Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings* here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ 5While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’ 6When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Get up and do not be afraid.’ 8And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.                                                   Matthew 17:1-8

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Our Pastor Nominating Committee holds its third meeting this Thurs. They are working on the Church Information Form which will be read by ministers interested in finding new churches to serve.

By the way, ministers are advised to be very careful if any of the following characteristics of a church are listed in a Church Information Form:

• The choir wears leather robes.
• The choir is known as the OK CHORALE.
• The hymnals have a picture of the king on the front – but it’s Elvis
• The Prayer of Confession is preceded by the song Bad to the Bone.
• Collection plates are hubcaps from a ‘57 Chevy.
• The congregation has 500 members but there are only 7 last names in the church directory
• Opening day of deer season is recognized part of the liturgical calendar with ministers being required to wear camouflage clergy robes.

Speaking of the liturgical calendar…..This is Transfiguration Sunday. Jesus takes Peter, James and John up to the mountain with him. Then Moses and Elijah appear! Moses represents the Law, and Elijah, represents the Prophets. They talk with Jesus. Astounding story! Very mystical.

And then “suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!’

The divine word heard on the mount of transfiguration is a word to the Church today, “This is my Son…listen to him.” Jesus outshines the Law and the Prophets!

May God grant us the ability to “listen” to Jesus.

The life and ministry of Jesus is the lens through which we view the entire Bible. Jesus’ teachings, attitudes, and values are the interpretive grid, or filter, by which we understand all of scripture. Jesus is the best interpreter of scripture. What others have said or written is always checked against Jesus.  (Note: see Reading the Bible & the Confessions by Jack Rogers, pp.31-35

The study of the Bible is a journey of discovery….and we are on the journey together.

In our Friday morning Bible study I have asked the question, “How do we go about understanding which biblical words are “alive” today and which words or passages are not alive?

Because the biblical words do not all “live” in the same way….for example, “Slaves obey your masters” is a dead word …not a living word for us.

Dr. Brian Blount, President of Union Theological Seminary, writes:

“The African American slaves in the United States were a community that was as faithful to the powerful message of Jesus Christ in their lives as any community in history. In spite of what they endured, what they lost, how often they were brutalized or killed, their songs, their sermons, their narratives and stories are a testimony to their faith in God’s powerful presence in their lives. And even though the laws of the land – the same laws many biblical words suggested they should blindly obey – made it illegal for them to learn to read, somehow they learned the biblical stories and internalized them. God’s story became their story. But they realized that human beings interpreted that story and put God’s holy Word into their own contextually influenced human words. So when slave owners talked about the Bible saying that slaves ought to obey their masters, the slaves resisted not just the slave owners but the biblical words and biblical authors themselves. (Emphasis mine).

The grandmother of African American spiritualist Howard Thurman, once the dean of the chapel at Howard University, is a grand case in point. Thurman records what she once said to him:

My regular chore was to do all of the reading for my grandmother – she could neither read nor write…With a feeling of great temerity I asked her one day why it was that she would not let me read any of the Pauline letters. What she told me I shall never forget. ‘During the days of slavery,’ she said, ‘the master’s minister would occasionally hold services for the slaves…Always the white minister used as his text something from Paul. At least three or four times a year he used as a text: ‘Slaves be obedient to them that are your masters…as unto Christ.’ Then he would go on to show how, if we were good and happy slaves, God would bless us. I promised my Maker that if I ever learned to read and if freedom ever came, I would not read that part of the Bible.

Here is an illiterate woman who knows instinctively that a last word is too dead a word to keep living for her. (Emphasis mine).

….What we see here is perhaps more than a mere rejection of a White preacher’s interpretation of the Bible, but an exercise in internal critique of the Bible. In other words, if the biblical words on slavery were the last word on slavery, they were too dead a word to keep living for them.

This doesn’t mean that the New Testament text lost its sense of authority for the slaves. But it does mean that their perception of God in their midst was more authoritative. The text must be in line with God’s being and God’s agenda of liberation.” (Adapted from Struggling with Scripture, by Walter Brueggemann, William C. Placher & Brian K. Blount, pp.57-59.)

God’s being and God’s agenda of liberation is reflected in Jesus’ statement, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” This is a living word. A word that interprets other parts of Scripture for us. If the biblical words contradict Jesus’ ethic of love, they are not living words for us.

Another example of a dead word is found in I Corinthians 14, “Women should be silent in the churches…for they are not permitted to speak.” Sadly, for some churches and denominations, this word is still considered a valid word. They worship a dead word, rather than the living God revealed in Christ. Churches or denominations that do not ordain women, or leave the decision to ordain up to the local congregation or governing body, have missed the Spirit of the living Christ.

In closing remember,

• The life and ministry of Jesus is the lens through which we view the entire Bible.
• Jesus’ teachings, attitudes, and values are the interpretive grid, or filter, by which we understand all of scripture.
• Jesus is the best interpreter of scripture.
• What others have said or written, even in the Bible, is always checked against Jesus. 

 The divine word heard on the mount of transfiguration is a word to the Church today, “This is my Son…listen to him.”  It is a word to us.

May God grant us the ability to “listen” to Jesus.