She Shows Up: The Holy Spirit (yes, she) Steers the Church — He Breaks Down Crosses, Transfiguration, and Traffic Circles

Chapel Hill. I hope this message encourages you, challenges

you and moves you to go deeper in your faith and enrich how you

love God and love your neighbor in your day to day life.

Just a reminder. Like the Scriptures and Gospels themselves,

this homily was written for a particular community in a particular

context, time in history. And yet, like our sacred texts, I hope

that these words hold timeless truths about God's unconditional

love and grace. We hope these words speak to you in a meaningful

way. The Holy Gospel According to Matthew Glory to you. From that

time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to

Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders

and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and on the

third day be raised. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke

him, saying, God forbid it, Lord, this must never happen to you.

But he turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You

are a hindrance to me. You are setting your mind not on divine things,

but on human things. Then Jesus told his disciples, if any

wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up

their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life

will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will

find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole

world but forfeit their life? What will they give in return for

their life? The Son of Man is to come with his angels in glory

of His Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has

been done. Truly, I tell you, there are some standing here who

will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in

his kingdom. The Gospel of the Lord may be seated. The name of the

Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. I wasn't here

for Pentecost Sunday, way back in May, but it's pretty evident the

Holy Spirit showed up and did her thing for visitors and newcomers.

I was on sabbatical this summer, but as I kept my eye on what

was happening here at Holy Trinity, and then when I returned,

it's pretty clear that over the last three months, that same

spirit and breath of God that hovered over the chaotic waters at

the beginning of creation, that same Spirit that filled the

upper room on that first Pentecost in the Book of Acts, empowering

and inspiring the first disciples, that same Spirit that

hovers over the waters of Baptism, claiming us as beloved children

of God, that same Spirit that hovers over the twists and turns

of our daily lives showed up and worked as this community gathered

for worship and in small groups for coffee hours and for funerals.

That same Spirit guided and gave shape to your explorations of

the parables for here for Reconciled in Christ Sundays, the

Holy Spirit was present when our members and friends were open

and bold in sharing their testimonies and stoking joy for children's

musicals. The Spirit hovered and shaped and challenged and soothed.

And so as I hop on this already moving train and locomotive

called Holy Trinity Lutheran Church and Lutheran Campus Ministry,

an emerging question comes to the surface. Where are we headed?

Where are we going? What road are we traveling? Yes, school has

started. The fall semester is well underway. Soon, hopefully, cooler

weather will roll in and leaves will begin to change color.

Midterm elections are looming, wrapping up another year and getting

ready for a new one is only a few months away. And yet, as the

Holy Spirit hovers and shapes and challenges and soothes, I can't

shake the question where are we headed as a person, individually,

As a congregation? As a society? In our Gospel reading from

Matthew, Jesus reveals some clues. Last Sunday we heard the story

of Jesus stopping at Caesarea Philippi and having a check in with

his disciples. I can imagine Jesus sitting his disciples down

and asking them to share their highs and lows for the day. And then

Jesus asks some revealing questions. Who do people say that

I am? As you would imagine there were a diverse number of answers.

But then he gets more personal. He turns the question to

them and asks them, who do you say that I am? Peter is the one who

speaks up first and confesses Jesus to be the long awaited Messiah.

Now if you remember what Pastor Margay shared last week, the

place in context of where Jesus asked these questions are pretty

significant. Jesus asks them in a town known for festivals and

worship of a fertility guide and a town named after the Emperor.

These are I also can imagine that some of the disciples were perhaps

asking to themselves among themselves, okay Jesus, where is

this headed? Okay Jesus, if you are the long awaited Messiah,

what does that look like? This morning we hear the story of what

happens right after this confession and wandering and boy,

what does a difference a week makes. Yes Peter, you are the rock

and your confession is the foundation on which we will build

a church. Or are you a blockhead so hard headed that you

can't see what kind of messiah Jesus is? After Peter's confession

that Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus gets real with them and he

pulls them in and makes a passion prediction and shares where

they are headed to Jerusalem and there, the religious leaders

will reject him and kill him. But on the third day, he will be

raised. Peter's like, wait, hold up. True messiahs aren't defeated

and killed. That would and should not happen to you. Jesus doesn't

hold back. Peter, don't be a Satan. Literally, a word that means

adversary. Get behind me and fall in line. Follow the leader,

watch and listen. You have more learning to do. Those who follow

me let go of themselves and preconceived notions of what messiahs

are and what they do and how they rule. Followers take up crosses

rather than build them. Sure, Peter's confession that Jesus has

the Messiah, he does that. He. Sure, he makes that confession. But

in the shadow of a town named after Caesar and an emperor, Jesus

makes it clear the kind of messiah that he is and will be. It's

almost like Jesus is saying to Peter and the others, this is where

we are headed. This is the kind of messiah that I am and will

be. Watch and learn. Follow. Part of my sabbatical was navigating

and driving in foreign countries. I did the driving in Iceland,

which is a little easier, and Cindy did the driving in France and

Spain. Some things were just like driving over here, but there

were some differences that we needed to pay attention, to be aware

of. Everyone drove on the right side of the road, got a check.

But there are lots of traffic circles to navigate. And while we

do have some traffic circles here in our neighborhoods, man, that's

a different thing over in Europe. And while they keep traffic

moving, man, there are cars coming in and out on all sides of

you, and you need to stay alert. I will confess that when Cindy

was driving in France and there's traffic circles, I was in

charge of the GPs and following where that blue line was,

asked to take a right and head in the right direction. And it was

hard to see at times. And there may have been a few times when

we exited too early. We may have had to pay the toll on the road

a few extra times for me and for us. And I may have been yelled

at a few times. What are you doing? Why did you tell me to do

that when there wasn't a traffic circle and you met a stoplight

In Iceland, they have red for stop. Good. Got it. Check. Know that

they have green for go and of course, yellow for caution. But the

yellow caution light isn't just shining when green turns to

red, but when you stop at a stoplight, the red will then turn

yellow to give you a caution, and then green the opposite direction,

which I thought Just kind of slow up and pay attention in case

people were walking across. People behind me were like, no, that

means go. Kind of freaked me out. Instead of miles per hour, there

were kilometers per hour, which was fine, as long as you make

sure you match up that number on the road with the number on your

car. But in Iceland, on the speed limit signs, they have speed

radars that clock how fast you are going, which will show you how

fast you are going. And along with that, if you're doing the speed

limit, they flash a smiley face. If you're going too fast, guess

what they shine at you. A sad face, A frowny face. Hmm, another

confession. I got a number of frowny faces and Cindy would shake

her head, just being slightly ashamed. It was an effective character

correction device for sure. I didn't want to get a frowny face,

but I still needed to get to go where I needed to go. In France

and Spain, they didn't have frowny faces and smiley faces according

to how fast or slow you were going. But if there were traffic

or wrecks ahead of you, there were street signs that would flash

this big exclamation mark with the word attention. Caution. Pay

attention. The road you travel needs your attention. That flashing

exclamation mark was for sure effective. This all comes to mind

because I think this is what Jesus is doing when he's shepherding

and leading his disciples. Okay, he's identified them as he.

They have identified him as the Messiah. But caution, tension.

Peter, you're going too fast. Slow down. Sad face. Don't turn too

early in the traffic circle. This is where we are headed. The

road is heading to Jerusalem and it involves a cross. I'm a different

kind of Messiah than you assume I am. The call of discipleship

following Jesus is the call to bear crosses, not build them, and

certainly not to put anybody on them. It's not about conquest,

power, but this word is about saving and losing lives. Jesus is

challenging what we are grasping after versus what we are

called to let go of. I do find it interesting that when Jesus talks

about going, about what's going to happen to him in Jerusalem

and taking up crosses, Peter misses that whole part about Jesus

being raised on the third day. He is so taken back by what sounds

like defeat that he misses the assurance of Easter. And yes, Jesus's

words seem pretty abrupt and harsh. Crosses are certainly scary.

If you're going too fast and you make assumptions, Attention.

You need to slow down. Don't miss the good news of Easter. The

story would end there with Peter. It would be a real bummer

for him. But if you keep reading the Scriptures in Matthew

right after this story In Matthew chapter 17, there is a story

Matthew 17 · chapter mention

about the transfiguration when Peter take When Jesus takes Peter,

James and John up to the mountaintop and Jesus shines in bright

glory. We will not hear this story in church until Transfiguration

Sunday on the last Sunday of Epiphany in February. But for Peter,

even though Jesus called him Satan, an adversary and reprimanded

him, Jesus redirects the disciples out of the traffic circle

to the top of a mountain to get a glimpse of his glory before

they have to head down the mountain and face the reality of

the cross. A grace moment for sure in their journey where they

are headed today. When we come to this altar to receive bread and

wine, the tangible grace of God, to taste and see that the Lord

is good, I hope this can be a grace moment for you and for me that

helps keep you going on the road that the Holy Spirit is leading

us down. In our traffic circles and traffic jams. If you're

going too fast or slow, be assured Jesus smiles at us when we

come to this altar. He says, keep following me. Where are we headed?

A great question that I hope we'll keep asking. I hope that we

will keep paying attention to Jesus following down the road that

he takes us down. This morning. I challenge you to pay attention

to the words of our hymn of the day. This hymn is not in our

hymnal, but in looking at the gospel story for today, Megan found

this hymn and I think it articulates beautifully the mystery

of the cross. A cross that we are called to pay attention to in

the hard and difficult world that we're called to navigate. The

last verse really stands out to me. To bear the cross and follow

Christ brings both joy and tears, brings life reborn and sacrifice,

brings hope along with fears. Brings all the ambiguity of being

dust and clay, yet brings as well the clarity of love's eternal

life way. Where are we headed? Let's continue to trust the Holy

Spirit and follow Jesus together. Amen. Thank you for listening.

If there is anything that stood out for you or if you have

a question or. Or you just want to have a conversation, you

are always free to reach out and contact us and remember you are

not alone and that you are loved with a love stronger than death.

Sam.