Transfiguration Notes 2015

Transfiguration 2015 Mk. 9, 2  Kings 2, 2 Cor, 4

I have been near sighted since childhood. I vividly recall being shocked that trees had visible individual leaves when I got glasses at 6. My spiritual insight continues to require much help.

The disciples have an epiphany of the reality of Jesus Christ on that mountain. As Edwin Muir wrote-did they see the unseeable? Indeed did they hear the h unhearable when they heard the voice of the Father.(Here O My Lord)they saw a bit of the very light of god (NYT book on light) and glass)we see beyond sight all the time. We see with sound waves to see the life in the womb. Union with Christ/participating in Christ, the indwelling christ and spirit

Mark makes certain we are crossing boundaries here.  -staying on the mountain of course Peter wants to stay in the presence of this vision-to live in this new way-to experience this all of the time. they carry this vision with them in everyday life in the valley.

out of the cloud comes a voice-it makes clearer the content of  the vision Clouds obscure, just like veils

In this transition-we are still in the midst of the tension between change and continuity in the very person and work of Jesus.Calvin famously spoke of the spectacles of Scripture.let’s go one step further back.Jesus transfigures our sight. Jesus changes our sight. Christ is where we see God in a way we grasp. In our time we can look with the Hubble telescope and see light from the dawn of creation that has travelled light years to reach us, so we peer into the distant past.

veil-blinded by the light-revelation can obscure?  Even with our vaunted technology-how well do we see ourselves? How well do we see others. Who can truly peer into the human heart and soul.As children we are afraid of the dark. “As adults we are afraid of the light. We are afraid of what we see and what we identify.” Carol Howard Merritt

In the Wednesday morning class, we have been going through the gospel of John very slowly. We worked with chapter 7 with its setting on his great feast. shekinah/shakan and the feast of tabernacles and light Not only did they dwell in the wilderness but god resided with them in the tabernacle. building booths  could well be a religious act by Peter, For these early Christians, where was God without the destroyed temple? God is in Christ. As the old hymn sings, veiled in flesh, the Godhead see.

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. Communion is a sacrament of transformation of simple elements into bearing the presence of the living ?christ, as the Spirit carries us into the presence of Christ. 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.