February 26, 2006
(Last Sunday after the Epiphany)

New Perspectives

by The Rev. Carol Sanford, Curate

1 Kings 19:9-18  •  2 Peter 1:16-19(20-21)  •  Psalm 27 or 27:5-11  •  Mark 9:2-9
(From The Lectionary Page)

Good morning! It’s Fat Weekend here at the cathedral. I’ve been in parishes that celebrate Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, but this is my first experience with an entire Fat Weekend. What a great idea. I hope everyone takes the chance to have some fun. Let’s have a show of hands. This is not, by the way, some sort of test where you get in trouble if you answer wrong. OK: Who was at the chili cook-off last night? Who plans to be at the pancake breakfast this morning? Who has plans for some sort of Mardi Gras feast this Tuesday? Just as I suspected; Episcopalians do enjoy a good party.

Now, these next questions you don’t need to raise your hand on unless you want to. Who has ever wanted to lose a little weight or exercise more, but can’t seem to pull it off? How about anyone who has had a bit too much to drink and regretted it later, only to do it again another time? Have you ever tried to help out a friend or family member in trouble, and then been angry because they just wouldn’t shape up and listen to your advice?

Do you ever felt guilty about being fed while others go hungry, but don’t know what to do about it and wish the feeling would just go away? Have you ever been frustrated by a political situation, but wanted someone else to work to make a change? Have you ever told a lie or covered up a wrongdoing or been irritable with your family? Have you ever been really mad at God?

If you have answered yes to any of these questions, or, like me, to all of them, then Congratulations; you are in the perfect position to observe a Holy Lent. This is because we are in the perfect position to acknowledge being human, not God.

We love to celebrate, but some of us have a propensity to overindulge and an inability to undo the damage. We try to get our parents, spouses, or children to be perfect when we are unable, by our very nature, to perfect ourselves. We sometimes lose our tempers or shy away from the discomforts of reality. We choose shopping over volunteering and occasionally choose the Sunday paper over church.

So here’s a new perspective: that’s all ok. It simply means that we don’t have everything and everyone, including ourselves, under control; that we can’t always get it right. It means that we are not God. What a relief! As soon as we understand that we are not God, we can quit trying to be. It’s amazing how much energy is freed up when we let God be God and us be us.

This simple shift in perspective can make all the difference in how we treat ourselves and each other, and in what we can accomplish in the world. Once we face our limitations and acknowledge what we cannot or, in some cases, simply will not do, then we open the way for God to do what God does best: be God for us. I know that I would not be standing here today as a priest if I had plowed ahead trying to force my own agenda for my life, which, frankly, had more to do with possessions than prayers. I can hardly bear to think of all I would have missed, including all of you. Placing ourselves in God’s hands brings outcomes far beyond what we can envision for ourselves. All it takes is a shift in perspective; a slightly different view.

Elijah experienced a change of perspective on the mountaintop. God in those days was expected to show up in flashy natural events like earthquakes and fire. But Elijah heard the voice of God when he attended to the sound of silence, and we’ve been listening to the silence ever since.

When Peter and James and John went up on the mountain with Jesus, their perspective, and ours, was changed forever. Here was Glory revealed in the strangest location, out from flesh like our own, giving us a startling new perspective on who Jesus was and is, and who we are. The transfiguration shows us not only a sort of preview of the resurrection, but also the Word of God already and eternally present. When we keep this perspective, amazing things can happen.

This is World Mission Sunday in the Episcopal Church, and this year the focus is on Women. The statistics about women and children in poverty, violence, disempowerment and despair are appalling, and I encourage all of us to stay aware of these conditions, and of our opportunities to make a difference. This mission is not limited to helping women. As Sister Clare Nolan put it, “We’re not just talking about bringing women out of poverty & getting political rights. We’re changing the very nature of society.” A woman from Kenya, working in this effort, cautioned that we must incorporate the Word of God in all that we do, so that, “We can have a place where everybody feels they belong and everybody can be somebody.”

Jesus was very much about changing the nature of society from the self-driven greed and fear that isolate us from one another, to the openhearted love and compassion that come from trusting God. Isn’t that what this cathedral is in the midst of right now? We are opening ourselves to a new perspective on who we can be in this city. To be a place at the heart of Kansas City where everyone can belong, we must remember who we are and whose we are, and act accordingly.

The spiritual disciplines of Lent can help us find and hold to this perspective.

Some of us, this Lent, will prayer more than usual, read a meditation book, or attend Lenten Academy on Wednesday nights. Some of us will turn away from the excesses of food or alcohol or TV or computer games that distract us. Perhaps we will fast from anger, bitterness or despair.

New perspectives can be gained from simple changes such as sitting in a different chair or driving a new route to work. If you usually listen to music in the car, try turning the radio off. If you never read poetry, try some. If you’re accustomed to the words you’ve heard for years on Sunday morning, set aside time to really think about the language of our current liturgy. Just pick up something new or let go of something familiar. Change your perspective.

And relax. Lenten disciplines aren’t about trying harder one more time to get it right, to shape up and be perfect. Spiritual practices are not about trying to be God, but about letting God be God in us.

On this last Sunday of the Epiphany, we look with awe at the transfiguration of Jesus. Because our God has been revealed to us as forgiveness, love, compassion and new life, we can let our guard down just a bit.

Today we will bury our alleluias, and soon we will cover many of our images and gather our attention to the Lenten journey. All of this enables us to take a new view. We can enjoy our pancakes and gratefully live into our humanity. We can repent and be forgiven of our sins and blessed with new awareness and the new life of Easter.

Ironically, it is when we stop trying to be good enough that the power of God can work to make us better, and it is when we stop trying to be God that the power of God can work through us to change the very nature of society. Let’s have a show of hands for that!