Valentines Day Sermon

When Love Is Involved
By Rev. Steven R. Mitchell
First Congregational UCC, Rock Springs, WY 2/14/2010
Exodus 34:29-35; 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2; Luke 9:28-36


“. . . a light-radiant cloud enveloped them. As they found themselves buried in the cloud, they became deeply aware of God. Then there was a voice out of the cloud: "This is my Son, the Chosen! Listen to him."Lk 9:34-35
Today is the 8th Sunday since Christmas Day. Each week since celebrating Christmas, we have been following the life of Jesus, this man from Nazareth as they relate to telling the story of not just an ordinary person, but rather the man who became known as The Messiah; the Son of God; the Christ!
Stories that explain the exceptional man that Jesus was; a man marked by God to bring news of restoration to a world that had become so lost. Stories from the beginning of Jesus’ life: where angels from Heaven were singing of his birth; of learned men from far off countries seeking him out to pay him homage as a king; of Jesus’ baptism and the word of God descending down from the clouds in the form of a dove; the announcement of his ministry at the wedding of Cana along with many other stories that specifically point to Jesus’ deity.
All of these stories have been taking place during the season of what we call, Epiphany; the time of becoming aware of whom Jesus is. Today is the last Sunday of Epiphany, next Wednesday we celebrate Ash Wed. the start of Lent; a season that calls us into reflection about our lives’ and how it relates to our relationships with Jesus and one another. Today we see the final story that reveals who Jesus is. We call today Transfiguration Day.
Once again, today’s lectionary reading starts in the middle of some very interesting events that I think we should be aware of. This chapter in Luke is concluding a rather lengthy set of stories about Jesus’ teachings with a version of the Sermon on the Mount; of Jesus’ depth of love for those outside of his race when he encounters a Roman Centurion and heals the Centurion’s servant; of how Jesus’ ministry starts to decline and begins to antagonize some, by his bold act of forgiving the sin of a woman who was so repentant that she washed his feet with her tears and used her hair to dry his feet; there is sharing through a couple of parables the understanding of the importance of faith; finally we learn how Jesus sends out his disciples into the towns to preach and heal, and of the feeding of the 5,000 who had gathering; and this segment finishes up with the great confession of Peter as to who he believed Jesus to be.
After all of these events we read in today’s scripture that Jesus takes his disciples and leaves the crowd to go up into the mountains to pray. It is there in the seclusion of mountains that Jesus takes Peter, John and James with him up further on the mountain. While they were in prayer, it seems that the three amigos fell asleep while Jesus was in prayer, very much like what will happen in the future in the Garden of Gethsemane; only to awake to hear God once again re-affirm Jesus as the Son of God, who was chosen by God and to listen to what Jesus tells them.
In the Hebrew text for today, we have Moses going up to the Mountain and speaking with God. In, fact it is at that point in the Exodus that Moses is receiving what we know to be the Ten Commandments. When Moses came off the mountain, it is said that his face was “shiny”, so much so that it scared everyone who saw him. With Jesus it says, “As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.”Lk9:29 Moses brought down the “word” from God to the people, while Peter and the boys are told by God to “listen” to what Jesus has to tell them.
One of the goals of the Gospels is to show Jesus as the Son of God. Up to this point in time, Moses was the man considered basically as the First Messiah, the man who delivered the Israelites out of bondage. For those who were relating the ministry of Jesus as the expected Messiah, the man who was to once again lead Israel out of bondage, it was very important to compare Jesus with the acts of Moses, not to discredit Moses or the Law that had become the standard by which to live by, but rather to show that Jesus was the next in line, to bring the completion of God’s work. This is the reason why we read in today’s scripture that Jesus was conversing with Moses as well as with Elijah who was representative of the Prophets; then having God once again saying Jesus was His son, the chosen one and to listen to him.
Early on as we started our study in the Gospel of Luke, I mentioned that one of the major themes throughout this book was Luke wanting to show us the importance of prayer and that Jesus’ ministry was always being fortified with prayer. Luke shows us the balance of whenever Jesus spoke to a crowd, of his go off in solitude and spending time in prayer not just a few hours but many times for days before coming back into public life.
This last week, I attended a Pastors retreat down near Gunnison, CO. It was a 3 night, 4 day event, with an Anglican Priest and a Nazarene Youth Minister as our Spiritual Guides helping us to understand the necessity of balance between the work that we as pastors do and the need of taking time for our own spiritual needs. It was a time to look at what we think is important within our work and what truly was happening within our lives. There was a focus on “balance” within our public life and our spiritual life, much like Jesus as he worked at keeping a balance with his ministry and spiritual welfare.
Everyone will agree that prayer is a primary component to anyone’s spiritual life, but as happens to most of us, the perceived needs and demands of one’s job often takes away the time needed to maintain ones spiritual health. Most of you probably don’t realize it, but many church congregants believe that their pastor should never take time away from his/her work; or that when the pastor says he/she is taking a day for prayer, it is perceived that he or she isn’t really doing anything of value. By example Jesus spent as much time taking care of his own spiritual needs as he did taking care of the needs of those around him.
I recall a discussion that I was having with my mother-in-law as I was finishing up with my seminary studies and we were discussing contracts that I would be making with my first search committee. She of course had decades of experience within the church and wished to make sure that I wasn’t going to be taken advantage of, as some congregations have done with their pastors. So I was telling her that I had just finished reading a book that talked about the time needed for a pastor away from the job. It stated that a pastor should have no less than 4 weeks away from his job as means of keeping himself refreshed for his duties. To my surprise, she was in total disagreement to that advice, stating it as one of the problems with modern expectations for ministers. I shared with her that this book had been published in 1912! The point being, our relationship with God is the most important relationship that we can have and that relationship needs to be fostered, which involves time together with God.
Today is Valentine’s Day. The one day out of the year that we set aside to purposefully express our love toward those we care about. We have many ways of showing that love, of course, through the giving of cards that express our sentiment or through the giving of candy, particularly chocolate, or through eating a nice romantic meal with the ones that we love (often a couple will dine by candlelight) and let us not forget the gift of flowers, particularly red roses. All of these are ways that we in this society have come to express our affections toward those we love. But ultimately what we are doing is responding to the relationship between us and those we love.
For me, one of the greatest joys I experience comes through the little pictures and notes that I have received from my children and now from my grandchildren. Now, for the average person, these drawings mean very little, they bring very little emotion for them, but for me when I look at them, my heart fills with pride and my eyes become misty; to me these are the most precious pieces of paper that I can receive from these grandchildren. You see the difference comes because I have a relationship to these people, they are my flesh and blood; they are my son, my daughters, my grandsons and my granddaughters.
For myself, I don’t care if these representations of art are not perfect, they do not have to color within the lines for me to appreciate the beauty of the person who was doing the coloring, for they are a part of me and I am apart of them. There is a relationship between us.
I think this is just how God looks at us. We don’t have to be perfect, we don’t have to stay within the lines, we can use any color to express ourselves, and we will still be seen and appreciated and accepted in our fullness because of the relationship with God. God is our parent, our lover, our friend. What God is wishing for is the relationship. God is looking for the same type of activities that we do with those we love: our wives, our partners, our children and grandchildren, our parents and grandparents, our siblings and our friends. God is looking for that special time we give to him; those times we pray, those times when we write our thoughts out to him, those times we sing love songs to him or recite poetry or read his words and meditate upon them, to name just a few. When we take time out of our day and spend it with God, which is the same type of relationship that Jesus was giving to God, this is when love is involved and God is our Valentine!