Last Epiphany, Year B, RCL

On Friday, February 13th, Senior High youth from the Episcopal Church of Our Saviour in Rock Hill, SC gathered at 8 p.m. for a different kind of church overnight. Instead of a lock-in, we planned a lock-out. We created Valentines and thank you's to be delivered to the Police Station, the Hospital and other places where people are at work all night long. Prayers were said at Midnight and 3 a.m. in the morning, and our event concluded with breakfast at 4 a.m. The following sermon was preached on the next Sunday, describing the event, and the experiences we had.

2 Kings 2:1-12
Psalm 50:1-6
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Mark 9:2-9

Theological reflection is difficult at 4 a.m. in the morning, especially after being awake and active for 22 hours. I know this because last Friday night I was sitting at a Waffle House with several members of our youth group and youth volunteers trying to think theologically about the experiences we had shared during the previous 8 hours.

The plan was to have a lock-out – a youth event that would take us out into the world that is at work at the time that most of us are safe in our beds, fast asleep. Our mission was to look, and see and give thanks for the people who do their work at all hours of the night. Police, medical workers, etc. Our experiences were surprising, energizing, comforting, challenging, and tiring.

The first stop was to the emergency shelter for women and children at the Pilgrim’s Inn. A night-worker greeted us with a giant smile and warm hugs, sincerely thankful that we had decided to engage in this unusual kind of ministry. She has been working there for 10 years, keeping watch, prepared to respond to a guest’s need in the middle of the night, there to answer the door should an abused mother or child knock in need of a place to stay. Never in her time there had anyone come by just to say thank you to her.

To the outside world, asleep or at work, or just driving by in the wee hours of the morning, the shelter at Pilgrim’s Inn is perhaps, just a porch light left on. But to those for whom it is there to serve, that light is a beacon of hope, a ray of light in the darkness, and this woman, the ambassador of that hope. We saw her, we opened our eyes to her, and gave thanks for her ministry. She was, to us, the face of Christ, seen in a new light.

Our next stop was York Place, another ministry that our parish supports financially and through volunteers and projects. Again we were faced with person after person who greeted us with smiles and surprise at the thought that youth from a church in Rock Hill had decided to offer them a special Valentine. At one of the cottages the energy from our youth as they greeted the night workers resulted in a burst of song! There was a mutual deep joy that was exchanged between those who are called to serve, and our group that decided to serve those who give their time and talent to care for those with such great need.

One of the workers reminded us that they did not do this work for their own “glory” (after all, it is largely invisible to a world that sleeps at night), but that it was a call and a commitment to care for those in need in response to the gift of Christ’s love for the whole world. Another worker challenged our youth to consider the real need of these, and other children being watched over in their sleep, and encouraged all of us to be open to the possibility that we might be the hands and hearts at this kind of work one day. Being a part of the world at work at night opened our eyes to see Christ at work in the world in an unexpected, brilliantly bright way.

In our Gospel this morning we join some of the disciples as they follow Jesus to a private place and in a moment of dazzling light and wonder, the Jesus they know is transfigured, transformed into something unrecognizable, but breathtakingly beautiful. This story of the Transfiguration of Jesus is rapt in mystery, wonder, awe. Housed almost at the center of Mark’s Gospel, it is connected with Jesus’ first pronouncement of the path that has been set before him – one that we know as the passion – Jesus’ trial at the hands of human judgment, and his impending death on a cross. Here this beautiful vision of glory beyond anything imaginable, followed by the word of the difficult road still ahead.

These themes are familiar to me in the story of our lock-out experience last weekend. We decided to see the world as it is, surprised by its beauty, and grounded by the deep need and hurt that exists alongside of that. But there is light in the darkness, and we found it right here in Rock Hill.

As people of faith, we are called to proclaim the light of Christ – to let it shine in our hearts, and through our response to the needs of those in our community, and the world around us. Jesus made his way to the cross. He accepted the challenge of suffering and death, so that we might be freed from the suffering that we inflict on ourselves and on one another. Love God. Love your neighbor. It’s that simple.
I offer the same challenge to you that was put to us. Know that the Gospel truth that God’s great love has been revealed to you. Open your eyes to the world around you, look for those places where the love of God is needed. Open your hands and your hearts to the reality that you are being called to serve. And let your light shine in the darkness. Amen.

Delivered by the Rev. Mary Catherine Enockson
at the Episcopal Church of Our Saviour, Rock Hill, SC
Sunday, February 22, 2009