More than a feeling

 

Matthew 17: 1-9
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
February 19, 2023

Photo of Asbury University chapel, filled to capacity, with students in chairs and some standing against the wall on the first level and in auditorium seating in the balcony.  Dark wood trim contrasts with white walls and a rounded ceiling. The chancel is mostly open space with a grand piano on the left and a pulpit on the right. The organ pipes are center stage encased in warm brown wood paneling. Photo by Madison Pierce/Facebook.

Have you ever had a profound spiritual experience that you have difficulty explaining or putting into words? A time when you felt deeply connected to a power beyond yourself, to other people around you, to the earth and its creatures. An experience when time stood still or disappeared or brought you back in time or propelled you forward. A moment that defied reason or explanation.



A week and a half ago students at Asbury University, a Christian college in Wilmore, KY gathered for their mid-week chapel service. As of this morning, they are still there, praying, crying, singing, almost 3,000 people at one point, many of them from out of state. The gathering has spread to Asbury Theological Seminary across the street and a few other facilities in town. Observers are anywhere from skeptically to derisively to cautiously to enthusiastically calling this a spiritual revival.



Some commentators are concerned that this situation could be co-opted by big names in the Evangelical church or manipulated by Christian nationalists or others acting in bad faith. Some out-of-town attendees have traveled back to their own schools to start their own gathering. The university has purposefully refrained from publicizing the gathering out of respect for the students and what they are experiencing. It’s not a rock concert nor is it centered around a charismatic personality. It’s Gen Z doing what Gen Z does best: forming connections with each other and making it go viral.



It reminds me of the closing worship services we would have on weekend retreats when I was in high school youth group. Every year we would go on retreat in the fall, winter, and spring. The last thing we would do before we went home was a worship service with Communion. We sat in a circle, about 35-40 students, half a dozen adult advisors, and our pastor, as we prayed, sang, and passed each other the bread and the cup. We stood hand in hand to say the Lord’s Prayer, then arm in arm to sing “Kumbaya”, our pastor giving a benediction, and then he would begin the hug circle in which everyone hugged everyone else. By the end of it we would all be in tears, not wanting it to end. On one retreat I remember a few practical jokes that ensured that our departure would be delayed: a buried school bus battery, our pastor’s tiny 1970s Honda Civic placed end-to-end between two trees.



It's that powerful feeling of belonging, connectedness, affirmation, unconditional love that can overwhelm us like crashing thunder or a sudden downpour or a gust of wind. Or like an amazing, glorious cloud of light enfolding you and your friends on top of a mountain and the appearance of your beloved heroes long since gone. The story of the transfiguration of Jesus is not only one that defies explanation but also should not be scoffed at. It’s not a story to be believed or disproved but rather one in which, much like this Asbury revival, we ask “what’s going on here?”



Put yourself in the place of the disciples with Jesus. You are being asked to suspend your disbelief. You are a participant in an event the likes of which you have only heard about. All of your senses tell you that what you are experiencing cannot possibly be happening and yet there is no denying that something extraordinary is taking place. You can’t rationalize it or shield yourself with cynicism. It feels like a situation that demands action, movement, change of some kind. Instead, you have no choice but to pay attention.



Again, it’s the three A’s of the twelve step tradition: Awareness, Acceptance, and Action. Peter is certainly aware of what is going on, something earth-shattering, something that will change his life in ways he can’t yet imagine. But before he can even process what’s going on he moves to action, to somehow make this inexplicable event familiar, almost commonplace by suggesting that something like a shrine be built for something that cannot be tamed. Instead, as usual, God does not skip over acceptance but compels Peter with a voice that cannot be ignored. It’s as though God is saying, “Peter, don’t just do something, stand there. Sit. Listen. Pay attention.”



There are voices all around us, demanding our attention. Some of them spread disinformation. Some of them incite anger and hatred. Some of them use faith as a cover for bigotry. Some of them are creating harmful legislation to enshrine their hostility. Capitalism and greed are ensuring that we not only pay attention to those voices but that we also help spread their message. “Listen to this!” “Have you heard?” “Are you paying attention?”



But there are other voices, beloved voices, who need us to listen because their lives depend on it. The voices of Indigenous people who grieve the over 5,700 Indigenous women who have disappeared. The voices of trans youth and their parents. The voices of the parents of Tyre Nichols and too many others like them. The voices of gun violence survivors. The voices of Black, brown, and Asian people. The voices of those who need affordable housing, healthcare, education, food, and real accessibility and community. The voices of immigrants and refugees. The voices of rescue workers in Turkey who cry out “Allahu Akbar” when they pull a live person from the rubble. The voices of the people in East Palestine, OH.



The voices of those young people at Asbury University who are experiencing peace in a time of anxiety, connection in a time of alienation, joy in a time of uncertainty, love in a time of distrust, hope in a time of despair. In the words of someone who has been at this revival from the beginning, “It is marked by a tangible feeling of holistic peace, a restorative sense of belonging, a non-anxious presence through felt safety, repentance driven by experienced kindness, humble stewardship of power, and holiness through treasuring adoration.”



It is what we all hunger and thirst for, to know and to be fully known, unconditional love and acceptance, that which saves us, transforms us, and makes us whole. Some people say that when they come to worship they want to experience God. What is God if not unconditional love? What is so scary about unconditional love? Maybe because we’ll have to practice it? Revival begins with us, not necessarily with what we do next, but with how we spend this moment, right here, right now, listening and paying attention to what is good, holy, and true. Most of the time, it’s our own self that is the outcome of our lived experience. Most of the time, it is us who needs to be the change we wish to see in the world, that we wish to see in others. Most of the time, before we can change the world, it is us that needs changing, and so no wonder Transfiguration Sunday occurs right before the beginning of Lent.



Beloveds, where in our lives and in our life together do we need to sit, listen, and pay attention to what is happening? What are the moments of adoration, awe, and wonder that we undervalue or ignore? Even as our church life is changing in ways that may cause us to grieve, what are some new ways that God is speaking to us and through us? As we enter a season of turning away from that which does not give life and love, and turning toward that which does, how might your Lenten devotion be something that enhances not only your life but the lives of those around you?



Perhaps it is even as simple as this poem by Edwina Gateley, entitled “Let Your God Love You”.


Be silent.
Be still.
Alone.
Empty
Before your God.
Say nothing.
Ask nothing.
Be silent.
Be still.
Let your God look upon you.
That is all.
God knows.
God understands.
God loves you
With an enormous love,
And only wants
To look upon you
With that love.
Quiet.
Still.
Be.
Let your God—
Love you.


Amen.

Benediction – enfleshed.com


May the Holy shine warm on you like the sun
and guide you like the wise face of the moon.
May you witness beauty in the ordinary
and may wonder expand your capacity for love.
Go with God, Holy Mystery and Good Trouble-Maker.