule of Life should include the translation of one’s faith into action through relationships with and service to others. Each one of us, regardless of our own specific strengths or limitations, has the possibility of growing in faith, growing in love, and growing in holiness. The Church does not give us the 40 Days of Lent to be a dreary self-improvement course, nor a thinly-disguised way of losing weight, but rather, as a wonderful time in which to focus more intentionally on the status of our love affair with God. Whether that makes Lent sound like a chore that ought to be done, or a thrilling opportunity to get even closer to a loved One, may tell us a great deal about what, on a profound level, we really believe. A great 20th century theologian, Father Bernard Lonergan, once wrote “Conversion is simply falling in love – with God.” In that light, may the Lenten season which is just ahead be a time in which each of us intensifies our romance with the Transfigured Messiah as we encounter Him in the holy Sacrament of the Altar, in Holy Scripture, and in other people. The connection between the Transfiguration and Lent reminds us that we can’t just write off Big Brother Phil as being hopelessly lost to endless battles with his sister, at least, not while there is a God and the twin realities of divine Grace and forgiveness. It also means we can’t write ourselves off as being hopelessly mired in our present levels of doubt or faith, of love for God or its lack, of commitment to the Christian Faith, or absence of commitment. Instead, it’s just the opposite! The Good News which Lent brings is the steadfast love of God for us and the opportunity not only to love God back, but to grow in that love. As the younger generation might put it, “That’s awesome!” And it is, isn’t it!
The Reverend Alfred T. K. Zadig, Sr.
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