[Propertalk] Fwd: Mark 9:2-9

[Peter Michaelson]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Peter Michaelson <Peter.Michaelson at ecunet.org>
> Date: February 19, 2009 12:29:12 PM EST
> To: SERMONSHOP_2009_02_25.topic at ecunet.org, Propertalk  
> <Propertalk at stsams.org>
> Subject: Mark 9:2-9
>
> Not much traffic on these channels these days, more's the pity.
>
> As Joe Parrish has noted in his forwards from the Episcopal News  
> Service, this Sunday is World Mission Sunday.  The Episcopal Church  
> has not always observed WM Sunday and I am glad we are this year.   
> FWIW there are worship bulletin inserts at http:// 
> www.episcopalchurch.org/95270_ENG_HTM.htm
> anyone can download and use.
>
> I really like Ed Marquart's stories of Bunny Hopewell and also Mr.  
> Hopewell, at http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/ 
> series_a_mountains_valleys_and_plains.htm as pointed out by Jenee  
> Woodard, on her Textweek page, always a tremendous help.  There are  
> some great mountaintop stories listed there too but the Hopewell  
> cycle of Pr. Marquart shows how the glory of God is all around us  
> and I don't want to get the images too confused.
>
> I think I want to go from the bunny/seeker story to the instances  
> when the glory of God breaks through the haze of our business and  
> the veils of our distractions.  Some of those are contained in the  
> Hopewell story - the glory of spring, the glory of a newborn, the  
> glory of worship, etc.
>
> What Pr. M seems uncharacteristically to leave out is what to do  
> about the glory of God once it lights you up.
>
> I can't seem to find it on the Diocese of RI's current web page but  
> our motto for a number of years has been "live in Christ Jesus -  
> transform the world."  It fits right in here.  Once we have become  
> part of God's transfiguration all surrounding us, our mission is to  
> draw more people into that marvelous light.  We do that with  
> healing prayer, healing medicine, judiciously applied  
> reconciliations, all our normal ministry activities.
>
> Of course it all goes for little if God's glory is not there with  
> us.  In fact the glory fades fast if the dynamic of sharing and  
> celebration is forgotten.  However if we take the mission  
> seriously, our very membership in the glory becomes another channel  
> through which it transforms others - the world.
>
> We have all probably been guilty of "spiritual tourism," doing our  
> best to go from one transfiguring experience to the next.  This is  
> to take the wrong path.  The right one is to go from glory to the  
> other creatures, and the glory goes with us.
>
> The Rev. Dr. Peter Michaelson
> St. Mark's Church, Warwick, RI
> peter.michaelson at ecunet.org.
>

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