"Confusing Messy Focusing Joy"
Luke 9:28-43
Yonce Shelton, Westmoreland UCC
March 2, 2025
Messy, huh? What's going on with me today?! I guess I just couldn’t pull it together. As Abigail would say, I’m kookoo-bananas.
I’m a mess because we are in a strange place. The season of Epiphany will soon end, and Lent will begin, and I am thinking more about the transition from our intentional focus on JOY in recent services and into a season most don’t associate with joy. So I am marking that shift today, treating it as a bridge, or in-between time.
That can be messy, like - well - almost everything now. Seasons. Transition. Trying to focus well during change. Joy can be messy because it's not always a pristine experience; it can be intertwined with chaos, hardship, and vulnerability; and it can be hard to control. Couple that with me making you think about Lent and self-examination and taking stock of your spiritual journey a little earlier than you wanted! Anyone here not so messy that that is a walk in the park? Well then, I invite you to welcome messy in these next few minutes - and weeks.
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Now, Westmoreland is actually an overachiever when it comes to embracing messy. You just heard about the Messy Church we have once a month. Some of you kids come. Many people may think it's just for kids and families, but it's more than that. It actually represents a way to BE church that is different - and may have some things to teach us about God and community.
Messy Church is different from “how we've always done it,” or “the way we should worship,” or what many people grew up with. Interaction, creativity, spontaneity, and improvisation are words that come to mind for me. So I wonder: How is something like Messy Church for others? Let's ask a few.
I’ll admit: I can talk a big game about being messy, but still hold onto control. I get nervous being up here. So I keep my written sermon close by instead of just going with the flow. But at the same time I know - I know deep down in my very being - that it would be OK to just roll with it and be messy. Easier said than done.
But, kids, I will let you in on something. All the other stuff I say during the service (like the prayers): most times I have no clue what that will be until I walk in here. So maybe I’m on the right track. Baby steps.
How about you? Do you get nervous about God stuff? About doing it right? How about you, adults?
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Today’s reading is about the disciples missing a really big point about God because they did what they thought they should; what made sense given what they knew about Jesus; what held with tradition.
“Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. … Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here; let us set up three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah,’ not realizing what he was saying. While he was saying this, a cloud came
and overshadowed them, and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said: ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’”
Here’s what I see happening. Peter acted in a well-intentioned way to honor and make something real and lasting. But God says: knock it off and pay attention to the new way, Jesus. And here’s what made it harder for poor Peter to get: I don’t think Jesus’ “talking” happened until they came down from the mountain - when the man brought his demon possessed son and “Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.”
What I think God wanted the disciples to learn on the mountain wasn’t that the mountaintop is where spiritual things have to happen, and that you hold onto the mystical; but instead that Jesus’ change in appearance signaled a need to change ways of being and thinking about what comes next. Who Jesus is was not changed by the light, but what was changed is how He is seen by others.1 It was a transition moment - for the disciples. And yes, it was transformation: more in how they were called to be with people, and not so much about the mountaintop experience.
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We think we know how to understand, learn, and control. We develop routines, worship services, words, and more. We erect tents, monuments, and formidable shrines. But it's in the coming down - and the going out with people - in messiness, that is important. We don’t even have to be in a pure, spiritual, peaceful place to do that. Abigail reminded us last week that Jesus got mad. And He is mad in today’s passage: “You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and put up with you?”
Jesus is a bridge between understanding traditional practices, relationship with God, worship, ways of being church, whatever - even if we don’t have the whole picture. On the mountaintop, the disciples didn’t really understand what Jesus was focusing on, similar to how they didn’t understand when He talked about being risen from the dead at other times. Just like we don’t really know what that means in any number of ways. We could make a long list of confusing things like that.
Not knowing or having control can be confusing and messy. And it can provide great focus for new ways of being.
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Coming down from the mountaintop is the point; the point that the disciples missed. I doubt they understood how important the healing action was. I bet I wouldn't have either. But Jesus gave them this very brief experience of His glory up there - this taste of joy - for another reason too: “[b]ecause they would need that taste of His goodness for the road ahead. They would need to forever remember what their final destiny was. They would need to hold this experience close as they endured the many crosses and sufferings ahead.2
We have the gift of hindsight when it comes to biblical teachings. But we shouldn't limit that gift by simply going through the motions and affirming what we have learned in our heads. We must engage Jesus and these stories in new ways. What can that mean for you - and for us - this Lent? If we pursue that well, it will probably be messy. Just like the disciples. But at least they knew to stay faithfully present with Jesus. Maybe that simple intention can focus us well in confusing and messy times.
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There will be familiar liturgy and routines in Lent. But don’t over-rely on those. Treat those as structures and containers that allow you to bring your confused and messy self to run wild. Bring your full and whole selves like we did when we offered ourselves at the altar weeks ago. Don’t look for all the answers in the usual, polished rituals. Don’t go from a season of joy to a season of self-examination prepared. Look for what God may have for you in your messiness - and how that focuses you as you go out.
If we have the right intent and respect, there’s no right way to worship. There’s no wrong way. I try to always focus on showing up and opening up to God and others in the name of Jesus. That can flow from a place of joy, spark joy, and sustain joy.
Amen.
