If you have ever watched gymnastics, you
know that one of the most important components of any routine . . . it does not
matter whether it is the floor, uneven bars, the balance beam, or the pommel
horse . . . the athlete has to stick the landing at the end of his or her
performance. Ideally the athlete lands
on both feet without a bounce or movement and then lifts up his or her hands
over the head. Though you never see the
athlete speak, you know what he or she is thinking after sticking the landing
and lifting their hands . . . ta da!
“Ta da!” is meant to draw attention to a
fanfare moment . . . to point to some remarkable moment. It marks the completion of a task. It can be an exclamation of a surprise. When a magician pulls a rabbit from a hat . .
. ta da!
As a person of great grace, “ta da” has
become my signature proclamation in those moments when my grace has been put on
display . . . especially during the winter.
Winter seems to be the time of my best “ta da” moments. Just two weeks ago, walking to the post
office, I bit the dust as I stepped onto some ice hidden under the recent
snow. The limbs of my body went every
which way and I landed on my butt. After
quickly making sure no one had seen me fall, I jumped up, gracefully reached my
arms up, and proclaimed, “Ta da!”
All three of our readings this morning
deal with “ta da” moments. In Exodus,
Moses heads up the mountain to have a meeting with God. The elders watch as Moses ascends the
mountain to disappear in the clouds to be gone for forty days and nights. When he comes down he spreads his arms and
proclaims . . . “ta da! The Ten Commandments!”
In Matthew we see Jesus head for the
mountain with Peter, James, and John.
There on the mountain the three disciples see some pretty strange things
before they descended back down to the other disciples. They see Jesus change before their eyes . . .
“His
face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as the light.” Then Moses and Elijah show up before a bright
cloud covers them. Then a voice says,
“Ta da! This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
Then in Second Peter, it is not so much
as a “ta da” moment as it is a confirmation of a “ta da” moment. Here we hear Peter give credence to what
takes place on the mountain with Jesus.
Peter vouches for the authenticity of the moment . . . he saw it with
his own eyes . . . he heard it with his own ears . . . Jesus is the one. Jesus is the crowning achievement of
God. This is it. God sticks the landing.
Now I am imagining that there are a few
of you out there who are thinking that I am going to throw up my arms, proclaim
“ta da”, and send you all home . . . after all, what else is there to say? I’m sorry to disappoint a few of you, but I
am not. No instead I want to challenge
all of us to consider our own spiritual journeys as the followers of
Jesus. I want us to think about those
moments in our lives where we encountered the holy “ta da!” I want us to think about them because those
are those moments when we found ourselves a little closer to God . . . and,
those are the moments which we share with others to help them discover the holy
“ta da” in their own lives.
I don’t want us misled by our readings
this morning. Our readings are about
some pretty fantastic and powerful examples of “ta da”. It is pretty dramatic when Moses comes
bopping down the mountain after forty days and nights with everyone worrying
about where he had disappeared to. What
the disciples saw up there on that mountain was pretty dramatic . . . Jesus
changing appearance and two of the great religious leaders of the past showing
up to talk to Jesus. So powerful was the
experience that Peter offered to set up three shelters to capture the
moment. Those are pretty dramatic and
movie worthy “ta da” moments; but, most of us probably have never had anything
that dramatic happen to us in our lives.
As much as we would love to experience
something like that, the odds are that our “ta da” moments are probably a lot
less dramatic. At the same time, I tell
you that they are just as powerful. As I
stated earlier, being a person of grace, I have bumbled and stumbled into most
of the “ta da” moments of my spiritual journey.
Moments like slipping on the ice, landing on my butt, and discovering
that though I wasn’t hurt, God has a great sense of humor.
For example, my baptism. I was really expected a “ta da” moment after
all the hype my friend Paul had told me about his baptism. Doves descending from heaven . . . heavenly
choirs singing . . . God proclaiming my worth by declaring, “Ta Da!” . . .
something straight out of a Cecil B. DeMille movie. All I got was wet. All I heard was my brother crying because he
was certain that minister had drowned me.
But, there was no powerful and moving “ta da” moment.
In retrospect I think that my “ta da”
moment was made up a whole lot of little movements of God in my life. When Dana and I were united in marriage
before family and friends . . . it was not so much our declaration of love for
one another, but the affirmation of those gathered around who blessed our
marriage. The first time that I held my
children and grandchildren in my arms after they were born . . . staring in awe
at the gifts of life that was now gracing my life. Standing on a mountain trail, surveying God’s
handiwork and beauty . . . breathing that fresh air. Each time the congregation harmonizes on a
hymn that sends shivers up my spine.
Each of these moments, each of these experiences, whether graceful or
clumsily encountered, revealed the Holy . . . revealed God.
So, it is for each of our lives. They are not Pulitzer Prize worthy stories,
but they carry the impact that opened each of us to the presence of God and
drew us closer to God. They are more
than worthy for telling when we are sharing our faith. They are our tales of the Holy . . . our
encounters with the Holy. Like Peter, we
too, proclaim the validity of our experience . . . or our witness. And, like Peter, we recognize that these
moments, these “ta das”, are not of our making . . . they are the gift of the
Holy Spirit.
Each of us has been touched by the Holy
Spirit . . . the Holy Spirit that reveals God to each and every one of us. Each of us has experienced the Holy . . . God
. . . in our lives is such ways that we are closer to God than ever
before. These stories are meant to be
shared. They are gifts. A gift is never realized until it has been
accepted and used.
May we each relish in the sharing of our
stories of God’s presence in
our lives. May we share them in such a way that others
discover those moments in their own lives.
And, may we tell them with reverence and gusto so that at the end we
stick the landing, throw up our arms, and proclaim loudly, “Ta da!” Amen.
