God, Goodness, Lord of all, may the humble meditations of my heart and the reflections of Christ\u2019s disciples gathered here, be acceptable to you. And may your corrective whispers in our ears help us hear your voice instead of our own desires. Souffle ton esprit parmi nous lorsque nous r\u00e9fl\u00e9chissons ensemble. Amen.<\/p>\n
Brothers and sisters in the faith, thank you for welcoming me in your circle. It is good to be gathered with those who praise God, those who gather in community to hear how we might better live in Christ\u2019s light.<\/p>\n
I am convinced that we do not gather in community on Sundays uniquely to praise God, but also to know God. The gift of Christ\u2019s church is to have the chance to sit with other people of faith, to read scripture, to reflect on it together. I\u2019ve often spent time wondering if someone can be a Christian if they merely pray, read scripture and worship God alone\u2026 maybe sitting at home without speaking to others about their faith and their journey. Is it possible to be a Christian without living one\u2019s faith in community?<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve considered this for a long time. And as a minister, and as the Regional Executive Minister of the United Church, it is obviously in my personal interest that we have a healthy and thriving church\u2026 if everyone stayed home and kept their faith limited to their own personal experience, untouched by others, it would not be easy for ministers who serve God to find a way to be paid, to have a home and food to eat.<\/p>\n
But there is far more to being a Christian than a personal and private faith life.<\/p>\n
Quand nous allons \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9glise pour vivre notre foi dans une communaut\u00e9, il y a quelque chose d\u2019important qui se passe \u00e0 ce moment-l\u00e0. Quelque chose que nous ne pouvons pas aller chercher dans nos appartements et nos chambres \u00e0 coucher. Le moment de vivre sa foi avec d\u2019autres nous offre le potentiel de voir plus clair et d\u2019\u00eatre transform\u00e9. Ce n\u2019est pas pour rien que J\u00e9sus dit quand deux ou trois sont rassembl\u00e9 en son nom, qu\u2019il est l\u00e0. La foi n\u2019est pas une question de la vie priv\u00e9e, mais la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 qui vous accueil au Canada semble majoritairement croire que la foi doit \u00eatre r\u00e9l\u00e9gu\u00e9 au domaine personnel et sans expression publique.<\/p>\n
Je suis enti\u00e8rement d\u2019accord que notre soci\u00e9t\u00e9 soit reconnue pour sa diversit\u00e9, un endroit o\u00f9 les gens de diff\u00e9rentes perspectives puissent vivre ensemble\u2026 le r\u00eave de l\u2019harmonie entre tous les peuples de la terre. Je souhaite que le mosaique que nous cr\u00e9ons dans ce pays soit un mod\u00e8le pour le monde entier. Mais\u2026 cela ne devrait pas dire que l\u2019expression publique de la foi doit \u00eatre emp\u00each\u00e9. C\u2019est justement dans l\u2019objectif de voir comment la foi transforme la vie de nous tous qu\u2019une diversit\u00e9 devrait se d\u00e9finir. Mais, dans le cas du Canada, et encore plus au Qu\u00e9bec, la s\u00e9cularisation de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 est une fa\u00e7on de cacher la diff\u00e9rence, d\u2019emp\u00eacher l\u2019expression de la diversit\u00e9 dans notre contexte. Et pour moi, cela est un probl\u00e8me grave pour notre soci\u00e9t\u00e9\u2026 mais revenons \u00e0 la question de la vie de communaut\u00e9 de foi.<\/p>\n
Faith is a communal experience. Just look at how Jesus goes about shaping his ministry\u2026 by calling a group of disciples. By going out into the world and teaching, healing and guiding. Christ doesn\u2019t stay separate from the world\u2026 Christ is in it, actively, and with others. Our model of ministry isn\u2019t based on one guru teaching one person to live their life. Our model of ministry is to be with many others, to see and experience the full range of the faith experience\u2026 and most importantly, to be transformed by it.<\/p>\n
This is what happens in the gospel reading today\u2026 Jesus takes Peter, John and James to the mountain top, again in community. In the Bible, when we go to a mountain, we are going to have a spiritual experience. Just think of the times when Moses goes to the mountain, when Abraham is tested, when Jesus preaches the sermon on the mount. So many times we think that going to a mountain top gets us closer to God who is up there! But the mountain top is important for other reasons. When we stand on a mountain top, we see things from a different perspective, something we cannot see when we are too close. We see the bigger picture.<\/p>\n
And, in the gospel today, something else happens\u2026 Jesus is transfigured\u2026 we see him radiating light and shining brightly. Transformation happens when we see the world in a way that we hadn\u2019t seen it before.<\/p>\n
This is why sharing faith in community is so important. It is a place of relationship, transformation and seeing the world differently. Rather than being locked in our own heads, reading scripture from our own perspective, we encounter those who offer us new perspective and new understanding. When we are in relationship, we are transformed by it. We change our worldview because we get to see the world through the eyes of the other person.<\/p>\n
La foi est une pratique qui se fait en communaut\u00e9 et en relation avec d\u2019autres. Il ne s\u2019agit pas simplement d\u2019\u00e9couter le pasteur et d\u2019accepter tout ce qu\u2019on nous dit\u2026 et ce n\u2019est pas uniquement une pratique d\u2019adopter les perspectives des autres sans r\u00e9flexion. Quand nous sommes en communaut\u00e9, la nouvelle perspective qui nous est offerte nous donne la chance de nous questionner, de mettre au d\u00e9fi ce que nous avons toujours crus. \u00catre en dialogue avec d\u2019autres sur les grandes questions de notre foi n\u2019est pas un signe de faiblesse, c\u2019est une source d\u2019approfondir notre foi\u2026 et ultimement, d\u2019\u00eatre \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9coute de Dieu qui parle par l\u2019interm\u00e9diaire des paroles des autres.<\/p>\n
Vivre sa foi en communaut\u00e9 nous offre l\u2019occasion de mettre au d\u00e9fi nos \u00e9gos, nos id\u00e9es fixes, nos pr\u00e9jug\u00e9s. C\u2019est justement ce que Paul nous dit dans la lettre aux Corinthiens. Il nous met en garde de permettre notre propre volont\u00e9 de voiler la Bonne Nouvelle. Une communaut\u00e9 de foi nous donne l\u2019occasion de nous assurer que nous pouvons voir plus clair. Une foi nourrie par d\u2019autres est une foi transformatrice qui nous permet de voir plus loin\u2026 \u00e7a nous donne une perspective \u00e0 partir de la montagne.<\/p>\n
But even a community of faith can be misled. The gods of this world, money, selfishness, ego and self-importance can mislead us all. I invite you to look at what happens on the mountain top\u2026 and to whom Jesus is speaking. Elijah and Moses. Jesus himself is speaking with elders of the faith, rooting himself in a prophet and a liberator. Elijah who had to spend a lot of time correcting the people who had gone astray. Elijah the prophet who had to say some unpopular things that people were not ready to hear because they were attached to their ways of doing things. The people in Elijah\u2019s time were misled and God needed to send Elijah to correct them.<\/p>\n
And Moses, the one who liberated the people from slavery. The one who kept people moving through the desert even when it was hard and they didn\u2019t want to go anymore. Moses, the one who saw the Promised Land, but never had the chance to step foot in it.<\/p>\n
It is not an accident that Jesus would be speaking to these two people on the mountain and being transformed by that experience\u2026 he is not ignoring the history of his faith, he\u2019s consulting it, connecting to it, being enlightened by it. Jesus is demonstrating one of the key foundations of Christian faith: Tradition. The experience of his Jewish faith was not being ignored, it was respected and revered. When we practice our faith alone, without connection to a community that has a tradition and a history, it can be easy to be misled. Jesus reminds us this by his own actions\u2026 know your roots, know your tradition.<\/p>\n
La r\u00e9ponse de Pierre est, pour moi, une des plus int\u00e9ressante. Faisant face \u00e0 une exp\u00e9rience remarquable et transformatrice, il sugg\u00e8re d\u2019implanter trois tentes. Pierre veut tout de suite mettre les trois figures, chacune dans sa propre tente. Il veut rendre physique l\u2019exp\u00e9rience spirituelle qu\u2019il vient d\u2019avoir. Je pense que sa r\u00e9ponse est tr\u00e8s humaine\u2026 nous voulons renfermer l\u2019esprit dans une place pour que nous ne la perdons plus jamais. Nous croyons que l\u2019envol de l\u2019esprit peut \u00eatre sauvegarder comme un pain congel\u00e9 ou une photo dans son t\u00e9l\u00e9phone. Mais, malheureusement, il est impossible de pr\u00e9server l\u2019exp\u00e9rience transformatrice de mani\u00e8re physique. Nous pouvons seulement faire de la place dans notre c\u0153ur et dans notre esprit pour la transformation.<\/p>\n
De toute fa\u00e7on, une transformation ne peut pas \u00eatre le but ultime ou la fin de l\u2019histoire. La transformation ne s\u2019arr\u00eate pas. Nous ne pouvons pas le couler dans le b\u00e9ton pour qu\u2019elle soit fig\u00e9. La transformation est le d\u00e9but du changement, pas la fin.<\/p>\n
When Peter suggests that three tents be placed at this location, he is trying desperately to confine the experience, he\u2019s trying to hold it in one place so that it doesn\u2019t change\u2026 but that\u2019s not how transformation works. A powerful life-changing experience cannot be contained, it is only the beginning\u2026 there is a lot more change to come as a result of that. You can\u2019t nail it down. It\u2019s alive and colours everything we do from that moment forward.<\/p>\n
Faith lived out on your own is isolated from the Holy Spirit. It is dry, unchanging and not alive. Faith needs community to give us perspective, to give us the benefit of everyone else\u2019s experience. God is like the elephant in a dark room\u2026 each of us reaching out and experiencing a part of it, but none of us understand the other person\u2019s experience unless we allow them to describe it to us.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m a big fan of movies. I love to walk into a cinema and experience the world described to me by someone different than myself. I enjoy putting myself in someone else\u2019s shoes\u2026 to understand their concern, their joy, their pain. It makes me more empathetic, it makes me sensitive to things I would not have understood any other way. For me, faith lived in community does that as well\u2026 it changes me, opens me up to realities I didn\u2019t know before. It helps me appreciate others and value their relationship with God.<\/p>\n
Dieu a cr\u00e9\u00e9 un monde avec une diversit\u00e9 incroyable. Si Dieu a cr\u00e9\u00e9 l\u2019homme et la femme \u00e0 son image, chacun d\u2019entre nous contient un \u00e9l\u00e9ment de la nature divine, sans toute le contenir. C\u2019est \u00e0 nous de travailler \u00e0 mieux comprendre l\u2019ensemble de la cr\u00e9ation de Dieu, pr\u00e9sent sous toutes ses formes, pour mieux refl\u00e9ter l\u2019essence de Dieu. C\u2019est pour cette raison qu\u2019il est important d\u2019ajouter \u00e0 nos perspectives et de ne jamais prendre pour acqui que nous avons l\u2019ensemble de la v\u00e9rit\u00e9. Quand nous restons isol\u00e9s sur nous-m\u00eame, il est facile de commencer \u00e0 croire que nous avons toutes les r\u00e9ponses\u2026 parce que nous n\u2019avons personne pour alimenter notre r\u00e9flexion plus large et plus complexe.<\/p>\n
J\u00e9sus transporte trois disciples au sommet de la montagne pour qu\u2019ils puissent voir plus loin, d\u2019avoir une perspective transform\u00e9e, entendre la voix de Dieu et de revenir renouvel\u00e9 par le moment. Ce n\u2019est pas par hasard que Pierre deviendra la pierre angulaire sur laquelle se reposera l\u2019avenir de l\u2019\u00c9glise chr\u00e9tienne. Il a \u00e9t\u00e9 enseign\u00e9 comment voir plus loin, m\u00eame quand il propose une id\u00e9e farfelu comme l\u2019implantation de trois tentes\u2026<\/p>\n
When Peter responds to the transfiguration with a desire to preserve the experience, to make sure that Elijah, Moses and Jesus have places to return to, he is responding from his limited perspective. He thinks the work of the divine can be contained and held in one place. He\u2019s still holding on to his way of thinking. I can almost see the other two disciples look at him after he makes this suggestion and shake their heads. In this moment Peter is being shaped by his experience (the desire to pitch tents), by tradition (the presence of historical figures like Moses and Elijah) and by community (John and James). These are the three pillars of faith that we understand to be critical to Christian life: scripture, tradition and reason\/experience.<\/p>\n
Without community, tradition is almost impossible. Without community, experience and reason are limited to our own minds, without community scripture is limited to our own understanding. When Paul is writing to the Corinthians, he is warning that community that the Good News will be clouded by their own desires and their own egos if they are not able to let that go and hear the words of the Spirit through their community. The early Christians in Corinth were well known for their fighting and disagreements\u2026 Paul is suggesting that they listen to each other, that they understand that the desire of God is expressed through all of them, not just some of them. They all see a small part of the picture if they rely on themselves\u2026 they see better when they are in community with one another.<\/p>\n
Les communaut\u00e9s qui s\u2019isolent du monde sont les plus susceptibles de devenir radicalis\u00e9es, et de se croire uniquement qualifi\u00e9 pour comprendre le monde. Mais l\u2019isolement ne fait que renforcer nos tendances de semer la division entre nous et les autres. C\u2019est justement l\u2019isolement qui rend la compr\u00e9hension du monde plus difficile. Et voil\u00e0 aussi la source de division, de haine et de m\u00e9pris \u2013 le contraire de ce que Dieu nous demande de semer.<\/p>\n
Alors nous, pour vivre pleinement notre foi, il nous faut la vie communautaire\u2026 malgr\u00e9 que l\u00e0, avec nos diff\u00e9rences, nous pouvons parfois trouver \u00e7a difficile. Notre diversit\u00e9 peut facilement devenir notre source de frustration et de conflit. Et c\u2019est justement pour cette raison qu\u2019il faut faire face \u00e0 notre plus grand d\u00e9fi\u2026 la certitude.<\/p>\n
Certainty can be our biggest challenge when we live out our faith in community. If we are absolutely certain of something, we begin to do as Paul warns\u2026 we proclaim ourselves instead of proclaiming Jesus Christ. When we refuse to hear one another, we proclaim that we are more important than the one who saves us. Certainty is not faithful. Faith is precisely the opposite of certainty. When we hold a faith in God, we admit that we do not have all the answers and that we may be wrong. We will make mistakes and our faith will evolve as it should. Faith cannot be contained in a tent on a mountain top. Faith cannot be kept in a locked room. Faith is living, transforming, moving us increasingly out of the darkness and into the light. Certainty comes when our earthly lives end and we meet our creator, that moment when all things become clear. Until then, we live in faith, always struggling to understand, always evolving based on the perspective we get from the mountaintop, on the perspective we get by being in community and sharing our experiences and our journey with God.<\/p>\n
Nous \u00e9touffons l\u2019Esprit Saint si nous exprimons avoir toutes les r\u00e9ponses. Nous essayons de renfermer Dieu dans une tente, dans une boite ou dans nos \u00e9glises. Nous refusons d\u2019\u00e9couter notre fr\u00e8re qui offre une perspective diff\u00e9rente que la n\u00f4tre. Tout \u00e7a ne veut pas dire que nous allons toujours \u00eatre d\u2019accord avec notre prochain\u2026 mais Dieu nous demande d\u2019\u00e9couter avec le c\u0153ur ouvert, d\u2019\u00e9valuer en utilisant la tradition, l\u2019\u00e9criture sainte, et la raison, et de permettre une \u00e9volution si cela est n\u00e9cessaire face \u00e0 l\u2019exp\u00e9rience de l\u2019autre. Et parfois, apr\u00e8s avoir bien \u00e9cout\u00e9, il est possible que notre perspective originale soit confirm\u00e9e\u2026 mais l\u2019exercice peut nous permettre d\u2019approfondir notre foi \u2013 et d\u2019\u00eatre sensible \u00e0 l\u2019autre personne\u2026 si rien d\u2019autre, pour cr\u00e9er de l\u2019empathie.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m currently learning Spanish. I learned my two languages as a child and never really had to study grammar or vocabulary because things come more naturally when we are immersed and exposed to languages at that age. What I am realizing now is that I have to be willing to make mistakes if I am going to learn. I don\u2019t like making mistakes. I want what I do and say to be correct from the beginning. I don\u2019t like being wrong.<\/p>\n
But learning a language is like learning anything\u2026 we have to be willing to try something before we get good at it. Faith is no different. Peter shows us a willingness to make mistakes, so say things that are wrong\u2026 and to learn from those, grow and evolve from them. That too is transformation. It\u2019s just not as much fun as being right all the time\u2026 but God didn\u2019t create us to be perfect, God created us to constantly encounter people who think differently than we do, who have experiences that are different from us. And the ability to learn.<\/p>\n
This is the gift God gave us of living in community. Of understanding that our perspective isn\u2019t the only one. That what we have learned is the product of our experiences\u2026 which are always going to be different than those of our neighbour.<\/p>\n
Alors je nous invite cette semaine, lorsque nous pr\u00e9parons pour le Car\u00eame, d\u2019affirmer notre humilit\u00e9 et notre sentiment d\u2019\u00e9couter profond\u00e9ment. De s\u2019ouvrir \u00e0 la vie communautaire avec toutes ses joies et ses d\u00e9fis. Et vous, en tant que communaut\u00e9 en d\u00e9veloppement, de cr\u00e9er une culture d\u00e8s le d\u00e9part, qui reconnait la diversit\u00e9 comme un don divin. Si, en partant, votre minist\u00e8re est ax\u00e9 vers les personnes qui arrivent de plusieurs diff\u00e9rents pays avec des cultures et des parcours diff\u00e9rents, il sera essentiel d\u2019exercer vos muscles d\u2019\u00e9coute et de flexibilit\u00e9. De maitriser votre mission avec passion.<\/p>\n
The United Church of Canada has been strengthening its own muscles to accommodate diversity: theologically, culturally and linguistically. As a church, we\u2019ve spent almost 100 years seeing ourselves as Canada\u2019s church, but we haven\u2019t always demonstrated an openness to diversity. For many years, our church believed in supporting colonial approaches that told those who were different that they should change who they were so that they fit into the norm. Indigenous communities, racialized communities, even Francophones were told to change so that they could speak English and participate in British cultural practices. We have learned in the last few decades that this was not how we should live in community. Celebrating the diversity of who we are means learning and growing from each other\u2026 colonialism says that we have all the answers and we will force you to accept them. It is precisely the opposite to the way Christ lived and challenged the world he served.<\/p>\n
Every time a Pharisee or Herodian challenged him on an aspect of religious faith, he would offer new perspective and a different way of seeing things\u2026 the United Church continues to work hard to live into this style of ministry. It isn\u2019t easy, but we\u2019re starting to find ways to do it.<\/p>\n
My hope is that your presence in our church family will help us continue to live into this reality and bring new and energizing perspectives for all of us. I invite us all to take a walk to the mountain top and broaden our understanding of God\u2019s will for us.<\/p>\n
May we all follow Christ\u2019s example and face the world with open hearts, listening for the whispers of the Holy Spirit as it speaks to us about other ways to see the world. May it be so for all of us. Amen.<\/p>\n