Sermon 2019.03.03
The Family Name
(Luke 9:28-36; sermon 5 of 5 in series “We Are Family”; Transfiguration Sunday)

1. We are family.  In February, we talked about how church is a big family. We are all adopted children of God, brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. Nobody loves like family!

Like all families we have our differences and we sometimes squabble and fight… but that doesn’t change the fact that we are family. We still have to find ways to love each other through our disagreements.

Paul talked about how each member of our Christian family brings unique and peculiar gifts to share as well. We are big and diverse and wonderful!

Pastor Don talked about how God gives us the strength and courage to rise to any challenge.

2. The family name.  This is the last message in our family series. Today I want to talk about our family name. Most families bear the name of some distant ancestor. 

Sometimes, our family name honors the name of some long-ago forbearer, telling people who or whose we are: Clements, or Gobel, or Nelson, or Williams.

Other times, our name reflects a long-ago family occupation, telling people what we are or what our family did: Baker, or Farmer, or Hunter, or Smith.

In the church, our family name reflects both whose we are, and what we are. Whose we are is Christian, part of the family of Jesus Christ, our famous ancestor. And what we are is also Christian, the people called to love God and love each other, to serve humbly as Jesus served.

When people hear our family name – Christian – they immediately have a certain impression of us, based on all the Christians they’ve ever met. They might think of Christians as loving, or as judgmental. They might think of Christians who help and serve in the community, or Christians who show up and complain at meetings.

3. Glory on the mountain.  In today’s scripture reading from Luke 9:26-36, we get a good look at the founder of our faith, Jesus Christ. Jesus and his closest disciples, Peter, James and John, go up on a mountaintop for a prayer retreat. The disciples are getting sleepy, when suddenly they are startled wide awake!

Instead of the dusty, travel-stained old cloak Jesus normally wears, suddenly his clothes are blindingly white, cleaner than clean, shining with light. Instead of kneeling in prayer alone, Jesus is standing and talking with two legendary heroes of faith: Moses, the leader who freed the Jewish people from slavery, and Elijah, the prophet who proclaimed truth and judgment over kings and heretics.

A bright cloud overwhelms them, and they hear God’s unmistakable voice blessing Jesus: “This is my Son, my Chosen, my Beloved; listen to him!” (Luke 9:35). Glory shines all around!

And then it is gone – Moses and Elijah, the cloud, the voice, the bright light and the blinding white clothes. All that remains is Jesus: still there, still dusty, still footsore, still their friend.

4. Bright or dim?  In the moment, Peter is reliably dim. He can’t process this awesome experience. He blurts out: “Let’s build three holy places – one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah! Let’s stay here and worship!” (Luke 9:33). Great idea, Peter – no food and no shelter and no tools. Stay on the mountaintop, living on memories and starving to death without sharing the light you’ve seen, without reflecting the glory into the world.

But later, this is a moment that Peter, James, and John will treasure all their lives. They will share the amazing light they’ve seen with others, reflecting Christ’s brightness and love. As John writes in the introduction to his gospel, “We have seen God’s glory, the glory as of an only son, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). As Peter remembers in his letters, they were eyewitnesses to Christ in glory on the mountaintop (2 Peter 1:16-18).

5. Reflecting on family.  We who bear the family name Christian, also carry this responsibility for reflecting Christ’s glory into the world. Are we bright or dim?

When I grew up in a small town, family names often carried a reputation. If you knew somebody’s last name, you knew their family history, and you might have certain expectations. Those folks? Everybody knows they are upstanding and generous. But that family? Well, they tend to be troublemakers. 

My parents drilled it into me: what I did, how I behaved, the things I said, the ways I treated people – all reflected on our family name. Some things built up the family. Other things could damage our reputation.

What do people think of Jesus Christ because of what they see in your lives? What do they think of Onalaska UMC because of what you say and do? 

Here’s what I hope and think our community thinks when they hear the family name Onalaska UMC… OUMC? They are generous – they are the people that serve dinner to the community and fill the food pantry. OUMC? They are the church that opens their doors to everyone. OUMC? They are the place where everyone is welcome. OUMC? They are the folks who love to sing and pray and celebrate God.

Each of us carries the responsibility for reflecting Christ’s glory. As D.L. Moody said, “Out of one hundred people, one reads the bible and the other ninety-nine read the Christian.” Is our witness for for our church family and for the family of Christ bright, or dim? …

6. Tarnishing the UMC.  I need to close today’s message with a quick report on The United Methodist General Conference that concluded last Tuesday. This was the special-called meeting of our global church, intended to address our stance on LGBTQ inclusion. The Way Forward study commission had recommended the One Church plan, which allowed for latitude of conscience – pastors and churches could choose to celebrate same-sex marriages or not; conferences could choose to ordain LGBTQ clergy, or not.

Instead, a well-organized minority of one-third of US delegates and a majority of delegates from Africa passed the Traditional Plan 53% to 47%. If thirty delegates out of 900 had voted the other way, the results would have been different. 

The Traditional Plan reaffirms paragraph 161G in our Book of Discipline: “The United Methodist Church does not condone the practice of homosexuality and considers this practice incompatible with Christian teaching. We affirm that God’s grace is available to all. We will seek to live together in Christian community, welcoming, forgiving, and loving one another, as Christ has loved and accepted us. We implore families and churches not to reject or condemn lesbian or gay members and friends. We commit ourselves to be in ministry for and with all persons.”

Under the Traditional Plan, UMC churches and pastors are still not allowed to conduct same-sex weddings or ordain LGBTQ pastors. The penalties for pastors, bishops, and churches who violate these rules are stiffened significantly, and timelines are set for compliance.

More than the decision, what grieves me is the process. The debate on the floor at General Conference was nasty, with accusations and name-calling hurled on both sides. We tarnished the name of Jesus Christ, and the name of United Methodists, badly. It is perhaps fitting that immediately after General Conference ended, they hauled dirt into the arena and held a monster truck rally the next day.

I wish that General Conference could have been like our local church, where folks on both sides of the issue sat down to talk and to pray together. While we don’t all agree on this issue, we do agree that we all love Jesus. Within our local church, I think we are doing our best to reflect the glory of Christ.

The same night that General Conference closes, our church council voted unanimously to reaffirm our vision statement: we are a church that “LOVES unconditionally,” and where all are welcome. 

If you want to be part of the conversation, I invite you to come to the Q&A sessions we are planning this week: today at noon after second service, Monday at 7:00pm, and next Friday at 6:30pm. The Friday session is especially for young adults and young families, though all are welcome.

It will take months – maybe years – for the United Methodist Church understand and implement the results of General Conference. But local churches are where true ministry and disciple-making and world-transforming occur. So let’s be the church – the same today as we were yesterday, the same tomorrow as we are today: Christ’s family, sharing Christ’s love, serving others humbly, reflecting Christ’s glory.

Amen.