Last Sunday my dear friends and colleagues Lynn Blanche, Paula Sohl, Erin Kimball and I had the pleasure of speaking to the First Presbyterian Church of Ashland about the ministry of Omega House, and about transfiguration moments and epiphanies in our lives. Here are their remarks. I hope you will find them inspiring and uplifting.
Lynn Blanche 2/3/2008
Texts: Matthew 17: 1-9, 2nd Peter 1:16-21
Mountain-top experiences. Can you recall those that are memorable? Those times when you stood “on top of the world” overlooking an incredible view free of obstacles, fog and glare? Such moments can bring clear vision beyond the immediate experience - feelings of wonder, awe, gratitude. A mountain-top SPIRITUAL experience, it seems to me, brings the same feelings, but also a sense of clarity about meaning, purpose or action that can seem transformational. For me, more than one “mountain” has been a place providing connection between the divine and the human. And it’s not just natural places high in altitude, like hiking Mt Whitney or the Grand Tetons that have brought a sense of connection or transformation.
Some of my most defining mountain-top experiences involving spiritual awareness, direction, even re-direction have been at sea-level. I was raised in a non-religious family and grew up on the beaches of Carlsbad, California. My experience with the ocean eventually provided more than the recreation of swimming and body-surfing, or employment as a lifeguard.
It was to the ocean that I turned for refuge in times of spiritual struggle or discernment, and it was there, in the face of vast and dynamic beauty that I sensed connection with God, found affirmation, and sorted out the importance of compassion and creativity. It was there, in prayer and conversation with God, that I realized warmth, comfort and inspiration.
I still do.
In the fellowship of a high school youth group I learned the value of the CHRISTIAN WAY, sought practical direction and deeper understanding, and put my faith into action.
And, I’d have to say that gazing into the faces of my newborn children was a mountain-top experience involving wonder and a surprising new understanding of love . . . not to mention a fleeting sense of terror at my new-found responsibility!
Today’s Bible passage and my life experience make several things clear to me. It’s important to claim time to develop relationship with God, to encourage the “bright cloud” of spiritual presence, or Shekina, into my life personally and also in fellowship with other seekers.
The visual description of Jesus is strongly symbolic for me. His face shines with love, with the “otherness” of being between God and humanity, and with the glory of God. His clothes shine white. Such radiance would contain the full spectrum of color which affirms for me the VALUE OF, and God’s LOVE FOR everything and everyone including rich diversity of expression.
Despite Peter’s offer to preserve the surreal vision, to put up 3 shelters, Jesus doesn’t stay. He descends from his mountain-top experience to continue his life of humble servant leadership.
For me, the way of Christ is not preservation. It’s not a violent way or a passive way. I think it’s a middle way involving active and creative restoration and renewal of deeply compassionate and ecological mutuality.
Seeking to nourish and lead a Christ-like life is daunting in our secular, materialistic and post-Modern world. Over the past few years, through my involvement at Omega House, I’ve gained insight, renewal, and loving friendships with other seekers including Rich, Erin and Paula.
Rich’s ecumenical and interfaith ministry invites spiritual growth and embodies the way of Christ through love and acceptance. It is timely and important to the community but really valuable to the SOU campus where there are students seeking spiritual sustenance but not knowing how or where to safely find it.
I encourage us here at First Presbyterian Church to support Omega House and find ways to serve university students just down the road. And, as we move into the valley of Lent, we can reflect upon how to brighten the light of Christ here, at Omega House and in our lives.
Erin Kimball
Good morning everyone.
I have to be honest, standing at the pulpit of a church is the last place I thought I would ever be.
Up until very recently – about 10 months ago to be exact – I was happily agnostic, and I doubted it was possible for me to foster a belief in the divine.
I remember thinking that in order to have convictions like that you had to be brought up with them – “brainwashed from an early age” is actually the way I so kindly phrased it.
And I was glad that I had not been.
My education in the social sciences had instilled in me a deep distrust if not outright hatred for most organized religion, as it seemed to have been the root of war and violence since history began.
Nonetheless, I felt an emptiness within myself – a longing for something beyond my rational, tangible world. So I started to explore. I tried a Unitarian Church, the Baha’i temple, an Episcopal Church, and a Unity Church. I started to read the Bible. Mostly, though, I prayed. I prayed to a God that I wasn’t sure existed for faith in Him, and felt stupid and awkward doing it. But then one morning, as lay in bed praying I had an experience. I was warmed from the inside out, like someone had lit a fire within my chest. I could barely breath, and didn’t dare move because I didn’t want to disrupt the sensation. The feeling only lasted for a couple of minutes, but during those brief moments my reality folded in on itself and then exploded outward in entirely new ways. That day the world got brighter. The leaves on the trees were greener. The sky bluer. Everything seemed radiant – illuminated from within like Jesus on that mountain top. I felt giddy. I wanted to laugh and cry and sing and yell all at the same time.
Perhaps because of this experience, while the story of Jesus transformed by God’s light remains a unique moment in the history of our faith -- transfiguration strikes me as a far more common occurrence than it may to most people. For me, transfigurations happen whenever we allow God to open our eyes to the beauty of his love and creation. I’m certain everyone here has been mesmerized by a seemingly ordinary event, like a sunrise, lightning storm or a meaningful glance shared by a friend. Such moments of awe are also stories of transfiguration. And as with the gospel reading from today, God has worked two miracles in one moment – the first is revealing the divinity contained with some simple, worldly thing. The second is allowing us to truly see this spark of the divine within our surroundings, granting us a moment to simply revel in his love.
Of course, like Peter, we often don’t know exactly what to do with ourselves when we have such experiences. Though I was suddenly passionate about God, I had no idea how to build upon this foundation while becoming more loving of the world, rather than less. Sadly, my first Christians friends did not help. They tried to convince me that I would have to radically change my views on most social issues in order to follow Jesus. I needed a place where I could be allowed to study the Bible, theology, and my own heart with guidance but not incrimination. Providence led me to this church on a Sunday in June when Rich was serving as a guest Pastor. And through him I found Omega House. It has been a spiritual safe house for me – both literally and metaphorically. There I have found a community of close friends, a library, and a kitchen always stocked with cookies that has given me a true face for the love that Christ tells us to have.
Like the moments of transfiguration, I think these safe places are also easily found if we look for them. For many of you, I would bet that this Church is your place. But it could just as easily be a certain grove in Lithia Park, or your own home. Nonetheless, they are no less marvelous than the transfigurations themselves. Both are needed, I think, in order to grow in our relationship with God. I guess my hope is that as a new Christian, still overwhelmed by these experiences, I can remind you today to watch for these moments and places, because even though they may come along with relatively frequency they are miraculous when savored.
