The Bible v Facebook
When war broke out in the Ukraine this week, I wanted to pray but prayer alone seemed so inadequate. Then the Spirit moved within me and I heard the ancient cry of Scripture. The words of Psalm 2 came to my heart and I cried out with the millions more of faith throughout time and place;
“Why are the nations in an uproar; *
why do the peoples mutter empty threats?
Why do the Kings of the earth rise up to warfare
against God’s People?
The Holy One whose throne is in heaven holds them in derision.
And now, you Kings, be wise; *
be warned, you rulers of the earth.
Submit to God with fear, *
and with trembling bow before the Most High,
Lest God be angry and you perish, *
For your time on earth is short and you will give and account for all that you have done.”
I printed these words to my Facebook page thinking that the ancient words would help to express something deep within us all. But something in what I wrote was problematic.
Within moments my account was restricted. Apparently the words of Scripture give offense to one of Facebook’s algorithmic bots. I was astonished to think that the prayer of God’s people of faith down through the ages was met with rejection from this particular ubiquitous electronic medium.
Like many of you, I have been struggling with Facebook’s place in our culture of late and how it has occupied an outsized role in our national and international life. In fact I think Facebook has been used quite effectively to divide Americans and Europeans by a very clever and devious mind. The resulting weakness in the West gives the upper hand to anybody who may wish to launch a military campaign in Eastern Europe.
It didn’t take long for me to finally draw the line. If my Facebook account can be restricted for quoting Scripture, then it has come time to delete my account and to declare a Solemn Fast for myself from Social Media.
What happened as a result of that action was a series of conversations with family and friends. And this I believe is what humankind needs more urgently than ever; the sacrament of human conversation. Whatever our point of view, let us at least find a way to speak to one another about it as if we were all children of the same God.
In today’s Scripture passages we do more than speak with one another. Moses and Jesus find themselves speaking directly with God. Imagine being in the Presence of the Living God!
When Moses held high converse in the Presence of the Holy One his face would shine and the people were afraid to come near him. So Moses put a veil over his face, until he went back again up the Mountain where the sacred conversation continued. Then he would remove the veil in the Presence and his face would shine yet again.
Pay attention when you pray, something like that radiance begins to shine in your own heart and soul as you approach the Holy. Think about that for a moment or two…
In today’s Gospel the sacred conversation reaches a whole new level well beyond human understanding. Here the Disciples are confronted with Moses who represents our deliverance out of slavery and God’s gift of the Law. Elijah likewise appears representing the Prophets and God’s love of Justice especially on behalf of the poor.
Jesus is there too and I can imagine what that might have been like. I’d be dumbstruck. And so they were for a while but Peter couldn’t help himself. “Let’s make three dwellings; one for you one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
“Peter what are you talking about?”
“I don’t know.”
How can anyone know what to say in the Presence of such an awesome experience of the Living Christ and his Transfiguration? How can anyone know what to say in the Presence of the Law and the Prophets and the Love of God made Flesh and Blood in Jesus?
You think you have something to say about that? Best you hold your tongue, listen and look.
Jesus is Transfigured. Moses and Elijah fade into the background and Jesus emerges from one Glory to another. His raiment is brighter than any fuller’s soap on earth could make.
Moses at the Burning Bush asked God; “What is your Name”. Listen up and God will tell you.
Moses was summoned up to the Mountain of God and had nothing to say because God laid down the Law.
After all it is God who asks the questions and we who give the answers. We learn that lesson time and again throughout history. No King or Queen, no Pharaoh, no dictator, no autocrat, no president on earth is god. Only God is God.
But Peter thought that somehow we could make three dwelling places; one for the Law, one for the Prophets and one for Jesus. But there is no way to put God in a box. God’s Glory shines in and trough and above and beyond anything our minds can fathom. Perhaps it is best for us to keep a holy silence in the Presence of the Living God.
But the Good News is not that God is beyond human knowing as Jesus reveals it. In fact it is all so simple. When Jesus died and rose again, the Love of God also came to life within each of us. As Jesus forgave us, so we forgive. As Jesus reconciled us to God, so we reconcile each to the other on earth. As Jesus stretched out his loving arms on the hard wood of the cross everyone comes within the reach of his saving embrace.
Which brings me back to the case of the Bible v Facebook.
"Why are the nations in an uproar?
Why do the kings of the earth imagine a vain thing.
Do they not know that God is God?
We read in Scripture; “the fool has said in his heart; there is no God.” ~Psalm 14:1.
Perhaps some algorithmic bot would take offense at that too.
It is a tragic mistake for any King on earth to think there is no God.
Which is why I pray the prayer of Scripture.
Today we all pray for those who suffer in the midst of warfare. For men, women and children whose homeland is under attack, and for refugees who have no home to go to.
May our hearts open to them as God’s heart opens to all humankind.
In the Name of God the Most Holy Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen.
Fr Paul
Below are the appointed readings for Transfiguration Sunday with words and sentences highlighted that speak to my heart.
Transfiguration Sunday
The Collect:
O God, who before the passion of your only-begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
First Lesson: Exodus 34:29-35
Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he
had been talking with God. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
Psalm 99
The Lord is King;
let the people tremble; *
he is enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth shake.
The Lord is great in Zion; *
he is high above all peoples.
Let them confess his Name, which is great and awesome; * he is the Holy One.
“O mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity; *
you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.”
Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God
and fall down before his footstool; * he is the Holy One.
Moses and Aaron among his priests,
and Samuel among those who call upon his Name, *
they called upon the Lord, and he answered them.
He spoke to them out of the pillar of cloud; *
they kept his testimonies and the decree that he gave them.
“O Lord our God, you answered them indeed; *
you were a God who forgave them,
yet punished them for their evil deeds.”
Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God
and worship him upon his holy hill; *
for the Lord our God is the Holy One.
Epistle: 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.
Gospel: Luke 9:28-36
Now about eight days after these sayings 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 dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” —not knowing what he said. 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!” When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
