March 2, 2003
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Prayer: Eternal and loving God, speak to us for we are eager to listen. Bless us, as we cry out to you for strength and vision. You have acted in times past to save your people. Save us now. You have sent prophets to change the world. Change us now. You have granted light in Jesus Christ. Shine on us now. Let us see your glory. Continue to lift us to the mountaintop in these times. Stay close to us to melt away our doubts, and do not leave us, we pray, through Christ. Amen. (Led by Love Lavon Bayler. Cleveland. United Church Press, 1996, p.50).
I got a glimpse of something special the other day. You may know that youth and adults from the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Ohio returned yesterday from the United Nations/Washington Seminar, the same trip I went on two years ago. They were in New York on the United Nations part of the seminar toward the end of this past week. I was glad to catch a glimpse of some of the seminar participants Thursday morning while I was watching the Today Show. There was Al Roker outside working the crowd, as usual, and as usual, there were hundreds of people holding up signs. I thought I got a glimpse of what looked like a chalice, our denominational symbol drawn on a big piece of paper. I looked again and there was only Al Roker’s face. The camera panned across the crowd and there it was again, our kids representing our congregations in Ohio, with their paper sign, on national television. The sight was glorious. As marvelous as that sighting was, today we are witness to a greater, more glorious sight. Today is Transfiguration Sunday. It is the last Sunday in the season of Epiphany, and so comes before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. It is one of those Sundays that is a little strange as we contemplate its events. We do not fully understand what happens. Don’t worry, it is not just us. The sermon title for this lesson at one of the other churches on Broad Street is “It’s A Mystery”. Transfiguration looks ahead to the events of the resurrection and the return of Christ and so in a sense this is an Easter story told on the eve of Lent, to let us know that it will be all right. God will be in charge The last six weeks have been spent asking the question: what do Christians do? The question was answered in these ways: we pray, we worship, we study scripture, we give with joy, we serve others, and we grow spiritually. There are surely more things that can be added to the list of the things Christians do and the attitudes we have. But none of them are possible without faith in the God to whom we pray, offer worship, whose word we study, or whose church we support with our giving. None of it is possible without faith in the One in whose name we offer service to the world, or in whose favor we seek to grow. When we act in faith, we receive the gift of the opportunity to glimpse the glory of God. Peter, James, and John were able to see a glimpse of the glory of God and they allow us to see it too, because as a result of all that Christians do and are, there is one more thing we are privileged to do. We along with Peter, James, and John glimpse the glory of God as embodied in Jesus Christ. It is not an accident that Peter, James, and John are there on the mountain with Jesus. They were, among the twelve disciples, the three closest to Jesus. These were the most passionate of his followers. Peter was known as the zealot, and the brothers James and John are known in scripture as the “Sons of Thunder”. It is these three who could be a bit excitable. Peter was prone to speak and act without thinking clearly. James and John want to make sure that when Jesus takes his place in heaven, they will be there with him, at his right and left sides and they get their mother to ask for the favor. They are all about raw power, they do not quite understand that Jesus is here to use his power with a purpose. He is about bringing us into a living relationship with the living God. Jesus is not about who talks the loudest nor is he about who will sit next to him in heaven. He is about who will keep Jesus close in good times and in bad times, and who will trust him all the way. Coming as it does in the middle of the gospel of Mark, the transfiguration is a wonderful bridge between the healing and teaching ministry of Jesus the beginning of his journey toward Jerusalem where he will be crucified. They are standing there, Mark says, six days later. Six days later than what? Six days later from the time Peter first said of Jesus, “you are the Christ, the son of the living God”. Six days later from the time that Jesus has taught the twelve disciples the lesson that is also true for us. Whoever will be a disciple of Jesus must first deny himself or herself, take up the cross, and follow him. Those of us who would save our lives for our own sake, believing that we live and die to ourselves will lose our lives in a flood of selfishness and arrogance. But those of us who lose our lives for the sake of Christ, who know that to give ourselves to him is to find our truest selves in him, will receive a gracious gift. Those of us who know that we are his and that we can find joy in even the most depressing days, because he makes all things new, will find our lives forever. Peter, James, and John are six days later from the time that Jesus has begun talking with them about his upcoming death and resurrection. Six days after the conversation begins, Jesus lets them see a glimpse of his coming glory. We are invited up on that mountain of transfiguration with them. If you have ever been to the top of a tall structure, the Empire State Building in Manhattan, the Gateway Arch in Saint Louis, or the Justice Building in downtown Columbus, or any high mountain peak, you know that the view is spectacular. The view must on that mountain is even more incredible. We can see for miles as we stand there in the middle of God’s creation, and in the presence of God’s own son. While we are on the mountain something amazing happens. Jesus is changed, transfigured before us. The word change here is the same as the word used to describe the process by which a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. It is a complete metamorphosis. Even the clothes Jesus is wearing are changed from ordinary everyday clothing to dazzling white. And not just his clothes, but his face shines too. In fact the entire scene is incredibly bright. Up there on the mountain, we glimpse the glory of Jesus’ prophetic heritage. When Jesus is transfigured, he is joined by two Hebrew prophets, Moses the lawgiver, and Elijah, whom God used to stand against the opponents of Israel’s God. They have some things in common with Jesus. Like Jesus, they were at first rejected by the people they were called by God to serve. Like Jesus they will fulfill their mission. Moses will lead his people out of the wilderness; Elijah will lead his people from idolatry and the worship of Baal. Like Jesus Moses and Elijah had their own mountaintop experiences. Moses went up and received the commandments by which God will be in covenant with the people. Elijah, fearing for his life, went up into the mountains to hide from the wrath of Queen Jezebel. The mountaintop is nice, but neither Moses nor Elijah could stay there, and neither can we. We may be tempted to stay because we understand when Peter wants to build three worship places. He has witnessed something special and he wants to mark the spot. It may be that sometimes we need to mark the spot where something happens and at other times, we need to just hold the experience in our hearts until God makes clear what it all means for us. The truth is as much as we want, there are some things so awesome, neither our words nor buildings we construct can do them justice. How do we mark the spot where we discover our life’s purpose? What structure can depict what it is like to know Jesus Christ in all his present and future glory? Still, we want to say, we were there, and we have seen Jesus in all his glory. On the mountain of transfiguration, we see Jesus as he really is, as God’s own Son given to us as a gift of love. Madeleine L’Engle describes the sight. “Suddenly they saw him the way he was, the way he really was all the time, although they had never seen it before, the glory which blinds the everyday eye and so becomes invisible. This is how he was, radiant, brilliant, carrying joy like a flaming sun in his hands. This is the way he was – is – was from the beginning, and we cannot bear it. So he became human. But there on the mountain they saw him, really saw him, saw his light.” (Imagining the Word, vol. 3, Cleveland, United Church Press, 1996, p.149). Nothing in our experience can help us describe the sight, or build a monument to this glorious sight. Only the voice of God can truly mark the spot, because the Transfiguration is not just about sight, it is about sound as well. Jesus never says a word, but God does. We hear that voice through the clouds, the sign of the presence of God, as God says, “listen to him”. What will we hear when we listen? We will hear Jesus say life can be hard sometimes, it can be confusing, even frightening, but Jesus who promises to be with us in our fears. When we listen to him, we will hear him ease our fears, calm our hearts, soothe our anxieties, and say to us over and over again, ”do not be afraid, I am here.” When they look up, Jesus is alone, the brilliance that was present a minute ago is no more, it is just Jesus, Peter, James, and John on the mountaintop. As they come down, Jesus tells them to keep this glorious sight to themselves for a while. Wait because it cannot be fully appreciated or understood until after Christ’s resurrection. They have had a brief glimpse of the divine; they will have to wait to get the whole picture. Christians today are resurrection people. We live on this side of the resurrection of Jesus Christ which has taken place already. Our call is to remember and to tell the story of what we know. Afterall, we have been on the mountain and have seen a glimpse of the divine and we have been transfigured too. As we grow in faith and in the joy of knowing who we too are taken up on high spiritual mountains and we are changed. As we are changed, our congregation will be changed, and as this congregation is changed, we can change the world. But we do not change the world from the mountaintop. We change it as we come down and offer our transfigured selves to God’s world. The question is how will we offer our lives of prayer, worship, study, stewardship, service and growth in order to share the good news of Jesus Christ? The answer is that we offer ourselves as a people revitalized, who have found new life through the glory of God. What are the strengths of a revitalized church? Some months ago I shared five signs of a transfigured, revitalized church. I first heard them in a small group while attending a workshop on congregational revitalization. I have shared these signs with the board and with our ministry team leaders, so some of you may have heard these before. But they bear repeating. First, a revitalizing church is vision driven. It looks to discover and to do what God is calling it to do. How do we feel ourselves drawn to the vision God has for us? How will we make plain our vision of a congregation committed to being a multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-generational church. As we make the vision clear, we will attract people who need this community to help them know the salvation of Jesus Christ. Second, not only are we being called to be a church that is driven by our vision of being a safe and welcoming place for people from all walks of life who desire to be in relationship with Jesus Christ and his church, we are called to be spiritually grounded. God has called us to be a congregation that understands that all that we do is designed to reflect our relationship with God through Jesus Christ and to bring us into deeper relationship with him. Third, God wants us to be a people of faith with passion – affirming the gifts for ministry found in each of us, lay and clergy alike. Fourth, God wants us to practice risky and radical hospitality through which not only are the people who come to us are changed for the better, and by which we are changed too. And fifth, God is calling us to practice an abundance mentality – there is enough for God’s people to have all we need to be and to live the good news of Jesus Christ. Our challenge is to do all that we can with the resources of people, of place, of gifts and talents, and of money that God has put into our hands. Peter, James, and John saw the glorious light of God. Their trip up to a mountaintop made them different people. It makes us different people too. As we live as changed, renewed, revitalized and faithful people, a glorious metamorphosis will happen in us. When we are changed, we will become different people. We will be stronger, more courageous, more caring, more loving, more giving, more prayerful, more generous. We will be better prepared for the journey ahead that begins Wednesday and goes through Lent into Holy Week all the way to Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Our glimpse of glory will be a light along the way. May it be true for us forever – that we will always look for glimpses of glory and may we praise forever the God whose “light has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II Corinthians 4.6). Thanks be to God indeed. Amen.
Dr.
LaTaunya M. Bynum |
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Broad
Street Christian Church
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