"The Poetry of Transformation"  Judy Skaggs, UPC

Isaiah 65:17-25; 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

We continue with our summer preaching series, looking at various themes of the faith. This morning we are focusing on the theme of transformation.

Our series is inspired by the quote of Walter Brueggeman from Finally Comes the Poet on the front of our bulletin. “The church on Sunday morning, or whenever it engages in its odd speech, may be the last place left in our society for imaginative speech that permits people to enter into new worlds of faith and to participate in joyous, obedient life.”

When I was in high school, our English teacher, Mr. Wollard, made us read and memorize a lot of poetry, but he also made us find pictures that illustrated the various poems we learned. In the same way we have tried to find a picture that would help us delve into the poetry of our faith. This morning you find a picture of a china rabbit whose name is Edward Tullane. You will learn more about him later.

When I started looking for scriptures that might help us explore the theme of transformation, I was amazed that the list was endless. But I guess when I really thought about it - we believe in a God who comes to change us, to create new life, who continuously offers us ways of becoming more the people God has created us to be than we are right now at this moment. Transformation is one of the constant themes throughout the Scriptures. So I have chosen a passage from the later writings of the Prophet Isaiah, probably written after the exile, and a portion of Paul’s letter to the early church in Corinth. Let us listen for how the Spirit may speak to the church. Read scriptures.

Let me introduce you to Edward Tulane whose picture is on our wall today. Edward was a beautiful, big china rabbit who was loved by a young girl named Abilene Tullane. Throughout Edward’s story, he had many adventures. He was tossed overboard an oceanliner and rescued by a fisherman. He ended up on a garbage heap and was saved by a dog named Lucy. He traveled with hoboes, and he worked for a while as a scarecrow. He watched a little girl die. And he ended up in Memphis where he was thrown across the room and broken in pieces, but was put back together by a doll mender.

But Edward’s miraculous journey is not just about all the places he lived and all the people he encountered. For, each time Edward had to leave someone behind and came to be with someone new, he found that he was different, something deep inside of him was changed.

When he was new and loved by Abilene, he did not pay much attention to anyone but himself. He was a special rabbit with lots of beautiful silk suits and a gold pocket watch. Every night when Abilene tucked him into bed, she said “I love you, Edward,” but he had nothing to say back to her. But after a number of times when he had been forced to leave some of the people who cared for him, Edward found that he felt something deep in his china chest even though he could not name what it was.

At one point he began to listen to others around him, and even some of the hoboes told him their deep secrets. He kept them somewhere deep within him. By the time he came to live with Sarah Ruth, he longed to be able to help her with her sickness, and when she died, he thought his heart would break.

When we look at Edward Tullane’s story, we might say that he was learning how to love, how to care and show compassion - that he began only able to think of himself, and he was changed so that his thoughts were for others rather than for himself alone.

Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. Everything old has passed away, see, everything has become new!

Edward’s transformation was gradual, over time, through both happy and  adverse circumstances. He began to listen, he noticed others, he began to be able to name his feelings.

I would guess that most of us experience transformation gradually, over time, like Edward did. Not too many of us have a blinding experience on the road to Damascus like the Apostle Paul when suddenly our lives are radically changed. Most of us plod along, and sort of gradually wake up to discover we don’t feel the same way we used to feel, that we don’t harbor old resentments, that we really have forgiven someone who hurt us, that we really do feel compassion for some person we have hardly been aware of in the past.

Now, Paul writes that this new creation is from God, who is in the business of reconciling us through Christ to God’s very self. And this is very good news. Because it means that we are never alone in the work of transformation that goes on within us.

Jesus had two early sermons. The first was, “Repent and believe; the kingdom has come near.” Jesus called for change from the beginning of his ministry – repent, turn and go another direction, go toward God. The kingdom has come near – you are never alone. The Word has become flesh, the complete manifestation of the Torah, of the Kingdom of God is with you and will be with you always.

And his second sermon was, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of people.” Again, Jesus calls disciples to change. Follow me, don’t follow all the things you have been following up to now. Come in this direction, come toward God. And I will make you… I will make you…not, you must do this on your own. I will make you into the people I want and need you to be, to do the work I have for you to do. Jesus calls disciples into the process of transformation.

And, as we consider the passage from the prophet Isaiah, we discover even there that this newness of life offered to the children of Israel, is God’s doing. “I will create, I will rejoice, I will answer – says the Lord.”

The children of Israel have been in exile in Babylon for some 70 years. In Babylon, they had a crisis of faith. Is God here with us? How do we worship without our beloved temple? Is God capable of saving us here in this place?

And so God’s prophets continue to assure them that they are still beloved people of God even though they have had to endure exile, even though their homes and temple have been destroyed, even though they have experienced immense sorrow. Isaiah writes that God is creating something new, that everything will be changed. This new thing is being created out of God’s sovereign love and grace. If anyone is in Christ, that person is a new creation.

One of my favorite movies is called “Awakenings.” As I have thought of the theme of transformation, I could not help think of this movie which is based on a true story. Dr Malcolm Sayer, played by Robin Williams, is a brilliant, shy, research physician who comes to work at a chronic hospital in the Bronx in the late 60’s. He discovers many patients who are almost catatonic, and begins to work with them, trying to unlock their darkness. He gets permission to try a new drug, L Dopa, on one of the patients, Leonard Lowe, played by Robert Dinero.

After some time, Leonard wakes up, to discover a world he does not know, for he has been asleep for over 30 years. Dr. Sayer continues to care for Leonard and they develop a friendship – perhaps the first deep friendship Dr Sayer has ever had. He sees the world through Leonard’s eyes – eyes of wonder and excitement. In many ways, Dr Sayer is awakened just as much as Leonard is.

Leonard also makes friends with a young woman who comes to the hospital to visit her father. One of the most touching scenes in the movie is when Leonard is to the point that the medicine is no longer working and he is developing a lot of movement he cannot control. She is talking with him about her week and told him about her work as a waitress, and that she went dancing with friends. Leonard says he will never do those things, and that he will never leave the hospital. She assures him, but he is insistent – this is probably the last visit we will have. He gets up to leave and offers to shake her hand. She takes his hands and holds him and they begin to dance. And in that moment, everyone in the room is transformed. For everyone in the room is a witness to her kindness and compassion for her friend.

At the end of the movie, Dr Sayer is giving a report of what happened in that miraculous time when he was able to bring several patients back from their catatonic state. He asked if it was right to wake them up only to have them go back into their darkness when the effects of the medicine wore off. And he said that yes, it was right, because what was awakened was the human spirit, the tenderness of the human heart, the capacity for those who surrounded them  - the staff, their family who often had given up on them, their friends who now began to care more deeply, more compassionately. Every person connected with these patients was changed.

As Henri Nouwen expresses it, “Every human being has a great, yet often unknown gift, to care, to be compassionate, to become present to the other, to listen, to hear, to receive. If that gift would be set free, and made available, miracles would take place.”

Friends, part of our call as disciples is to a life of transformation. God longs to awaken us to be able to love more deeply, to show compassion for others, to listen, to really see what is going on around us. And God in Christ Jesus is willing to make us into new creations – into the very image of Christ.

Now we know that our transformation may be through various circumstances, just as we have seen in the stories of Edward Tullane and the children of Israel and Dr Sayer and Leonard, as we see in our own lives or the lives of others we know. The promise is not for ease. But the promise is that of presence. Remember I am with you always.

May God bless our becoming, our awakening, our transformation. Amen.