I need to give a shout out to +Bishop Matt Gunter and fellow
Episcopalian Brené Brown for providing reflections and words that have led to today’s
homily.
Recall a time when you told someone about someone you deeply love. Perhaps you were talking about your child or
grandchild, your best friend, your partner or spouse. Relive that moment as you tell someone else
about your beloved---can you remember the warmth that radiates from the joy and
delight you feel? You’re probably
grinning from ear to ear. If you were to
look in a mirror, you’d be glowing.
Now recall to mind when you knew, without a doubt, that you are
someone else’s beloved. Maybe the person
doesn’t use the word, “beloved,” to describe you, but you are 100% certain that
person loves you. It could a parent or
grandparent, a dear, dear friend, a sibling, a child, or your spouse or
partner. Warmth covers you like a
blanket; joy bubbles up within you; and again, there’s a lightness that
emanates from inside out.
Today’s Gospel is God’s moment of love proclamation. The warmth of God’s love is flowing toward
Jesus as Jesus climbs the mountain—a sign of Jesus drawing nearer to God. The love God the Father has for Jesus shines
and makes Jesus shine in return. Jesus
is transformed and transfigured because the authenticity and absoluteness of
God’s love cannot be mistaken.
Okay, now close your eyes for a minute. Picture this scene that unfolds on the
mountaintop in today’s Gospel. Can you
see the glow of God’s love? Feel the
warmth. Hear God’s voice wash over
Jesus: You are my beloved.
Keep your eyes closed and continue to see this moment of intimate
connection with God, with Abba, in your mind’s eye. Okay, now, take Jesus out of the picture and
put yourself there---you: a living member of the Body of Christ. Let the warmth of God’s delight and joy in
you wash over you. Let the light of
God’s love and grace flow in you and through you. Rest in the absolute assurance that you are
God’s beloved. Without a doubt, God
loves you--- not because you are so good or perfect or complete. God loves you
because God is so good and perfect and complete. You are loved with the
never-ending, always-another-chance, cannot-be-severed love of God.
Okay, open your eyes.
When we can finally believe that this love of God for us is real and
forever, we are transfigured. When we
are able to soak in God’s joy and delight in us, we are transformed. Knowing we can be sure in God’s love, we are
freed. God’s love for us is the Truth
that sets us free.
Set free to admit our wrongs and
failures because we know that even in our errors we are loved.
Set free to believe we are enough.
Set free from wishing we were smarter or
thinner, richer, more powerful or somebody else altogether.
Set free from the fear we are not worthy
Set free to have the strength to be
vulnerable.
Vulnerable—like Jesus on the cross.
Honestly, is there a more vulnerable position than this? The world may
tell us not to be vulnerable, but we cannot be the living sacrifice we are
called to be unless we are willing to be vulnerable. Being vulnerable means we
have a strong sense of love and belonging. Being vulnerable grants us a great
capacity for hospitality—making room in one’s heart for another. Vulnerability allows us to display great
generosity---give of oneself for the benefit of another. Brené Brown, a researcher, writer and speaker
of the human experience, says people who allow themselves to be vulnerable in
this way are whole hearted. Whole-hearted
people have the 3 C’s: courage, compassion and connection.
Courage: the root of the word courage comes from “couer”—an old French
word that means heart. Courage means we
have the ability to tell and live the story of who we are, able to be imperfect
and to deal with our own junk and imperfections without dumping or inflicting
them on others.
The whole-hearted have compassion; they are kind to themselves first, so
that they can also be kind to others.
The whole-hearted are connected.
Because they are grounded in the truth of God’s love they are able to be
authentic—to live as their true selves.
Transfigured and freed from the fear that they should be whoever the
world tells them to be, they are inspired by the Holy Spirit to be who they truly
are---God’s beloved---made in the image of God.
Isn’t this what we yearn for, long for, what we are seeking? To be whole-hearted. Soaked in the love of God and freed to be our
authentic selves—God’s beloved. As
whole-hearted people, with courage, compassion and connection, we become the
ones who can say: “I love you” first, and “I forgive you,” and “I’m sorry,”
even when there are no guarantees that the other person will respond likewise.
As whole-hearted people we can afford to invest in relationships that
may or may not work out. We can take
chances on others because God takes chances on us. Anchored by God’s love, we can reach out to
those the world declares are beyond the boundaries and draw them closer to
God’s love by living out God’s love so that they, too, may know God’s love and
be set free.
Beloved: we are worthy. We are
enough. We are loved beyond reasoning.
Let us be so transfigured by this love that we can vulnerable enough
to be:
radically
welcoming
courageously
generous
boldly
compassionate
authentically
connected
a
web of grace.
Grace---the unearned gift of God’s love that is the first word, the
last word, and every word in-between.
For you, for me, for all of Creation.
Grace.
Amen. Amen. Amen.
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