Hallelujah Before Lent: Embracing Mystery and Courage

Saint Michael's ushers worshipers through practical details—how to use the reusable bulletin, where to find inserts, and options for online attendees—before framing the day as a hinge between seasons. The congregation stands at the final Sunday after Epiphany, a liminal moment that carries a Mardi Gras mood of exuberant "hallelujah" while preparing for the sober discipline of Lent and the reminder "you are dust." The liturgical calendar transforms ordinary rhythms into deliberate practice, inviting a turn away from trying to reclaim some imagined normalcy toward embracing spiritual formation.

Scripture narratives offer a caution: encounters with the divine distort ordinary maps. Stories of cloud, flame, and dazzling darkness portray revelation as disruptive; prolonged proximity to the holy reshapes character and social posture. Flannery O’Connor’s warning that truth makes one odd becomes a theological claim: sustained faith often yields strangeness, not respectability. A real-life example follows—someone who quietly deepened church life and then, visibly serving in procession, found curiosity instead of rejection from a skeptical community—suggesting that authentic witness can soften prejudice and invite questions.

Theology of the marginalized anchors ethical response. Howard Thurman’s insight recasts the gospel as power for the powerless: God sides with the enslaved, Jesus ministers to the outcast, and the way of self-giving love looks foolish to empire yet releases freedom. Contemporary public crises—immigration detention and family separation—become moments when visible injustice galvanizes communal action. Local organizing and persistent witness helped move legislation like the Immigrant Safety Act, showing how outrage paired with sustained work can yield incremental but consequential change.

Mystery emerges as a spiritual technology for disordered times. Gregory of Nyssa’s “dazzling darkness” reframes divine encounter as an embrace of unknowns rather than tidy answers. Cultural examples that choose joy and complexity over easy outrage illustrate the power of beauty and creativity to point toward love as deeper truth. Lent receives presentation as a season not for retreating into comfort but for practicing heightened consciousness, resisting stale ordinaries, and allowing God's disruptive dream to transfigure persons and society. The congregation receives an invitation to be odd, to stand with neighbors, and to commit to spiritual and civic disciplines that cultivate love and transformation.

---

Key Takeaways

• 1. Ordinary time is a false comfort Ordinariness often masks complicity with broken systems and lulls moral imagination. Recognizing ordinary time as a default invites intentional disruption: liturgy, fast, and study recalibrate attention toward justice and compassion. Embracing liturgical rhythms prevents settling for easy stability when systems demand repair. [29:42]
• 2. Following God will make one odd Authentic discipleship reshapes social posture and may provoke curiosity more than condemnation. The life formed by scripture and sacrament cultivates humility, courage, and unexpected public witness that unsettles cultural expectations. Oddness becomes a form of prophetic presence that invites others to ask questions rather than deliver verdicts. [31:54]
• 3. Embrace mystery to guide action Mystery resists tidy solutions and trains the imagination for endurance amid complexity. Holding “dazzling darkness” cultivates patience with ambiguity and opens pathways for creative, reconciling action instead of reactionary certainties. Such receptivity retools faith for long, costly work. [39:13]
• 4. Faith demands costly public courage Justice requires not only prayer but sustained organizing, advocacy, and public presence. Moments of heightened visibility can catalyze policy change when paired with long-term relationships and strategy. Courageous faith shows up to accompany the vulnerable and to keep pressure on systems that harm communities. [41:49]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [13:41] - Bulletin & Worship Logistics
• [28:44] - Last Sunday Before Lent
• [29:02] - Hallelujah Before Ashes
• [31:54] - The Oddness of Truth
• [34:04] - A Life Transformed (Acolyte Story)
• [36:12] - Faith with the Marginalized
• [39:13] - Mystery: Dazzling Darkness
• [41:49] - Immigration Moment & Advocacy
• [43:20] - Lent’s Purpose and Practice
• [53:16] - Ash Wednesday & Parish Events
• [56:36] - Community Notices & Invitations

Bible reading
Exodus 24:12, 15-18 (ESV)
The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Mark 9:2-4 (ESV)
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.

Observation questions

1. What details does the Exodus passage use to describe the setting and atmosphere of Moses' encounter with God on the mountain?
2. In the Mark passage, what happens to Jesus and who appears with him?
3. What was the initial reaction of the mentoring priest when she saw the television cameras at the Palm Sunday procession? [34:50]
4. According to the stories, what is the common result for people who have a close encounter with the divine?

Interpretation questions

1. Why do you think these profound encounters with God, like the Transfiguration and Moses on Sinai, so often happen on mountains and involve elements like clouds and dazzling light?
2. The priest's story shows that her friends responded with curiosity rather than judgment when they discovered her deep faith. [35:22] Why might a visible, authentic witness provoke curiosity instead of rejection in our current culture?
3. Howard Thurman is quoted as saying our faith "wasn't really built for the powerful or the so-called respectable." [36:29] What does it mean that God's way often looks like foolishness to the world, and how does that connect to the "oddness" described?
4. Gregory of Nyssa described Moses' encounter as entering God's "dazzling darkness." [39:13] What might be the value of embracing mystery and the unknown in our faith, rather than always seeking tidy answers?

Application questions

1. In what areas of your life are you most tempted to settle for an "ordinary" that might mask complicity with broken systems or lull your moral imagination? What is one practical step you could take this week to disrupt that ordinariness?
2. Following God closely has a tendency to make one "odd" and reshape one's social posture. [31:54] Where do you feel a tension between fitting in with cultural expectations and living out your faith authentically? What would it look like to lean into a faithful "oddness" that might provoke healthy curiosity in others?
3. The story of the Immigrant Safety Act shows that justice requires not only prayer but sustained organizing and public presence. [41:29] What is one issue of injustice in your community that stirs your heart? How could you move from feeling outrage to engaging in long-term, faithful action alongside others?
4. Lent is presented as a season for practicing heightened consciousness and resisting "stale ordinaries." [43:20] What is one spiritual discipline you could intentionally practice during Lent to become more aware of God's disruptive dream for your life and for society?
5. The concept of "dazzling darkness" invites us to be comfortable with mystery and unknowns. [39:25] When faced with a complex problem or a season of uncertainty, what is your default response? How could you practice holding space for mystery and trusting God's guidance instead of rushing for a quick solution?
6. The acolyte's story demonstrates that visible, public witness can soften prejudice and invite questions. [35:37] Is there a part of your faith journey or a commitment you feel called to that you've been keeping quiet about for fear of being judged? Who is one person you could share this with, not to debate, but to simply testify to what God is doing in your life?