16 Pentecost, Proper 19B
12 Sep 2021
We have embraced faith, received the Spirit’s blessing, began to hope and become a community daring to tell the truth and become agents of change and renewal. And now we are transformed.
This is the ladder to the light; the vision that Steven Charleston shares with us. It is not a “Seven Steps to Eternal Bliss” program, but rather a journey; there is always another mountain in the distance, always another path that beckons.
What does it mean to “see the light?” Literally it may mean looking for a light as a ship would look for the lighthouse. It would mean shoreline and eventually safe harbor. Maybe you come to understand something or change your view on something because of new knowledge. When you finally can see the end of what seemed like and endless project or the cleanup after the storm is finally nearing completion, you see the light.
Peter understood Jesus was the light yet did not know what that truly meant. His expectations, and that of countless Christians over the centuries, missed the meaning of divine light. We set our sights on human things. We have expected so many things of Jesus’ life and work. Some expect good fortune in this life; some expect reward after death. Others have used and abused Jesus’ message for countless purposes, often self-serving or contorted.
I believe humans tend to hang on to negative things much more easily than the positive ones. If my day is going well and someone passes by and makes a rude remark, I forget everything but the rude remark. This journey has, for me, helped me to re-frame all that happens in an entirely new and more excellent way. We climb that ladder to become the light, to become part of a tradition of all the good and wise things that our forebearers left. Charleston says we are climbing towards liberation; exactly what Jesus said. The truth will set you free; free to live in dignity and free to understand that we are part of a great and God-made creation. We are all integrated into the fabric of the universe. He calls the climb transformation and the light transcendence. Jesus is always calling us to transform ourselves and then transcend the bonds that shackle us. It is not easy, is it?
If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.
But ironically this brings great peace and joy. Jesus says we all matter to the creator; the ladder to the light teaches us the same lesson: you have everything you need. Everyone matters; every thing matters. So often I feel I am too insignificant to make any difference. What can one person do? Yet scripture tells me that I do matter; you matter. We cannot let the forces of darkness, even more than darkness the forces of emptiness, tell us that we do not matter and there is nothing we can do.
This path is one I take as a Christian, but it is a path that people of many faiths would recognize.
God, in and through the life and work of Jesus Christ, is my anchor and the anchor for all Christians.
As a diocese we are soon to enter a new phase of our existence with a new bishop; it is both exciting and not a little bit scary. I think about what Bishop Charleston might say. And I think he would talk about community and how essential is our life in community with one another.
Comments