God Happenings, OSLC, Lent 1C, March 9, 2025

A lot of Firsts: This was my first sermon on my first Sunday, the first Sunday of Lent 2025 in my First Call, Our Savior's Lutheran Church, Iola, Wisconsin.

Grace and peace to you from God who gathers us, and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

The day has finally come, Our Savior’s. As Justin put it last week: Alleluia and Amen!

But hold on. Let’s not get too settled on that AMEN! Just like all celebrations in life, this first day becomes the starting point for the next milestone. The Lenten season. This year, 2025. The ministry we will all do together at Our Savior’s and all over this community in the coming years.

I thought about the circumstances that brought each of you, and me, together in worship today. Seriously, if I were to ask each of you how you came to be here today, I’d hear stories of people who have been at Our Savior’s since their baptisms, people who joined when they moved here and raised families around here, and people who joined Our Savior’s when they retired to this quiet, picturesque area of Central Wisconsin. And hundreds of other variations on those themes. But one little twist, one thing that happened or didn’t happen, and each of us would have had a different landing place.

As one of my mentors often says, “I’m so glad each one of you is here. Worship would be very different if any one of you had chosen not to be here today.”

Let me give you one “for instance.” One little twist that changed everything.

I didn’t even expect to land in the East Central Synod of Wisconsin. I had selected another synod – another area of the state – as my first choice for First Call Assignment years ago. And if Synod Leadership had followed the First Call process to the letter, that’s the Synod to which I would have been assigned.

But it so happened that THAT synod’s Bishop and Bishop Anne Edison Albright of our East Central Synod chose to work together to assure that pastors found a really good fit without waiting too long. Honestly, it’s not how the process is supposed to work. But as it turned out, the best fit for me was here. Had those two bishops not elected to work together, you would still be waiting for a pastor. I might still be waiting for a call. I may have ended up elsewhere. Call it coincidence. Call it a happy accident. I prefer to call it the Spirit’s leading.

Speaking of the Spirit’s leading, today’s lessons are filled with situations that represent the Spirit calling and moving and accompanying God’s people. The Old Testament lesson recounts the journey of God’s people: first Abraham being led by God, then the Israelites being led out of bondage in Egypt, and finally, the Israelites preparing to enter the Promised Land after a couple of generations.

And each of these represent so many choices and guidings that could have gone so differently. What if Abraham hadn’t left his land and his kin, or if Abraham and Sarah did not trust that God would give them a son in their advanced age? What if Moses didn’t listen to God in that burning bush? What if Pharoah had not let the Israelite people go?

In the text from Romans: What if Paul had not turned from persecuting Christians to become one of the great Evangelists of the Church? What if the people in Rome weren’t open to listening to the message of Jesus Christ?

There’s these amazing God-happenings in every one of these stories – and in our stories too. Signs and wonders as the First Lesson puts it. Journeys that are more than happenstance, more than sheer coincidence. Spirit-inspired actions that gather people at specific times and places to continue writing God’s story together.

Today’s gospel sounds very familiar to many of us. We read some version of Jesus’ testing or temptation in the wilderness every year on the first Sunday of Lent. And we know it is an encounter between Jesus and the evil one. But don’t forget – it’s not Jesus or the Tempter who initiates this encounter.

In the beginning of our Gospel today, directly after Jesus was baptized, the fourth chapter of Luke begins: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, 2 where for forty days he was tested by the devil.” Don’t miss two details here: The Spirit knew Jesus needed this testing to prepare him for his ministry. And second, the temptations we read about today were at the END of 40 days worth of testing.

The Spirit not only prepared Jesus with the challenges he needed to develop his ministry, but the Spirit accompanied him through them. All of them. Through all his days of testing.

In a similar way:

• Over the past eight years, there were many trials, many moments that tested my faith. Yet the Spirit, and people the Spirit sent my way, were there to accompany me through them.
• Over the past three and a half years of searching for a pastor, there were many trials, many moments that tested your faith. And the Spirit accompanied you through this time.
• Over the past 120 years, who knows how many times God’s people at Our Savior’s must have been tempted and tested as life together and ministry in this community was challenging, but the Spirit accompanied them and led them through it.

And together, in the coming years, there will be moments of testing for us together. And I trust that the Spirit is accompanying us, and will give us all what we need to continue on this journey.

The final tests that Luke includes in today’s Gospel are symbolic. Symbolic of the tests that face us in our personal Christian journeys, and symbolic of the tests that face us as God’s people together.

• When Jesus refused to turn stones into bread, Jesus was telling us it’s not about satisfying our own personal needs.
• When Jesus refused to bow down to evil, Jesus was saying we shouldn’t seek power and glory.
• When Jesus refused to throw himself off the temple, Jesus was making it clear that it’s not about us being in control.

Like Jesus, we need to keep our eyes focused on God and the ministry Jesus Christ is calling us forward to do together. And remember that the Spirit accompanies us on that journey every moment of every day.

Our Savior’s – Blessed be our time together. Blessed be the ministry God is calling us forth to do.

Amen.

Called to the Mountain, Transfiguration, Feb. 26, 2017

The Transfiguration of Our Lord (Year A)

Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017

"Sometimes you have to go up really high to understand how small you are."

– Felix Baumgartner, standing outside his capsule

at an altitude of 24 miles (39 km) on October 14, 2012.

Theme: Called to the Mountain

Reflection:  Moses left Joshua and went further up the mountain, where clouds covered the peak, and the churning sky looked like a devouring fire. Earlier, when the pair set out for Mount Sinai, Moses chose stand-ins who would double as successors, in case he didn’t return. No one had ever been summoned up the mountain to meet God. So Moses left Aaron and Hur in charge.

Jesus took Peter, James and John up the mountain. Perhaps they left alone at sunup, without telling the other nine where they were going. In this case, Jesus left no successors – he knew he was returning from this trip, and when he did, Jerusalem lay ahead – no turning back.

Mountaintop experiences. Most of us have had a few. Literally or figuratively, they raise us up to new peaks of joy, adventure, wisdom or relationship. They are experiences we will never repeat, but will remember for the rest of our lives. They change us. They give us the energy to go on.

Today, maybe Moses would have set out to Mount Everest, spent six days ascending from base camp with Joshua, to be called to the summit on the seventh day. Or ascended to the outer reaches of earth’s atmosphere like Felix Baumgartner, in the rarefied air between earth and space. Meeting God 24 miles above the surface, then free falling for miles before opening his parachute.

Awe-inspiring. Fear-provoking. No matter if our mountaintop experience takes us to a new state, across the ocean, or six days into the wilderness, we break the boundaries of our everyday life to go somewhere God calls us.

For an hour, a weekend, 40 days, we remove ourselves so God can speak to us, humble us, open us to glory, and transform us. All of us have moments like Peter did – “Can’t we just put up our tent and stay here forever, Lord?”

Twilight on Gunflint Lake, July 5, 2016

July 5, 2016, a friend and I camped along the shore of Gunflint Lake, watching the sapphire sky fade to orange, then bronze, as the loons broke the surface of the water. We hadn’t even set our canoe into water yet, but we knew we had crossed into a thin space, removed from our own worlds. For six days in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters, we paddled over glassy or choppy lakes, camped on points and islands, swam and fished, and often went hours without speaking.

In our final days, we hiked up to waterfalls, tasted wild berries and paddled through narrows filled with reeds and water lilies. We glided, transfixed, as a bald eagle soared overhead. Unspoken until much later, both of us considered what it would be like to stay in that remote wilderness forever.

But eventually, people climb down the mountain. Their eyes still full of spots, Peter, James and John must have turned to the peak for one last glance at glory. But it wasn’t over. Mountaintop experiences change us. Perhaps we become advocates, protecting those wilderness spaces for future generations. Peter, James and John would spread the Gospel throughout their lives. Changed in the glow of God’s glory, we set out on a new road, finding our callings.

“The story of the Transfiguration is about opening our eyes to glory, allowing that glory to alter us, and becoming willing to walk where it leads us. The story urges us to trust that what we have seen, what we have known, will go with us. It assures us that the gifts received on the mountaintop will continue to illuminate us not only on level ground but even when we walk in the valley of the shadow.”

– Jan Richardson, The Painted Prayerbook

Faith App: Pay attention! Find the lamps shining in the dark places this week, and give them support and encouragement, filling them with precious fuel. And let your light shine where God’s glory hasn’t reached yet, for situations and people who are overwhelmed by darkness.

HYMN/SONG SUGGESTIONS

How Good, Lord, To Be Here, ELW 315

Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies, ELW 553

Jesus on the Mountain Peak, ELW 317

Come, Beloved of the Maker, ELW 306

Oh, Wondrous Image, Vision Fair, ELW 316

O Splendor of God’s Glory Bright, ELW 559

Love Divine All Loves Excelling, ELW 631

Joyous Light of Heavenly Glory, ELW 561 (evening worship)

O Light Whose Splendor Thrills, ELW 563

Here Is Bread, ELW 483

Show Me Your Glory, Third Day

Everything Glorious, David Crowder Band

Beautiful One, By the Tree

How Great Is Our God, Chris Tomlin

Cry Holy, Sonicflood

LESSONS

Exodus 24:12-18 Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain.

Psalm 99 Extol the LORD our God, and worship at his holy mountain.

(OR Psalm 2 I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.)

2 Peter 1:16-21 We had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.

Matthew 17:1-9 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun.

Summary of the Lessons: They were summoned. Moses called by God, and Peter, James and John by Jesus. Called to the thin space beyond the everyday, called beyond their fears. Not brilliant, powerful humans, but people willing to be humbled, exposed to radiance, transformed and equipped to go back down the mountain and reveal the Almighty to others.

OPENING LITANY based on Psalm 99

L:  Tremble at the Sovereign’s power, all you people;

C:  Shake in awe, Creation – God is on the throne.

L:  Zion is the sacred mountain, this thin space so near

C:  Our Lord’s heaven, where people’s praises ring.

L:  Justice is the way God keeps nudging us –

C:  The kingdom of heaven arrives in fairness;

L:  God led the people, Israel, on equity’s path,

C:  Worship the One who seeks the same for us.

L:  In days’ past, Moses, Aaron and Samuel cried out,

C:  They asked for help, O Lord, and you rescued them,

L:  Answer us, we pray, when we plead for your help,

C:  Call us from on high, and hear us as we praise you.

CONFESSION

L:  Lord, how we shuffle along in life, hardly present,

C:  Even an earthquake couldn’t shake us from our routines,

L:  Waking, working, sleeping – we don’t see our lives as holy.

C:  Help us, Lord, to open our eyes to see your glory.

L:  And, Lord, how seriously we take our need for security,

C:  Building up our earthly treasures and the walls around us,

L:  Until we’re shut off from sharing or serving your people.

C:  Help us, Lord, to reach out to those in need in your world.

L:  Finally, Lord, how apt we are to brush off today’s Gospel,

C:  Jesus is transfigured – transformed and called by God,

L:  Why should we care: we are already where God wants us.

C:  Help us, Lord, to change and inspire change for others.

(Silent reflection)

L:  In our confession, we pray together,

C:  Most Merciful God … Move us, we pray, by the work of your Holy Spirit, to see your glory in the world around us, and more importantly, to recognize the people and places that need the infusion of your glory. We are not attentive. We are too complacent and stuck in our routines to hear you calling us out to transform ourselves and this world. Help us, Lord, to become the loving change you want for this world.

Hear this Good News:  God is still speaking in this place, saying Jesus is God’s Son, the Beloved – listen to him. And in the echo, we hear that we are God’s beloved children, and we need to speak so people will listen. We are the light, the love and the agents for change in this world. Your sin is removed through the grace of our Lord Jesus the Christ. Do NOT be afraid to go and spread this life-giving word.

In the name of…

Amen.

PRAYER OF THE DAY

L:  We pray together, 

C:  Glorious God … Call us out today from our wilderness spaces, into your radiant light. Change us, even when that transformation isn’t comfortable for us. Raise us up and give us a taste of your glory, humbling us and preparing us to live your love into this world, among the people you love so much.  Amen.

COMMUNION BLESSING

L:  We pray together,

C:  We give you thanks, most gracious God, for the transforming power in this bread, the covenant promises in this cup.  Send us out as people who are changed by our mountaintop experiences with God and each other, humbled by God’s glory, and equipped by this worship to serve as God’s change agents in the world. Amen. 

SENDING

L:  We’ve come to the end of Epiphany,

C:  Attentive to the light all around us,

L:  Sharing what it means to be God’s Beloved,

C:  Spreading glory wherever we are called to go.

L: Go now, as God’s change agents, to love and to serve the Lord.

C: Thanks be to God!

First Reading Exodus 24:12-18 (NRSV)

Setting the Scene: Earlier in this chapter, Israel’s leaders and elders made sacrifices and had a meal, sealing the covenant between God and the people. In today’s verses, God calls Moses alone to come up the mountain.

The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.”

Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.

Second Reading 2 Peter 1:16-21 (NRSV)

Setting the Scene: The second book of Peter was probably written by someone who knew and followed Peter, a generation removed from Jesus’ death. False teachers were trying to sway the new Christians from their belief in the divinity and return of Christ. This passage speaks to Peter, James and John and their actual experience on the mountain – God named Jesus as his beloved Son.

For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.

So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

Gospel Matthew 17:1-9 (NRSV)

Setting the Scene: Six days after Peter calls Jesus the Messiah, then is rebuked after telling Jesus not to talk about his death, comes this turning point episode in Matthew’s gospel. Often, Matthew makes Jesus out to be the new Moses, and the comparison to today’s reading from Exodus is clear.

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”