Transformed

(Scriptures: Exodus 1:8 – 2:10, Romans 12:1-8, Matthew 16:1-30)

Over the course of the summer, I’ve been re-reading the book “Diary of a City Priest” by Roman Catholic priest Fr. John McNamee. The book was made into a movie several years ago – perhaps some of you saw it? Fr. McNamee was pastor of St Malachy’s church at 11th & Master Street in North Philadelphia, near Temple University, before his retirement a few years ago. His book recounts his struggle to minister, day after discouraging day, year after exhausting year, to an impoverished neighborhood in which hardly any Roman Catholics live; the challenge of making his home in a neighborhood overwhelmed by poverty, substance abuse, violence. His book is a series of short but memorable vignettes about his interactions with his neighbors, and for me, many of the most memorable have to do with the seemingly incessant requests for help he receives – in the form of phone calls from neighborhood people who are overwhelmed with life and need a sympathetic ear, in the form of constant knocks on the door of the church from people from the nearby projects seeking food, or a few dollars to help pay for SEPTA passes and such. In his book, Father McNamee sometimes expresses second thoughts about his life choices – the celibate, often lonely life of a priest rather than the comforts of wife and family, the disconnect and distance between his ministry amid North Philadelphia’s devastation and the pomp and ceremony of Philadelphia’s hierarchy, the “official” church.

Father McNamee’s book came to my mind as I considered the words of today’s reading from Paul’s letter to the church at Rome. Paul’s words at the beginning of our reading, which I’ve included in the bulletin as this morning’s focus verse, have a way of grabbing our attention: “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Living sacrifice – yikes! We may be tempted to stop reading and change the subject right there, but I want to try to persuade all of us not only to keep reading, but to take Paul’s words to heart.

Paul’s words – “present your bodies as a living sacrifice” – may seem extreme, over-the-top, fanatical, freakish even. But I’d like to point out Paul’s opening words: “I appeal to you therefore….” Therefore. Paul appeals to his readers to present their bodies as living sacrifices, as a response to his words that precede this reading. What words would these be?

Those words of Paul, which Paul makes the basis for his appeal, tell of God’s incredible love, God’s incredible grace toward sinners, Jew and Gentile alike, the incredible affirmation that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, the incredible affirmation that neither death, not life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. And then Paul speaks of God’s grace in cutting off dead branches in order to graft the Gentiles – that would be us - into the tree of faith. Grace. Grace! Paul’s letter, up to this point, has been a recounting of God’s persistent, overwhelming grace toward humankind and all creation.

So, with today’s reading, we have God’s life-giving grace, within us and all around us, that surrounds us in everything we do – therefore – how can we help but respond with praise and thanksgiving! And not only thanksgiving, but – to borrow a word from my colleague the Rev. Scott Bohr at the Presbyterian church – thanks-living. Thanks-living – living a life of worship and service, in gratitude to all that God has done for us.

Now Philadelphia isn’t always known for expressions of gratitude. During an Eagles game some 40 years ago, the fans booed a volunteer pressed into service at the last minute to play Santa Claus during halftime, and that reputation – as boo-birds, as the city that boos Santa Claus - has defined Philly sports fans, and Philadelphians in general, ever since. So perhaps in Philadelphia, getting to gratitude may take an extra dose of divine intervention. But Paul’s got that covered as well: he tells us not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. To be transformed – why? So that we may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. It’s only through the transforming power of God that we can even know God’s will, let alone try to live our lives in accordance with it.

With transformed minds, we are able to see ourselves with sober judgment, not as living for ourselves, but as part of something beyond ourselves, the body of Christ, of which we are all members, with different gifts and different functions. God has given each of us different gifts for service, to be used, not for ourselves, but for others.

The phrase “living sacrifice” may conjure visions of some dramatic act of heroism, but the reality may look more like small, daily acts of sacrifice – the sacrifice parents make to raise their children, the sacrifice adult children make to look after aging parents - the sacrifices of time and resources that many people have made over many years so that we are able to carry on the ministry of Emanuel Church to this day. It involves letting go – letting go of our pride, letting go of our priorities, letting go of our time and resources – not insisting on our own way, but letting go and letting God’s will prevail. It may look like the ministry of Father McNamee at St Malachy’s – daily acts of visiting the sick, listening on the phone to those who are overwhelmed by life, giving to those who ask for a can of food or a few dollars for carfare - less dramatic than running into a burning building to rescue someone, but exhausting just the same. It is in these daily acts of self-sacrifice, this daily life as a living sacrifice, that God transforms us so that we are no longer conformed to the world’s pattern, but instead to the will of God.

This transformation does not come quickly or easily. Very few people experience the instantaneous transformation of being knocked off our horse and being transformed from Saul into Paul. Most often, the process of transformation, the process of God’s renewing our mind, comes slowly and gradually over time. We may find ourselves taking three steps forward and two steps back. We may hit periods of discouragement. Father McNamee writes, of his own experience:

“Several times recently, people have said they don’t know how I do it, day after day, year after year in such an impossible landscape. Well, this is how I do it – poorly. I falter; I fail; I scream. I upset myself so that sleep will be uneasy….For myself, accept the fact that I am going to perform poorly often enough.”

And yet, even with his sense of his own incompleteness and limitation, Father McNamee’s book ends with a note of quiet grace. At the end of his book, which he wrote in the waning days of the year, Father McNamee writes, of his wrestling with his faith:

“When one experiences faith as so illusive, so fragile, one might have to cling more surely, and the fragile hold keeps one close and humble….Holding on so desperately at least makes me hold on, makes me aware that we have here no lasting place, gives me a healthy sense of my own need.

So. I close the book on this year with no sense of anything finished or even ongoing. It looks like still another year is given me, and I have little light, except that I should continue to be where I am and do what I am doing, only to do it more generously and patiently.”

In the words of our hymn earlier today, “Jesus, I my cross have taken, all to leave, and follow Thee.” May we at Emanuel live our lives in the shadow of Christ’s cross, offer our lives as living sacrifices, in service to neighbor and worship of God. Amen.
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Please join us at Emanuel Church on September 18 to celebrate our 150th anniversary. Worship is at 10 a.m., followed by lunch and social hour. www.emanuelphila.org