No Spin Zone!

Text:  Mark 9:2-9 & 1 Peter 1:16-19

Theme:  “No Spin Zone”

The Transfiguration of The Lord

February 15, 2015

FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH

Denton, Texas

Rev. Paul R. Dunklau

+In the Name of Jesus+

After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. 4 And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

5 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.” 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)

7 Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”

8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

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For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”[a] 18 We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

19 We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

“America is not the greatest country in the world anymore,” declares Will McAvoy, the news anchor on the HBO TV series, The Newsroom.  The show – which now, regrettably, has finished its run – portrayed the activities of a fictional, modern newsroom while weaving in actual, historical events.  Aaron Sorkin, the creative genius behind the effort, sticks to the facts – and it doesn’t hurt to have an actor the caliber of Jeff Daniels to present them.

The scene is set, at the beginning of the first episode, in a large university lecture hall.  There is a moderator, a conservative representative, a liberal representative, and Will McAvoy (the unbiased journalist).  He looks very uncomfortable on that stage – not saying much.  He listened to the usual laundry list of viewpoints from the conservative and liberal sides.  Finally, a young student asks a question during the Q&A:  “What makes America the greatest country in the world?” 

He began by muttering out things that may have been appropriate to say, people-pleasing things to say,  but the moderator wasn’t buying it.  He wanted a “human moment” from McAvoy.  From that point on, you could hear a pin drop as McAvoy gave him a piece of his heart that was armed with the facts and NOT the usual spin.

Responding to the conservative who said America was the greatest country in the world because of “freedom, freedom, and freedom,” McAvoy hit his stride:

You're going to tell students that America is so starspangled awesome that we're the only ones in the world who have freedom? Canada has freedom, Japan has freedom, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, BELGIUM has freedom! Two hundred and seven sovereign states in the world, like 180 of them have freedom.

He wasn’t finished. He turned to a sorority girl who had put forth the question about what made America great:

And yeah, you... sorority girl. Just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there are some things you should know, and one of them is: There is absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we're the greatest country in the world. We're seventh in literacy, twenty-seventh in math, twenty-second in science, forty-ninth in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, number four in labor force, and number four in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending, where we spend more than the next twenty-six countries combined, twenty-five of whom are allies. None of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you, nonetheless, are without a doubt a member of the WORST-period-GENERATION-period-EVER-period, so when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don't know what (expletives deleted)you're talking about.  Yosemite?

We sure used to be. We stood up for what was right. We fought for moral reasons, we passed laws, struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chest. We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and we cultivated the world's greatest artists and the world's greatest economy. We reached for the stars, acted like men. We aspired to intelligence; we didn't belittle it; it didn't make us feel inferior. We didn't identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn't scare so easy. We were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. By great men, men who were revered. The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one.  America isn’t the greatest country in the world anymore.

Thirty one years ago, on Transfiguration Sunday, 1984, I recognized there was a problem – not a problem in any way comparable to what McAvoy talked about, but a problem nonetheless.   I arrived at a church in Pagedale, Missouri (suburban St. Louis) very nervous because I was about to deliver my first ever sermon from the pulpit in a corporate worship service at my field work congregation.  The problem recognized was that I left my sermon notes back at the seminary. I raced back, scooped them into my briefcase, and made it to church in time.  The Scripture, which the seminary had assigned to me, was what I just shared with you moments ago. 

Thirty one years later, it still never ceases to offer fresh insights for faith and life.  The apostle St. Peter, author of the text, is not at all like the moderator on that stage, not at all like some spokesperson for a political viewpoint.  He is WAY more like Will McAvoy.  He faced a world, a society, a culture which was, ironically, much like our own today.  The claims of Christianity were/are questioned.  The truths of the Bible – in part or whole – are held up the light of intense critical scrutiny.  The history of the holy catholic church is seen, by many, to be a controlling, manipulative – and, at times, even violent -- human construct.  Moderned “enlightened” thought – tinged with various degrees of agnosticism and atheism – have long since dispatched the faith to the dustbin of history. 

The apostle St. Peter did not “spin” Christianity to generate appeal.  He didn’t sugarcoat it to gain adherents. Neither did he present it as a list of tired, tawdry talking points.  Straight from an inspired heart, he struck to the facts.  As a result, this text, I would argue as an aside, is a powerful piece of material to offer – lovingly and gently – to those moderns among us who have serious doubts about the faith. 

Peter said:  “We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  In modern lingo, he’s saying “We’re not spinning anything; we’re not picking and choosing facts to fit our theories; we’re not telling you what we think you want to hear; we’re simply offering what happened to you for your consideration. 

He goes on:  “We were eyewitnesses.”  “Eyewitnesses” to what?  They witnessed with their own eyes what we heard in today’s gospel:  the Transfiguration of the Lord.  They saw the glory.  They heard the voice:  “This is my Son whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” 

What was the conclusion reached on the basis of the facts?  Peter said that the “prophetic message” – meaning the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ – is completely reliable. 

Finally, he offers up a gentle suggestion:  “You would do well to pay attention to that word” – to that gospel! – “as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning start rises in your hearts.”

There are dark places, and we cannot spin them away.   They are outside of us; they are inside of us – all of us. We get scared, easily, and don’t know what to do.  So we hunker down and practice the devilish art of denial.  But…“The first step to solving a problem is recognizing that there is one.”

The good news for today is that the good news is still good.  It is the light of Jesus Christ.  It is reliable.  It is good.  It still shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 

Thus, on this Transfiguration day, the last Sunday of Epiphany, and with Lent on the horizon, the church prays to her Lord:

Shine, Jesus, Shine!

Send forth Your Word, and let there be light.

Amen.