THE CYCLE OF TRANSFORMATION

Gordon E. Ellis
October 14, 2007

THE CYCLE OF TRANSFORMATION

I suppose that, IF I had been given a CHOICE, I would NOT be standing here today, because I would NOT have left my mother’s WOMB! And WHY would I? I was SAFE and SECURE there. I was COZY and WARM there. All my NEEDS were being MET there! In fact, IF the truth be KNOWN, I actually tried to STAY in my mother’s womb! I actually tired NOT to be born! I was SEVERAL weeks LATE in arriving, which actually made my birth even more TRAUMATIC, because I was so darn BIG (SOME things NEVER change)! In fact, I was SO big that they actually had to BREAK my collar bone in order to get me OUT of my mother’s womb. That’s a FACT! But THINK about it: why WOULD we be born, IF we were given a CHOICE! Well, LEAVING the SAFETY and SECURITY of the WOMB is only the first of MANY big TRANSITIONS that we have to FACE in our lives. And ANYTIME we have to go through a period of TRANSITION, for ANY reason, it’s almost like having to FACE being BORN all OVER again, because what’s AHEAD of us is UNKNOWN. We don’t KNOW what’s beyond the SAFETY and SECURITY, what’s beyond the COMFORT that we currently HAVE in our lives. And the unknown SCARES us!

Well, WHEN we go through TRANSITIONS in our lives, we go through a CYCLE. And it’s pretty much the SAME cycle EVERY time. I call it the cycle of transformation. In theological terms, it’s the cycle of moving from LIFE to DEATH to NEW life (or new BIRTH). And of course, the life, death and resurrection of JESUS forms the eternal METAPHOR that God uses in order to REVEAL this CYCLE to us, AND to express to us the TRUTH that God is WITH us, and LOVING us, EACH time we need to go THROUGH the cycle of transformation.

And the cycle of transformation is prevalent throughout ALL of creation! I mean: consider the SEASONS, and HOW they move from the LIFE of summer and fall to the DEATH of WINTER, and THEN, to the NEW life, or the NEW birth, of SPRING. OR, consider the SEED, planted in the ground and having to DIE in order to be TRANSFORMED into a PLANT or FLOWER. Or consider the BUTTERFLY! DURING the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly, there is a CHRYSALIS stage. St. Theresa of Avila wrote a LOT about this CHRYSALIS stage, and her thoughts have been CONFIRMED by modern SCIENCE. And what she SAID was that there is a TIME in the COCOON when it’s IMPOSSIBLE to TELL that what’s IN the cocoon USED to be a CATERPILLER. At the SAME time, it’s ALSO impossible to tell that what’s IN the cocoon is ABOUT to become a BUTTERFLY. Instead, what’s IN the cocoon is a little bit like MUSH. And that MUSH phase is PART of the PROCESS of being TRANSFORMED. It’s in the MIDDLE of that CREATIVE cycle of transformation from life to death to NEW life. Yes, it’s the creation’s PATTERN. For EVERYTHING there is a season…. And it’s ALSO the pattern of OUR lives. SOMETIMES we CHOOSE to go THROUGH the cycle of transformation, as when we CHOOSE to change JOBS or RETIRE, but MOST of the time, it just HAPPENS to us because LIFE happens to us. But that period of DEATH or MUSH, in the MIDDLE of the cycle of transformation, is a NECESSARY time in order for REBIRTH or new LIFE to occur. In the Bible, it’s sometimes talked about as a WILDERNESS period, reminiscent of the time the HEBREWS spent in the WILDERNESS following their EXODUS out Egyptian CAPTIVITY. Or sometimes in the Bible, it’s called a DESERT time, remembering the time JESUS spent in the Judean DESERT before embarking upon his public ministry. OR, it COULD be equated to walking through the VALLEY of the shadow of death.

Well, DURING this wilderness time, DURING this DEATH cycle, this MUSH cycle, WHEN we’ve LEFT behind the life that we’ve KNOWN, but have NOT yet experienced the new BIRTH or the new LIFE that is to COME, it is a SCARY and INSECURE time. It’s a CONFUSING time, a DISORIENTING time. And we’re just FULL of EMOTIONS! BUT, it’s an INEVITABLE part of ANY kind of LOSS, ANY kind of GRIEVING, or ANY kind of major CHANGE. When someone RETIRES, for example, that person normally goes through a very INSECURE, scary PERIOD adjusting to NO longer being DEFINED by a CAREER and no longer needing to get up and go to WORK each day. No, it’s not an EASY time.

I suppose it’s KIND of like being a LOBSTER. I mean: IMAGINE how a LOBSTER would FEEL if a lobster could FEEL! As a lobster GROWS, it OUTGROWS its SHELL, 7 times in the first YEAR. And when it DOES, it needs to actually SHED its OLD shell and grow a NEW one, in order to SURVIVE. However, WHEN that OLD shell is gone, and before the NEW shell is formed, that lobster has to live for QUITE a long time totally VULNERABLE and UNPROTECTED on the ocean floor. IMAGINE how DIFFICULT that would BE for a lobster, IF a lobster could THINK! And maybe it’s because we human beings CAN think that we are the ONLY animals on earth that actually RESIST change. We don’t want to FACE that WILDERNESS time, that MUSH time, that INSECURE time that comes with CHANGE! However, we need to remember that WITHOUT change, there is no GROWTH! So whether a change is THRUST upon us, OR whether we CHOOSE it, change is the prerequisite for growth.

Well, friends: THAT is the PRIMARY reason why I decided to MOVE from this WONDERFUL ministry that I have in this absolutely FABULOUS church. I need to continue growing -- and SO do YOU! And I HAVE to tell you that it’s DIFFICULT to CHOOSE it, because there WILL be a WILDNERNESS time ahead. There WILL be a DESERT time! There WILL be a VULNERABLE time! In fact, I REMEMBER how I felt when I first came to THIS church from a TERRIFIC ministry that I had in Seekonk, Massachusetts. MANY times, during my first YEAR or 2 here, I said to myself: WHAT have I DONE? Am I an IDIOT for choosing this? This is TERRIBLE compared to what I had in Seekonk! And yet, LOOK what has happened here SINCE then! LOOK what a DYNAMIC ministry that WE have had together for over 17 years! And LOOK at how much ALL of us, AND the church as a whole, have GROWN! The NEW life that we’ve experienced is just INCREDIBLE, and even MIRACULOUS! And it’s VERY exciting! But it WOULDN’T have happened IF we didn’t go through some WILDERNESS time, IF we DIDN’T go through the cycle of transformation.

Well friends, I TRULY feel like it’s time AGAIN for GROWTH -- both for ME and for YOU as a church family…. And THAT’S why, in SPITE of how HARD it will BE, WE need to go THROUGH this cycle from LIFE to DEATH to NEW life, this CYCLE of transformation!

Yes, of COURSE I will MISS you! I will this church LEAVE after next Sunday with TEARS in my eyes! There’s NO doubt ABOUT it! BUT, I will also trust GOD to be WITH me, and to be at WORK bringing NEW life, NEW birth, and NEW growth into MY life and ministry. And LIKEWISE, I will trust GOD to be at work in YOUR transition time. And I would urge YOU to do the SAME, so that you might walk THROUGH the valley of the shadow of death (as the psalm says – NOT just IN it, but THROUGH it!) -- so that you might walk THROUGH the wilderness of grieving what NO longer IS -- and ON the other side, embrace the NEW life that GOD will GIVE you! Yes, friends, TRUST that ETERNAL cycle of transformation that was REVEALED to us in and through Jesus Christ, because it’s ALL part of God’s WORK in our lives -- and in our world. Yes, TRUST God, my friends! And you will NOT be disappointed. That’s ONE of the MESSAGES in our Scripture Lesson from Colossians today. Amen.