Proper 16 Year A 8/23/2026
Exodus 1:8-2:10; Psalm 124; Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20
Rev. Mark A. Lafler
The second verse from our reading in Romans 12 today says this:
Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your minds,
so that you may discern what is the will of God—
what is good and acceptable and perfect.
All of us desire to know…
To discern…
What the will of God is.
For our life…
For our children…
For major decisions…
What is the will of God for me regarding (fill in the blank).
And according to our present verse in Romans 12.2, the will of God is tied to our mind…
The way we think about things.
The way that we go about things in this life.
Especially regarding the ways of the world and the ways of God.
As our verse says:
Not being conformed to the world…
But our minds being renewed by transformation.
Some weeks ago, one of the screened sections on our back porch came loose…
And the wind during the summer storms began to make that opening in the screen bigger and bigger…
Until half the screen was folded down and hanging.
Now, one of my hobbies at home is gardening…
And at the bottom of that screen is one of my butterfly gardens.
The milkweed, the savia, the porterweed, and other plants…
Well, I started to notice some butterflies in our screened porch.
Of course, coming in through the opening…
So, on one of my last days of vacation, I got some new screen…
I got some of my tools out…
Brought out my six-foot ladder…
Watched a YouTube video to make sure I was going to fix it correctly…
And after two or three trips to Lowes to get the right things…
I fixed the open section of my screened porch.
Well, just last week I noticed two more butterflies inside my screen porch…
They were flying here and there…
Sometimes chasing each other…
Two huge butterflies…
Beautiful black and yellow…
Giant Swallowtails…
The largest butterflies in North America.
Fun to watch…
But I wondered how did they get in my porch?
The screen enclosure was fixed.
It must be that the previous butterflies must have laid eggs…
Turned into caterpillars…
Changed into Chrysalis…
And transformed into the butterflies I saw a few days ago.
And that whole process…
That changing of a caterpillar into a butterfly is called metamorphosis.
Well, this week as I read through our readings…
Prayed, considered, and contemplated what God would emphasize to us today through the homily is this:
Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.
That word “transformed” in our English translation comes from a Greek word… you will recognize it…
The Greek word is μεταμορφόω…
which is where we get our word metamorphosis.
It means to remodel.
To change into another form.
To become different.
In ancient Greek culture the word was used to describe the Greek gods as they changed themselves into earthly beings to take on the affairs of humans.
The word is used in the Gospels during the transformation of Jesus…
When he became a dazzling white light…
St. Paul uses the word here in Romans in the imperative form…
Be transformed…
Be “metamorphosis”…
Not a physical change…
But an invisible transformation…
Regarding the renewing of our mind…
As one commentary suggests:
In conduct, then, [Christians] must not follow the forms of life in this aeon but the very different form of life in the coming aeon.[1]
Suggesting that we should live our life now in the same manner of the life to come.
When it comes to this world… its ways and means…
We should in our conduct and in our thinking be so different that it’s like the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly.
A night and day difference.
Do not be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.
And this is not something that we conjure up on our own…
As if St. Paul is saying:
Come on! Do better!
Transform yourself!
If Romans 12.2 was the only scripture we had from St. Paul maybe we could come to that conclusion…
But Romans 12 is part of a lengthy letter of which Paul has just spent gobs of space clarifying how we are justified in Christ and how the Holy Spirit is active in our sanctification.
So, he’s not here saying: But this part is on you alone.
He is saying that it is in participation with the work and ministry of the Holy Spirit in our life.
…be transformed by the renewing of your minds.
Now in our Christian tradition…
In the Anglican world…
In The Episcopal Church…
The way we often describe this renewed mind…
This transformation that is different than the world…
What this looks like is found in the Prayer Book…
In the section on The Baptismal Covenant.
It shows up in our baptismal liturgy as well as in our confirmation liturgy.
You can turn there in the Prayer Book to Page 416.
The Baptismal Covenant is our commitment to what we believe about God and how we behave in this world.
It is in the form of Questions and Responses…
8 questions to be exact.
The first three questions are asking what we believe about God…
What do we believe about the Father?
What do we believe about Jesus Christ, the Son of God?
What do we believe about the Holy Spirit?
The answer to these questions is the Apostles’ Creed.
We conform to the faith as professed in the Creeds…
The Nicene Creed and The Apostles’ Creed.
Both creeds were formed in the first centuries of the church and have been the standard of orthodox faith throughout the life of the church.
We don’t just get to pick and choose what we believe about God.
We are confessional in this way…
We are creedal…
We believe certain things about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
The renewing of our mind concerning the things of God has to do with the Holy Scripture and the confessing of the creeds which give a summary statement of the God of the Bible.
The next 5 questions of The Baptismal Covenant have to do with our conduct, which is in juxtaposition with the way of the world.
The question is:
Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?
I will, with God’s help.
This is a biblical way (Acts 2.42) of saying that we will participate in the life of the church.
It is a commitment to not try to be a Christian outside of the gathered church…
To not be rogue Christians…
But to be part of the gathered body of Christ…
worshipping and growing with others through word and sacrament.
Next is the question:
Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
I will, with God’s help.
This is a commitment to walk in sanctification.
It has to do with two words: Mortify and vivify…
They are two connected parts of Christian spiritual growth and repentance.
Mortification means to put sin to death… to cut off old, bad habits. Vivification means to make alive or grow in new and holy actions with God’s grace.
So we are always being reformed by the Holy Spirit.
Next is asked:
Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
I will, with God’s help.
Are we sharing our faith… which is the Gospel (the good news) of Jesus
Not the “good news” of our political ideology…
Not the “good news” of cultural opinion…
But the sharing of Christ death for our sins and the resurrection for our life to come.
Sharing the hope we have in Jesus Christ… the hope by which we live.
The Baptismal Covenant then asks:
Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
I will, with God’s help.
Instead of looking out for ourselves and what belongs to us…
Are we loving the people around us?
Are we treating others as we would treat Christ our Lord?
And finally, it asks:
Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
I will, with God’s help.
Regardless of who they are, where they come from, what they look like, what they subscribe to, their social status, their personality…
Do we treat each other in the dignity of being in God’s image?
All of these are challenging questions…
And living out each questions full potential is to be transformed…
Not being conformed by this world…
But being renewed and changed…
And this doesn’t happen on our own…
It happens by the grace of God…
As we participate with the work of the Holy Spirit in our life…
Which is why the response to the questions is:
I will, with God’s help.
And praise God that he helps.
This is the good news… this is the promise we have today…
That God is with us…
Transforming us…
Renewing us…
He does not want to leave us as we were before we were baptized.
He wants to change us into his image…
To bring metamorphosis in our life…
To change us from being like a caterpillar into being a butterfly.
And as we walk out this transformation…
We discover his gracious will…
what is good and acceptable and perfect…
Praise be to God!
Who holds us in this life…
Transforming us into his image.
Amen.
[1] Behm, TDOTNT, volume IV (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1967), 759.
