Sermon (March 5/Ash Wednesday) “How Is It with Your Soul?” by Rev. Robert McDowell

March 5, 2025 (Ash Wednesday)

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

     During the month of December, I came across somebody’s Facebook post that caught my attention. Let me read it to you.

     It said, “To the punk who tried to steal our Christmas lights last night…you dropped your phone dummy while you were till logged into Facebook and didn’t even have a lock on your phone…I’m not going to the cops if you come back and let me talk to you…I’d rather just find out why and avoid putting someone in jail for a failed attempt at theft.”

     And then the guy writes this in his Facebook post: “Here’s the profile link to this person’s Facebook…Does anyone know who this is??? I have a lot of friends who are mutual friends with this person.” And then he provides the Facebook profile link that you could click on to see who stole this guy’s lights.

     I was reluctant to click on the link, but I was curious to see who the guy was. I remember thinking to myself, “I just got to see who this fool is.”

    So, I clicked the link and to my surprise, it was a link to my own Facebook page! It looked like I was the guy who stole his Christmas lights! In that split second, my heart sank.

     And that’s when I realized that this whole thing was a joke because everyone who clicked on that link, was sent to their own Facebook page, as if we were the ones who stole this guy’s Christmas lights.

     I laughed as I stared at my own profile. I knew in that moment that this would make it into a future sermon and Ash Wednesday seemed to be the most appropriate time to use this.

     Rusian novelist and historian, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn has said, “If only it were all so simple! If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”

     Sometimes we need a season like Lent to look at our own profile and think about who we are and who God is calling us to be. But it’s not always easy to look within for any length of time. It can be a painful experience because we might not like what we see.

     If we look at our profile, we might have forgotten about our lack of forgiveness toward that person who harmed us, or the gossip that we recently shared about someone we know, or the stranger who asked for a few bucks to help him out and for whatever reason, we turned him away, or how we didn’t keep a promise that we made, or when we could have been more generous and instead gave the smaller amount.

     The point is that we all need Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent to look within ourselves and get right with God.

     Isn’t it amazing that we can buy a number of things that help us to look outside of ourselves, but there really is nothing that we can buy that can help us look inside our own souls?

     Think about it. If we want to look at something beyond ourselves, we can buy prescription glasses, binoculars, and telescopes. But what is there that can help us look into our own souls?

     The season of Lent reminds us that there is something that can help us with that. It’s called prayer and confession.

     John Wesley who was the founder of Methodism was known for asking those early Methodists this very important question, “How is it with your soul?” We probably don’t hear that question enough. “How is it with you soul?”

     Not, “how is your day going?” or “how’s life?” but “how is it with your soul?”

     This question encourages us to go deeper in thinking about who we are, who God is, and where we are in our spiritual journey. I know it’s a deep question, but it really is a game changer when we ask that particular question of ourselves.

     Lent helps us to plumb the depths of inner most being. Lent is what helps us to exercise our soul. And like any exercise or activity that involves a muscle of our body that we typically don’t use, we shouldn’t be surprised if we find ourselves a little sore after giving our souls a little workout.

     How is it with your soul? Think about the possible answers in answering this question. Here are just a few examples.

     “Well, to tell you the truth, right now I feel really close in my walk with Christ, and I want it to continue.” Or this…

     “Actually, I’m going through a time of darkness in my life and it’s been really hard to feel God’s presence.” Or…

     “I know that God has forgiven me for a terrible thing that I did, but I just can’t forgive myself.”  Or…

     “I am just now realizing that I’m not living life my fully. I’m just kind of going through the motions, like I’ve hit a plateau. I want to take my faith to a whole new level.”

     This is what you get when you ask the “soul” question. You come face to face with the very core of your being.

      Today marks the beginning of Lent, a stretch of six weeks where we designate this time leading up to Easter as a time to focus on this question, “How is it with our soul?” Lent is a long season, even longer than it’s liturgical cousin, “Advent” which is a four week stretch.

     These two seasons on the church calendar have something in common. They both involve waiting. Not a passive waiting for a baby to be born or for a tomb to be found empty. No, these seasons encourage us to observe an active waiting.

     It’s a time for us to be alert, awake, alive. Did I just come up with a future three point sermon?! I like that! Alert, awake, alive.

     Say that with me. “Alert – Awake – Alive!”

     Remember when the disciples were in the garden with Jesus, and he had asked them to watch and pray while he went off to pray by himself?

     And remember how they stayed awake that whole night praying for him? Trick question. They didn’t. They fell asleep when Jesus needed them the most.

     That story reminds us that being alert, awake, and alive is hard work. We need some time to live into that kind of deeper faith journey.

     And this is why the church offers us this six week time frame. One day won’t cut it. Not even one week. We need a whole season. We need Lent.

     One of the ways that the church can help us think about the question, “how is it with your soul?” is by asking each other that question from time to time.

     Our Sunday worship services can also be a way for us to think about this question. For the next six Sunday’s we will be looking on different wilderness challenges that we all face from time to time.

    These include the wilderness challenges of our identity, our trust, our passion, our healing, our focus, and our humility. And then on Easter Sunday, we’ll also look at the wilderness challenge of our belief. Allow these Sundays to be opportunities to reflect on the question, “How is it with my soul?”

     In a few moments, we will be coming forward to receive ashes on our forward as a reminder of our mortality and of our dependence on God. The sign of the cross on our foreheads and sometimes on our noses depending on how shaky my hand is, becomes a sign to the people we see that we have just begun a holy journey.

     It’s a journey that begins with the words, “how is it with your soul,” but remember, this six-week journey will also conclude with these great words of good news that will make this journey through the wilderness all worth it…

     And those words are, “He is risen!”

Sermon (March 2) “I See You!” by Rev. Robert McDowell

March 2, 2025

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

     Transfiguration Sunday is one of the extra special Sundays on the church calendar, but it often goes unnoticed. It serves as a bridge between the weeks following the Christmas season and the beginning of the Season of Lent.

     And maybe that’s the whole point of this Sunday on the church calendar because it reminds us of how easy it can be to miss the holy moments that happen in our daily lives.  Take Moses from our Old Testament reading for example.

     This is the story of when Moses went up a mountain and the Lord gave him the Ten Commandments to present to the people. So, he goes back down the mountain, and our scripture reading is quick to point out that Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face was shining because he had been talking with God.

     And so, when Moses makes it down to the people, they were afraid because this doesn’t look like the same Moses who had left them. This was a Moses whose face was now radiating the glory of God. And when Moses discovers that he now looks very different, he needs to put a veil over his face just so that the people would no longer be overwhelmed.

     During the pandemic, there were times when I didn’t recognize people I knew because we were wearing masks. I remember one time I got out of my car in a grocery store parking lot, and I saw one of my church members wearing a mask. Thinking that person was someone else, I called called that person by the wrong name! Wearing masks made it difficult to recognize each other.

 

     During the pandemic one of my church members made the observation that masks were making it difficult for people to see their true selves.

     Masks can hide our expressions to varying degrees and this church member said how it was challenging to get a sense of how the other person was really doing. This person’s comment reminded me of how important it is to really see each other beyond just a surface level.

     And so, when the Israelites first saw Moses coming down from the mountain, they couldn’t help but to see that he had truly been with the Lord because his skin was shining. The people could see that Moses had encountered the living God.

     What does it mean for us to see God’s presence in our daily lives? What does it mean for us to see each other? And for that matter, what does it mean for us to see ourselves and who we are deep down in our very being?

     This is what Transfiguration Sunday, this obscure Sunday on the church calendar invites us to do each year. It invites us to open our eyes and see ourselves, each other, and the presence of God at work in our lives.

     Let’s begin with how we see ourselves. How we see ourselves can have a significant impact on our attitudes as well as our actions.

     You may have heard the story about the Episcopal Priest who went to the Harley Davidson dealer to buy a motorcycle.

 

     The salesman came out to the parking lot, noticed the man admiring the bike, and said: “that there bike is the most powerful piece of machinery you’ll ever be seen on. It goes from zero to 60 in 5.8 seconds. Jet black fuel tank, chrome muffler, raised handlebars. Can’t you see yourself, flying down the road, hair on fire, everyone’s head turning as you go by?” So, tell me, what sort of work do you do for a living?” the salesman asked.

     “I’m an Episcopal Priest.”

     “Oh,” the salesman said, now with a disappointed look on his face. “Forget about what I just said because this motorcycle is also known to be the safest, most practical bike we’ve got on the lot. It comes with two helmets and free riding instructions.”

     How do you see yourself? Do you see yourself through the eyes of the assumptions of what others may expect you to be or do you see yourself for who you truly are, a child of God?

     I have a friend who says that if only we would remember our baptism more often, this would be a game changer in how God wants us to see ourselves. When Jesus was baptized, a voice from heaven said, “You are my child, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

     For various reasons, we sometimes forget this very basic truth that is revealed in our baptism. We are God’s children. We are all beloved by God. And God is pleased with us.

     Our baptism reminds us that we are each a blessed, beloved, and beautiful child of God. And as I like to say, “There are no exceptions, asterisks, or loopholes.”

 

     Or, if you’re not baptized, no worries because we are told in the first few pages of the Bible, that each one of us has been created in the image of God. Each one of us. Again, no exceptions, asterisks, or loopholes.

     And when we think of who God is like, descriptive words like loving, patient, generous, forgiving, kind, compassionate, and holy come to mind. And just to think that we are all created in the image of this God who is described in this way! This is who we have been created to be.      

     This is what it means to be fully human. This is who we are. Do you see this in yourself? If you do, that’s great because that is who God has created you to be.

     If you don’t see this basis truth about who you are, that you have been created in God’s image, then I would encourage you to reflect on this until you do. You are a blessed, beloved, and beautiful child of God. There are no exceptions, asterisks, or loopholes, or footnotes, fine-print, or disqualifications. You are a child of God!!

     And, this morning, I want to ask you how you see others. I think this has been more challenging over these past several years, just because of the widening political and theological polarization that we have been experiencing. It’s not easy to see beyond the different labels that we attach to each other.

     Christian author and speaker, Brian McLaren was asked what helps him to stay in a loving relationship with family members and friends who have very profound political and ideological differences than his own. When Brian was asked this question on a theological podcast I was listening to at the time, I remember writing down his answer because I really appreciated his response.

     He said, “I have learned to just say to people that I disagree with in the most loving, gracious, and genuine way that I can, ‘I just see it differently.’”

     Isn’t that a great response! Of course, this assumes that we’ve truly listened to the other person. But this response is concise, to the point, genuine, but also true to what you believe. No need for arguments. No need for passive/aggressive behavior. We simply say, “I just see it differently.”

     One of the ways that we can help people who feel unheard, ignored, and brushed aside is to truly listen to them and affirm them by saying, “I want you to know that I see you. I hear you.”

     John Wesley, the founder of Methodism was known for how he encouraged those early Methodists to ask each other the question, “How is it with your soul?” That question invites us to see beyond what is going on the surface and go deeper in how how we are really doing emotionally, relationally, physically, and spiritually.

     If we truly want to see others, that’s a great question to ask. “How is it with your soul?”

     In addition to seeing ourselves and others, Transfiguration Sunday is also a time to see and recognize God’s presence in our daily lives.

     Now, you probably won’t have the same experience as Moses did who had spent six whole days with God on a mountaintop.

     And you probably won’t have the same experience as the three disciples, Peter, James, and John who witnessed Jesus being transfigured and radiating God’s glory right in front of their eyes. These were literally and figuratively mountaintop experiences.

     Even if we may not have mountaintop experiences like the ones in our scripture readings today, God is still present in holy and mysterious ways. We refer to these as thin place moments, those moments where heaven and earth overlap reminding us of God’s presence.

     The Apostle Paul writes in our scripture reading from II Corinthians, “And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord.” What are those veils that are keeping us from seeing the glory of the Lord?

     Some of these veils include the veil of a modern-day world view that has squeezed out any notion of the holy and mysterious. There is also the veil of our own daily preoccupations that can prevent us from seeing how God is at work.

     Another veil is the veil of simply not giving ourselves time to reflect on the events of our lives to see how God was present. I like to refer to these as “delayed thin place moments” because it’s only in retrospect that we see how God was present in the people and situations we encountered.

     Whether we recognize God’s presence in real time or upon reflection, it’s amazing what we can see when we remove the veils that would keep us from seeing the glory of the Lord.

     Several years ago, I was part of a team of people who led a weekend youth retreat at the church I was serving. On that Saturday morning, we led the 25 or so teenagers up to the sanctuary. Once everybody was seated in the first pews, one of the leaders told everybody to bow their heads in a time of silent prayer.

     Well, the mistake this adult leader made was to tell the youth to bow their heads because they ended up missing the first five minutes of a very moving mime skit that some of our other leaders had put together and were acting out in the front of the sanctuary.

     Since the skit was in silence, the youth didn’t know that it had started and we as leaders didn’t realize that the youth still had their heads bowed toward the floor in an attitude of prayer. I still laugh when I think about that memory.

     On this Transfiguration Sunday, let’s not miss seeing the glory of God. Let’s see ourselves as God’s blessed, beloved, and beautiful children of God. Let’s see others as people created in the image of God. And let’s be open to seeing God’s mysterious and holy presence at work in our daily encounters.

     And as the Apostle Paul says, may we all see the glory of the Lord.

Sunday (March 2/Transfiguration) Pastoral Prayer

March 2 (Transfiguration Sunday) 2025

Beulah UMC & Oak Grove UMC

 

Be thou our vision, O Lord of our hearts.

 

Be though our vision so that we can see ourselves the way you see us, people created in your image. Be though our vision so that we can see others the way you see them. And be though our vision so that we can become more aware of your shining presence in our daily lives.

 

Be thou our vision as we lift up to you the many joys and concerns that are on our hearts this day, including those who are on our church’s prayer list and others that have been shared. We pray for your healing, guiding, comforting, and loving presence would be with each of these persons and needs.

 

Be thou our vision especially during those times in our lives when we are feeling alone, discouraged, tired, and in need of a sign of your presence. And then when we become aware of your holy radiance, lead us to sing with the writer of our prayer hymn, “great God of heaven, my treasure thou art.”

 

As we prepare to receive your Sacrament of Holy Communion this morning, open our eyes to your shining presence as we partake of the bread and drink from the cup. Be thou our vision by day and by night, waking or sleeping, thy presence my light.

 

We pray this in the name of Jesus who taught us to pray together…

 

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.