Transfiguration

Transfiguration   (February 26, 2017)                                                   

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SCRIPTURES     

TRANSFIGURATION SUNDAY

• Exodus 24:12-18 God calls Moses up on the mountain, and Moses enters the cloud of God's glory.

• Psalm 99  

• 2 Peter 1:16-21 Peter says, "We had been eyewitnesses of his majesty ... we were with him on the holy mountain ... . So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed."

• Matthew 17:1-9 Matthew's account of the Transfiguration.

SCRIPTURE

-you know that this is the swing Sunday between the seasons of Epiphany and Lent--the day those who follow Jesus look down at our maps and say, "Uh-oh," because it is time to turn away from the twinkling stars of Christmas toward the deep wilderness of Lent.  As gloomy as that may sound, it is very good news.  Most of us are so distracted by our gadgets, so busy with our work, so addicted to our pleasures, and so resistant to our depths that a nice long spell in the wilderness is just what we need.  (quote from Barbara Brown Taylor)

-The Season of Epiphany begins (Jesus' Baptism) and ends (Jesus' Transfiguration) with a heavenly voice making Jesus known to the world. (epiphany = "to make known"). I've often wondered why Bible publishers don't print the words of God in a separate color: perhaps green for God, red for Jesus, black for everyone else. Note also that the "green" Epiphany Season begins and ends with "white" Sundays. The same is true of the "green" Pentecost Season, starting with Holy Trinity and ending with Christ the King. Stoffregen

-Instead of reading: "Jesus took with him Peter and James and John and led them up a high mountain," try reading this: "Jesus took with him Sue and Bob and Mike and you and me up the high mountain." The Rt. Rev. Robert Johnson

-Jesus was the new Moses

- Peter mentions The Transfiguration in 2nd Peter  1:16-21

-Transfiguration--a bridge between Epiphany and Lent...means change or metamorphosis.  Scholars would later describe this occasion as a theophany -- a visitation form God.

- Mountain top experiences like Moses at Sinai and Elijah at Horeb, Jesus at Mt. Hermon

-The festival of the Transfiguration was instituted by Calixtus III in 1457 to commemorate the defeat of the Turks on August 6 of the previous year. Lutheran usage has moved the feast from August 6 to the Sunday before Ash Wednesday

-Transfiguration is the story of those who continue to function as ordinary people and yet people adopted as God’s children, transformed by the gospel to know both God’s forgiving grace and his terrible righteousness. Dan Nelson

-In India,  the traditional greeting is Namaste. (greeting each other in position of prayer) The God in me greets the God in you. In our tradition the passing of the peace of God is much the same thing: with new eyes opened I recognize the God in you.

-The Celtic peoples talk of "thin places" where the distance between heaven and earth seems thin. What have been the thin moments and thin places for you? What role have they played in shaping your witness in daily life?

-There are just enough mountain peaks to get us through the lonesome valleys.  We cannot stay on the emotional high forever.

- The test of a vision is what we do when we get back down to the bottom of the mountain.

-There are many who would guide us on our journey, many who know the answers. We may be tempted to enshrine their wisdom, build a "booth" for them as it were. Yet, there is only one we must hear; we must "listen to him." Rev. Bryan Findlayson

QUOTES

-Transfigurations are big business today. I don't know anybody who doesn't want one, including me. And many of us work hard and spend a lot of money to get one -- a new face, a new look, a changed appearance. 

-Becoming is superior to being.  Transfiguration for us is, us becoming not just being.    Lindy

- Visions do not last, reality intrudes!

- We need a new perspective...we need to see the big picture.

-Life, especially the life of faith, is an uphill journey.

-The Hebrew word for “shine, glow” resembles the word for “horn.” When Jerome translated the Vulgate, he mistranslated and inserted the Latin for “horns” in verse 34:29. Thus, Michelangelo’s famous statue of Moses shows him with horns! Program Files\My Pictures\moses1.jpg

-The dwellings (or booths) suggest residency, permanent placement. Peter wanted to hang on to the moment, to capture Jesus as transfigured. But the mission was in the valley, not on the mountain. 

- From the rarefied atmosphere of prayer we find new perspectives, etc. 

-We go to the valleys for the forty days of Lent in anticipation of those dark days of Holy Week.  The journey through the valley serves as a needed prelude before we climb the hill of Calvary and then once again experience the joy of Easter.  Mickey Anders

ILLUSTRATIONS

1.Years ago there was a book written called  A Touch of  Wonder    We all need a touch of wonder...some transfiguring experience when we see what we never saw before.  Willimon

2.A woman and her little boy were battling the crowds  on the E train.  They were on one of two working escalators with zillions of others.  Moving along, the little boy looked up at his mother and asked: "Are we in line?"  His mother said, "No, there is no line.  This isn't school.  This is life."

3.In the same way, Frances Gum transfigured herself and her image into Judy Garland. Archibald Leach became Cary Grant. Aaron Schwalt became Red Buttons. And would you have paid money to see Marion Morrison in the movies? Maybe, but Marion didn't take that chance, he became John Wayne. Remember that in Holy Scriptures many people got new names to go with a new life and a new image. Abram became Abraham. Sarai became Sarah. Jacob became Israel. Saul became Paul. Simon became Peter, "The Rock." Transfigurations are not the exception. They are the rule. We are all being altered in the appearance of our face, our countenance. We are all changing. To live is to be continually transfigured. So who are we becoming? The Rt. Rev. Robert Johnson

4.No wonder this nation has a serious drug and alcohol problem, and there are so many pill poppers and drug pushers; it's virtually impossible to stay in the high zone all the time, so we have to buoy ourselves against our sorrow and frustration to stay on top of the mountain. No wonder alcoholism and drug dependency are such a threat to our young people--they are being shown a culture which glitters with a false light and promotes the idea of the dullness of the ordinary, where discipline and hard work are no longer virtues but things to be avoided at all cost. De jong

5.The mountains naturally lead a person to worship because they point heavenward.  Almost every church has a steeple for the same purpose.  They draw our eyes from our mundane surroundings toward the wonder of the skies.  They remind us of the things from above. Jesus loved the mountains. Too often we see only what's in front of us, not above us.

6.One verse of poem, To be of use   by Marge Piercy

The work of the world is as common as mud.

Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.

But the thing worth doing well done

has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.

Greek amphoras for wine and oil,

Hopi vases that hold corn are put into museums

But you know they were made to be used.

The pitcher cries for water to carry

and a person for work that is real.

7. Psalm 121  

8. In 1970, Barbara Streisand  "On A Clear Day," which has amazing parallels for the mount of Transfiguration. 

On a clear day

Rise and look around you

And you see who you are

On a clear day

How it will astound you

That the glow of your being

Outshines every star

You'll feel part of 

Every mountain, sea, and shore

You can hear from far and near

A world 

HUMOR

-"Let's stay here forever! Can't we go past noon, just this one Sunday?" William H. Willimon]

-Jesus is coming back.  Look busy!

- Then there was the man who was asked how he felt about the beautiful mountains and he said, "Well they're alright but they do sort of obstruct the view".

CHILDREN

1. There are lots of examples of transfigurations in children’s literature.  Cinderella is seen for the person she really is with the help of her fairy godmother.  Simba seeing his reflection in a pond realizes that he really is father’s son and is meant to be the Lion King.  There are others.  Probably the best for preaching today is Fiona’s transfiguration in Shrek.  In a whirl of light and special effects the beautiful princess becomes an large, loving ogre. 

2. Read the Transfiguration story and then ask these questions:

1.  Who went up on the mountain with Jesus?

[The disciples Peter and John and James went up the mountain with Jesus.]

2. Who appeared with Jesus on the mountaintop?

[Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus on the mountaintop.]

3. What did the disciples offer to do?

[They offered to build three dwelling places, one each for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus.]

4. What did the voice say from the sky?

[The voice said, "This is my son, and I love him; listen to what he says."]

5. When did we hear the voice speak before?

[We heard the voice speak at Jesus' baptism.]

3. The mountains naturally lead a person to worship because they point heavenward.  Almost every church has a steeple for the same purpose.  They draw our eyes from our mundane surroundings toward the wonder of the skies.  They remind us of the things from above. Jesus loved the mountains. Too often we see only what's in front of us, not above us.

 SERMON IDEAS

1. Use the prayer points as a sermon, stressing the importance of having a larger vision. 
2. A.  No one can make you go, after all.  But if you've been looking for some excuse to head to your own mountaintop and pray, this is it.  If you've been looking for some way to trade in your old certainties for new movement in your life, look no further.  This is your chance to enter the cloud of unknowing and listen for whatever it is that God has to say to you.  Tent or no tent, this is your chance to encounter God's contagious glory, so that a little of that shining rubs off on you. 

      B. Today you have heard a story you can take with you when you go.  It tells you that no one has to go up the mountain alone.  It tells you that sometimes things get really scary before they get holy.  Above all, it tells you that there is someone standing in the center of the cloud with you, shining so brightly that you may never be able to wrap your mind around him, but who is worth listening to all the same--because he is God's beloved, and you are his, and whatever comes next, you are up to it.  Amen. From a sermon by Barbara Brown Taylor.

PRAYER PHRASES

Help us to hold on to the larger visions in our lives.  Visions which can transform us and the world in which we live.

In our church help us see beyond the building projects and membership lists.  To the greater missions of our church.  To announcing and witnessing the presence of Your kingdom; and to teaching and serving those who are in need, within our community and beyond.

In our world , let us see beyond the physical to the spiritual.  That we might not be driven by possessions and physical achievement but that we would be driven instead by principle and power of your spirit within.

In our worship, let us see beyond the words so that we are not simply behaving in proper ways but that we are responding by developing and authentic relationship with You, oh God.

Help us to hold on to the larger visions and not be blinded by the small ones.  

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