Mcfarland United Church Of Christ Sermons

PresenceRev. Kerri Parker, McFarland UCCTransfiguration B (Feb 19, 2012)Mark 9:2-10It’s been a rough week in the McFarland area. The news has been neither uplifting norinspiring. First, there was the news about a 15-year-old young woman who was abused andstarved for years, found walking down the street just north of here.And then there was the news about one of McFarland’s high school seniors, who took his ownlife.People move to small towns in “nice” Wisconsin to get away from things like this, as if goingsomewhere else would make it all better. We want to turn our faces away from it. We want topretend it doesn’t happen – or at least, not here. It’s something you read in the newspapers,or online, something that happens far away, or at least, a while back.And then a week like this bursts into our consciousness, dragging up memories, dragging upfears, confirming our worst nightmares: we can’t get away from it. It’s enough to make youwant to curl into a ball and retreat from the world. “I can’t,” we say – I can’