Transformation is a Runway
The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
14 July 2024
The Rev. Robert J. Kossler
From Psalm 19,
Faithfulness and truth meet; justice and well-being kiss.
Truth springs up from the earth; justice looks down from heaven.
God also bestows bounty; our land yields its produce.
Justice walks in front as God sets out on the way.
(The JPS Tanakh: Gender Sensitive Edition, Ps. 85:11-14)
Good morning, my friends, and welcome to our service today. I hope you are finding your summer refreshing and, hopefully, a change of pace from the hectic schedules we usually keep. Summer is a time to recharge, regenerate, and refresh.
I decided to step away from today’s readings for a change of pace. The Gospel reading is grim, highlighting petty jealousies and their consequences. It is a tragedy that captured artistic imaginations through the centuries. Painters such as Donatello, Titian, Caravaggio, and many others depicted this horrific act. Artists once decorated monasteries and cathedrals with images of the Baptist, King Herod, and Salome, and many of their works now reside in national galleries and museums. And many composers of sacred music produced stunning works of musicality – operas, chants, and hymns. Neither the Gospel nor the story of David bringing the Ark to Jerusalem contain much for a sermon – bible study, yes; sermon, no.
Today, I want to focus on transformation and what it might mean for us during this interim time. I am distinguishing between transformation and conversion. For centuries, Christians focused on conversion to understand how to live a Gospel life. John the Baptist preaches a sermon of conversion, of turning around, “Repent for the kingdom of God has come near.” Some, though, criticize the evolution of the Christian understanding of conversion. They question whether the current attitude of conversion reflects an authentic change within or simply the window dressing of joining a Christian community. They raise a valid point. Is proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Savior a genuine conversion? Changing our vocabulary might lead to a better understanding of what John the Baptist actually meant, preaching a message to transform our lives completely – one that is reflective, generous, and compassionate.
In the same volume as the poem, The Well, I shared this week in our newsletter, Richard Rohr, a Franciscan Friar, wrote an article entitled “Four Shapes to Transformation.” He uses a framework from another author, describing transformation as “GROWING UP, WAKING UP, CLEANING UP, AND SHOWING UP.” (Rohr 2017) In my reading, these four notions of transformation apply to us as individuals but are equally important to us as a community and as a church.
In this framework, GROWING UP means what we think it means. It describes an individual’s maturation, both psychologically and emotionally. But this maturation also includes the impact of our time and place in this world. Values and assumptions play a central role in how we grow up. These values come from our families, our social class, and the communities we live in. We hope that our children grow up in a society where they are supported, educated, and understood for who they are. Our church helps facilitate that growth and support.
One of the challenges we face as we grow is where we place our focus. An inward focus is necessary but not sufficient. We need to also pay attention to growing outwardly. Rohr pointedly states, “you can be aware without being caring – which is not to be very aware!” (ibid., 41)
WAKING UP also has an obvious meaning. I think this is where true conversion hits the mark. We “wake up” when we have experiences, particularly spiritual, that move us beyond, beyond the individual to being part of a greater whole, sharing in the Divine purpose. Rohr suggests that waking up should be the final goal of all spiritual work, including the sacraments, along with our studies of the bible and other religious texts. (ibid.) How would our individual and communal lives be different if our waking up was more intentional?
I think all of us would agree that CLEANING UP was and is the main focus of sermons, morals, and practices preached from our pulpits. If you ask a random person on the street what the focus of Christianity is, they will most likely talk about Christian morality. But is that really what cleaning up our acts is about? Should we focus on sin and moral failings, or is there something greater, more important to think about, and work on?
Psychologists often discuss the “shadow self.” The idea is that the shadow self is something we don’t want to acknowledge or talk about. We beat ourselves up about the behavior of this shadow self and dislike it when we see it in others. Rohr suggests that we “project our rejected self onto others and reject them instead!” (ibid., 43) I think this is where conservative Christianity, in its many forms, may not always be on the right track.
I am not suggesting that we have no moral work to do to become better bearers of the Good News. We need to check ourselves and govern our desires, but that is not the primary goal of living a Gospel life. The true goal is not fixated on seeking perfection. The goal of waking up is to surrender, love, and find union with God. What if our focus shifted to the mystical and the beautiful instead of moral perfection? How would that shift change us as members of a spiritual community? Focusing on our inadequacy precludes our paying attention to God’s grace and love. The shift away from perfection moves us from our inward focus so we can attend to what is outside the doors of our church.
Finally, for Fr. Richard, SHOWING UP means “bringing our heart and mind into the actual suffering and problems of the world” (ibid., 45). SHOWING UP means moving outside our bubbles, beyond ourselves. It demands that we engage with our community, our city, and the forgotten places our communities ignore. As the psalmist wrote, “Truth springs from the earth; justice looks down from heaven.” (Ps. 85:12) It is no easy task to move outside of our comfort zones. It takes courage. Things may not go as we hoped or planned. But the risks of bettering others’ lives are worth it.
Ultimately SHOWING UP results from all the previous efforts – GROWING UP, WAKING UP, AND CLEANING UP. We can get stuck at any one of these transformation points. The gift we have, though, is our love for each other and this broken world. Rohr ends his essay with the following point.
Full spiritual transformation is a runway, lying ahead of us and open to all (beyond denomination). Few generations have been offered so many skillful tools and teachers to undertake all four transformations in one lifetime. We are that generation.
Runway, like country or mountain path, seems an apt metaphor for where we are today. It is up to us to do the work to transform. We must ask ourselves what growth we need to do, how we can help each other wake up, what needs cleaning up, and where we should show up.
Transformation is not a destination. It is a journey of countless steps. The psalmist reminds us, “Justice walks in front; as [God] sets out on the way” (Psalm 85:14). Our path is to follow, seeking truth and justice and keeping faith that God will provide the necessary provisions for our expedition.
Amen.
Works Cited
Rohr, Richard. 2017. "Four Shapes to Transformation." Oneing, An Alternative Orthodoxy 5 (1): 39-45. 2023. The JPS Tanakh: Gender Sensitive Edition. Melrose Park, PA: The Jewish Publication Society.