Transitions
Aldersgate
I. Transitions
a. Definition
i. the act of moving from one phase of life to the next
ii. in a musical context, a transition is a passing modulation or abrupt change of key
iii. in a grammatical sense, it’s a sentence or paragraph that leads from one subject matter to another
b. all of these definitions help us understand the significance of this day
c. Many kinds of life transitions
i. Birth
ii. starting school at age five
iii. graduating from high school
iv. going off to college – graduating?
v. Getting married
vi. Moving from one job to another
vii. Retiring
d. all represent physical movement, but underneath physical is symbolic movement of the spirit
1. good gift for high school grads
2. deeper meaning than the one on surface
a. You won’t lag behind, …
b. … to make up [her] mind.
ii. Inner life of faith is all about helping you make up your mind
iii. Fred Buechner’s understanding of the mystery of the trinity helps us understand this inner life
1. Linking
a. God, the Father to mystery beyond us
b. Son to mystery among us
c. Holy Spirit to mystery within each one
2. Asserts that all three are the same mystery re-enforcing much maligned doctrine of Trinity
iv. If you look into a mirror
1. See interior life known only to you, the one you and God know as yourself
2. see visible face
a. in some ways reflects that inner life
b. also likened to reality of Jesus Christ
3. third, see an invisible power enable one to communicate about inner life
a. in ways that others do not just now about it
b. but know in sense of it becoming part of who they are
v. many years ago, participated in my first clowning workshop
1. a
retreat apart with a variety of opportunities at
2. three or four of us signed up to learn about Christian clowning
3. put on clown face
a. as I spread the white grease over my face, wiped away the person that the world saw in me
b. after I put on my clown face, which I came to call Muffin, I became the person that I knew god wanted me to be
c. when I walked out among the others gathered for this day apart, they saw in me a new person and I was free to be the me that God intended
i. for some instantaneous
ii. for others, especially those raised in the church, over time
1. becomes evident when we take the time to think back over the years
2. your own spiritual birthing becomes more clear as you reflect on your own story
iii. Going to be asked “Where are you from?”
1. You
can answer
2. but in a way you’re also from God
3. God is your origin, the source of your being
b. This Spirit (pneuma) that Jesus teaches about is a mode of living that is aware of the mercy of the mysterious, divine power we name God
i. The opposite, living in the flesh, is not authentic existence although we pretend that it is
ii. Living in the Spirit is authentic recognizing that God is the one who made you
1. when you realize this your life becomes full of meaning
2. Jesus talks about being born from above
a. Born of God
i. Not some new age spirituality
ii. Born form
1. God of love
2. peace
3. justice
c. when we believe that we are born of the spirit, we become people of peace, love, and justice
i. want to share one experience of many from Annual Conference
1. long
time friend, fellow seminarian and colleague, Laurel Brown, showed great
courage as we were debating a resolution on the war in
2. we were discussing whether or not this war had diminished our value for human life
3.
a. She said, “O Goody!”
b. Then, in her next breath, she was shocked to realize that she had taken delight in the death of another human being
d. When we profess that God is love
i. we acknowledge that God loves all people
ii. God has come into our lives to redeem us from sin
1. sin is sin
2. there is no way of weighing mine against yours
a. perhaps Zakowi’s death will make a difference for the good, perhaps it will not, only time will tell
b. and I know that God does not take delight in his death nor in the death of any others of his children
a. Bultman puts it this way: “the descent and exaltation of the Son of Man are the miracle by which rebirth can happen.”
b. Jesus seeks to lead us to a new understanding of self
i. a move from me in control of my own life
ii. to me as a child of God
1. one among many children of God
2. and God loves each and every one of us
3. when we recognize ourselves as children of God, we cannot take delight in the death of another human being
iii. How can we shut the door on the possibility of God’s love for another human being?
iv. “Unbelief, by shutting the door on God’s love, turns [this] love into judgement. For this is the meaning of judgement, that [one] shuts [oneself] off from God’s love.”
1. In Hebrew Scripture, the Old Testament, we read more often about this God of judgment,
2. a rabbi whom I have studied with taught me that in Hebrew there are even different names for the god of judgment and the god of love
3. and even when we read of this god of judgment, it is clear that it is God who judges, not humanity
v. in the New Testament Jesus Christ reveals more fully the God of love
vi. may no one of us shut the door on God’s love
ii. Always know that you have not gone too far
1. You have not go so far as to outdistance God’s love for you
2. Psalmist writes even if we go down to Sheol, we cannot escape the love of God
iii. On and on you will hike…