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When Moses had finished speaking with God, he came down the mountain to tell the others how the conversation had gone, but instead of flocking round to hear, everyone stayed well away, staring with fear from a safe distance. What had happened to Moses' face ?
And when Jesus was at prayer, speaking with God , the appearance of his face changed too, and his clothes became like flashes of lightening, and Peter, James and John gagged with fear, Peter began to speak nonsense.
The similarities between the two stories is, of course, meant by Luke to be noticed. Jews reading Luke's gospel would straight away make the connection between Jesus and Moses, and indeed Elijah. These two great patriarchs of the Hebrew people were chosen by God to play critical parts in the redemption of Israel, one leading the people from slavery to the borders of the promised land, the other speaking forth God's stern message of judgement to a people on the verge of being lost once again. And through this wonderful story where heaven and earth meet, Jesus is explicitly and purposefully caught up in that salvation story of Israel, and shown to be its culmination, with God speaking directly to the three terrified disciples affirming his position as God's Son, and that he should be listened to.
So if you ever wondered just what the transfiguration story is actually about, there is one explanation at least - its about confirming Jesus as the final part in Gods plan for the salvation of Israel.
So we might say - fair enough, but what has that to do with me, other than confirming
what I already believe, that I'm saved through faith in Christ too. But I believe there's much more to it than that - that's far to passive a response to the miraculous story of the transfiguration.
We need to look to the other reading set for today for the answer - Paul's second
letter to the Corinthian Church, chapter 3. In this letter Paul refers to Moses putting the veil over his face, he says "we are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away", and goes on to speak in somewhat disparaging terms of the dullness of the Israelite response to Christ as they continued to look to the old covenant, rather than the new.
Interestingly Paul never mentions the story of the transfiguration, which we might
have thought he would at this point had he known about it. One explanation for this is
of course that his letter was written several decades before Luke's gospel, or indeed
any of the gospels - and I mention it because it's worth remembering when we read
Paul's letters that, unlike us, he had no written gospel to draw on at all.
Paul goes on to say that "we, who with unveiled faces reflect the Lords glory, are
being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory, which comes from the
Lord, who is Spirit". So Christians are called not only to witness the transfiguration of Christ, but more importantly we're called to be changed, transfigured ourselves. The transfiguration of Christ brings about the transfiguration of those who are called to be Christ's body, that is the church, that is, you and me. This is wonderful, if uncomfortable news ! Its wonderful because Christ has given us the astonishing privilege of being made into his likeness, its uncomfortable because it means ..... change.
To illustrate the depth of what this might mean, lets take Paul. A devout Jew, he
called the old covenant "the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in
letters on stone" letters wrought in glory that was now faded. That which the Jews, his own people, revered and honoured as Gods special word to them, Paul insisted was faded and should be set aside in favour of the new covenant, that of Jesus Christ.
This is a stunning turnabout. In modern terms it would be a bit like Tony Blair
defecting to the Tory party, saying that New Labour had served its purpose but now
real hope lay with the Tories. Paul was transfigured by Christ, and we who call ourselves by his name are called to be as courageous as. Paul and allow Christ to transfigure our lives tooT such that we positively radiate his glory to those we meet. For if the story of the transfiguration is about setting Christ in the context of Gods plan to redeem Israel, and the world, and if we are caught up in that transfiguration too, then its for the same reason - to play our part in God's amazing plan to bring salvation to the earth, or more specifically, Great Malvern.
So here's a second explanation of what the transfiguration story is about - its to tell us
that we're not simply the recipients of Gods salvation, we have to play a part in
enabling it come about within the sphere's of our own lives. We have to shine, like Moses, like Christ, in the communities in which we're set, so that those who've yet to encounter the love, forgiveness, acceptance, and healing that we have, get the chance to do so. If not through us, then who ?
I love the beginning of chapter 3 of 2 Corinthians - Paul says this to the church, "You
yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You
show that you are a letter from Christ...... written not with ink but with the Spirit of
the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts".
Isn't that just tremendous ? Were called to be letters, sent by Christ into the world to
tell the story of his saving love. I've never thought of myself as a letter before, but
that is what I am, that is what you are called to be too. We are letters to be posted to
the lovely and the unlovely people of Malvern - when we leave this building we're to
be posted, scattered in beautiful arbitrary fashion through the letterboxes of shop's,
offices, factories and homes of this town, and indeed wherever else we may go.
And to avoid being thrown straight in the bin along with all the other unsolicited mail,
we have to shine - we have to be so attractive as to make the recipient want to keep
the letter, wonder what's its about, hope that it might be something good, something
that will brighten their day. And just how do we do that ?
Well, now's an excellent time to consider that question. We stand on the verge of
Lent, a time when we prepare ourselves for the heartbreak and delight of Easter.
As part of our preparation we might start working on what it means for us to be
transfigured, to shine like Christ, and to be sent as human letters into the world around
us.
Many of us have already obtained copies of the booklet "Love Life Live Lent", if
you've not got one yet, please go and get one from the Priory book shop. They are full
of all sorts of practical ways in which we can shine and make a positive difference to
the world around us. And if you think doing a few things that the booklet suggests
really wont make much difference, then think on this - there's usually in excess of
250 folk come to worship in this church each Sunday. If during Lent each person
picks just 10 things out of the booklet, and applies them locally, then that's 2500
random acts of kindness, one for each person living in Great Malvern.
And not only can we as human letters be sent to folk outside the church, we can send
ourselves to each other too. This internal post is critically important to the health of
the church. We need to be letters of encouragement, support and kindness to one
another.
For example, if you never attend the 8 o'clock Holy Communion Service here at the Priory, or the 12.00 o'clock, or Evening Prayer or Choral Evensong, if you never go to Open Worship, because its "not your cup of tea", then please go to one or more of these just once during Lent. Post yourself to the service in solidarity with your brothers and sisters who would love to see you and be pleased to welcome you. If you wont go to worsthip with others because its not what you like, how on earth can you be brave enough to go to go into places where Christ appears absent. And it does require bravery because as we saw, the Israelites drew back in horror from Moses, and the disciples turned to jelly when faced with transfiguration. And yet they overcame their fear by Gods grace and we happily receive them now, their shining faith having lost none of its lustre despite being posted so many centuries ago.
I thought I'd finish somewhat unusually - while I was praying about this sermon a song came into my head - and as its been a long time since I sang from the pulpit..... Please turn up hymn number 539 in your hymn books..... If you know it please sing along with me - it seems to sum up very nicely what I've been trying to say over the last few minutes.....
We'll walk the land with hearts on fire and every step will be a prayer
Hope is rising, new day dawning, sound of singing fills the air.
Two thousand years and still the flame is burning bright across the land
Hearts are waking, longing, aching for awakening once again.
Let the flame burn brighter, in the heart of the darkness
Turning night to glorious day. Let the song grow louder as our love grows stronger
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine ! Amen.
Ian Spencer
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