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Feast of the Transfiguration |
Preached by Sr. Cintra Pemberton, OSH on Wednesday August 6, 2008
at the Convent of Saint Helena, Vails Gate NY
In the Name of the One, Holy, and Living God, Amen.
I was First Professed on the Feast of the Transfiguration, August 6, in 1979. Sister Josephine, who died in 1996, preached the sermon, and in that sermon she first articulated the goals or objectives the Founding Sisters had in mind back in 1945 when the Order of St Helena was born. I want to read the first part of her sermon this morning so everyone can hear in her words her description of those goals rather than a paraphrase from someone else.
So these are Josephine’s words.
“As for the Transfiguration Propers – As old as I am, I have heard hundred of sermons – well, dozens – so I thought at first I wouldn’t use them, but a theme almost jumped out at me which is just what I want to say on the occasion of Cintra’s profession.
“From Exodus 34:28-25: Moses descended from Sinai, his face shining, bringing the tablets of the law – this was his legacy to Israel.
“From 2 Peter 1:13-21: Peter says he is writing to refresh their minds about the power of Our Lord Jesus Christ whom he saw with his own eyes, in his majesty, on the mount of the Transfiguration. Peter wants them to have means to remember after his death. This is his legacy.
“And from Luke 9:28-36: The story of the Transfiguration itself – Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus, representing the Law and the Prophets which Our Lord had come not to destroy but to fulfill.
They talked of “the death which he was to accomplish” – surely not just of his dying, but of what he would accomplish by it – his legacy.
“So it seemed appropriate that I, one of the older sisters of St. Helena who have been here from the foundation should talk about the legacy we are passing on to you who are just beginning. “I thought for a long time about the early days of the Order of St. Helena and tried to sift out, in retrospect, the reasons for the formation of a new community in 1945. It seems to me there were three main thrusts in our thinking and caring and praying.
1. There was a deep concern for the individual in the community – a determination that the contribution of each should be recognized and valued, the needs of each respected, the welfare of each person not over-ridden in ambition for the development of the community.
2. There was a concern that worship be central in our lives, never crowded out by other things. All created things praise God by their very being – humans alone so far as we know CHOOSE -- to praise God -- or not. In starting a new community we chose a way of life in which the framework of the Eucharist and divine office, enriched by and enriching our meditations, intercessions, spiritual reading, and study, is paramount.
3. There was concern to maintain a deep awareness of the corporate nature of the church. We are all brought into one body by baptism – if one suffers, we all suffer together; if one flourishes, we all flourish together. The way each of us lives her life, day by day, will strengthen or weaken the whole people of God, the body of Christ. We wanted to be reminders to each other of that, to help each other to live for the strengthening of the whole body, and by our community life to be a reminder to others of caring for all the people of God.
“As I look at our community today, after some 35 years, I believe these same concerns are still basic.
(Later on, as we know, she added the fourth element – our commitment to social justice.)
“It hasn’t been easy – sometimes one of them has seemed to overshadow others – sometimes one group of sisters has seemed to emphasize one, other another – and I suppose there will always be this creative tension among us. I think we should thank God for that.”
I can’t help but feel that if Josephine were here today, she would still say the same thing. The vision of our founding sisters has not changed.
*****
One of the things that has been promised by God to every community is that when two or three are gathered together in his Name, there God will be.
Even in the cloud of uncertainty and indecision, Our Lord is there.
When we are gathered in one form or another, Community Discussions, house meetings, whatever – we too often forget that. We get into heated discussions, each pushing her own point of view, each one of us absolutely certain we have the right way forward. We find it difficult to accept and implement decisions.
Yet our Lord is there. That’s why we’re here.
Over the chaos hovers the Spirit, bringing forth creation.
Josephine was a tremendous influence on many of us. I have thought of her a lot these past weeks as we have begun to wrestle with the inevitability of making really hard decisions for our community. We’re in a kind of chaos – emotional and psychological chaos.
Heavy clouds of uncertainty and confusion – what should we do? What would be best for the future of OSH?
What is God saying to us from the cloud?
I’ve talked a lot with Sister Clare about it. “Clare,” I asked, “What do you think Josephine would say to the idea that we might have to sell both Vails Gate and Augusta?”
“Well,” she said slowly to me, “She certainly would not like it. But she was never one to hang on to something if she knew it was time to let go.”
Clare hit it just right: Josephine was never one to hang on to something if she knew it was time to let go.
In religious monastic terms, it’s called detachment. Josephine taught – and lived – the ideal of detachment. And she taught it to us who were her novices.
If we do have to sell Vails Gate and Augusta and Manhattan, most of us, probably all of us, will experience a terrible wounding – terrible pain. Dall Forsythe was right when he referred to the walk around the Vails Gate property with me a few weeks ago and I pointed out to him, “I planted those peonies; I planted those trees; I built that trail in the woods, etc.” How many times have I watched the sun rise from the overlook back there by Butter Hill? How many times have I climbed to the top of Storm King Mountain and looked down on the convent from up there?
Is it time indeed to let go?
But letting go means chaos….
And yet….
Over the chaos hovers the Spirit, bringing forth creation.
Working on the Timeline yesterday, which show so graphically 45 years of OSH history, really brings home to us what an extraordinary group of women God has brought together as the Order of St Helena. Just read the various stories that make up the brilliant tapestry of who we are. The very act of our founding – the strong witness of standing up for the integrity of three young women who had a right to the freedom of dispensation from a vow taken when they were entirely too young to know what they were doing….
The courage to submit ourselves to the authority of a men’s community that we barely knew, and then a while later the courage to stand on our own as self-governing independent women; the courage to take part in civil rights marches; Sister Mary Michael as the first ordained woman monastic and the first woman to preach in Westminster Abbey; dozens of outreach ministries in any number of places; and in more recent memory, our inclusive and expansive language breviary that is now being used all over the world.
In every decade, if not in every year, of the Timeline we find eloquent testimony of our Savior’s promise:
Two or three OSH sisters gathered together in my Name, in their life of prayer, community and ministry, and yes, I am very much in the midst of them.
But there are also many times when we were in the clouds of confusion and uncertainly and we’ve had to “let go” and live in the chaos for a while.
I wasn’t there, but I am sure it was scary separating from Holy Cross and deciding we could go it alone.
I was there, and I know it was scary (as well as exciting) deciding to open the house in Seattle and begin a new ministry there, and it was terribly hard and terribly painful closing that house fifteen years later.
It was definitely scary (as well as exciting) moving from a single superior to the untried model – at least for us – of a Leadership Council.
But always, whenever we have entered a difficult time, the Voice of reassurance and affirmation has always come from the cloud, and always the Spirit has hovered over the chaos, bringing forth creation.
I believe it’s no different right now.
Is it time now to let go? Time to once more step out into the cloud of unknowing?
Life for each one of us began when the ovum in our mother’s body, hidden deeply, was pierced by the microscopic sperm from our father, and in that piercing, that terrible wounding, the creation of a new life began.
The terrible pain of that wounding produced a new life.
I believe that’s where we are now.
The pain and fear of letting go opens us to the risk of wounding, but at the same time to the tremendous potential of new life.
As we begin our exploration of consolidation and relocation, we have no idea where the Spirit may lead us.
But we can remember that in our exploring as a community, every step of the way, we can count on God’s promise: when two or three are gathered together in my Name, there am I in the midst of you.
I do believe that the Spirit is hovering over our chaos, ready to bring forth creation.
I also believe that there is a Voice in the cloud calling to us.
Right now the only single word we can hear is LISTEN.
But I believe in God’s time, at the end of our exploring, when we decide together as a community what we feel is right for the future of OSH, we will also hear AND I AM WELL PLEASED.
Amen.