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Transfiguration Sunday Sherry Lohman - Feb. 14, 2010 Exodus 34:29-35 Luke 9:28-43 Well, today is Valentine’s day. It’s also Scout’s day. It’s also Black History Month. What else can we celebrate? Is it anyone’s birthday? Anniversary? If you noticed in your bulletin, we are also celebrating what is called “Transfiguration Sunday.” Of course, we are not celebrating in exactly the same way that we celebrate birthdays or anniversaries. Celebrations, in the church, take on a slightly different ritual. Instead of cake and ice cream, we often celebrate by inviting everyone to the table of Holy Communion; it is one of our sacraments—an outward sign of an inward movement./ We change the colors of the paraments, like the cloth draped around the cross, or the linens we use on the altar, symbolic of the events on our Christian calendar. Last week it was green. Next week, we will change it to purple, during the season of Lent. Again, why are we celebrating Transfiguration Sunday? What’s all the fuss about? It’s not Christmas, and it’s not Easter. Well, something big happened on this day, not only for Jesus, but for the disciples who were with him. In just a few minutes, you’re going to hear a little about that, when we find Jesus and the disciples up on what we call the “mountain of transfiguration.” It’s the mountain top where Jesus’ face is changed, and his clothes become dazzling white. Hence, our cross is veiled in white, like a blaze of glory. Jesus is there, conferring (not with the disciples that went up to the mountain top with him, but with Moses and Elijah. But wait a minute. Moses has stepped right out of the Old Testament. What’s he doing here? How did he get into this picture, and why? So before we get to our Gospel reading, I’d like you to hear another scripture, from our Old Testament, Exodus 34:29-35, a story of another mountaintop experience. You may know the story. Moses is returning from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant (ten commandments, as we know it). His face shines in a way that frightens the people, so he begins to wear a veil when he instructs them, but takes it off when offering worship in the tabernacle. (Sue reads). Moses has just experienced a powerful and direct encounter with God, and he returns, transfigured/transformed, as a leader of worship and community discipleship. Something big has happened on that mountaintop. Ok. Now, fast forward 13 centuries into the time of Jesus. Sue will read it in just a minute./ You will notice that the story begins, by tying it to a specific date (“eight days after these sayings” (of 21-27). Let me fill you in, a little. Eight days, before this trek up the mountain, Peter and the other disciples have a conversation with Jesus, whereupon Jesus communicates that the Son of Man will suffer, be executed and raised on the third day, and that followers of Jesus must deny themselves or expect to lose their souls. Ok, so it’s important we know this, because it plays into what happens on the mountain top, and even what should, might or must follow once they come down. (read Luke 9:28-43). Really, this reading from the Gospel is not so different from Moses’ experience centuries before. Moses goes up the mountain, encounters God, and transformed/transfigured, he returns to the folks, below, with a new, clear vision of how God’s people should live. Peter, James, John and Jesus go up the mountain to pray. As Jesus prays, the disciples can’t help but notice the appearance of his face, changing, and his clothes become dazzling white. In other words, the disciples begin to fully understand and appreciate the awe and wonder of Jesus’ glory, and for a few moments, they were all immersed in this glory—maybe speechless. when we focus on the awe and wonder of Jesus’ glory. You know how it is when something amazing happens—the experience is more than you can describe. And then suddenly, Moses and Elijah are there on the mountain, talking with Jesus. How those two entered into the present situation, we can’t explain. / We might wonder how it is that God is preparing, even for us, into the future./ I don’t know about you and your thoughts about the afterlife, but I’m hoping, and can’t wait to re-visit my Dad, who died over 30 years ago….might as well have been a century. It seems there’s a lot of coming and going up and down the mountain in this journey, don’t you think? The story says the disciples had been drowsy, but you can imagine how all of this might have shook them up; their eyes now wide open. Maybe they pinched themselves to make sure they weren’t dreaming. And just as soon as Peter oriented himself, it all began to dissipate. Moses and Elijah were turning to leave, and Peter, not wanting to part from this glorious, mountaintop experience….offers a solution. Who can blame him. He wants to prolong the moment. It’s like the ten year family reunion….you don’t want to say good-bye, and so you linger in the driveway, before pulling away. And as you slowly head onto the street, you roll down your window and wave. Less than a block away, you check the rearview mirror and hit the horn; a final expression of love. That’s how Peter felt. He didn’t want to leave. So he offers his best idea. “Life is good, here. Let’s stay. We’ll build three different condos so you can each have your own little space. We’ll try to stay out of your way…”// Peter really didn’t get it, and who knows what else he might have said, had he not been interrupted from the voice within a cloud that said: “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” I don’t know for sure, but I get the impression God was trying to shush Peter. Have you ever been shushed….by God?!// Peter is dazzled and not really sure about what he should say or do…..and so he just starts babbling, until God says, “Ok…enough. Stop talking and LISTEN! This is my son, Jesus….Listen to him.” Remember what Jesus tried to tell them the eight days before? “The Son of Man will suffer, be executed and raised on the third day, and his followers must deny themselves or expect to lose their souls. Know him; listen to him.// It’s enough. Let’s talk about that? How do we know Jesus? How does he work, within our own lives?/ Does Jesus leave a blazing trail for you to follow, or is he just here for you on Sundays?/ And what does it mean to deny ourselves or else expect we might lose our souls?/ For some, that might sound a little threatening…as if we might be doomed to hell. Are we to become martyrs? What does it mean to deny ourselves? One of the ways we might answer these questions is to consider our own mountaintop experiences---a time in your life when you have felt incredibly connected to God. Maybe it’s been a time when you feel enormously blessed and grateful….like when you have found someone to spend your life with, or the arrival of your first child, or when your parents have communicated their great love for you. Or maybe it’s been a moment in nature, watching the sun rise, or like yesterday, noticing the beauty of the flocked trees. Let’s say that moment is your mountaintop experience, when you have come face to face with God. Truly, we expect that day will come, don’t we?/ What will that be like?// Just thinking about it feels a little overwhelming, doesn’t it. Picture yourself, standing there, before God. What are you going to say when you look straight into the face of God? We might ask for mercy and forgiveness, which we know, is already granted by the mercy of our loving, grace giving God. Forgiveness is not something we earn. Or, we might lift up a song of praise or prayer of gratitude. Perhaps, like Peter, we might simply be struck speechless, engulfed in the presence; the awe and glory of God. Yea—we don’t want to leave, either! The reality is, we have to go back down the mountain. We can’t stay up there, can we? That may be in our future, but we’ve got to go back down and live in the real world. Moses did that. Remember, he went back down, the commandments under his arm, and first thing, what did he find? Trouble! Folks had already thrown together a golden calf to worship. What about Jesus and the disciples? Remember what they came down to? A man, with a sick child. This man had taken his son to Jesus’disciples….BEGGED them to help….but they were powerless. “Stop talking and LISTEN! This is my son, Jesus….Listen to him.” Jesus is where we find the power of healing. “Deny yourselves or expect to lose your souls.” YOU can’t heal this child….but you know where to go. Follow Jesus, go up the mountain and find God’s power of grace of healing. Take that child with you! You can do that….that’s what we mean by our witness, but you can’t share it with others until you are plugged in, yourself. God’s power runs through you and there are countless ways you can channel that, and one of the first great theologians, Augustine, said, “share your faith, and sometimes, use words.” We must, folks, because our world is broken and we are not only called, but sent back down the mountain to share what we know. How many different ways can we heal? I wonder, sometimes, if we become intimidated by immensity of the challenge, that we overlook opportunities, right before our eyes. I know I do. We think about the big stuff, or maybe like what seems impossible---how can we heal a convulsing child? But we neglect to even reach out to the smallest ministering. Last week’s Gazette featured an article about a young wrestler, Chris Johnson, from Independence, who lost his father last October. Since that time, Chris had become withdrawn from friends and his sports. By Christmas, Chris had shut down socially; quit showing up for practice and feeling completely overwhelmed in his grief. His wise coach looked straight into the grief, and began an intentional effort to support Chris. He called on the wrestling team to get involved, too, which they responded to with great care and love. This is a ministry of healing. It’s not a quick flash of a magic wand. Chris said that there were just random things that his friends would say that would help him. Random things. This is healing…..helping someone else back up the mountain. Another friend of ours, Kim, who learned last year that she has lung cancer has been keeping an on-line log for family and friends. Kim is a surgeon, and so along with keeping us up to date on the medical reports, she has included a diary, of sorts, of her day to day living in the awareness of her cancer. You know, when life is uncertain, our awareness becomes very keen. Kim’s reflections often describe the peak of her awareness. Last week she wrote about the simple exchange she had while getting a cup of coffee at the hospital; the cafeteria workers who she described, “amazingly nurturing people.” These aren’t her medical peers, doctors or nurses…..they are the cafeteria workers; the folks who run the cash registers. Kim writes, “Many of them seem to know all of us thousands of healthcare workers at least by face when not by name, and seem delighted when we have gotten ourselves something good to eat….the human warmth and comfort they are doling out to the hospital workers at the University of Iowa is so palpable it must be reflected back onto our patients.” This is healing ministry. We can do this. This is what giving up our lives for God, and for others, means. In this act, amazing, powerful healing begins….so that we are transfigured into the likeness of God. Something big is about to happen! Our God is amazing, and grants us the power. Let’s give it what we’ve got. Let’s dance down that mountain fully charged for sharing and healing and transforming our world. Are you ready? May our prayer be that We are ready! Use us God. Send us down that mountain like a bolt of lightning that we might be a surge of healing energy. Are you ready?! Something big is about to happen! Let’s go--- |