Pastor's Monthly Message
Pastor’s Page March 2025
March begins with the Celebration of The Transfiguration of Our Lord
It is the last Sunday of the Epiphany Season. You can think of it as God
Lifting the Veil of God’s glory! The transfiguration is frustrating for disciples—past and present—who long for an unmediated experience of God.
Jesus’ glory is revealed, and then, just as suddenly, a cloud descends and the vision fades. And even though Paul contrasts the Christian’s experience of God with Moses’s veiled experience of God, he notes that we see the glory of the Lord “as though reflected in a mirror” (2 Cor. 3:18). Even with unveiled faces, we don’t see directly, or even clearly. Even when God is revealed in shining glory, much remains veiled and hidden.
As he witnesses Jesus’ transfiguration, Peter’s understanding remains veiled; ours does too.
· The glimpses we get of God’s glory—through the veil or reflected in the mirror—are expectation-shattering, alarming, overwhelming, and awesome.
· The love of God shines too brightly to view directly, and yet we do have the privilege of directly experiencing that glorious love through baptism, in communion, in service to God, and in relationship with God’s creation and our neighbors, especially those in need.
· The veils we contend with daily are the barriers that prevent us from truly loving those neighbors, caring for God’s Good Creation, and seeing the shining face of Jesus in the faces of people we meet ... they may be different than us, or hungry, or just plain difficult, our enemy, or poor, or somehow just invisible to us. Yet each and every one is radiating the Glory of God right in front of our eyes!
God is always revealed in ways that surprise and confuse us, whether shining on the mountaintop or dying on the cross.
Ash Wednesday is March 5th!
On Ash Wednesday we begin our forty-day journey toward Easter with a day of fasting and repentance. We mark our foreheads with dust, acknowledging that we will die and return to the earth. At the same time, the dust traces the life-giving cross, just as it was indelibly marked on our foreheads at our baptism. While we journey through Lent to return to God, we have already been reconciled to God through Christ. We humbly pray for God to make our hearts clean while we rejoice that “now is the day of salvation.” Returning to our baptismal call, we more intentionally bear the fruits of mercy and justice in the world.
Peace in the Journey!
Pastor Andy