Sermon "A Transforming Covenant"
Rev. Dr. Steven A. Peay
Sunday, March 8, 1998
Luke 9:28-36
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"A Transforming Covenant"
I like words. Words are, in many ways, the thing that sets us apart as human beings. We can take these very difficult, very abstract concepts we come up with and `name' them. The words of the sermon title this morning are both abstract concepts, but with powerful practical implications.
The word `transform,' Webster tells us, means: "to change in form, appearance, or structure; metamorphose," and "to change in condition, nature, or character; convert." Interesting that the word metamorphose -- a Greek word -- should be used here, since that word also means `transfigure.' The Gospel lesson spoke of Jesus' transfiguration on the mountain.
Webster defines `covenant' as "a written agreement or promise usually under seal between two or more parties especially for the performance of some action; the common-law action to recover damages for breach of such a contract." The term covenant is often used interchangeably with `contract' or `agreement,' but since it sounds classier it's being used more frequently. My neighborhood association has its `covenants.' They've been in force since 1919...it even has something in there about the keeping of livestock, but I think my lot's too small. It's an agreement that I will keep my property in a certain manner, a question of mutual agreement. There are, however, penalties for my non-compliance.
When God made covenant with Abram, which is what we see in Genesis, it's not a bi-lateral contract between equals. The covenant is a gift God makes to Abram and to his descendants. I like what the Dutch Old Testament scholar Theodore Vriezen says, "the Covenant between God and the people did not bring two `partners' into contract relation, but into a communion, originating with God, in which Israel was bound to Him completely and made dependent upon him." Abram, later Abraham -- because the covenant relationship transforms, changes even his name -- and his descendants, Israel, are brought into a unique position. They are called into intimate relationship with the Creator God. God extends himself to Abram and makes covenant to guarantee his promise of relationship: "I am your God. You are my people."
Thus, covenant becomes the means for transformation. In the covenant we become God's people. When God speaks his Word into human flesh in the act of the Incarnation (enfleshment) this covenant is raised to a new level. George Mendenhall, perhaps the greatest modern scholar of the covenant, writes:
The covenant is solemnly established not in the settings of a majestic phenomenon of the power of God in nature, but in the insignificant gathering of a small group in an upper room. The covenant given is not a mythical presentation of a timeless, divine, cosmic process, but is an historical event whereby the disciples are bound together with the Lord as the new Israel -- the new Kingdom of God. The new stipulations of the covenant are not a system of law to define in detail every obligation in every conceivable circumstance, but the law of love.
This law of love, then becomes the standard for the Christian community, since it was by demonstrating this law in his act of absolute self-giving on the cross that Christ brought salvation.
So, on the mount of transfiguration, the disciples glimpsed a bit of the glory of the Incarnate Lord in preparation for what they would experience in the upper room, at the cross, and in the resurrection. They, and we, become parties in a new covenant; not made with the flesh of animals, or written on paper, but in the flesh of Jesus the Christ. In that covenant we are made "partakers in divine nature", as we read in Peter' second epistle.
What distresses me is how few people realize what we're offered, what we are to become. Many people, born and raised in the Christian tradition, have gone looking elsewhere for this experience of union with the Divine, relationship with God. Why? Because the Christian churches have turned the law of love into just plain old law and often reduced the invitation to relationship with the Creator to a rather narrow conceptualization of who God is and what he desires for us. People come looking for the God who creates, surrounds his world with love and they're met with a rule book! One person quoted in A Generation of Seekers, a book on the religious quest of the "boomers," said, "I want a church where they don't whack you on the can." Amen. So do I.
Also, so much of our faith has been made `otherworldly.' Almost like it's been distilled down to a system of preparation for death -- which is not entirely a bad thing. However, there's more there. I don't see this as the sole emphasis in Scripture. Jesus announces the he has come that "we might have life and have it more abundantly." To me that means both here and hereafter. The teachers of the early church saw a glimpse of this promise of abundant life in what took place in the transfiguration. God made covenant with Abram and Moses on the mountain, begins to renew it on Tabor, and brings it to fulfillment on Calvary. On Calvary's cross God gives the ultimate testimony of absolute self-emptying, self-giving love and service which shows us the depth of God's Covenant Love.
We are to participate, be joined in this love. We are to be, truly, `partakers of divine nature.' But how?
We are given means of grace, means to enter into the experience of union with God. We have to understand, first, that while this is a particular covenant between God and each believer is not a private or a solitary act. When God made covenant with Abraham it was with him and all his offspring. We are joined to a body, the church, which is seen as the body of Christ himself. So it is our task to continue to bring God "with skin on" into the world -- and it's in our skin. Thus, our lives are joined with God and one another and we are to care and respond to others.
The three chief things, the teachers of the church tell us, which join us to God are: the Word, the Sacraments, and Prayer. The Word is, in the words of Paul, to "dwell within us." Our reading, meditating, and living the Scripture is one of the chief ways God continues to communicate with us.
The early Congregationalists referred to the sacraments as "seals of the covenant." These visible actions using ordinary things --water, bread, wine-- testify to, remind, and renew the reality to which they point. As one Puritan theologian said, "they are no dumb signs." Rather, they are eloquent testimony to our participation in God's life and God's participation in our life.
Prayer is perhaps the most potent means of all to come to divine union. One author has called it a "bright ladder which joins heaven and earth." Prayer is to be more than just our dialoging, or more often monologing, with God. Prayer is communion -- the practice of God's presence. It's not just when we're on our knees or meditating. As Basil the Great said, "Let the time for prayer be the whole of life." Every action, every thought of a Christian's life should carry with the quality of a prayer.
Called by God, given the means of grace, we have entered into covenant with God. If we are in covenant with God our lives will reflect it.
The Congregational Way of being church is the way of covenant. The emphasis has been on a profession of faith that is lived, rather than just ascribed to. The words of the covenant those of us made when we joined this church are telling. What have we bound ourselves to?
First, we have identified ourselves as "followers of Jesus Christ." A follower seeks to live as the leader did, to continue the work the leader has done. Are we? Second, we have committed ourselves to the worship and service of God. This means we live lives which reflect the praise of God and do not lightly absent ourselves from divine service, the fellowship of believers. Third, we have covenanted to grow in the knowledge and expression of our faith -- Lent is a good season to ask ourselves if we're following this part of our covenant. When's the last time we've spent some time in serious study of the Scripture, read a spiritual book, or thought about what our faith means to us? How are we growing...and how expressing our faith? Fourth, we have said we will reach out to those in need. Have we? Have we gone beyond what we do through the church; thought about what "in need" might mean. There may be folks "in need" right here -- in need of our care, our smile. Need takes many forms. Fifth, we have covenanted to treat each other with love and respect. Have we? Are there individuals in this meeting house with whom we have a disagreement? Or that we have pre-judged or misjudged for a word or action? Have we sought reconciliation? Have we considered our own situation -- that perhaps we may be pills to live with? Sixth, we will return to God a portion of his gifts. Yes, we pledge, but is it a real return on God's investment in us? Isn't it also the gifts we have which are more than material that also matter? How often have we turned down a board or committee assignment, or been "too busy" to help with a project...or to talk to another...or to offer a word of encouragement. All of these are returning a portion of God's gifts -- they're also growing in the expression of our faith.
Our covenant is a good spiritual check-list, I know it's given me much to think and pray about.
The glory of the covenant relationship is that, while we vacillate and go through all sorts of gyrations, God's love, God's desire for us to be partakers in his divine nature never changes. It's interesting to me to discover that the so-called "hellfire and brimstone" preachers of Puritan New England spent most of their time counseling parishioners from the pulpit NOT to be so hard on themselves; to know that God does hear and heed a repentant heart. Paul reminded the Phillipians not to look behind, but ahead; to trust in Christ who will offer to us the same transfiguring power that was revealed to the apostles on the mountain. As one father of the Church said, it won't be because we didn't do miracles or whatever that we'll be judged, but because we didn't continuously repent. Acknowledge...admit...repent...change...move on; it's a message of hope, of joy, of light. It is the stuff of transfiguration. And that, my sisters and brothers, is precisely what we have entered into...a transforming covenant with a God who calls us his own. "I am your God...you are my people." Thank God. Amen.
