February 11, 2024
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
Indianola Presbyterian Church, Columbus
" Awe and Harmony" Sermon by Rev. Trip Porch
February 11, 2024 Based on Mark 9:29
I don't know about you this week, but it seemed to me that every news outlet that I pay any attention to was obsessed with coverage of the Grammy awards after they were held last weekend. I read articles about everything from celebrity outfits to Jay-z's speech calling out the Grammys.
But what I read the most about by far was Tracy chapman's performance of her well-beloved song "Fast Car" with Country music star Luke Combs, who's cover of the same song brought it back to the top 10 charts almost after 30 years since its initial release and fame. The performance was lauded by many outlets as a unifying act for our divided country because of the identities of the performers.
Tracy Chapman is an older black gay woman from metropolitan Cleveland Ohio, and Luke Combs is young white male country singer from a small town in western North Carolina. He actually wasn't even alive yet when Tracy Chapman first released the song Fast Car and performed it at the 1989 Grammy’s. Here's how one journalist describes their joint performance at the Grammy's:
“When a beloved artist who has not performed live in some time returns to the stage, we often expect them to appear fragile, unsteady, and ill at ease. But during Sunday night’s Grammy Awards, when the camera first pulled back from a tight shot of a woman’s fingers picking a familiar riff on an acoustic guitar and revealed the face of the great, elusive folk singer Tracy Chapman, what you noticed was the joy radiating from her face. Her contented smile. The unwavering tone and rich steadiness of her voice.
It was a genuine moment of warmth and unity, the sort seldom offered these days by televised award shows — or televised anything, really.
Singing her rousing 1988 hit “Fast Car” live for the first time in years, duetting with the country star Luke Combs — whose faithful cover of the song was one of last year’s defining hits — and taking in the rapturous applause of her musical peers, Chapman gave off the feeling, in the words of her timeless song, that she belonged.
The journalist goes on…
Thirty-five years ago, at the 1989 Grammy Awards, Chapman stood alone onstage and performed a wrenching rendition of “Fast Car” accompanied by only her own acoustic guitar.
But What made Sunday night’s performance feel different wasn’t just the time that had passed, or the gray hair that now elegantly frames Chapman’s face.
It was the presence of Combs, born a year after that Grammy performance, regarding Chapman with an awe-struck reverence.
He seemed to be a stand-in for the many, many people over the years — of all races, genders and generations — who have heard their deepest desires reflected in this song and wished to pay Chapman their gratitude.
They traded a few lines and harmonized beautifully on the chorus — her tone opalescent, his tone bringing some grit — but Combs never overshadowed Chapman. He knew that in that moment, no one could. Something about the way he looked at her said it all: His eyes shone with irrepressible respect.
Here was a grown man, an assured performer who sells out stadiums, visibly trembling before the sight and the sound of the folk singer Tracy Chapman.”
[https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/05/arts/music/tracy-chapman-fast-car-grammys.html]
I love the way this journalist describes why this moment was so special. Of course Tracy Chapman was incredible and radiating with the joy of the moment, but to see the younger Luke Combs get to perform with this icon whom he revered so greatly was almost like we all got to be on that stage with them, joining in the song and paying our own respects.
The next morning after their performance Luke Combs Posted this comment online…
“I’m sure I’ll have more to say about last night when I’ve had the chance to process it all… All I can say now is thank you Tracy and thank you to the recording academy for letting me be a part of a truly remarkable moment. I’m just very thankful.”
If I’m being honest. I never truly know what to preach about on transfiguration Sunday. I mean it comes across the lectionary every year at the start of lent. And it’s a really interesting story. Jesus bringing a few of the disciples he was closest with to go with him up a mountain in prayer. All of a sudden he start to glow... radiating with Love and light, and he’s there with these iconic figures, with Elijah and Moses. The message is clear… The disciples bear witness to not just their teacher, not just their friend, but the Christ, this cosmic universal divine reality that is the definition of awe-some. They don’t know how to react or what to do, they stammer and struggle to put what they are experiencing into words. I think this is what I find myself struggling with in preaching this story. In this story the disciples are a stand-in for us. We get to see this story through their eyes, and like the disciples, I don’t know how to react or what to do when faced with a truth this large and profound and good for the world. Every message I feel like we could draw from this story feels inadequate, there’s no really good way to capture it or try to draw meaning from this story because it is something that is meant to be experienced and witnessed. It’s a truth that we are not asked to summarize or put into words but to feel in our hearts.
So here’s what I have for us. This passage doesn’t ask to become some exalted glowing example of perfection. But we are invited to come up the mountain to bear witness to what God is doing.
There are times in life where we get to glimpse a beauty so profound, we can’t put it into words. There are moments when the mundane begins to radiate with unreal and undeniable divine glory.
And when this when this happens… when we get to take part in a moment so special, when we get to share the stage with an icon, all that we can do is say thanks, all that we can do is say wow.
And then maybe, if we are so inclined, even with trembling hands and awe-struck faces… we can try to join in the song. We can try to add our voice in harmony, as our own offering…
May it be so, Amen.
PRELUDE “Prelude to Sunrise” Sandra Eithun
“Jesu, Jesu Fill Us With Your Love” arr. Kevin McChesney
The Sanctuary Bells
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
One: This is the day that the Lord has made
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it
*CALL TO WORSHIP by Joanna Harader
One: The mountain top, the shining face, the glowing clothes
the voice of God speaking from the cloud,
the commandments etched in stone
All: Sometimes God shows up in ways we cannot deny
in a place we can go, a light we can see
a voice we can hear, a stone we can touch
One: Sometimes, there is the veil
the overshadowing, terrifying cloud, the questions
the appearing and disappearing
the excitement, the wondering
the silence
All: Sometimes God shows up
in ways we cannot deny.
One: Always God shows up somehow.
All: So we have shown up here, now
May God give us eyes to see.
*HYMN 409 “God is here” ABBOT’S LEIGH
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION Rebekah Gayley
Exalted God, we confess that we often wish to spend all of our time with you on the mountain top, where we are sure of your presence, where we feel connected to you. We confess that when we come down from the mountain, we often fail to go back into the world to be your hands and feet. We struggle to see you in the faces of our neighbor, and we are overwhelmed by the brokenness we see in the world. Forgive us, O God, when our vision is limited and our actions do not live out our discipleship. Amen.
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
*CONGREGATIONAL RESPONSE 551 “Lord, Have Mercy” LAND OF REST
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
ANTHEM “O Quam Mirabilis Est” Jesse Heetland
PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION
SCRIPTURE Mark 9:2-9
Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain. His appearance changed from the inside out, right before their eyes. His clothes shimmered, glistening white, whiter than any bleach could make them. Elijah, along with Moses, came into view, in deep conversation with Jesus. Peter interrupted, “Rabbi, this is a great moment! Let’s build three memorials—one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah.” He blurted this out without thinking, stunned as they all were by what they were seeing. Just then a light-radiant cloud enveloped them, and from deep in the cloud, a voice: “This is my Son, marked by my love. Listen to him.” The next minute the disciples were looking around, rubbing their eyes, seeing nothing but Jesus, only Jesus. Coming down the mountain, Jesus swore them to secrecy. “Don’t tell a soul what you saw. After the Son of Man rises from the dead, you’re free to talk.” They puzzled over that, wondering what on earth “rising from the dead” meant. Meanwhile they were asking, “Why do the religion scholars say that Elijah has to come first?” Jesus replied, “Elijah does come first and get everything ready for the coming of the Son of Man. They treated this Elijah like dirt, much like they will treat the Son of Man, who will, according to Scripture, suffer terribly and be kicked around contemptibly.”
Holy Wisdom, Holy Word
Thanks be to God
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE Mary Rebekah Fortman
SERMON Rev. Trip Porch
WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD
*HYMN 282 “Come Down, O Love Divine” DOWN AMPNEY
INSTALLATION OF OFFICER Elder Peter Maurath
PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE followed by The Lord’s Prayer
TIME OF OFFERING online giving is available at indianolapres.org/give
OFFERTORY “Plowshare Prayer” Spencer LaJoye/ are. Nate Terry
*OFFERTORY RESPONSE 709 “God, We Honor You” ABUNDANT BLESSINGS
*PRAYER OF DEDICATION
Radiant God, out of the abundance of our lives we offer these gifts to you. Through your blessing and our willingness to share, may these offerings become a source for hope and love in this church family, and in the community beyond us, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
*HYMN 377 “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light” HOUSTON
TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING
Commissioning – Revs. Rick Nutt & Mary Gene Boteler as part of the PCUSA delegation to the Holy Land.
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
CHORAL RESPONSE “Hold Us Ever in Your Keeping” Gary Matheny
Hold us ever in your keeping, comfort us in pain and strife,
Constant hope and faith renewing, Lead us to a nobler life.
Grant, O Lord your richest blessing: Send your servants forth in peace.
POSTLUDE
Acknowledgments: Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452
Guest Musicians today are Spencer LaJoye and Rosa Balderrama- cellist