My spirit cries out

The Gospel reading this morning was Mark 9.2-10.

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.

(NRSV, courtesy of http://crosswalk.com)

The sermon was titled A Mountain Top Experience. Stephen opened by talking about names and identity, which of course set me off. If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that it's about identity in Christ, and that I have a "thing" about names. As I said to my brother after the service, "That is Janna's world of God."

I wrote two pages' worth of "stuff" about this. So here is what I wrote. Unedited.

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Names --> a change in name can indicate a transformation.

Abram - Abraham
Jacob - Israel
Saul - Paul
Simon - Peter

Becoming what God created me to be requires me to listen to Him and to be a part of the world.

God's Flourishing Graceful Warrior ............................. gratitude & praise

How I am to relate to others

belong to God human

Grace = the undeserved gift of God Flourish = to grow exponentially Warrior = one who does battle

Of my parents

How I am to relate to God

offered to God divine

gratitude ~> thankfulness for blessings praise ~> exaltation for deeds, for existence

Of God

The Becoming is about learning to offer grace to others, to nurture them, and to fight injustices in this world. The Becoming is about offering God the gratitude and praise He deserves.

St Francis prayed

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred . . . let me sow love
Where there is injury . . . pardon
Where there is doubt . . . faith
Where there is despair . . .hope
Where there is darkness . . . light
Where there is sadness . . .joy
Divine Master,
grant that i may not so much seek
To be consoled . . .as to console
To be understood . . .as to understand,
To be loved . . . as to love
For it is in giving . . .that we receive,
It is in pardoning, that we are pardoned,
It is in dying . . .that we are born to eternal life

My prayer must be

Make me a river of Your grace
Where there is death, let me bring life
Where injustice reigns, let me strike it down

My spirit cries out for You,
and I am swept over the edge.
I am submerged in Your love.

Though He slay me,

yet will I trust in Him; yet will I hope in Him; yet will I praise Him; yet will I worship Him; yet will I adore Him; yet will I thank Him; yet will I love Him!