The focus will be upon the experience of participation in the Daily office of Morning Prayer, as a group of has been doing, Monday-Thursday in St. Paul’s Chapel at 8:30am. The mini retreat will include some teaching, group reflection, quiet time, and prayer. It will begin in the Conference Room on the 3^rd floor, and move to St. Paul’s Chapel for the last ½ hour. 

Coffee and light snacks will be provided. Anyone may attend, whether or not they have been attending Morning Prayer.

If you are want to attend, or need more information, or to arrange for child care, please contact Johathan Sams at at jsams@christchurchcranbrook.org.

Christ Church Cranbrook

February 19, 2012 [The Last Sunday after the Epiphany]

            I begin this sermon with a confession. Like many American men, I am in the grip of something bigger than I am.  That’s right:  I, too, am suffering from “Linsanity”, a condition defined as an obsessive interest in the play of New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin.

            As those of you following this story know, Jeremy Lin was a virtually unknown bench player until two weeks ago when he was asked to substitute while the Knicks’ star player, Carmelo Anthony was sidelined.  In the past two weeks Lin has racked up an enormous number of points and assists, and he has become a hero to every sentient basketball fan and to the Asian American community as well. 

            Of all the many interesting things about the Jeremy Lin phenomenon, perhaps the most intriguing aspect is the way he managed to elude notice for so long.  He has gone from virtual unknown to media superstar in two short weeks. 

            If there’s a key element to the “Linsanity” phenomenon, it concerns the sudden transformation in the way we see somebody.  Two weeks ago, Jeremy Lin was an earnest young third-string bench warmer.  Today he is a super-star.  Has he changed, or has our perception of him changed?  Though he may be the same guy he was two weeks ago, we all respond to him entirely differently now than we would have then.  What’s that all about?

            Our Gospel for this morning tells us a similar story.  Jesus goes up the mountain with his companions Peter, James, and John.  There “he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white.”  Two great heroes of Israelite prophetic faith, Moses and Elijah, appear with him.  A voice comes from a cloud, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” [Mark 9: 2-9] This story is known as “The Transfiguration”, and it is always read on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany.  It says something to us about the way the manifestation of God’s glory—and Epiphany is a season about God’s glory–culminates in this mountaintop transfiguration of Jesus to his friends.  It’s a story about seeing someone in a new way. 

            Prior to the Transfiguration, Jesus’s companions saw him as a particularly effective teacher and healer.  After the Transfiguration, they will be asked to see him as the Messiah.  Before the event he was just a specially qualified human being; after it he was understood to be the Son of God.  Before the event he could look forward to a long and happy life.  Afterward he was seen to be destined to go to Jerusalem and the cross.  Something changed in this moment.  Was it Jesus himself or his companions’ understanding of him?

            I have to admit that when I was younger, I had a hard time preaching about this story.  The Transfiguration seemed to me little more than a miraculous magic trick, and I had difficulty connecting it with life experience.  But, as the Jeremy Lin story demonstrates, the longer one lives the more one is able to see people revealed in new and surprising ways.  Jesus’s transfiguration on the mountaintop is emblematic not only of the way people and our understandings of them change.  It is also an epitome of the transformational nature of Christian faith.

            For almost exactly ten years now I have been an Associate of the Order of the Holy Cross, an Anglican monastic community with houses in New York, California, Canada, and South Africa.  I’ve been connected to that order since my early days as a priest in Los Angeles in the 1970s.  Over the years that connection deepened and, in 2002, I became an Associate.  To be an Associate of a religious order, you have to adopt a rule of life and prayer consistent with the values of the monastery.  As a Benedictine order, OHC values obedience, stability, and conversion of life above all Christian values.  It is to this last that the Transfiguration story speaks.  Christian life is an ongoing process, and its goal is that we become completely who we are as people made in God’s image. In the order’s “Rule for Associates”, this is how “conversion of life” is described:

As the monks seek conversion of life, so we will reflect on our own lives in regular self-examination, believing that what God wants of us, as of every human being, is growth toward the fullness of the Image in which we are made.  We will strive to be open to the changes required by and for that growth. [“Rule for Associates”, p. 8]

            Jesus knew that his life was more than about being a preacher, teacher, and healer. At some point it began to dawn on Jesus that something bigger and deeper was going on in his life than his success as a faith healer in Galilee.  At some point he realized that for him to live out the deep logic of his life meant that he would need to make his way to Jerusalem and his confrontation with the forces that would bring him to the cross.  It is only after this Transfiguration moment that Jesus can say, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” [Mark 9.31] As Mark’s Gospel presents him, Jesus has been on a transformational journey; and after the Transfiguration he can see himself as someone with a divine mission and destiny.  He couldn’t have seen or said that before.  Neither could those who gathered around him.

            I said earlier that this story used to give me difficulty, that it seemed disconnected from the stuff of life.  I don’t have that difficulty anymore.  In fact, this story now strikes me as one of the truest ones in all of the New Testament.  It’s a story about human transformation.  It’s a story about ongoing conversion of life.  It’s a story about what the Christian life really and finally means.

            Our friend Jeremy Lin, the basketball player, is also a thoughtful and reflective Christian person.  Last Friday, David Brooks wrote a column about Lin, his Christian faith, and the difficulty reconciling the competitive values of sport with the self-denying values of religious faith.  In that column, Brooks quoted what Lin himself says about this tension:

“The right way to play is not for others and not for myself, but for God. I still don’t fully understand what that means; I struggle with these things every game, every day. I’m still learning to be selfless and submit myself to God and give up my game to Him.” [David Brooks, “The Jeremy Lin Problem”, NY Times 2/17/12]

Those are the words of someone who understands his life as a process, a journey of ongoing conversion of life. Those Christians who rely so heavily on the born-again experience tend to describe conversion as a static, once for all moment.  “On such and such a date, I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal saviour. And that’s that.”  Those of us committed to ongoing transformation of life see conversion rather differently.  God reveals us to ourselves over time.  The life of faith is a life of progressive ongoing discovery, one of being continually called into new and deeper understandings of ourselves, each other, and the world.

            Jesus went up the mountain and was transfigured before his friends.  In our language, we might say that he was transformed.  His understanding of himself changed.  His understanding of God’s vision for his life changed.  He emerged with a new and deeper grasp of his life’s essence and purpose.  In the same way, we could say that the life of faith is, for each and all of us, a Transfiguration journey.  We are each and all on the way to becoming the people God made us to be, to becoming the completed selves made in the image of God.  The life of faith is transfigural and transformative.  The work that we do, the relationships we have, the things that happen to us—all of these events go into helping us grow nearer to the divine image, to become who we really are. Through all of life’s changes and chances, God is continually making and breaking and remaking us, all so that, in the words of today’s collect, “we may be changed into his likeness, from glory to glory.”

            The Jeremy Lin story is not only about a great athlete; it’s about how we all can be caught up into something bigger than we are and changed by it.  The gospel story about Jesus going up a mountain with his friends is not just a divine first-century magic trick.  Nor is it a validation of Jesus against other religious teachers.  It is instead our call to our own journey of ongoing conversion of life.  God is continually making and breaking and transforming us out there and in here. 

That is strong stuff, and it means going to church is not visiting a museum of our past, static religious experience.  Peter wanted to build three booths, to preserve the moment as a Transfiguration museum, in effect to perma-plaque it.  Going to church is not to visit the souvenirs of our past experience.  It can and should be a transformational event.  We may come here seeking comfort, but what we’re offered is Transfiguration.  

Conversion of life seems scarier than nostalgia, but we have Jesus as the example of the joys of transfigured life. On this Last Sunday after the Epiphany—when we see what God’s glory really and finally looks like– Jesus has been revealed to us as one who opened himself up to God transforming light, whose willingness to become who God made him has opened up joy and hope and blessing for all of us.  May Lent be a time that we can open ourselves as he did, and be transformed and converted, too.  Amen.

February 22 at 7:00 AM, 12:00 PM and 7:00 PM

All are welcome to attend one of our three liturgies on Ash Wednesday.  Ash Wednesday is the official start of the Lenten season.  The liturgies at 7:00 AM and 12:00 PM will be a contemplaative, said service.  The 7:00 PM liturgy will feature music and the choir.  The imposition of ashes and Holy Eucharist will be celebrated at all liturgies.

7:00 AM and 12:00 PM services will be held in St. Dunstan’s Chapel.  The 7:00 PM service will be held in the church.

To read Gary’s message on Lent, click here.

We are a community of Christian people from diverse backgrounds gathering around God’s table in communion.  We seek to be an inviting, inclusive, and welcoming community.  We extend an invitation to you to come with us and explore what God is doing in your life.  There is a place for you here at God’s table.

The Episcopal Church has always been a comprehensive tradition, honoring the liberty of the individual’s conscience and the breadth of theological affirmations.  Some of us are more Protestant, some more catholic; some liberal, some conservative.  All of us understand prayer, service, and fellowship as the activities that bind us together.

For adults we offer Sunday morning and mid-week education offerings.  For children we offer weekly Sunday School formation.  For middle and high school students we offer an acolyte program, Confirmation class, and a youth group. For Adults in their 20′s and 30s, we offer a Sunday night Lex Orandi service. And there is a wide range of service and fellowship activities for people of all ages.

We worship using the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.  Our music is varied and dynamic.  Our principal weekend liturgies are:  5:00 p.m. Saturday, 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. Sunday.  The Sunday 8:00 service is said and uses Rite I (early English).  The Saturday evening and later Sunday morning liturgies use Rite II (modern English) and employ a range of liturgical music.  Most Saturdays/Sundays the sung services use choir and organ.  On the third Saturday/Sunday of each month we are led by a contemporary music ensemble.

We are committed to being a faith community that explores the riches and depth of the Christian tradition in worship, ministry, and fellowship with each other and the world.  We invite you into our church community in hopes that the depth of love, acceptance, and forgiveness you experience here will empower you to be an agent of love, healing, and grace in the world.

Sincerely,

Gary Hall
Rector

 Photo by Edward Mullins

One of the great illusions about spirituality is the idea that there is one “right” way to pray. The truth is that, over time, the Christian community has developed prayer practices that respond to differing personal tastes and orientations.  Everybody wants to know how to pray, and each of us does it in his/her own way.  This Lent, the clergy on the Christ Church staff will lead a five-part series that will help us all explore and root ourselves in prayer practice that connect with our specific needs and desires. All sessions are open to everyone and take place in the Guild Hall.

February 26   The Daily Office       Gary Hall

March 4          How to Pray              Joyce Matthews

March 11        12-Step Spirituality  Jonathan Sams

March 18        Meditation                Gary Hall

March 25        Guided Meditation  Beth Taylor

Click on the above link to watch the February 5, 2012 performance of Jonah’s Three Mistakes.  With thanks to Tom Smith for being our videographer!

Thank you to everyone who baked, brought, or helped sell baked goods at Coffee Hour Sunday, February 12!  Through your efforts we were able to railse over $800 to help the children at Glazer Elementary School buy classroom supplies!  Good Job!

Sunday school Family FUN Day
The Spencer family and the Stice family are hosting our next Family FUN Day.  Please join us BOWLING on Sunday March 11, 3:00-5:00PM. We will bowl for an hour and then have a pizza dinner. $10 per person.  Scholarships are available, please contact Beth Taylor for scholarship information. Deadline to register is February 19 (please register with Jessica Neeper at jneeper@christchurchcranbrook.org  or  248-506-1177).

Kids’ Bible Study
Kids in grades 4th through 6th are invited to join a Bible Study group on Mondays January 30 and February 6, 13 and 27 from 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM for pizza dinner, bible study and fun! We will also complete a service project.

First Solemn Communion
All baptized Christians are welcome to receive communion at any time. We do have a class that helps give children an understanding of this sacred practice that Jesus asked us to do in his remembrance. The preparatory classes are scheduled for March 18, March 25, April 15 and April 29 from 11:30 – 12:15 in rooms 201-202. The classes are taught by our fantastic clergy. First Solemn Communion is scheduled for Sunday May 6, 2012. I recommend this class for children second grade and older. Please call or email Jessica Neeper to register your child.

$5 per person or $20 per family suggested donation.

Also!  Bring your old Palms for the Burning of the Palms at 7:00 PM.

Programming for the entire family begins at 6:00 PM with a Soup and Salad dinner in the Hospitality Center.  The clergy will present the evening’s program from 6:30 to 7:15  followed by compline of Evening Prayer.  Small Group discussions will be led by the clergy in groups of Youth, Singles and other Adults.

February 29 ~ The Story of Creation – Genesis 1:1-2:2

March 7 ~ The Flood – Genesis 7:1-5

March 14 ~ Israel’s Deliverance from the Red Sea – Exodus 14:1- -15:1

March 21 ~ The valley of the Dry Bones – Ezekiel 37:1-14

March 28 ~ Group Overview and Contemplation

Programming for Children  (Preschool to 6th Grade) will take place from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM.  Nursery care is available upon request

Lent is an important time for us.  It’s our opportunity to take stock of ourselves and get ready for the joys of the Resurrection.  Please be part of the process as we prepare together for Easter.