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

Mark 1:29-39

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

I have been wondering when or how or if I would ever find a way to tell you all about this thing I saw on HULU a couple of weeks ago. I call it a “thing” very deliberately, because I don’t know exactly how to describe it. It is a beautiful, compelling, experience of a “thing” – a piece of performance art, for sure. It is a series of stories told from one man’s perspective and also includes actual magic – card tricks, illusions, sleight-of-hand, kind of stuff – which is why I thought about it when I read about Jesus and this morning’s miracles and healings.

Anyway, this “thing” I’m talking about is called “In and of Itself,” and it was produced by Stephen Colbert and his wife, and created by Frank Oz – the master of The Muppets – and it was written and performed by some guy named Derek DelGaudio, who you’ve probably never heard of until now. And the thing about it all is that that’s about all I can tell you about this “thing,” this “show,” this “movie,” this “performance.” Because if I were to tell you any more I would spoil the magical, psychological, spiritual, mysterious experience of it and I don’t want to do that. So, consider this a pastoral public service announcement to give yourself 90 minutes – the whole 90 minutes – of uninterrupted time to see what I’m talking about. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. (If you are disappointed, I’ll beg your forgiveness later.)

But again, all of this – “In and of Itself” and the magic and the mystery of it all – had me thinking about Jesus and his miracles – about his curing the sick and casting out demons like he was wont to do. And it made me think about how we live as Christians in the world in relationship with and in reaction to these stories of Jesus and his mysterious, magical, miraculous ways.

Unfortunately, it seems we Christians sometimes feel like we have to pick a side and figure things out when it comes to such things. For some, whether you believe the magic of it all, or not, determines the strength or weakness of your faith. Maybe you buy it – hook, line, and sinker – the magic and the miracles of Jesus. Maybe you’re more cynical and skeptical and certain there’s a logical explanation to all of that. Maybe you’re somewhere in the middle – like me – and the strength of your faith in those miracles comes and goes, if you have to be perfectly honest.

Whatever the case, it seems clear Jesus didn’t want our faith to rest entirely on the presence of magic or in the practice of miracles. (He wouldn’t have asked people to keep his miracles and healings quiet, as he often did, if that were the case.) Of course, he didn’t want faith to be lost in the absence of that sort of mystery and miracle, either.

So, I like to think Jesus was as amazed and as surprised and maybe even a bit confused about what was happening to him and through him back in Galilee. He wasn’t a magician or a performer, after all, so I wonder if he expected that fever to leave Simon’s mother-in-law when he touched her. What if he was just trying to comfort his friend’s mother-in-law by taking her hand in his? And I wonder if he expected the demon to leave the possessed man we heard about last week when he spoke to him in the synagogue. What if he was just trying to offer a calming voice, and some comfort, to someone who was unsettled and unsettling to everyone around him?

I wonder if what everyone was calling “miracles” were just as curious and just as unexpected and just as awe-inspiring to Jesus himself, so that he was driven out to deserted places – like he was in this morning’s Gospel story. And I wonder if he was as skeptical or cynical or terrified and uncertain, perhaps, about what was happening that he just had to be alone to wonder and pray about what in the world God was doing with him.

Jesus never seems to be as consumed or as wrapped-up in or as concerned with how God was working miracles in the world like Simon and his companions, who hunted him down in this morning’s Gospel, might have been; or like “everyone” in Capernaum who was searching for Jesus that next day; or like we – so many generations later – still seem to be so consumed so much of the time. It seems to me we worry too much about WHO and HOW and not enough about WHY when it comes to Jesus and his miracles and the way these stories are told in the Bible.

See, more than miracles, more than healings, more than casting out demons, Jesus was about telling God’s story to whoever would hear it. He was about proclaiming and promising the love of God for all people. He was about sharing grace and mercy and compassion and good news. That is, after all, the message to be found in and through and because of every one of his miraculous acts of healing, I believe: the promise of forgiveness, the offering of compassion, the expression of mercy, the gift of new life.

What Jesus couldn’t wait to tell people is that we are loved and forgiven and welcomed in the face of our fevers and in spite of our fears; even though we have demons and diseases; and whether we’ve witnessed or received a miracle or not. That’s why he didn’t want to sit around Simon’s house. That’s what – I imagine – kept him up nights, what woke him early some mornings, what drove him out to pray in deserted places … and what inspired him to hit the road.

Jesus knew that his charge – that the call of every disciple and every one of his followers – was to get up and go out and to proclaim that message in synagogues, in homes, in marketplaces; at bedsides, to family and friend and neighbor and stranger…

Because for every fever that breaks – there’s one, somewhere, that doesn’t.

For every cure that comes – there’s another that will not.

For every demon that leaves or is quieted or cast out – there are legions that stick around and seem to win the day for too many.

And for my money, that’s why Jesus showed up – and why God calls us to show up – for the sake of the world, too: To care for the ones who don’t get the cure they’re after… To comfort the ones who are beset by burdens that never seem to get lifted… To be the answer to prayer for someone who would never expect such an answer to be shaped like you or me.

Which brings me back to that “thing” I told you about earlier – that show, that movie, that performance, whatever it is, called “In and of Itself,” on HULU. I don’t want to tell you too much more about it, not just because no one likes a spoiler but because it’s hard to explain and something you just have to see and experience to understand.

And the Good News of God’s love can be the same way. Which is why we’re called to speak of it, to share it, to become and to embody it – like Jesus did for our sake – so that others might know… and be blessed… and better… and loved in surprising, transforming, life-giving ways because of the grace we share.

That, in and of itself, is the stuff of miracles, if you ask me. And it’s holy work to which each of us is called in Jesus’ name for the sake of the world.

Amen

All You Need is Love

In and Of Itself