Sermons from St. David's

The March to Joy

Episode Summary

Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 2/11/2024

Episode Transcription

Centering Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God,
May your will be done, through me.

Good morning everyone - and we begin with a little home tour!

That's right - a tour of some homes I think you'll find very interesting!

We're going to a unique apartment building in suburban Tokyo that's aimed at keeping you healthy and vibrant - alive and around for as long as possible!

Steve, can you put up a few photographs on the screen for us of the reversible destiny lofts!

-----(SHOW PHOTOS OF COLORFUL APARTMENT)-----
[go to www.stdavidssf.org/media and watch the sermon for the photos]

This apartment building was designed by a couple, a poet and an artist -

So, no surprise that the first thing you notice when you see these apartments - are the colors!

They're all painted in happy, bright, primary colors!

It was the American Indians who said that we don't have just five senses, but an infinite array of senses, all needing stimulation in order to thrive - and this place will do it!

Then, as you enter an apartment, you notice that there are not many flat surfaces - most of them are at off-angles, on a slope, perhaps covered with speed bumps, and the only way you can really get around is to grab hold of some of the many poles that have been strategically placed around the apartment for stability.

And each room is shaped differently –

The bathroom is a cylinder on its side, meaning you have to hold onto the sink in order to brush your teeth - or you'll slide into the middle of the floor.

There's a sphere of a den.

And all kinds of undulation going on, on many of the floors.

Again, this is to stimulate the senses –

The design of these apartments is based on the concept that our senses tend to atrophy as we age.

We become more sedentary as we get older, in part, because we're surrounded by flat surfaces, predictable angles, squares and rectangles, even banal colors of gray or white or beige.

And if we live in a place as stimulating as this we'll always be on our toes.

So the task of these funky lofts is to awaken, enliven, elongate - even inspire joy and life!

A woman I know of toured this place - and her evaluation - which is not far from mine - would be that it's a bit much to live in...

And one thing that surprised her was that when she finished the tour, and went outside,

- she thought the normal world would seem boring and bland.

But what she found was that after being in those apartments - and having her senses stimulated in this way –

It actually made her hyper-aware of her environment!

That the colors in nature popped –

Objects that had gone unnoticed, now begged for attention -

And that this exposure to such a stimulating place - made her more alive, and more aware of what was happening in her everyday world.

I wonder if that Transfiguration experience, we just read about in the Gospel -

- of James and John and Peter climbing that mountain

- seeing Jesus turn bleach-white

- and two, dead Old Testament figures, Moses and Elijah, appearing alive

- all amidst a mysterious cloud

- complete with a voice from heaven -

Wasn't a similarly stimulating environment!?

That would make those disciples more alive, more aware, of what was happening with Jesus - as they descended that mountaintop - and re-entered their everyday world?

How much more hyper-aware would they have been -

Of who Jesus was -

What he was up to -

And what THAT would mean for them.

I wonder if the goal of today, Transfiguration Sunday, is to make you and me a bit more aware-

Of who Jesus is -

What he is up to -

And what THAT means for you and me?

For James, John, and Peter:

The Transfiguration did three things:

It made them more convinced,

More committed,

And eventually, more comfortable

with who they were and where they were going.

How will today help you and me become:

More convinced - of the reality of God and Christ in our lives -

More committed - to doing the work God is calling us to do -

And, more comfortable with who we are - and where we're going?

----------------------

There was once a princess in a palace who came down to dinner and told her mother, the Queen, that she had found a husband!

"Wonderful!" Her mother exclaimed!

"Who is it?"

"It's Arnold, the butler!"

"O my!" said the Queen.

"But you've had courtiers from all the neighboring kingdoms come to see you.

"They've taken you out in solid gold carriages!

"They've brought you gifts of diamonds and furs!

"They've longed to marry into our family, which is the richest around!"

"That's the problem," said the Princess.

"I have not gotten the impression from any of those so-called courtiers that they might be the least bit worthy of my care and my trust."

"You have to give them a chance, my dear," said the Queen.

"Oh, I have given Arnold many chances," she retorted.

"I must say, that on more than one occasion,

"I have hidden behind the drapes and seen Arnold in my bedroom, doing his job, tidying up,

"And I have seen the great care and respect he has for me by the way he treats my things.

"I have seen him put away my jewelry,

"Arrange my purses,

"And store my furs.

"And he has never so much as stopped to observe, much less tried to take, any of the invaluable things that are so dear to me,

"He has shown me in private, what kind of man he really is."

And with no further objection, the Queen agreed to the marriage, which went on to last a lifetime, around which the kingdom thrived.

The princess had been seeing something no one else had - and it had convinced her of who Arnold really was.

James, John, and Peter saw something no one else did - and it convinced them of who Jesus really was.

I wonder about your experience of Jesus - and the things you have seen about him in private - that have convinced you:

How He has appeared to you -

How He has answered your prayers -

How He has made himself known to you -

convincing us of who he really is...

Because when we are convinced that he is the Christ -

The one who dazzles -

The One the prophets show up for -

The One whom God has spoken to - and spoken through - we become committed to him.

For a lifetime.

Bringing peace, abundance, stability, and prosperity to our work in God's kingdom.

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I was talking with a couple recently - counseling them on their upcoming marriage.

They had known each other since grade school.

Dated in college.

Then worked in the same big city before moving in together as they pursued their careers.

I asked them at what point they had known that they were going to get married.

The groom spoke up and offered this:

He said that when they were dating in college, one day they were walking across campus when it had started to rain.

They ducked into a pharmacy, but the rain would not let up.

They decided to buy umbrellas.

But instead of buying two, explained the groom- the bride said no, and she bought a big, golf umbrella - that both of them could share.

He said that's when he knew she was committed to both of them, together, forever, to take on the world!

Many of us have been dating Jesus for a while, happy with the level of commitment, in no hurry to move things up to the next level.

The transfiguration challenges you and me to grab hold of the ways Jesus has made himself known in our lives, and then, commit more fully to him.

What does that look like in your life?

Is it scary, because it might mean rearranging our commitments, priorities, and loyalties?

Will it send us out into the world to do things that are inconvenient, uncomfortable, dangerous, or unpopular?

How is Christ's appearance in our lives inviting us to a deeper commitment to his work in mission?

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Now let's talk about joy.

One of the reasons you and I don't always feel comfortable expressing joy is because it's often looked upon by our greater society as frivolous, juvenile, and not in keeping with the serious nature of our lives or our faith.

There are many reasons for this, that come from commerce, philosophy, and religion.

To mentioned just one of them, the writer Goethe, in the early 1800s was once commenting on the new discoveries of different civilizations by the empire-building Europeans...

And he noted that these native people, who were being conquered, often had raucous celebrations, dressed in bright colored clothing, lived in lively, painted houses, and went about life in outwardly joyful ways -

This is who this European writer described as savages, uneducated, and primitive, in comparison with the educated, powerful, Europeans-

-who, then, as a result of these observations, dictated a persona of drab, monotone, seriousness, to distance themselves from those being conquered, and thus establish as the more acceptable defaults for respectable citizenship.

And so we see, yet another biblical gift of the spirit, joy, as somewhat challenging for you and me to regularly practice in our world.

This Wednesday, Ash Wednesday, many of us will be back in church, or at least in the driveway, to get a thumb print of ashes crossed upon our foreheads.

This will start the holy season of Lent, in which, this year, our theme at St. David's is happiness!

We are doing this, not only because our world is in desperate need of joy and hope, but because this too-neglected gift of the spirit deserves this kind of attention.

Science tells us that experiencing moments of joy helps reset our body's stress responses, thus they make us more resilient, they reset our cortisol and bring down our blood pressure.

Experiencing regular moments of joy make us more productive, some studies say we're 12% more productive when we are in a state of joy.

Joy deepens our relationships, when we are in a state of joy we are more trusting, we listen better, and we solidify our commitments.

So making ourselves more comfortable with joy, being joyful, in how we talk, dress, move about in the world, finding joy in the everyday, and living, more frequently, in a state of joy, is good for us, and it's good for the world.

We know that our emotions dictate our environment! Where we and others live!

And making ourselves more joyful has that kind of impact on the world.

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Not long before I began my running career, in high school, and track and cross country, there had been a revolution in the philosophy of running.

Prior to the middle of the last century, runners were taught to grit their teeth, suck it up, and power through their race with as much strength as they could muster.

But not too long before I started running, a famous running coach at San Diego State, who had just come back from the war, and his role of teaching fighter pilots how to stay calm under pressure, began applying some novel principles to his track team, with great success.

His philosophy was that runners should seek, not to be stressed and strain, but to be as calm and comfortable with their stride and their race as possible. And out of this state of comfort, and what we may call today, flow, would come their best performance.

Even today, when we observe runners at their best, we can see this sense of comfort and ease in the way they go about their record-setting performances.

In the Transfiguration, you and I see the disciples, out of their conviction and their commitments, getting comfortable with their roles as disciples, the road it will take them on, and the energy it will provide for them to do the work God is calling them to do.

I wonder how you and I are being asked to be comfortable and secure, and even joyful, in the promises of Jesus, in his ever presence with us, in his conviction that there is much to do, and we are playing a vital role in helping?