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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">Sermons for the Transfiguration:</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;"> Matthew 17:1-9 - <b>"A Mountain of Meaning" </b></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;"> Matthew 17:1-9 - <b>"Hear Him"</b> by Leonard Sweet</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">Matthew 17<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">,</font></font> the sermon titled "A Mountain of Meaning"<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> </font></font> </span>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;"><strong> </strong></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">A
brilliant magician was performing on an ocean liner. But every time he
did a trick, the Captain's parrot would yell, "It's a trick. He's a
phony. That's not magic." Then one evening during a storm, the ship sank
while the magician was performing. The parrot and the magician ended up
in the same lifeboat. For several days they just glared at each other,
neither saying a word to the other. Finally the parrot said, "OK, I give
up. What did you do with the ship?"</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">The
parrot couldn't explain that last trick! It was too much to comprehend,
even for a smart parrot. Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us
to be here. Let us put up three shelters-one for you, one for Moses,
and one for Elijah." Scholars over the years have tried to explain what
in the world Peter meant by this suggestion. But, I think trying to find
meaning to these words is pointless. It's simply the way Matthew
explains: Peter was frightened and he just said the first thing that
came to into his head. He simply could not comprehend what was
happening.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">In
life, moments occur that are incomprehensible. The birth of one's own
child is one of those moments. The loss of a loved one is one of those
moments. September 11 was one of those moments. There are mountaintop
and valley moments throughout life. We are never ready for them. They
arrive unannounced changing us in irreversible ways. But there is one
thing they all have in common. They demand that we be silent and listen.
These moments have something to say to us, to teach us.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">But
too often our response is like that of Peter, babbling absurdities
because we cannot understand the significant, the meaningful moment.
When Peter does finally quit talking nonsense a cloud appears, envelopes
them, and the voice of God gives this instruction to Peter, James, and
John: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!" That's it. Very
short. To the point. What Peter said made no sense. What God said had a
mountain of meaning. I would like to spend a few moments this morning
unpacking the meaning of it:</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">1. This Is My Son.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">2. Whom I love.</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">3. Listen to Him.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">The rest of this sermon following the outline above can be obtained by joining <a shape="rect" target="_blank" __removedlink__1635350983__href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=aelnpceab&et=1104681004836&s=45429&e=001ZSOPA-acEkk_4qD7AEuS3hzw3XUPE7yU6LkesgZJSatnV_pK1qKkBkjEJXj43yaW5RWNNECrwt1U6Tiw7Snris9nTj8w9Y7tDLdCBrYYC-s=">www.Sermons.com</a>. </span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">Matthew 17:1-9<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">,</font></font> the sermon titled "Hear Him" by Leonard Sweet<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> <br>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">The
last couple of weeks have brought us a full plate of pictures from
Tunisia, Egypt, Libya. Can any of us ever forget the images from Cairo's
Tahrir Square? Or the monstrous Muammar al-Gaddafi, also known as
Colonel Gaddafi, speaking to his people from the back seat of an
automobile holding a white umbrella? </span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">But
the one that may stick the longest is the human ring of ordinary men
and women standing guard around the Cairo Museum, making a barrier of
bodies all the way around the perimeter of the building. Word had spread
that the night before a small but clumsy gang of looters had broken
into the museum, stealing some objects, stupidly destroying others. </span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">The
youthful crowds of protestors responded by rushing to protect the
building and the priceless items it housed. Why did they do this? It is
doubtful there were very many worshipers of Amon Ra or any of the other
ancient Egyptian gods and pharaohs that those museum relics celebrate.
So why did they protect the museum with their very bodies? </span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">The
Egyptian people did not rally simply around religious reliquaries. They
were protecting their own history, the stories and symbols of who they
were as a people, of where they had been, and what they had done. They
were guarding their historic identity. Every item in that museum had its
own special "provenance," its own place in the story of their world.
That provenance was the treasure they banded together to protect.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">Any
"Antiques Roadshow" addicts here? Am I the only one? If you've ever
seen just one episode, you know that it is the "provenance," the
verifiable stories of the persons who interacted with the items brought
in, that makes an item valuable or a possession priceless. An antique
gold ring is literally "worth its weight in gold." But an antique gold
ring given to your great grandmother by Pablo Picasso as a "thank you"
for doing such a good job cleaning his studio? That's called
"provenance," and with such a "provenance" that gold ring is worth much,
much more than it's weight in gold. It is the gold ring's story that
adds value and luster to a simple piece of jewelry.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">What's
your story? What's your provenance? God established Jesus' "provenance"
at the Transfiguration. But each of us has our own "faith provenance"
that we need to know and share and celebrate. </span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">What is your "provenance story"? </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">What is the provenance of your life of faith? </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">What experiences have you had and who have you encountered that made your own faith "priceless."<span> </span></span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">This
week's gospel text is Matthew's version of Jesus' provenance, the
pivotal "transfiguration" event that marks the beginning of a new phase
in Jesus' mission and ministry...</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">The rest of this sermon following the outline above can be obtained by joining <a shape="rect" target="_blank" __removedlink__1635350983__href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=aelnpceab&et=1104681004836&s=45429&e=001ZSOPA-acEkk_4qD7AEuS3hzw3XUPE7yU6LkesgZJSatnV_pK1qKkBkjEJXj43yaW5RWNNECrwt1U6Tiw7Snris9nTj8w9Y7tDLdCBrYYC-s=">www.Sermons.com</a>. </span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">Transfigured: Who Changed?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">Laurel
A. Dykstra, a scripture and justice educator living in Vancouver,
British Columbia, wrote the following in an article for Sojourners
Magazine:<br>
<br>
"My first night at Guadalupe House, a Catholic Worker
"transition house" where I spent nearly 10 years, I sat at the
wobbly-legged table amid a circle of men's faces, black and brown and
white, and looked at the peeling linoleum, tattered sheer yellow
curtains, broken couches, and roach-filled corners. I had never seen a
place so ugly. After a week of hospitality, laughter, community, and
connection, I sat in the same seat and caught myself thinking, 'What a
kind and homey room this is.' Transfigured.<br>
<br>
"So I wonder: In
Matthew's story of the mountain, was it Jesus who changed or was it that
John, James, and Peter could now see the face of God shining in the man
they knew? Did the thin air and the elevated perspective contribute to
their clarity of vision? When they came down from the mountaintop, did
they take their new capacity to see into the low places and crowded city
streets? Can we? And when we see the face of God shining through those
who are familiar to us, do we truly, deeply listen to them?"<br>
<br>
Laurel A. Dykstra, "See and Listen," article in Sojourners Magazine, February, 2008<br>
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</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">Whatever Goes Up Must Come Down</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">A
little boy was out in his backyard, throwing a ball up in the air. An
elderly passerby, not accustomed to such youthful delights, asked the
boy what he was doing. He replied, "I am playing a game of catch with
God. I throw the ball up in the air and he throws it back."</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">I
am in no position to comment on God's ability to play ball, but I do
know that whatever goes up must come down. There may be exceptions, such
as Charlie Brown's kite! But as a rule, whatever goes up must come
down. The process is so predictable that you could refer to it as a
scientific law.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">The
same process applies to our religious lives. It is a good thing to "go
up" to a great experience with God, but we will become greatly
disillusioned if we do not remember that eventually we have to "come
down" again.</span></div>
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<div style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt;">John Thomas Randolph, The Best Gift, CSS Publishing Company <br>
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