Transformers

Week of November 6, 2011: Boldly Shaping Partners of God for the Transformation of the World

Theme/Title: "Transformers"

 Scripture:  Matthew 18: 1-5 & Matthew 20: 1-16

Media: 

Reflection:

I am fascinated by the Transformer movies (use to be by the cartoon series on TV when the boys watched it some years ago).  Not only the story line about alien machines that destroyed their home planet in war for domination but also by the way these machines can transform into all sorts of different things, especially modes of transportation.  I can never look at a Mack Truck or a Camaro again without thinking about how it might look as a robot.

The same thing happens when I see a child or watch folks getting paychecks – I can never look at those events without hearing Jesus say “unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” nor “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?  Or are you envious because I am generous?”  You see, God wants this world to change!  That’s clear from the Biblical values we have been taught and the sense of what is right and wrong that many of us are born with.  The world as it is isn’t the world God intended and so a transformation is needed.  The world as we know it must shift and transform into a kingdom that looks, feels and functions differently – like a car transforming into a robot, similar but different.

We sometimes sing a song “Enviado Soy de Dios”(*) and part of lyrics are: “The angels cannot change a world of hurt and pain into a world of love, of justice and of peace.  The task is ours to do, to set it really free. O help us to obey and carry out your will.”  That’s what it means to be partners of God for the transformation of the world.  We know what the world, creation is meant to be and God has made sure that we have the gifts, talents and resources to make the transformation but God cannot – more accurately will not force us to act.  We have to choose to do it, we have to have the will to put our comfort, our wealth and our very way of life on the line so that we can bring about the world God intends. 

Ultimately we are to be about the building of a kingdom that is childlike, that operates not according to what we think is fair but according to the laws of grace, generosity and love.  We are to transform our world by working for justice, peace, and the unalienable rights we all are due as human beings and beloved children of God. 

Meditation:

Can you remember when have you experienced a transformation; a change so dramatic that nothing was ever the same again?  If not, image what it would be like to do that.  If you have ever participated in a restoration project remember that effort and see it as a symbol of transformation.

Prayer:

Thank God for the changes and transformation of your life.  Pray for those who need to transform themselves.  Pray for those who work to transform the destruction we have caused creation into life and health.  Pray that we all may do what we can to transform creation into all that God intents for it to be.

(*) “Sent Out in Jesus’ Name” No. 2184 in The Faith We Sing ©2000 by Abingdon Press