Reflections
I “hit a wall” yesterday. I stopped. I couldn’t do it. Life was too full.
Up before dawn to lay hands on a woman before surgery, I spent the day connecting with parish leaders and colleagues and hungry drop-ins, running laundry, composing newspaper articles, medicating the dog, monitoring my sons’ grades, talking with the bishop, arranging travel for conferences next month, washing dishes, listening to a colleague in vocational transition, getting a haircut, participating in an online vestry training, and listening with the parish location committee before a final hospital call. It was too much.
I didn’t complete the lenten study flier, e-mail the vestry, make dinner, go swimming, call my mother, write Thursday Reflections, answer the survey on our parish’s successful growth, or buy presents for my nieces. I hit the proverbial wall and gave up, stopped trying. I cannot do it all.
The sun came up today anyway.
We celebrate the feast of the Transfiguration this last Sunday of Epiphany, when Jesus is transformed to a “dazzling white” before the disciples’ eyes on the mountaintop and stands between Moses and Elijah. Peter is caught off guard and wants to do something; he offers to construct three dwellings for them. A cloud overshadows them, and from the cloud, a voice: "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" That’s big juju!
Several things come to mind as I reach for a nugget to start our thinking together towards Sunday:
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Thanks be to God that the Right Rev. Dan Edwards, our diocesan bishop, will be our preacher and presider at worship! His words feed my soul. Pray for the preaching task in which congregation and preacher will engage.
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Peter was kinda task oriented there on the mountain, wanting to construct those booths. His anxious busy-ness got in the way of his seeing clearly and comprehending what was happening… What am I not seeing for my busy-ness?
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God acted anyway. The divine message was not defeated by Peter’s distraction. God’s stunning affirmation of Jesus in the symbolic context of the Law and the Prophets would not be missed. The message was effectively communicated.
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What effect does it have on my life, my silly-busy life, that my people tell this story of transfiguration, of stunning clarity about Jesus’ authority and position in the universe? What entrée will I give that reality into my consciousness today as I go to the parents’ meeting at the junior high and think about Lent and mortality and the Gospel, and share the road with other drivers? How will I let it in?
What do you believe? Talk with me.
helen
helen@mcpeak.org
To help you continue to live into those New Year’s resolutions, to help you claim the “Ta-dah!” moments of your own life, to assist your new Vestry and others in leading the parish, I offer the following questions. (Please reply via e-mail or use the half-sheet available at church.)
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