From one generation to the next

Sermon for the Last Sunday after the Epiphany (February 11, 2024) at St. James’ Episcopal Church in Hyde Park, NY. View the scripture readings and the Collect of the Day.

Icon of the Transfiguration. Theophanes the Greek and workshop. From Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=59721

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“Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. ” from Mark 9:2-9

Edited Transcript

May only truth be spoken here and only truth be heard. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Please be seated.

Yesterday we had a really special day in the Diocese of New York. Our new bishop, Matthew Heyd, was officially installed as the 17th Bishop of New York. He was consecrated as a bishop at last May, and some of us were there at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. But the installation is when that new bishop officially receives from their predecessor the signs and symbols of the authority to take on the role as the chief priest and pastor of a diocese. And so from now on we have a new Bishop Diocesan.

My son asked, do you have a new boss? And I said, no, because my boss is Jesus. ...But on this earth, yes, I have a new boss.

There were a lot of people there, not only from across the Episcopal church, but also from many different faiths, many different expressions of Christianity—together in the Cathedral for prayer and for song. Lillian was there, Deirdre Mae was there. Some of you who are with us on Zoom, like Eric, were also there online yesterday.

It was a renewing and exciting day. You're going to continue to see the signs of that in this year ahead. Because St. James is part of a wider community of Christians called the Episcopal Diocese of New York. And God is so visible and tangible in our diocese right now!

And I think you're going to begin to see how God's Holy Spirit is working for our renewal, not only here at St. James' but across the churches and the communities of this diocese.

Now the preacher at yesterday's service asked us all a question, one that my seminary professor and advisor, Dr. James Cone, loved to ask.

Does the Church have anything to say to the world today?

That's what Dr. Cone would ask us.

Does the Church have anything to say to the world today, to a world that is hurting, to a world that is in need of healing? To this—as our presiding bishop would say—to this tired old world?

And yesterday I felt sure: Yes. The Church has so much to say. We have a Gospel of healing and renewal. There are so many days here at St. James' where I feel so sure and so excited and so hopeful because I know that we have something to say to the world today. We have something that the world today needs to hear.

It's powerful to be in an institution when it is renewing, when it has a new beginning, when you see the signs of authority being passed from one leader to the next. You see the succession, the presence of the Holy Spirit passing to the present generation. And we are the present generation. It's for us to be part of what God has to say to the world today through the Church, through the Body of Christ.

We're in this wonderful time of transition, of diocesan renewal. And here at St. James locally, we had a wonderful Vestry retreat just a week ago. We talked about how this Vestry has been called here to tend to the legacy of previous generations, and to tend to the vision that will ensure this church is here for the generations that will come after us. So there's renewal, there's connection of the past and the future of the Church both here locally and on a wider diocesan level.

And the Gospel we heard today has something to say to us in a time of renewal and transition.

Today we see Jesus on a mountaintop and his face is transfigured and the glory of God is visible.

Do you remember, on the first Sunday after the Epiphany, when Jesus is baptized? The heavens open, the Holy Spirit descends on him, and God says, This is my Beloved Son. So too today, on the last Sunday after the Epiphany, the heavens open and God says, "This is my Beloved Son. Listen to him." Jesus has something to say to the world today!

And notice that when his glory is revealed, Jesus is standing with his ancestors and with the generations who will follow him. He's standing with Moses and Elijah, and also with his apostles, with three of his closest disciples: Peter, James, and John. So he has with him both the generations that preceded him and the generations that will continue his message even to our day. Y

You've probably heard at one time or another that Moses and Elijah can be understood to represent the Law and the Prophets, that Jesus is the inheritor and fulfiller of these legacies of God's people. Moses, who appears at Jesus' side, is the one who was called by God to lead God's people, the people of Israel out of slavery into freedom. Moses is the one to whom God gave the commandments that would shape the lives of God's people for generations and generations. Through exiles and wars and oppression , the Law would hold them together as God's people. Moses is the person who led the people of Israel through the wilderness that tested them. Moses is the person who connected God's people to the promise God had made to their father Abraham.

Then we have Elijah, the first of the prophets, who are that great cloud of witnesses who were always sent by God from one generation the next to call God's people back into right relationship with God. God's people don't always want to hear it! But God is always sending prophets to pull us back to our center, to bring us back to our belonging to God.

So when Jesus stands on that mountaintop, when his glory is revealed, he is with his ancestors. He is with the people who brought God's people together and who held them accountable from one generation to the next. Jesus walks their walk and Jesus' ministry is shared with them.

And then the disciples, the apostles. Remember, Jesus says to Peter, "Upon this rock--you--I will build my church. The gates of hell shall not prevail against it." And Peter's no rock. That guy is always falling away. This is the guy who betrayed Jesus not one time, but three. Nevertheless, he is with Jesus. He sees the glory of Jesus and he is the first in a line of succession to inherit the ministry, the calling of Jesus, to bring it from one generation to the next across the millennia even to us.

So when we hear about the Transfiguration, it connects us across time and space. We too share in the vision of the glory of God. And just as Jesus charges his disciples to go forth, to proclaim the good news, to bring healing and renewal to the world, that ministry belongs to us. If Jesus is on the mountaintop with both his ancestors and the ones who inherit his ministry, we are all bound together by that moment.

Here's the invitation. I have level one and then the opportunity to go even a little deeper.

First: who are your ancestors? Who brought you here? Who taught you what you have to teach others? You may be a ministry leader at St. James': who taught you to do what you're able to do here, who showed you the way? The first invitation is to remember them. And then to say, who are the people that are my successors? And how am I teaching them to share in the ministry that I lead? What have I received as a gift from my ancestors that I can pass on?

That's level one. And for any institution to survive, we have to be able to teach each other. This is how to be an usher. This is how to be an acolyte. This is how to keep the books of the church. This is how to flip the pancakes at the Pancake Supper. We have to be able to share those ministries. Someone taught us how to flip the pancakes. We can share that with someone else.

And I think we'll find that if that is our practice—as it was Jesus' practice, to share the ministry—we will find that deeper level, which is: Who brought you here? Who gave you your faith? Who taught you about God's love? Who made it real for you? Who are the people that introduced you to the God who would save your life? And in turn, who are you introducing to the God who will save their life? Who are you sharing what you have found with? Who are you bringing into the community of belonging to God? Because Jesus' ministry was always about honoring, belonging to God's people, and bringing more people in.

And if we have come to know the God whose love saved our lives, and we have an invitation to be sharing that.

I want you to imagine yourself on that mountaintop. Who's with you and has their hands on your shoulders? Who taught you, who gave you the gift of God's love?

And who is with you, with whom are you sharing that love now, in this generation?

This is how the church has something to say to the world from one generation to the next. It's through each of us.

At the end of this passage in the Gospel of Mark, Moses and Elijah fall away. Even the disciples in their fear... Mark says, there was only Jesus. Only Jesus.

The Church lives from one generation to the next, and the Church is called to be a vehicle for the sharing of the renewal that comes from loving God. If we do our work right, at the end of our lives, everything we see is only Jesus, the love of God revealed here on earth.

Everything we have done for the Church is only Jesus. Because we are the body of Christ from one generation to the next.

We have something to say and the world is ready to hear it.

Amen.