The Transfiguration is one of those church commemorations that never really resonates. It is hard for us earthbound mortals to envision and connect with the story.
Yet it remains a popular subject with artists. Reviewing some art of the transfiguration might be helpful.
Here are four renditions. Some artists attempt a realistic portrayal. Others stick with stylistic or representational. Titian tries to draw us in as if we are standing behind the disciples or perhaps hiding behind a rock! Notice in the stylistic representation how the shaft of light pierces each of the disciples.
The common elements are the six figures. Christ is central. Moses and Elijah flank Christ. Sometimes you will see a personification of God hovering over Christ’s head.
In this icon it is interesting that the artist depicts an elderly Elijah and a youthful Moses. Their heavenly form preserves them at their most memorable.
The three disciples are usually depicted in various states of awe. James and John are usually stunned speechless. Peter is trying to be part of the moment.
For teaching purpose, the painting below by Giovanni Battista Moroni is very forthright in representation. When it came to religious paintings, this 16th century portrait artist was considered a bit ordinary. But his ordinary depiction has the elements of the story.
The disciples awake to find Jesus having a chat with Elijah and Moses. They are discussing heavenly plans. It’s a strategy session. Fortunately, Moses brought the Law with him and Elijah brought his prophecies. What is about to unfold must agree with the law and prophets! Everybody on the same page!
There are the clouds and the bright lights and white raiment. They are clearly on top of a mountain, feet on solid ground. Peter is bold enough to address Jesus and the patriarchs. “Lucky you brought us along. We can build you each a shelter.” The gesture says it all! James and John are overwhelmed. You can almost hear the voice of God coming from that break in the clouds.
But there is also something for our modern eyes to contemplate in this fifth, more modern depiction. The three earthly figures are dwarfed by the experience.
You don’t have a magic wand? Use any kind of pointer, stick or even a straw. Remember, it’s magic!
Today’s gospel tells the story that has come to be known as the Transfiguration.
Four men (Jesus, Peter, James and John) climb a mountain to pray. Suddenly, there are six men!
It has all the trappings of a magic show. People appear from nowhere. People disappear. There are clouds obscuring their vision and brilliant lights to direct the eye.
Keep in mind that Peter, James and John climb the mountain with the knowledge of Moses and the stories told of his mountaintop encounters with God. When Moses and Elijah appear, it may be to them as if they are experiencing history. We might liken it to suddenly seeing Abraham Lincoln and George Washington on the podium on Inauguration Day.
Climbing a mountain to pray is nothing new. Moses had a habit of climbing a mountain when he wanted to talk to God, too.
The experience was a bit ho-hum at first.
While Jesus was praying the three disciples were fighting sleep. Seems like this is a recurring temptation for them. They sleep in the Garden of Gethsemane, and Peter later falls asleep while praying on a rooftop.
That prayer is a challenge is nothing new. We want to talk to God. We hope to listen to God, but when given the opportunity, we feel inadequate. We fall asleep. An escape!
Talking to God is daunting.
But on this particular day, the three disciples were to experience the profound. What they were about to see was so like magic that they dared not talk about it until after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
(Wave your magic wand dramatically as you retell the story.)
They saw Jesus transform. Presto!
He became like light itself. They had heard about this. It had happened to Moses. The great and powerful Moses. The giver of the Law.
Speaking of Moses . . . there he is. He appears with Elijah, the prophet, no stranger to magical occurrences.
Abracadabra! They are here. Presto! They are gone.
The disciples are left listening to God. And what does God say?
“This is my Son. Listen to him.”
The Bible texts which follow this story reveal that Jesus is growing impatient with his disciples and their inability to make connections between what he teaches them and how they should apply his teachings.
The magical part of prayer isn’t so much in how we speak to God. It’s in listening to God speak to us. Elaborate on this.
Willis points out that large churches are historically a new phenomenon—only 100 years old!
2×2 has made this point for a while. Most churches set out to serve their own communities with little thought of growth.
When churches grow, it is usually because of societal change, not a dedication to mission, fueled by a carefully drafted mission statement.
Willis points to the rise of mega church as a result of mobility in society made possible by mass transit and a reliable highway system.
The article quotes Tony Pappas, an American Baptist minister:
So for the first time in human history, thousands of people could get to a one- or two-hour event and get home for lunch! So large churches, big steeples, big pulpits, Old Firsts came into being. As we think of them today, large churches have only been around for a little over a century–only 5% of the history of our faith.
Before the concept of mega church, most congregations were pretty much the same in their needs and mission. Pastors were expected to do the same things and there was little mobility. There was no need. Pastors served the same church for decades.
Today, a pastor may, in following a call, carefully calculate how accepting the call will position him or her for a “better” or more lucrative call in three years.
Meanwhile, the congregations still think they are calling a pastor for the long haul.
The article makes a case for the mega church as an attractive business venture. Business entrepreneurs supported large congregations as an investment.
The early mega churches included congregations of just 1000 or 2000 members. Today, the mega church aims for five times that number. (Churches with 1000 or more members are called corporate churches. There aren’t many of them either.)
A model church budget today relies on the support of 1000 members. Most churches with 1000 members have only 10% worshiping on a typical Sunday morning.
In our 55 Ambassador visits, we have encountered only a handful of churches with worship attendance of more than 100. Most of those were on holiday Sundays. The average attendance of all the churches we have visited has been under 50. One congregation listed its average attendance as 400 in its Trend Report. Attendance at the 11 am service the day we visited was 27 (including us, the pastor and the organist).
In the last 100 years, we have created a model that the Church and its volunteer memberships never set out to support. And can’t.
So here we are in 2013, looking at the ruins of our church. And we are still thinking — if everyone can just change and be like the one or two percent of churches that manage to reach “mega” status, all would be wonderful.
Pastors are still trained to serve congregations as if they are neighborhood congregations. When expectations don’t match reality, the laity are blamed.
Most lay people just want to join a church to worship. They never set out to reinvent it.
Today’s Church exists amid a new and perplexing dichotomy.
Our world views bigger as better. Bigger means more money, more resources, more power. Better goes along for the ride.
This seems to go with the fundamental view of corporate church. It certainly goes with the traditional structure of church since the Middle Ages
The Church is not going to give up on this idea easily!
Within this bigness is a new power of the individual. Individuals do not have to be part of a big organization to fulfill needs which were once met ONLY through association with large organizations.
The FBI with all its state-of-the-art technology and the funding of the leading nation in the free world can be hacked by an adventurous school kid with no particular ill will, as easily as it can be hacked by an enemy.
Big brands with solid positioning in our culture can be challenged by a single new marketing concept. What is Woolworth worth today?
The same thing is happening in the Church. Those accustomed to being big and powerful are finding their secure position in society threatened by the small church and even perhaps by individuals.
Where do television preachers get their start? They rarely rise through the ranks of the organized church. They may have started out there but their ambitions outgrow church structure.
There was a time when it was difficult to exist outside denominational structure if you felt called to serve God.
No problem today. Raise some money. Get on TV. (Or write a blog!) The media of the day can make all the difference.
Soon they have created what modern business calls a “tribe.”
Nothing new here. Israel had its tribes. Moses had a tribe. Jesus had a tribe. Paul had a tribe.
The members of a modern evangelist’s tribe probably had roots in the traditional church, too. The difference today is that individuals within the tribe have more power. They can and will come and go from the traditional church. Meanwhile, they can pick and choose between involvement with multiple tribes. One tribe might interest them socially. Another culturally. Still another might be addressing a cause dear to their heart.
The Church must recognize this as it nurtures its own tribe. Your most loyal members are probably sharing their loyalties, time, talent and money.
They may attend worship (or not). They may serve on a charitable board or two. They pick and choose between the charities that do the best job of soliciting their help — usually on Sunday mornings.
There is no longer brand loyalty among Christians. People want to make a difference. If the Church cannot provide the diversity of opportunities to serve, there are plenty of organizations that will.
There is also individual power. A person can abandon the whole tribe mentality and go it alone and still be effective stewards of God’s gifts.
Mainline denominational churches can cry about this, fight and scheme for positioning, and grasp at what’s left of the old order.
Or they can fashion a ministry that attracts multiple “tribes.”
Devoted Christians choose something to deny themselves. It’s supposed to be something we miss and it’s supposed to be something done in secrecy.
The tradition is intended to create a sense of sacrifice in honor of the sacrifice of God’s Son. This started out much more grandly than it is typically practiced today. It was a season of serious fasting. But that was just too hard.
Fridays were once like that, too. Friday was a day of Christian fasting in a regular remembrance of Good Friday. When that became too difficult, the custom shifted, with the Church’s permission, to shunning meat. Fish didn’t count. Whew!
Lent has been similarly compromised from its original intent. The things most people sacrifice in secrecy are things we want to give up anyway—cigarettes, liquor, sweets.
We are not very good at this sacrificial stuff, are we?
Perhaps it would restore a sense of Lenten sacrifice to do something proactive for the 40 days of Lent. Perhaps our sacrifice should be our time and self-centered attention.
Instead of dwelling on ourselves and our suffering for atonement, perhaps it would be more helpful to sacrifice in ways that would benefit more than our personal state of grace. Instead of NOT doing something this Lent, think about what we CAN DO to help others.
Instead of not eating meat or ice cream or chocolate, feed someone.
Instead of spending time on our own entertainment, take an hour a day and do something with family.
Instead of shopping for a new Easter outfit, clean out the closets and give good clothes to the needy. If you want a real sense of sacrifice, give away a favorite outfit!
Instead of checking Facebook five times a day, send one greeting card a day to someone who needs to know they are loved.
If you’ve neglected your God-given talents, use them daily during Lent to write, paint, sing, sew or practice the piano.
Create a new faith discipline. Start a faith journal.
Doing something for others — and thereby sacrificing self-interest — just might make for a more meaningful Lent.
It may be Groundhog’s Day in Punxatawny but February 2, 2013, is 2×2’s second anniversary. Our experimental web site has been quite an adventure. Our ministry has gained influence and reach we never imagined and is poised to be an income asset for our host congregation, Redeemer.
In February of 2011, 2×2 had just one visitor for the whole month (and it may have been one of us). Last month we had more than 2100 first time visitors and that doesn’t include a growing number of subscribers and those who receive our posts via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Our cyber statistics make us one of the largest congregations in the ELCA. And we’re just getting started!
Our primary mission is to help small congregations with ministry challenges. We hope to do this even more in 2013. The Easter Play we posted last year has had 1000 downloads this year. Our weekly Adult Object Lessons has a regular following. And several church organizations have contacted us for help with web sites.
Our secondary mission is to be the voice of Redeemer. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has done everything it can to try to silence us — even suggesting that one of our members, an ordained ELCA pastor, be censored for speaking out on issues everyone else veils in silence.
2×2 has been an effective voice.
A surprise along the way has been the number of international friendships we have made and the youthful readership who make up the majority of our followers. 2013 will also be a year for building/nurturing these relationships.
Through 2×2, Redeemer is poised to take ministry to new places. We’ve earned our place in the ELCA which refuses to recognize our ministry, preferring our physical assets to our membership. Where is St. Lawrence when we need him!? (Turn us over. We are done on this side.)
It is time for those who decided in 2009 that Redeemer couldn’t survive and therefore they should have the benefit of our assets to reconsider their actions.
The resulting law suits have depleted what reserves there were for them to enjoy. The building has been locked to all for three and a half year — serving no mission purpose whatsoever. Yet good can still be salvaged.
The church is not a building. It is the people. The people of Redeemer have continued our ministry despite every obstacle thrown our way.
Under Lutheran governance, any synodical administration is temporary in nature. It’s constitutional purpose is to help congregations. The Articles of Incorporation make it clear that property belongs to the congregation and cannot be taken without a congregation’s consent. Most of the people who voted to do this had never read the Articles of Incorporation.
There is no reason why Redeemer with its physical and cyber assets cannot fund a full ministry. With a little nurturing it could be quite lucrative.
It is time to for SEPA to reconsider its actions in East Falls, return our property as they should under their constitution and restore mission to this neighborhood.
If this was about money, problem solved. We can afford our own ministry. We always could.
…we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.—Romans 5:3-5
An Antiquated Worldview Stifles the Voice of the Denomination
The turmoil in mainline churches is symptomatic. The concept of hierarchy is becoming outdated. In a decade or so we look back at how we did things before the computer revolution with the same incredulity we experience today when we review the history of the Crusades or slavery.
Until then there will be struggle as hierarchies try to hang on. It doesn’t have to be ugly.
A hierarchy that remembers that in the church we exist to serve is actually well positioned to meet the new age.
A hierarchy that is focused on its own power, importance and preservation will topple.
People who have embraced the new world can view what’s happening with amusement—if they are not part of tumultuous transition, that is.
Church leaders are slow to understand the gift that has been handed to them with social media.
We see it with the pope. He will tweet but he will not follow. The power of Twitter is in following. But popes and bishops are tempted to see that as beneath them. Communication has been one way for thousands of years. This is to be expected.
We will soon see it in religious social services. it will not be long before religious social service agencies admit that their association with a denomination may deter mission efforts. They can now reach volunteers and supporters more easily themselves than through national or regional church efforts.
Similarly, mission efforts that rely on denominational funding will soon realize that they are not as in touch with the people who support them as they could be without the filter of hierarchy.
How Church Hierarchies Are Unprepared for Modern Publishing
There are also big changes in church publishing—or there should be.
Church hierarchies were once needed to support church publishing. Their pooled resources were the only way a denomination could afford the cost. Because they were needed to fund publishing, they got used to thinking that they were needed to control what was written.
That day is over. Anyone can publish.
But our denomination is stuck trying to adapt old publishing models to the new media. They are missing the fact that the whole game has changed.
Unlike some of the other things mentioned, national church publishing can still play a major —but very different—role.
First, the regional and national church should make it a mission priority for every congregation to become familiar with social media. There is no excuse for any congregation to not have a web site or blog. They cannot be effective today without one. Everyone checks online for everything these days. No web site. Few visitors.
More important, churches and pastors must learn to use social media. Having a web site is one thing. Using it as a mission tool is another. This can no longer be overlooked and the regional and national church can lead the way.
If the denomination cares about member churches, they should help them make this transition. Both large and small churches find this to be daunting. The denominational and national church could and should help. Make it a mission priority and make sure pastors are trained to use social media.
Before they do this, they need to understand the power of the web themselves. In this they are missing the boat.
Standing on the dock and watching the ship of church sail
The ELCA publishes a “house” magazine. It is called The Lutheran. It contains a little bit of denominational news and feature stories of how the denomination and its congregations work in mission.
The Lutheran mails to 200,000 subscribers (only a small percentage of its 4 million membership).
It is also online. Sort of.
If the magazine prints 200,000 magazines, those magazines — assuming some are shared — might result in 300,000 readers—still a small fraction of total members.
An open and free online readership could easily magnify this reach. A good article might get 100,000 reads and then be passed onto 500,000 who might then pass it on to 2 million others. Wow! Imagine reaching the world with your message every month. Exciting!
But what does The Lutheran do? They feed you about ten lines of a story online and ask you to pay to read the rest. They limit dialog on the articles to subscribers. No pay. No say.
Engagement is the goal of almost every organization these days. Corporations understand that engagement is pivotal to relationships, sales, their mission and survival. Meanwhile, the church barricades themselves from engagement!
They are missing out on the social nature and evangelical power of the web. When they place that “pay to play” obstacle between them and their readers, they keep them from further sharing the good news. (Explain that to advertisers!)
Of course, they are interested in subscriptions. That’s the old publishing model. But The Lutheran is a “house” magazine. It should be looking for ways to get the message out to everyone—especially to people who just happen along who might be learning about the denomination from a friend who sent them a link.
They are hampering their own mission.
In the new world, religious magazines should explore a new funding model. Perhaps their work should be totally subsidized. Forget subscriptions.
There are other ways of adding to the income while enhancing the dialog within the church. Partner with denominational authors. Be a Kindle storefront for them. Empower the news potential of every congregation and every potential writer in the denomination. It’s new territory with great potential.
The denominational magazine will then be so much more powerful and able to attract a new level of advertising.
If preserving the publishing model of the past is the goal, keep it subscription-based with limited reach. A private club. All the members breathing the same stale air.
If influence and reach are the goals of church publishing, content must be free.
Yesterday’s post talked about the characteristics of a viral post — a post that readers share in large numbers. One of the characteristics is that a viral post is actionable.
An actionable post results in a reader doing something. When marketers use the term, they mean the reader either bought something or took a step towards buying something. Marketers have embraced blogging because they see it as a customer relations, customer retention and sales tool—all in one.
Churches have the same needs but use evangelical/ecclesiastic terminology.
Yet churches seem to be puzzled by the blogging genre. They tend to see a blog as an online musing . . . an extension of the sermon. It is so much more!
The easiest way to move away from this thinking and to begin to harness the power of the web is for churches to think in terms of writing blogs which prompt action.
In church terms, this could mean a number of things.
Here are some actions that could result from congregational blog posts:
A reader might subscribe to your blog or the congregational newsletter. Your congregation could then reach subscribers with a short message every day. (They probably won’t sign up to read sermons, though!) 2×2 has about 63 subscribers and another 100 or more who subscribe via Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. We reach more than 500 new readers every week! (Imagine what we could do with a building!)
A reader might share your post with someone else. I occasionally send links to Pastor Swanson’s daily emails, 7 Minutes A Day. I find them to be inspirational and motivating and hope others will, too.
A reader might take some action they might not otherwise take. Pastor Swanson’s posts have prompted me to read more of the Bible and look at familiar Bible passages in a new light.
A reader might become interested in a new ministry. A congregation could blog about homelessness and inspire someone to do something about it.
A post might inspire someone to make a donation (sweat or dollars).
A post might inspire a new understanding or make a new connection. I can’t remember how our posts led us to ministry friendships with Christians in Kenya, Pakistan, and Sweden, but they did!
A blog post can lead to new alliances. Our early posts on the value of Vacation Bible Schools created alliances with like-minded Christians in other areas of the United States.
A reader may comment on a post and that may spark an online conversation.
A reader just might be inspired to faith and salvation.
How A Blog Might Impact A Common Scenario
In yesterday’s post, I posed a scenario where a congregation became aware that their neighborhood was changing. A new and very different ethnic group was moving in and changing the demographic. This isn’t a stretch. It’s happening all over our city (Philadelphia). A common result within our denomination is to declare churches closed in changing neighborhoods. We can only guess that they feel their message will not fly with the changing demographic. (Actually, we are not guessing, that’s what our church was told by our regional body.) This is foreign to the biblical mission of the church—and unnecessary—especially if congregations use social media as a mission tool!
What if a congregation started blogging about the changes in the neighborhood in a way which fostered interaction between the settled population and the newcomers. If they did so regularly, it would be noticed within a few weeks. Doors would open. Introductions would be made. When the new population began to show an interest as neighbors, they would feel like they already know the people who sponsored such a welcoming blog.
Civic organizations would likely notice, too. The church would gain respect in the neighborhood. The voice of the Church might carry more weight. Mainline news might notice. The possibilities are endless.
Actionable blogs should be a goal of every congregation.
Many of these benefits can be achieved without a blog. But there is no denying that blogging amplifies the likelihood and the reach of ministry efforts. It is work. It is a new discipline. But it is exciting. Time must be carved out to learn new skills. But the potential for ministry is so much greater with a blog than without. Frankly, the time invested in blogging will steal time from ministry efforts which may be traditional but which are not resulting in church growth. No real loss.
One last thing!
An actionable post should end with what in business is termed a Call To Action. This can be as simple as posing a question. Or it could be a simple form.
Here’s our Call to Action!
If you’d like help getting started in social media or blogging, submit the brief form below. We’ll see if we can be of service or point you in a helpful direction.
Social media has been around for four or five years now. It still puzzles the Church. It doesn’t fit the church’s way of thinking. A few churches dabble at it.
Dabbling at social media won’t succeed. We must dive in—the sooner the better!
One pastor recently shared that he didn’t understand social media. What was new about it?
Power is new. In the old days a newspaper might have a readership of 10,000 people. That’s where their influence ended.
Today, readers can pass a message on to all of their friends and those friends can continue sharing with their friends. Social media transforms those 10,000 readers into a million readers with ease.
More than that, the receiver can add to the message. They can correct or object when they disagree in real time. No one needs to wait for an editor to review a response, confined to 150 words, and chosen from among many for publication. We all have a say!
We are all familiar with the modern phenomenon of “going viral.”
A wannabe singer posts a video online and six months later is an international star. Never before in the history of the world was it possible for little guys to get billing on the world’s stage.
We used to guess at reasons some blog posts are so popular that they reach the ends of the earth within a few hours.
We are discovering that the key to popularity is not what most people guess (sex, dogs, cats and babies).
The answers revolve around emotions.
People share what they read on the web when the information is:
Surprising
Interesting
Intense
Positive
Actionable
This information was gathered in a study of media websites, but the same characteristics have been found to be applicable to other genres as well.
Church bloggers can adapt these principles to their posts, especially if they are writing about more than their church (which they should be).
True, this calls for a change in our evangelism mindset. We are accustomed to promoting who we are and what we believe with little consideration for the people we hope to reach.
Therein lies the value of blogging. It forces us to see things through the eyes of others.
Here’s an example of how a church blogger might apply these principles:
A congregation might discover an interesting statistic about their neighborhood. Let’s say an old working class urban neighborhood, known to be populated by a certain ethnic group, learns that the latest census shows their neighborhood is now home to a growing number of immigrants from another part of the world.
The church should write about that. It is surprising and interesting. It could have potential to become intense —in a good or a bad way. The church should put itself in a position to influence that!
Most important for ministry, the news has the potential to be presented in a positive way, benefitting both the church and community, which may then lead to action by the congregation or by the neighborhood.
Upon this foundation, a church blog can be the catalyst for a congregation’s mission and growth.
What is going on in your neighborhood that you can influence by writing a post on your church blog?
The Church is in the Emotion Business(so to speak)
Faith and religion are all about emotion.
You might not know it to sit through a Sunday worship service.
In some ways, the church has stripped emotion from its agenda. Church services are designed for corporate expression. The people are like marmots, responding in tandem.
An emphasis on ritual tends to do this.
A seasoned pastor once shared his experience working with a seminary intern.
Several weeks after the intern arrived, the pastor went over the worship service the intern had just led. The pastor asked him what he noticed about the congregation. The intern responded with a list of demographics. He described the age, race and gender of the people sitting in the pew.
The pastor kept quizzing the intern, but he couldn’t get him to see beyond the demographics.
Finally, he gave up. Didn’t you notice the woman crying? She was sitting on the right near the window. This is the anniversary of her husband’s death.
Didn’t you notice the man sitting by himself near the back on the left side of the church. His wife and children were sitting a few pews away on the right. Did you notice how the children were turning toward him while the mother stared straight ahead? Couldn’t you feel the tension when you shared the body of Christ with them at the communion rail? You’ve been here long enough to know them. The parents have separated. The children are torn. The whole family is in pain.
This seasoned pastor saw the worship service as a drama. During the week, he would respond to pain he witnessed on Sunday morning. The intern saw the worship service as a performance. Now he could go home and rest.
This approach to worship isn’t limited to interns. Some pastors never reach beyond it.
People are attracted to church and faith because of emotion.
People go to church to make sense of things in their lives that are beyond their control. They know the difference between how they are supposed to feel and how they actually feel. They want someone to notice.
The church tries to attract them with facts. Knowledge of the Bible. Doctrine. An accounting of good deeds. Great programs.
But it is emotion that draws people into life together as Christians.
With emotion comes a certain amount of chaos and a great deal of discomfort. But that’s our job. If we try to avoid it by relegating problems to committees, etc. we are failing in mission. Our reason for existing is gone. We haven’t loved our neighbors. We haven’t reached out to the world.
Church members should never be treated as robots.
There is a tendency to relegate church members into robotic emotional behavior. It is Lent. You will be sorrowful and repent. It is Easter. You will be joyful. It is Christmas. You will feel warm and cozy.
Be prepared to table your individual feelings and join in the prescribed emotion of the day.
If you came feeling cheated.
If you came feeling used.
If you came feeling guilty.
If you came in anger.
If you came feeling unworthy.
If you came feeling desperate.
If you came in loss or grief.
If you came looking for courage.
If you came looking for justice.
If you wanted peace and comfort.
If you came with a need to shout for joy.
If you wanted to feel hope.
You might find it—if you hit the right Sunday and have leaders who actually can see the drama playing out in the sanctuaries.
Otherwise, join the crowd.
Maybe this is why people find other things to do on Sunday morning.
Join Bishop Ruby Kinisa as she visits small churches "under cover" to learn what people would never share if they knew they were talking to their bishop.
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For bulk copies, please contact 2x2: creation@dca.net.
Contact Info
You can reach
Judy Gotwald,
the moderator of 2x2,
at
creation@dca.net
or 215 605 8774
Redeemer’s Prayer
We were all once strangers, the weakest, the outcasts, until someone came to our defense, included us, empowered us, reconciled us (1 Cor. 2; Eph. 2).
2×2 Sections
Where in the World is 2×2?
On Isaiah 30:15b
Be calm. Wait. Wait. Commit your cause to God. He will make it succeed. Look for Him a little at a time. Wait. Wait. But since this waiting seems long to the flesh and appears like death, the flesh always wavers. But keep faith. Patience will overcome wickedness.
—Martin Luther
Here are four renditions. Some artists attempt a realistic portrayal. Others stick with stylistic or representational. Titian tries to draw us in as if we are standing behind the disciples or perhaps hiding behind a rock! Notice in the stylistic representation how the shaft of light pierces each of the disciples.
But there is also something for our modern eyes to contemplate in this fifth, more modern depiction. The three earthly figures are dwarfed by the experience.
