The line from our Psalm today is from the Opening Sentences to Compline. We don’t get to say this service much unless we are closing the day’s activities say at a church retreat. Compline is the last service before the night fully takes over and we go to sleep. It is a service that takes place in that liminal, in between space between waking and sleeping and full of images of life and death and light and darkness. Prayers about Jesus as the light and life of us all, in this time when from our childhood we have had to be coaxed to bed, assured that there were no monsters in the closet, that this sleep was not forever, but we would wake again in the morning. It is the quintessential time of transition that conjures up all sorts of images of transition in our life. And at this time we call upon the Name of the Lord as our only help, secure in the knowledge that it is the Maker of heaven and earth who established the strong foundation upon which our lives depend.
Transitions are always times in which the stuff we have taken for granted are shaken, our identity can be called into question as our normal circumstances and the stuff we relied upon change. We are often found in these times searching to hang on to who we are, what we believe, as all around us things are changing and we often have to begin again to redefine ourselves and bring ourselves through the transition. We look for something solid upon which to stand, upon which to hang on to, upon which to rely.
The Israelites in the Exodus passage were in a time of transition. The famous line “Then a new king, who knew not Joseph, came to power in Egypt,” – this speaks of a time when all that was familiar passed away and they found themselves once again in a strange land without the protections and status they had enjoyed before. This time of transition led to oppression as the new folks in charge had no idea of the history of the Jewish people in Egypt, no longer valued them, enslaved them, saw them now as threats and moved to extinguish them.
This was a on a societal level, a whole people who’s status suddenly changed because their protectors had been forgotten. But I can’t help think about this on a personal level. I know that all of us go through transitions. Work is a good example of this. I know in my own position, one of my many jobs I have, we have just merged with another organization and suddenly the community I took for granted and the position I held in that community, the direction and purpose of that community of which I was a part, all of it has suddenly changed with the addition of new people, new visions, new structures. And suddenly everything is up for negotiation. Who are we? Am I still a valued member of this community? What is my role now? Will we be able to unite the disparate cultures that have come together? Will the things that I valued still be here? Will there be a place for me in this new organization? Who am I and what do I want to do? All of this up for grabs again in this moment of transition.
I know that many of us are going through the same kind of thing. A new corporation takes over a company we have been a part of for years and suddenly everything is different. A new principal comes to run a school and suddenly the programs that were valued before are all renegotiated. Others of us are in between jobs and in this uncertain economic times we struggle to hang on to a sense of our worth and purpose as the weeks and months go on without a “real job.” Some of have just retired or are considering retirement, and in this time of transition we come back to the basic questions of who am I now, and what am I going to do now? Retirement may be good news, it also comes with all the questions that any transition brings about who we are, what we have to hang on to, what are the solid foundations of ourselves that stay the same from one transition to the next. Who are we really?
Going back to the Israelites. This question of “Who are we really?” is one that oppressed and disenfranchised people ask constantly as they struggle to hang on to their humanity and dignity in the face of vilification and stereotypes and prejudice designed to keep them down, keep them enslaved. “Who are we really?” It reminds me of the preacher’s proclamation during the civil rights movement, “You are Somebody!” I just watched the movie The Help about black maids in the south in the 60’s. It was through the telling of their own story, finding their own voice that these women found themselves again, defined themselves rather than being defined by the incessant, relentless definition of who they were reinforced by the white community that attempted to keep them in their place. I think also of the youth we are coming to know in Mending Wings, the Campbell Farm and the Yakama Christian Mission. Self esteem is a major issue as the Native America community seeks to define themselves and know their own worth in the face of hundreds of years of domination by another culture. We often come to these communities as though they were “so needy” and we reinforce their subordinate position by keeping them always as folks who “need our help.” But new strategies coming from the National Episcopal Church in consultation with Native Communities are seeking to overcome centuries of oppression and deal with generational trauma by discovering new ways to heal people through story-telling, and focus on Asset Based Community Development which emphasizes strengths rather than deficits.
Paul talks about this in the epistle reading for today. He says make a sober estimate of your selves. He says you ought not think too highly of yourselves, but I would add you ought not think too lowly of yourselves as well. He says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” I want you to imagine these words being spoken to you in those times of transition, in those times when the old bosses are gone and the new King who knew not Joseph is now in power. I want you to imagine if you can what it might be like to hear these words after years of abuse, years of oppression, years of being dominated. Do not conform to what the powers of this world have been saying about you, leading you to believe, but allow yourselves to be transformed by God, by a true vision of who you are, by how God sees you. You are God’s beloved child, God’s own creation. You are a full fledged member of the Body of Christ and you have been gifted from above with just the gifts you need to contribute to the whole body in a special and unique way!
Knowing this is what Paul calls our “spiritual worship.” That word spiritual is also translated “reasonable worship.” I like that. It goes with sober estimate in the following verses. We have all sorts of things that slant our perceptions, warp our ability to see, all sorts of emotional trauma that gets in the way of us seeing ourselves for who we really are. But the central act of worship is to present ourselves before God the way God sees us. Scripture uses the phrase “living sacrifice” here, and to our ears sacrifice sometimes implies that we are continuing to participate in an abusive system. But not so in this passage. Here it is all about transformation. To be transformed by the Spirit of God, to enter into this profound mystical relationship with God in prayer and worship that allows us to see ourselves for who we really are. God’s own creation, Child of God. We are the Body of Christ and individually members of that Body. Each of us, as we come here, sometimes, alone, uncertain, not knowing our place, we discover in worship that we are one with everything, one with the Living God. This is the foundation, the Rock, as today’s Gospel says that can keep us strong and steady through all the trials and transitions of our life. But not just strength to continue to take the abuse, but like the women of the Help, courage to take great risks for the sake of transforming the world.
This is what is behind the proclamation that Peter makes in today’s Gospel. We do not get to know who we are unless we can know who Jesus Christ is. Peter’s proclamation: “You are Christ (the Messiah), the Son of the Living God.” This is not just a prophet before us, this person we worship is the Son of God, one with the Living God and that is why through him we can be made one with God as well.
This is a profound statement of trust in God at a moment of profound transition and trial. What Peter said to Jesus was as much for Jesus as for any of us. It was Peter who defined Jesus, told the truth about who he really was and it was this that gave Jesus the strength to face the cross, his own death, a moment of ultimate transition, trial, uncertainty, doubt, in which Jesus too had to hang on to who he really was. We know when he finally makes it to the Garden of Gethsemane, he sweated blood, he asked God to take this cup from him, he doubted and was tempted to turn away himself from who he really was and what his calling was. But Peter knew him, knew him for who he really was, and it was this recognition of true self, that gave him strength, this Rock of Faith that he called upon in his own time of trial.
Just as Peter said these words to Jesus, so we speak words of encouragement and hope to ourselves. We can stand on this same Rock as we come to know ourselves and call others to be who they really are beloved children of God, created in God’s image, full fledge members of the Body of Christ, One with God. It is this proclamation that gives us the strength to face our own trials, but more, it is this knowledge that gives us strength to take up our own cross for the sake of the world, to present ourselves as a living sacrifice, our spiritual worship, and to be united with Christ in his sacrifice for the whole world. We offer this Good News, this word of liberation from all the ways the world defines and oppresses us.
I pray that we can like the Psalmist say to everyone facing the nighttime of difficulties, “Our Help is in the Name of the Lord, the Maker of Heaven and Earth” and we can know ourselves to be above all else children of this Living God, Created in the Image of God, members of the Body of Christ capable of overcoming all that is set before us. AMEN.
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