\nwhen something breaks through despite it all. \u00a0I’m not sure if
\nanything is shining exactly. \u00a0Maybe I could say that some moments
\nshimmer. \u00a0When my kid snuggles in close, while my cat purrs, and my
\npartner reads, and the sky lights up with sunrise. \u00a0There it is. \u00a0A
\ntiny, shimmering moment. \u00a0When the banjo is played during the
\nContemplative Prayer service and people close their eyes to let
\nthemselves sway along. \u00a0Shimmers. \u00a0When, during Family Faith
\nFormation, a kid asks a grown up other than their own to watch them
\ngo down a slide, and trusts they’ll be affirmed. \u00a0 Shimmers. \u00a0When
\nsomeone reaches out to the church and asks, \u201cwould I, a trans
\nperson, REALLY be welcome?\u201d and I can say \u201cYes, you REALLY are
\nwelcome, just as you are,\u201d because I know it is true in this church
\nand that MATTERS. \u00a0Shimmers.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/64.media.tumblr.com\/50b112360ff1e2aeefc6c1a9cb4b6976\/d9517c5903fa453b-12\/s540x810\/0c57428e96beea4653dd6ee58c3c2739208a594c.png\")
<\/figure>\n\nI don’t want to pretend
\neverything is OK. \u00a0It isn’t. \u00a0Sometimes it feels like NOTHING is OK,
\nbut that isn’t true either. \u00a0Life is a complicated both\/and. \u00a0Things
\naren’t OK, and yet God shines through in expected moments anyway.
\nThings aren’t OK, and love is still here. \u00a0Things aren’t OK, and most
\nof the time most people are doing their best. \u00a0Things aren’t OK, and
\nyet some things ARE OK. \u00a0Both\/and. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nWhich is why I’m landing on,
\n\u201cthis moment in time isn’t shiny, but there are shimmers, and I’m
\ntrying to notice them.\u201d \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nBut, before we talk about that
\nanymore, let’s look at our stories again. \u00a0They’re interesting, and
\nthey raise a lot of questions. \u00a0The gospel story is clearly forming
\nitself as a new telling of the Exodus story, which suggests we may
\nlearn a lot by noticing the differences. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nIt has been suggested that the
\n10 commandments were groundbreaking in that they understood YHWH to
\nbe one who cared about how people treated people, and not just about
\nsacrifice or worship directed at a divine being. \u00a0Even more so than
\nmonotheism, presenting God as one who cares about a just society and
\nmoral treatment of others, did NOT reflect the religions of that
\nperiod of the Ancient Near East.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nThe story of Moses coming down
\nthe mountain with the 10 commandments in hand reflects how central
\nthis moment was to the people. \u00a0This was a story of WHO they were,
\nwhy they lived as they did, who they wanted to be, and how they
\ndecided to be that people. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nStories that matter that much
\nare often superimposed with extra meaning, to help people pay
\nattention. \u00a0Perhaps, even, they’re superimposed with extra light.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nThe story says that Moses was
\nSHINING when he came down the mountain, and it scared people. \u00a0In
\nfact, it seems he stayed shiny for quite a while, and in order to
\nkeep the people more comfortable, he wore a veil to cover the shiny.
\n(This is terribly interesting in that veils are much more commonly
\nassociated with women in that part of the world.)<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nThe shiny is definitely meant to
\ncommunicate that some of God’s holiness has rubbed off on Moses,
\nwhich clarifies that he was a sacred messenger, and the 10
\ncommandments were God’s own idea. \u00a0The shiny imbues the commandments
\nwith sacred authority. \u00a0The shiny tells the people that their God
\nREALLY cares about their treatment of each other, and creating a
\nsociety of justice and equity.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nThis story is then a part of
\nwhat Luke uses to establish Jesus’s authority, his connection with
\nthe Divine, to clarify that his message is also blessed with sacred
\nauthority. \u00a0Jesus, also up on a mountain, also connecting to God,
\nalso gets shiny. \u00a0Jesus is seen \u201cwith\u201d Moses and Elijah,
\nsometimes called \u201cthe law and the prophet,\u201d the one who shared
\nGod’s vision (the law) and the one who called people to account for
\nit (the great prophet). \u00a0In the midst of the shiny and the law and
\nthe prophet comes an EXPLICIT communication from God “This is my
\nSon, my Chosen; listen to him!”\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nOK, so clearly this is also
\nabout the authority of God’s chosen to communicate God’s vision. \u00a0It
\nalso seems to pass some of the authority onto the disciples who are
\nthe ones who have to tell others about this authority Jesus now has,
\nwhich fits the whole Gospel narrative pretty well. \u00a0I mean, the
\nGospels are presented as being by people who were with Jesus telling
\nothers why his life mattered and how it was infused with the presence
\nof God. \u00a0So establishing that the disciples were the ones who knew
\nhow important Jesus was ends up establishing both his authority and
\ntheir authority to tell the story.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nSigh. \u00a0I know. \u00a0You give me
\nbeautiful, metaphorical, literally shiny texts and I can take most of
\nthe fun out of it in no time flat. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nSo, let’s see if I can put some
\nof the fun back in! \u00a0We could wonder why people found the best way to
\ncommunicate the presence of God was in shininess. \u00a0It is sort of a
\ndelightful question. \u00a0I think it may happen because there is a little
\nbit of truth in it. \u00a0Every once in a while, it seems to me that
\nscales are lifted from my eyes and I can see a glimpse of the world
\nand its people as God sees them, and let me tell you, they really do
\nshine with divine love. \u00a0Perhaps the ubiquitous halos in Christian
\nart are actually a reflection of how holy and sacred everyone and
\neverything \u00a0is to God. \u00a0Perhaps the whole world, the whole universe,
\nare supersaturated with love that pours out of their atoms, but most
\nof the time we don’t see it, but in moments of Divine grace, we can?<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nThat may actually bring us full
\ncircle, right back to \u201cthis moment isn’t shiny, but it might still
\nshimmer.\u201d \u00a0While I believe that God is with us, love is with us,
\ngrace and mercy are with us, compassion is with us ALL THE TIME, I
\nalso know from personal experience that we are not always able to
\nfeel it. \u00a0Stress can make it harder to connect with God. \u00a0Constant
\ndemands make it harder. \u00a0Emotional turmoil makes it harder.
\nLonesomeness makes it harder (hence the yearning to be able to safely
\ngather together for worship.) \u00a0Trauma makes it harder. \u00a0Fear makes it
\nharder. \u00a0Honestly, sometimes the weather makes it harder.<\/p>\n
\n
God is with us all the time,
\nbut when things are particularly hard, we aren’t necessarily well
\ntuned into God’s presence. \u00a0I do encourage the practice of
\nintentional silence to make space to notice God’s presence \u2013 even a
\nminute can help \u2013 but that isn’t a fix-all either. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nThis week my encouragement is to
\nsee if you can notice some moments that shimmer. \u00a0Maybe only one a
\nday. \u00a0Maybe it only shimmers 1% more than the rest of the day. \u00a0But,
\nin times that feels so profoundly unshiny, I think it helps to notice
\nwhatever we can of God breaking through. \u00a0Because, God IS with us,
\nand God is helping, and when we notice, we make it easier to notice
\nthe next time. \u00a0And, I think the moments that shimmer and shine are
\nones we’re supposed to listen to. \u00a0Like Moses, or Jesus, they shine
\nto help us pay attention, to say \u201cGod is here,\u201d to remind us of
\nthe holiness and sacredness of even the mundane parts of life. \u00a0Those
\nmoments are part of how we get through these days. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nOR, to say this another way
\nentirely, a poem by Mary Oliver<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t Hesitate\n<\/p>\n
\nBY Mary Oliver<\/p>\n
\nIf you suddenly and unexpectedly
\nfeel joy,
don\u2019t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of
\nlives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise,
\nand not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still,
\nlife has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of
\nfighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all
\nthe riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but
\nvery likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway,
\nthat\u2019s often the case.
Anyway, whatever it is, don\u2019t be
\nafraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nIn the midst of hard things and
\nhard times, counter the hard by paying attention to where God is
\nstill shining through, however bright, for however long. \u00a0That’s how
\nwe build the kindom, even now. \u00a0We pay attention, and we appreciate,
\nwe don’t hesitate. \u00a0Thanks be to God. \u00a0Amen <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
February 27, 2022<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Rev. Sara E. Baron
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
Pronouns: she\/her\/hers
http:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/<\/a>
https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FUMCSchenectady<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"