It’s the Triune God who is the breath and heartbeat that gives life to our dusty bodies so that we may live, until we return.

Vicar Andrea Bonneville
Ash Wednesday, year C 
Texts: Joel 2: 1-2, 12-17, Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21 

Beloved in Christ, grace and peace to you in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

Today we remember our mortality, the very reality that we live in bodies that aren’t perfect, bodies that will hurt and be hurt, bodies that will one day die and return to the earth. We remember that our bodies were created with the love of the Triune God out of the dust of the earth and filled with the Spirit, the same Spirit that flows through our shared life with all of creation.

We don’t necessarily need to be gathered here today to be reminded about the realities of death and sin and suffering. The past two years have been a constant confrontation of disease, injustice, grief, loneliness, and death. Our hearts are fatigued and heavy from daily reminders of these realities.

We have had to be on high alert, changing the actions of our day to day lives to make sure that we and our neighbors stay safe. We’ve read books, consumed media, and learned how we can adapt and change our actions and attitudes to better love our neighbors and creation.

We’ve been doing our part step by step and living in this way exposed the treasures of our hearts and the gift of our shared humanity. It opened our eyes to see the world in a different way. It opened our hands to want to act and serve and our minds to learn. We’ve been forced to act in the present and long for a hope filled future for all of God’s creation.  

Living with the realities of sin and mortality taught us a lot about suffering and death, but even more so it taught us about our humanity—what in life gives our dusty bodies the breath, passion, love, and joy we needed to sustain us and give us hope.

In Lent, we journey with Jesus as he goes to the cross and the grave.  And as we do this, we encounter his humanity, his dusty body that held the same Spirit that gives us life. The Triune God dwelled in our world radiating love, peace, forgiveness, and justice so that even in the cloudiness of our world our lives can reflect light and love.  

Jesus reminds us that our bodies aren’t the empty vessels of sin and shame as the world tries to make us believe. Our bodies are treasure chests of grace and love, filled with the Spirit who dwells in each of us as we bear the image of God for all to see.

But what do we do on the days when we are feeling extra dusty, on days when the shadows of the world prevent us from seeing the Triune God active in our bodies and our world?

What happens when we sin against our neighbors and creation or when our bodies and spirits become ill and burdened?

What do we do when our hearts are saddened and grieved when the bodies we love experience pain or return to dust?

Where do we go when we can’t escape the pain, violence, injustice, and destruction in our world?

“Yet even now,” says the LORD, “return to me with all your heart.”

“Restore to me the joy,” sings the Psalmist.

“Be reconciled to God,” says Paul on behalf of Christ.

“Return,” says the prophet Joel, because “God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.”

The promise of this return, returning to God and the fullness of who God has created us to be, is why we need to be gathered here today, why we need to be in community praying, singing, and feasting together.

So that we, together, can come before God in worship and praise with fasting, and weeping, and mourning. We can join our hearts together in prayer and voices together in song to lament the brokenness of our world and hope for God’s mercy and justice to rise.  We come to know the love and peace that surpasses our understanding and cling to God who is love and peace.  

Returning again and again to God with our full humanity asking God to transform our lives so that we can experience comfort, healing, and love. And so we can reflect God’s love, justice, and mercy into our world.

As ashes are marked on your forehead today, remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return. And also remember that you are love and to love you shall return. That you are hope and to hope you shall return. That you are grace and to grace you shall return. That you are God’s beloved and to God you shall return.

In the returning to God, in remembering of our humanity among others and alongside all of creation, the love and grace of God dwells in our hearts, it flows through in our veins, it returns us to who we are and whose we are, called to follow Jesus in the midst of the pain and suffering, death and destruction so all know the power of the Triune God who gives life and hope to our lives and our world.

It’s the Triune God who is the breath and heartbeat that gives life to these dusty bodies so that we may live, until we return.

Amen.

God’s presence and love is among us, it’s transforming us, it’s leading us, even as we continue to learn and listen to what this means here and now for the sake of all that God has created. 

Vicar Andrea Bonneville
Transfiguration of Our Lord, year C 
Texts: Luke 9:28-36

Beloved in Christ, grace and peace to you in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

We are living in a time of cloudiness.
And it can be hard to see and hear and discern God’s presence.

Our world is clouded with hatred, discrimination, injustice, and oppression. Our lives are clouded with lies that tell us that we are unworthy and lead us to be filled with guilt and shame. Power and money are what people strive for, especially when we are shown and told that if you have enough money and power, you should be able to control any body, any country, any thing.

The more pain and grief and loss that we experience or the more pain and suffering we see our neighbors experiencing the more our vision becomes cloudy and we have to figure out how to discern God’s presence in our lives, our communities, and our world.

But this is why we are here today.

And that is why Peter and John and James where on the mountain top with Jesus on that day. The day when they saw, heard, and experienced God’s glory, even though it was confusing and terrifying.

Like us, they needed to see and experience for themselves God’s glory. But even after seeing the physical transformation of Jesus, hearing Jesus’ talk with Elijah and Moses about his departure and death on the cross, and hearing the voice in the cloud proclaim Jesus’ identity as the Son of God, the Chosen one.

Even after of all of this, we don’t know if the disciples actually knew what was happening.

Luke’s Gospel tells us that they went up on the mountain top with Jesus to pray. And while Jesus was praying his appearance transformed and suddenly, he was talking with Moses and Elijah about his departure and what he would accomplish on the cross. 

We are told that Peter and James and John were there, but they were weighed down with sleep trying to stay awake to see Jesus’ glory and hear about what was happening.

Peter tries to comprehend, offering care and hospitality, but we are told he doesn’t have a clue what is going on. Nevertheless, he tried to act and make sense of what was happening because he must have sensed that it was important.  

But then the cloud appeared and it overshadowed them and they were terrified. They heard a voice say “This is my Son, my Chosen; Listen to him!”  And then Jesus was found alone.

This is how this mountain top experience ends.

We don’t hear about the cloud separating to give way for the sun to shine again. We don’t hear if they talked with Jesus, their friend, to try to learn more about what just happened. We don’t know if their emotions change or if they continued to be terrified.   

All we know is that eventually they went down the mountain and kept silent, not talking about the transfiguration and transformation they witnessed and experienced.

It seems like the cloud did more than terrify them, it clouded their lives. Before the cloud appeared, Peter was at least trying to make sense of what has happening, engaged in what was going on, but after the voice spoke from the cloud, he also remained silent.

Perhaps what they then understood was too much for them to share, or maybe they didn’t think that people would believe what they had experience, or maybe they still had no idea what was going on and instead of talking, they stayed silent so that they could continue to listen to Jesus, as he journeyed toward the cross.

But even if they didn’t talk about what they experienced, we know that they continued to follow Jesus. And we know that for them, continuing to follow Jesus meant entering the sin and suffering and death and destruction of the world.

And this is our task today.

Even with our confused and terrified hearts, with pain and hurt, we follow Jesus to the mountain tops and into the valleys of our world attempting to keep our eyes, ears, and hearts open to see where God’s glory is transfiguring and transforming our world.  

We pray that God clears the cloudiness of our vision so that we are able see, listen, and discern who God is calling us to be and where God is calling us to act with love and service.  We do things with love and care, even if we don’t understand the full picture of what is happening. 

And at times, we remain silent and open our ears to listen to God and we pray to be in communion with God asking God to lead us and guide us.

We trust and hope and believe that we will be transformed so that we can bear God’s light and love and be the sun that shines through the cloudiness of our lives so that all people may know that love that we have in the Triune God. God with us who gives us and all creation the hope and nourishment we need to sustain, and grow, and transform.

God’s presence and love is among us, it’s transforming us, it’s leading us, even as we continue to learn and listen to what this means here and now for the sake of all that God has created.

Amen.