Looks can be deceiving. Don't judge on appearance. Don't judge a book by its cover. The NT readings give us different slants on Jesus before we enter into Lent. Here the veil is lifted and Jesus  is seen from an entirely new dimension, one that touches the very core of identity.

Would six days be a bow to creation's patter? Do we witness a new creation? Is it a preview of resurrection?  Sometimes the same word, metamorphosis, transfigured  is translated as transformed. The  theophany or radiance is a God's eye view. We are midway from baptism, and  he is going to be a victim at Calvary. The radiance reveals the truth about Jesus not apparent down below. To return from the vision, Jesus touches them-and speaks. In this time  Elijah of course but also Moses were thought to be  taken into heaven. We start Lent this Wednesday, fortified with pancakes. The climax of Holy Week looks different when we look through the glasses of transfiguration. (Metamorphic rock)

We have and seek  mountain top experiences,  but we live off the mountain.

 

Communion has us become the vehicles for the continuing presence of Christ down the mountain, where we live. Are the booths an example of shekinah or an attempt to freeze the experience? After all apocalyptic linked to booths. Jesus is a tabernacle. are we too in baptism? voice linked to the baptism (see Ex. 24, 34, Dt. 18, Dan. 10, 2 Cor) Moses was vicarious representative for all the people in the wilderness. Just as Moses and the elders were in the presence of God, now the three disciples witness the transfiguration of Jesus. It is then right for us to celebrate Communion on this day. God's holy gifts for god's holy people.Our bodies, our lives are dwelling places for the presence of Christ. Our lives can dazzle with blinding radiance, at least with those whose eyes can grow accustomed to the light. Communion is not only aspiration, but it is medicine for struggling souls. In time, we may well become more authentic Christians, that words and actions match, that we walk the talk, that we embody and demonstrate the life to which we are called.

 

Sunday is a day of transfiguration, as it includes all of these things. this sanctuary has a view of sacred space, of trying to create a new world out of the one we encounter every day.Transfiguration allows us to see our lives with different eyes. I would go so far as to say that we can look at each other through stained-glass lenses, or even begin to see each other as God sees us. How can we possibly see each other the same way when we grab some coffee after church when we have been lifted into the presence of the living Christ this morning? We may even begin to see each other as bearing the life of Jesus Christ, the light of Jesus Christ. This is a view, a vista  from the mountaintop. This is a taste of a better world to come. Once again, heaven breaks open. hear this voice again, This is my beloved in whom I am well-pleased. Let the words echo and reverberate inside until we meet again for communion.