Delivered Sept. 2, 2007
by Pastor Marilyn Henderson
How many of you have heard of the ancient form of chemistry called "alchemy?" This is an ancient art, practiced since the time of the Egyptians and Greeks, in which people "sought to transmute base materials into something of great value ... creating 'a transcendent, miraculous substance, which is variously symbolized as the Philosophers' stone, The Elixir of Life, or the universal medicine. The procedure is, first, to find the suitable material ... and then to subject it to a series of operations that will turn it into the Philosophers' Stone" (God's Troublemakers, 24).
The best known goals of the alchemists were the transmutation of common metals into Gold or Silver, the creation of a "panacea" - a remedy that supposedly would cure all diseases and prolong life indefinitely - and the discovery of a universal solvent. Starting with the Middle Ages, European alchemists invested much effort on the search for the "philosopher's stone", a legendary substance that was believed to be an essential ingredient for any of those goals. (Wikipedia)
The goal is plain - creating something valuable, possibly priceless, out of common materials.
In her book God's Troublemakers: How Women of Faith Are Changing the World, Katharine Rhodes Henderson tells the story of Henna Hahn, a Methodist minister in New York City's borough of Manhattan. In the mid-1990's, Henna founded the Rainbow Center, a shelter for Korean women who have been abused by their American GI husbands. The following story tells how the Rainbow Center began:
In 1992, when Henna was working in a church supporting the specific needs of Korean women in international marriages, a colleague sent her a clipping from a newspaper. It reported the story of a woman named Chong Sun France who for six years had been imprisoned in North Carolina for the second-degree murder of her child.
Eric and I watched the movie "With Honours" Friday night. It's the story of a Harvard student in his last year who is struggling to finish his senior thesis in his major area of study - government. Through a series of events Monty's thesis ends up in the basement of the Harvard Library - in the possession of Simon Wilder, a homeless man who lives there. Simon agrees to give Monty the thesis one page at a time in return for things he needs and wants. There are 88 pages and, because his computer crashed, this is the only copy Monty has. And he has a deadline.
In the fourth chapter of Corinthians Paul has just finished explaining that the new covenant, established by Jesus, brings life to people rather than the condemnation and death of the old covenant. It is the Spirit of God - of Jesus Himself - that frees people from the bondage of the old covenant and from sin. In ch. 3.17 Paul states that the Lord is the Spirit and that where the Spirit is, there is freedom.
In the Old Testament the Israelites asked Moses to veil his face because God's glory shown so brightly there. Paul uses this imagery to say that followers of Jesus do not need to be protected from God's glory by a veil. Experiencing more of God produces change - transformation. Verse 18 says that we "are being transformed into the same image" as the God we see in the mirror.
Could it be that the Holy Spirit is the ultimate "Philosophers' Stone," as the alchemists might say? This transcendent, miraculous Holy Power is actively, right now, transforming the "material" God has found suitable - women and men and young people and boys and girls. And we are being transformed into people who more closely resemble the God who created us. Paul believed that God as Spirit was doing just that - transforming people from what they had been into something valuable and priceless.
Henna Hahn had a decision to make. She had read of the Korean woman's pitiful plight. Would she respond or would she place it in her sermon illustration file and continue with her ministry at the church?
Henna responded by going to visit the woman in jail. Hearing her story, she realized that she had been falsely accused.
Chong France, who spoke no English, had fled from her abusive American GI husband with her two small children. She began working nights in a bar, leaving her children to sleep in a motel room. One evening the two-year-old had tried to play with the TV, pulled it over on top of himself and was killed. The police took her grief-stricken words, "I killed my son," as a confession.
Henna began a year-long campaign to free her. Through her efforts, Chong France's sentence was commuted; she was granted parole and placed in Henna's custody.
Remember Monty? Monty had a decision to make. Would he capitulate to Simon's demand for things in exchange for each page of his thesis or take things into his own hands? After looking at glazed donuts through a magnifying glass to find a perfect donut as Simon had demanded, he decided he didn't have the time or patience to be blackmailed and called the police. After Simon was arrested, Monty searched the library basement only to discover that the thesis wasn't there.
Off Monty went to post bail for Simon. As Monty and Simon walk out of jail, Monty asked Simon for his thesis. Simon looked at him and said, "Harvard, you still don't think I'm a person, do you? DO YOU?"
Paul is very down-to-earth and forthright as he encourages and exhorts the Corinthian church in chapter 4. He lays out how he looks at his ministryas he lives for and ministers to Jesus.
Henna Hahn's encounter with Chong France was life-changing. She was transformed from a minister of the Word in a church congregation to a minister of the Word in a congregation of lost, sick and homeless Korean women. She created a safe and sacred space that made transformation possible for many others.
At the Rainbow Center in New York a group of women, still in the process of being healed themselves, call themselves the Dandelion Mission. Encouraged to become agents of healing as they themselves heal, the Dandelion Mission women seek out other homeless and lost Korean women who need healing, hope and transformation. In their turn, just as dandelion fluff scatters to create new plants, more women would discover the possibilities in transformation and healing.
Monty's relationship with Simon had many rocky places. Eventually we discovered that Monty, by allowing himself to see a dirty, stinky homeless man as a person, found a rare friend and mentor. And Simon, in insisting that Monty acknowledge him as a person, reclaimed his dignity and found friendship and a home. Both men, one young and one old, allowed themselves to be transformed by their relationship and found healing and wholeness.
Paul and Timothy, as they were being transformed more and more into God's image, accepted God's mission to the Gentiles. Like dandelion seeds, they became hardy in the face of adversity yet remained receptive to God's continuing transformation in their lives.
Let's go back to the end of chapter 3 for a moment.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
When we acknowledge and honour God, when we embrace God's free gift of grace and salvation, the Holy Spirit is with us. And Paul says that where the Spirit is, there is freedom.
18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
When we live in God's presence openly, not behind veils of walls and barriers and barricades, pretence or lies or deception or blindness or fear, we are free to become transformed. We are free to embrace God's ultimate alchemy success, the Holy Spirit's on-going transformation of our hearts and lives. We are free to be transformed from what we've always been into what we've always been meant to be - ministers of God's acceptance, hospitality, grace and reconciliation.
What does all this mean for PMC right now? The answer lies within us all, for each of us is a clay jar that holds priceless Treasure.
First of all, we need to individually ask questions. Do I live responsively to the Treasure's transforming power? In other words, am I seeking God regularly? Am I listening and looking for God's presence in the life I'm living? Or is there something I'm hiding behind? Something I don't want to acknowledge?
As a community we hold God's priceless Treasure within our body. How do we allow the transforming Light of God that is working in us to shine into Petitcodiac? How do we allow that Light to shine in our own communities?
As we move into the second year of interim ministry, I invite us all to consider setting aside one day a week when all of us spend more time in prayer for ourselves as a congregation. This would be a day when we are all listening more carefully to God for direction. It would also mean that we need to sharing what we hear on Sunday morning as a way of discerning God's voice for the future.
This congregation has spent a year in mourning and healing. We have the possibility of continuing transformation before us as we serve God, our priceless Treasure, in Petitcodiac, in Moncton, in Havelock, in Shediac, in Alma, in Fredericton and in Cole's Island. Let's move ahead with the words of Paul:
"But we have this treasure in clay jars, that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us ... Yes, everything is for your sake, so that grace, as it extends to more and more people, may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart."
Let's remain in a constant state of being transformed so that we can be truer ministers of God's love and grace wherever and to whatever we are called.
Sources Consulted
Petitcodiac Mennonite Church