Transfiguration Sunday- Feb 14, 2010 Nancy Meehan Yao
Exodus 34:29-35 The Shining Face of Moses p. 71
29 Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. 31But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32Afterwards all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; 34but whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
Psalm 99 p. 480
Luke 9:28-35 The Transfiguration p. 843
28 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’—not knowing what he said. 34While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’
Today is Valentine’s Day. Now, I suppose since this is Valentine’s Day, you are expecting me to talk about love. And I will- but we will take a roundabout route to get there. We heard the famous Corinthians “love” text a few weeks ago—and you heard me say that that text is not about romantic love, even though the word love appears there numerous times. In today’s readings, there is no talk about love, explicitly- but love is spread all over these pages.
We have in this morning’s texts two stories about shining faces, about transformation, or transfiguration. Something has happened, and neither Moses, nor Jesus, nor the people around them remain unchanged.
Moses, in today’s reading, has been up on the mountain for 40 days. He has interceded for the people to God. Shortly before this, the people have made a golden calf and worshipped it; and God is—literally—fuming mad. God wants to destroy the people, or at least refuse to accompany them any longer on their trek through the wilderness. Moses talks God out of his anger, persuades God not to destroy the people, and Moses receives, again, the law, the Ten Commandments, to bring down to the people. When Moses comes down from the mountain, he is glowing—his face is radiating—and the people are afraid to come near him.
And Moses, apparently, is unaware of his face. But when he realizes that the shining of his face is scary, distresses the people, he wears a veil when speaking with them. But when he goes back into the tent of meeting, to meet with God, he removes his veil.
Jesus, on the mountain top, is also transfigured. He has gone up on the mountain to pray. With him are three of the disciples, Peter, James and John. While Jesus is praying, “the appearance of his face changed”, the text says- literally, he looked “other” and his clothes were like flashes of lightning. And then, as if that were not strange enough, two people- Moses and Elijah appear with him, and talk to him. The disciples, we are told, were heavy with sleep- but, because they stayed awake, they saw all this. And Peter- perhaps in fear, perhaps just in stunned astonishment, says “Master it is good for us to be here—let us make three dwellings”. Peter wants to stay. He might be confused, a little rattled at what he saw, but he doesn’t begin to get scared until the cloud descends, and he hears a voice from heaven—then, we are told, all three of the disciples were terrified.
The voice tells them “This is my Son, my Chosen—listen to him” apparently they were not really listening—or at least not listening enough—well enough, hard enough—to suit God. God intervened, gave them a little shake up.
And Peter and John and James are shook up. Because after the voice has faded, after the fog has lifted, we are told, “they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.”
Perhaps they were as scared as the Israelites were upon seeing Moses’ shining face. Perhaps they just couldn’t think of any way to explain what happened. Perhaps they were embarrassed, at being yelled at by God. Because when God speaks to the disciples, up on the mountain top, he gives them a direct command- “This is my Son- Listen to him”
Moses was transfigured, transformed, after listening to God. We are told earlier in Exodus that Moses and God used to talk, face to face, “as one speaks to a friend” Not only did Moses speak face to face with God, he spent time with God- a lot of time. In this morning’s text, Moses has come down after spending 40 days and 40 nights on Mount Sinai with God. Jesus, prior to being transfigured, was in deep prayer—and it must have been a long prayer, because we are told the disciples are “weighed down with sleep”. Jesus was spending time with God.
Transfiguration Sunday is the Sunday before Lent. We begin our Lenten journey this Wednesday, Ash Wednesday. Many people give things up for Lent—chocolate, or tv or soda. But many people also take things on—additional spiritual disciplines. The Hector church will be open on Wednesday afternoons for a time of prayer and meditation during Lent. During Lent we are taking time to be intentionally silent, to have some time in worship to listen to God. Times when we do not say anything, but only listen. And this will be uncomfortable for many of us--because we are a people of words. But I am not suggesting that you can only pray in church. A time of silence, a time of quiet, a time of listening for God can be any place—at home, at work, in the car waiting for practice to be over. What is less important is how you do it or where you do it than that you do it. In this area of the state, there are beginning to be places for people to go away for awhile, to set aside time to intentionally listen to God. One of these places, Wellspring, is in Hammondsport, and is connected to the Presbyterian church there. Another is Cobblestone Springs, over in Dundee. Both are places for spending time with God. Time away from the phone, time away from the to-do lists, time with God.
And here is where the love comes in. Both Moses and Jesus were shining—because they were spending time with God, whom they loved. Moses talked to God as a friend, face to face. Jesus was God’s own son, the Beloved, the Chosen. Both Moses and Jesus were listening to God. When you spend time with someone you love, it shows. We all have seen couples who are just glowing when they are around each other. We all see on faces the love of parents and grandparents for their children. What was visible on Jesus and Moses faces was love and reflected glory, the glory of God. They were transformed by that love.
Here is another love story. Heidi Neumark was a seminary graduate, and was called to Transfiguration Lutheran Church in the South Bronx. In the Lutheran tradition, churches often have red doors. And the congregation, eager to welcome Heidi, painted the doors freshly red for her arrival. Having leftover paint, they neatly stored the can in her office. Which was handy, because every morning Pastor Heidi went outside and repainted the doors. Had to, because of all the graffiti that had been applied over night. It was a daily event—the graffiti at night, and the repainting every morning. When Heidi got down to the end of the second bucket of red paint, she invited some of the neighborhood children in for an art class, run by a friend. And the children began to paint murals—not just on the inside, not just for bulletin boards or Sunday School rooms, but a big, riotous mural on the outside of the church building. The children painted a fire hydrant, open, flowing with water—the only experience those city children had with water—flowing down into a baptismal font, and they painted a communion table with bread and wine, and they painted a table filled with food- turkey and greens and rice, a table where no one would be turned away, hungry. The children painted what they had learned of love, about God’s love, in that church. After that, the church was transformed. There was no more graffiti on the walls or the door. It was not easy. And it is not that the church did not struggle or have setbacks. But it began to live into its name, Transfiguration Church.
There is a lot of talk in churches about transformation, and about transformational leadership. What does a transformed church look like, how do we do it, can we do it here. There are all kinds of training and books, programs and consultants that churches can hire—at exorbitant prices.
But no matter what the program for transformation is titled, no matter how charismatic the author or workshop leader, unless the transformation is founded on three things, it will not succeed.
The first is what I have already said: the people must be spending time with God in order to be transformed.
And the second is that the people, like Moses, are to reflect God’s holiness. Because Moses face was not shining of his own accord—it was a reflected glory. We, as the church, are to reflect God’s glory, not our own.
The third part of the transformation is the willingness to be transformed to be reshaped by the Holy Spirit. One of the mottos of the Reformation, out of which comes the Presbyterian church, our heritage, is a Latin phrase: Ecclesia Reformata, semper reformanda- the church, reformed, is always being reformed- by the Spirit of God. In speaking of the church, Paul says “all of us, seeing the glory of the Lord as through reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory into another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” (2 Cor 3:18)
Jim and I have been meeting with the Session to begin to talk about the church that God is calling us to be. Transformation can be scary and uncomfortable—but it always is grounded in listening to God, spending time with God, seeking God face to face. May God transform us, as people and as the church, so that we might shine with God’s own glory. Amen
