Mark 9:1-8

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

For only the 3rd time this millennium, we gather for Sunday worship on the day that commemorates St. Valentine and celebrates the role of love in our lives. In light of this rarity, and given that there is a proclamation of love in today’s gospel, it seems that the stars have aligned for a “lovey-dovey” sermon.

Actually, every sermon every Sunday should be a “lovey-dovey” sermon. For many people, the experience of worship is the only time they are reminded of the fact that God loves them. Everything we do as a church–not just worship, but every service project, every class, every piece of music rehearsed, every decision the church Council makes, every meal shared, every dollar given to the church, and every dollar the church gives to the community is a reaction to the announcement that God is love (1 John 4:8), God loves you, and God loves this world.

I’ll pause here to make sure we are all on the same page about what love is. To help, I’ll share some Valentine’s Day cards from some brilliant Christian thinkers through the ages:

In order for each of us to function at our best, we require being the subject of loving attention. It is as vital to our spiritual and physical wellbeing as oxygen, water, and food. There is an abundance of research that has concluded that the extent to which children feel loved by their parents in their adolescence correlates to the child’s ability to form healthy, secure, and trusting relationships with others throughout their lives. One study concluded, “Children who felt rejected (unloved) by their parents were more anxious and insecure, as well as more hostile and aggressive toward others, when compared to children who felt loved.”*

This does not mean that anyone who grew up feeling unloved is destined to a life without love; however, it does mean that such a person will have a harder time and have to do more spiritual and psychological work to overcome their childhood deficits.

I hope that everyone worshipping with us has had the fortune of being loved, in a healthy way, for as long as you can remember. I know that not everyone has. I know that some people need to do more work to really understand that they are worthy to receive love and effective at showing love to others.

Once again, just like every other week, we invite you to experience that love; so, we repeat the announcement that God loves you. God is completely head over heels in love with you; and not because of anything you have or haven’t done. God decided to love you before the earth began. God loves you even when you do not feel loved by others. God loves you even when you feel like you can’t love yourself or others.

We all need to hear that; we all need to be reminded of that. I do. You do. Even Jesus and his followers needed to be reminded of that.

Recall the gospel story for today. Jesus ascends the mountain with three of his disciples and there they experience the presence of Moses and Elijah. In the midst of their conversation, Jesus begins to shine like the sun. The voice of God chimes in, proclaiming, “This is my Son, the Beloved! Listen to him.” It’s an announcement reminiscent of Jesus’ baptism when he rose out of the Jordan River and heard the voice of God announcing that he was loved.

Jesus was God’s beloved; therefore, we should listen to Jesus. And what does Jesus have to say to us?

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength….You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Mark 12:30-40)

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mark 5:44)

“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.” (John 15:9-10)

Jesus is God’s beloved. Listen to him!

Take the time today to remember and thank those who have loved you. Even if they have passed from this life to the next, speak to them, visualize their smiling face, honor their memory and their love for you. I encourage you to make a list of people who have loved you well; not as a self-indulgent exercise but simply as a way to fill yourself with gratitude. Seriously, make a list. Like, right now...you’re at home after all; there’s got to be a piece of paper and a pen somewhere nearby.

Regardless of whether your life has not been filled with love or not, know that you are invited to experience God’s unconditional love in the pages of scripture and in prayer. Find your Bible, open its pages, and let yourself be immersed in God’s story of love and redemption. Once you find something that speaks to your soul, sit in silence with nothing but that scripture and find yourself transported into God’s safe and loving embrace.

I’ll finish by inviting you to do one more thing. Come up with a subtle cue or some way of reminding yourself throughout the week that you are loved. You could bookmark a verse about God’s love in your Bible and re-read it at least daily. You could draw a heart on a sticky note and stick it to your bathroom mirror. You could change the background image on your phone or computer to something that reminds you of God’s love. You could commit to listening to sappy love songs all week long. Just keep it simple and make it fun. Valentines’ Day or not, we all need to be reminded that God loves us so that we can share that love with the world.

Amen.

* https://medium.com/@williamfwalkerjr/how-to-destroy-a-child-make-them-feel-rejected-and-unloved-95b89fcdff1c

Matthew 24:36-44

“But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

Throughout Advent we prepare for the Christmas good news that God has been born among us in flesh and blood in order to show us the way. Today’s reading from the Gospel of Matthew emphasizes the need to “be ready” and to “keep awake” as we wait for the Kingdom of God to arrive in its fullness.

The Kingdom of God has been revealed, in part, through Jesus’ ministry and will one day be revealed to us in its entirety. This is not some ethereal thought-experiment; rather, the eventual coming of the Kingdom of God in its entirety is the core hope of Christianity. Christ-followers place our hope in the promise that existence is not just headed somewhere, but headed somewhere good. And given that existence is headed somewhere good, it is our calling to live in a state of awareness and expectancy that God is at work here and now.

Living in a state of awareness and expectancy is a perfect way to think about prayer, which is our next topic in the Marks of Discipleship sermon series. The idea that prayer would get its own 10-minute sermon and be sufficiently explained or grasped is, of course, preposterous. Entire books can and have been written on the subject, typically only after the authors have lived a lifetime of direct and formative experience with prayer. I can only hope in my time today to paint a big picture of the power and necessity of prayer.

If you need a brief summary of prayer, I recommend this one to you:

Prayer is “a way of co-laboring with God to accomplish good things and advance God’s Kingdom purposes.” *

Understanding prayer in this light leads me to three conclusions: 1) God is at work in the world; 2) we can bring our thoughts and actions in line with God’s; 3) prayer changes us and the world.

God is at work in the world.

Scripture tells us God is a loving relationship of three persons -- the Father, Son, and Spirit. The Trinitarian relationship of love extended to the creation and sustaining of the universe. You and I, along with all who came before and all who will come after, are expressions of God’s love. Love is the beginning of all things, the root of all things, and the destination of all things. God is at work in the world, or in other terms: the source of all love is constantly expressing love among all that is loved.

Prayer, therefore is an exercise of love.

I recently read a book on the subject of prayer and suddenly realized how far I was from truly believing that God is at work in the world. The author writes, “[W]hen [Jesus] prayed for others he never concluded by saying ‘If thy will be done’....there was evidently no room for indecisive, tentative, half-hoping, ‘If thy will be done” prayers.” **

I realized that I have been a “if thy will be done” pray-er. I have sat next to make hospital beds, held the hand of someone who was suffering, and offered prayers for healing punctuated by the phrase “if thy will be done.” I suddenly realized how that must feel for someone in pain or fear to have a pastor utter a prayer in which he hedges his bets. Prayer in that way revealed my core conviction that God, though present in the world, generally defaults to a hands-off approach to it. This does not count as good news and I have since endeavored, through scripture and prayer, to come to a more accurate understanding of God’s ongoing presence and activity in the world.

The daily events that unfold in our lives are not pre-determined, as though we are acting out a script. Things can be changed because God is present and at work. Scripture is full of accounts of faithful people who “prayed as if their prayers could and would make an objective difference.” **

We can bring our thoughts and actions in line with God’s.

God is actively loving the world right now. Prayer makes it possible for us to actively love ourselves and others. As Juliana of Norwich states, “The whole reason why we pray is to be united into the vision and contemplation of him to whom we pray.”

God’s love gets distorted, abused, neglected, and tossed aside. The presence of suffering or evil in our world does not negate the truth that we were created by love, to love, and destined for love. Martin Luther calls for Christ-followers to daily remember our baptism -- the event of dying to our self and rising to the new life in Christ. Prayer is one exercise that God uses to bring us back online where we can recognize and respond to God’s unconditional love.

It is possible to be in communion with God’s will and God’s love. Just as importantly, this communion changes us and the world.

Prayer changes us and the world.

We pray so that we may be changed. In this sense, change is good news, even for those who typically chafe at the very word.

The Biblical call to repentance is a call to literally turn one’s self around and go in a different direction. We are not perfected people. Daily we need to change in order to be more in sync with the Kingdom of God. Author Anne Lamott put it best when she wrote, “God loves us exactly the way we are...and God loves us too much to let us stay like this.” God wants us to change. God wants us to change the world.

I have been deeply immersed in the spiritual teaching of Richard Foster, and he writes this in his classic work on spiritual practices:

“To pray is to change. Prayer is the central avenue God uses to transform us. If we are unwilling to change, we will abandon prayer as a noticeable characteristic of our lives. The closer we come to the heartbeat of God the more we see our need and the more we desire to be conformed to Christ….In prayer, real prayer, we begin to think God’s thoughts after him: to desire the things he desires, to love the things he loves, to will the things he wills.” **

I hope what I have presented today whets your appetite to engage in the essential spiritual practice of prayer. I hope that you would desire to partner with God to accomplish good things and advance God’s Kingdom purposes.” I realize I have not presented you with any concrete steps, tips, or techniques regarding the practice of prayer. If you would be interested in learning more about how to pray I would welcome the opportunity to talk with you.

In the meantime, know that I am praying for you. I am praying that you would be drawn continually deeper into union with the force of love that created and sustains the universe so that you may go out into the world bearing and being good news for the world.

Amen.

* Dallas Willard, The Spirit of the Disciplines (pg. 184)

** Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline (pgs. 37, 35, 33)

All You Need is Love

Marks of Discipleship: PRAY Daily