March 6 Transfiguration Sunday "Mountain Mystery"
One of my favorite verses is Hebrews 2:15. It proclaims that Jesus came to "free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." I have come to see that it is this fear that keeps us from taking the risk of saying what needs to be said. It is this fear that keeps us from doing what needs to be done. It is this fear that keeps some people from going to the doctor when they experience symptoms that might indicate a serious illness. It is this fear that keeps us from living life here and now.
Have you ever done something like Peter? Make a suggestion for something the group might do, and have absolutely no response? He was moved by the experience and thought to set up some tents for the three spiritual presences, Moses and Elijah and Jesus. NOTHING. Imgine if Peter had decidd to keep his mouth shut after sticking his foot in it there on the mountain. No, instead he continued speaking and acting.
There is a peace [and power] that comes from being set free from the fear of death, a deep and lasting peace that passes all understanding. It's why the season of Lent is so important! During these forty days, we are challenged to come down from our moutaintop mysteries and to begin a journey with Jesus that will reveal a Myterious Presence in our daily lives. On this Transfiguration Sunday, we are called to follow Jesus into an even more profound experience of God’s wonder, love, and praise!.
The story of Transfiguration has been described as a preview of Easter. So we may say that we are looking at the "Roadmap to Peace." Later in this same chapter… Jesus was teaching his disciples. He said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise." But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it. (vv. 31-32) These are timid and fearful disciples, so afraid of death that they are unwilling to talk about it. In spite of the claim of Peter and James and John that "Jesus told us not to tell," the truth is they were too afraid to speak about it. Sometimes people today are unwilling to talk about their encounters with the world of Spirit. But if we risk it, we may find a richness in this journey to Easter that is powerfully liberating.
Walter Wink has written, "Transfiguration is living by vision: standing foursquare in the midst of a broken, tortured, oppressed, starving, dehumanizing reality yet 'seeing the invisible,' calling to it, importuning it to come, behaving as if it is on the way, sustained by elements of it that have come already, within and among us. In those moments when people are healed, transformed, freed from addictions, obsessions, destructiveness, self-worship, or when groups or communities or even rarely, whole nations glimpse the supernal light of the transcendent in their midst, there the New Creation has come upon us. The world for one brief moment is transfigured. The beyond shines in our midst -- on the way to the cross." (Interpretation)
A different way of seeing--that's the mountain mystery of Transfiguration. Have you ever experienced a transformation of your sight? My generation of college students learned about something called synesthesia. It gave rise to a whole piece of the pop culture called psychedelic art. But I'm here to tell you it's possible without drugs. Mystics through the ages have described it, and some artists have painted it.
A congregation of everyday mystics. The word "mystic" makes a lot of Presbyterians run for cover. It makes us think New Age nonsense, or strange psychic phenomena that are far from the Reformed faith. But a mystic is simply someone who is graced with a direct encounter with God. It may be a mountaintop experience where the world of spirit breaks open for us, or it might be that hint of something just outside our peripheral vision or a voice so still we wonder if we're making it up.
Theologian Karl Rahner argued that these unmediated encounters with God are often so delicate and subtle that most people do not even know that what they have experienced.
Anglican Priest Ian Morgan Cron speaks of everyday mysticism: "Have you ever found yourself inexplicably capable of forgiving someone who has wounded you? Have you ever been surprised by your ability to maintain a spirit of faith, hope and joy in the face of crushing circumstances? Have you ever spontaneously laughed out loud at the absurdity of life? Have you ever felt overwhelmed by the sense that everything in your life is a gift? Has your heart ever been warmed by the milky scent of a baby’s breath? Have you ever been stopped in your tracks by the sound of wind moving through a forest of maples or by the sight of a markless snowfield illuminated by moonlight? Have you ever received Communion and felt tears of gratitude well up from your soul?"
The Trappist Monk, Thomas Merton, wrote of a moment when he saw each person as Transfigured: "I was in Louisville, Kentucky, in the shopping mall, when I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all these people around me, even though they were complete strangers. It felt like waking from a dream. It was as if I could see the secret beauty in their hearts, the deep self where sin and ego can't reach, the core of their reality, the person that each is in God's eyes. I couldn't explain it. How can you go up to people and tell them they're walking around shining like the sun? If only they could see themselves as they truly are. If only we could all see each other that way all the time. I suppose the problem would be that we'd fall down and worship each other." --Thomas Merton, Confessions of a Guilty Bystander
--Jack Lohr, Interim Pastor
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