Transfiguration/ Transformation. Moving towards Sunday; pondering Luke 9: 28-43

 

There is so much talk rolling around the church and maybe particularly through the Christian focused blogosphere these days, questions fill our minds, how should we be church, what techniques could be employed, is our theology questionable or sound ( both I suspect). It seems we all have something to say, and I am no exception.

 

I wonder what we are looking for. All I can do is to offer you a few of my thoughts;

 

Recently the small corner of the blogging world that I engage with most has been focused upon worship. I suspect that this is indicative of a growing hunger that for something deeper, for a way of knowing and expressing our faith and a need to know, really know the God we worship. To know what worship really is, if our chief end is to glorify God, and to fully enjoy him forever¹ then we need to worship for worship expresses who we are.

 

We make a mistake of course when we concentrate upon one hour on a Sunday morning to the exclusion of everything else, for worship should be a whole expression of life in relation to God not a boxed of corner of it set aside to be super-holy! I for one am tired of sitting through and planning (hands up the guilty) services that are disjointed and disconnected from the rest of my week, yes I make connections through preaching and through prayers, and yes I try to make sure that the hymns and songs are relevant and meaningful but I long for something more. I am thirsty for living water and tired of trying to find solutions, and feel that too often I dig dry wells and miss the source of life in the process.

 

That is why the Gospel reading set for this Sunday has challenged me so much, it is the familiar yet astonishing and awe-filled story of the transfiguration; with no apologies for those who don’t like The Message, I love the way that Eugene Peterson captures the slow awakening of the disciples to the glorious presence of God amongst them;

 

“About eight days after saying this, he climbed the mountain to pray, taking Peter, John, and James along. While he was in prayer, the appearance of his face changed and his clothes became blinding white. At once two men were there talking with him. They turned out to be Moses and Elijah—and what a glorious appearance they made! They talked over his exodus, the one Jesus was about to complete in Jerusalem.

 Meanwhile, Peter and those with him were slumped over in sleep. When they came to, rubbing their eyes, they saw Jesus in his glory and the two men standing with him…”⁴

“Those with him were slumped over in sleep….” Have I been asleep I ask myself, am I just now awakening to the glory of God that shines around me, that calls me to wake up and beckons me beyond my comfort zone to life a life of spirit filled worship? A life of worship where I am not longer so concerned about the how’s and the whys of form and function, but more concerned with the nature of the God I worship, more concerned about my relationship to and with him.

 

Surely the mystery of our relationship with God is that he would take us, ordinary and sinful as we are and begin a work of glorious transformation in us, that he would consider us worthwhile and worthy. If we are the body of Christ then his glory is within us, veiled by these cracked pots, these clay jar lives, we ordinary ones are made to be filled with an extraordinary glory². Scripture reveals that if we belong to Christ, his live woven intimately in and through ours³ then his glory already fills us, his Spirit has been poured into and through us.

 

Peter typically jumped in with both feet, wanting to contain the moment and the glory that surrounded it;

 

When Moses and Elijah had left, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, this is a great moment! Let's build three memorials: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He blurted this out without thinking.⁵

 

“Let’s build three memorials…” I wonder how often the church is in the business of building memorials rather than following the spirit. We find it so hard to change, so hard to be flexible I wonder, are we stubbornly blocking our ears to the new thing that God is doing again?

 

Where does this growing thirst for meaningful worship come from? I suspect its source is God himself and that the hunger is older than time itself stretching right back through eternity’s timelessness. So what is happening?

 

Perhaps the answer is simply that we who have so long been slumped over in sleep are awakening to a new glory that has penetrated our dreams and is calling us to a new wakefulness…

 

Our task then will be to follow the flow of this glory not to contain it and memorialise it … “for the time is coming and has now come when true worshippers will worship…. in spirit and in truth…” ⁶ (again)

 

And we will need to learn to pray, because we are not called to dwell on the mountaintops but amidst the trials and tribulations of everyday life where tragedies happen and darkness dwells;

 

 When they came down off the mountain the next day, a big crowd was there to meet them. A man called from out of the crowd, "Please, please, Teacher, take a look at my son. He's my only child. Often a spirit seizes him. Suddenly he's screaming, thrown into convulsions, his mouth foaming. And then it beats him black-and-blue before it leaves. I asked your disciples to deliver him but they couldn't."

 Jesus said, "What a generation! No sense of God! No focus to your lives! How many times do I have to go over these things? How much longer do I have to put up with this? Bring your son here."

 While he was coming, the demon slammed him to the ground and threw him into convulsions. Jesus stepped in, ordered the vile spirit gone, healed the boy, and handed him back to his father. They all shook their heads in wonder, astonished at God's greatness, God's majestic greatness.⁷

 

BUT, God is with us….

 

Can you hear

the unforced

rhythms of grace ?

Do you see

the heavenly

holy dancers?

Are you captivated

by the wonder,

freedom,

movement,

and life

that flows from their

uncreated song?

Can you hear the beating

of their hearts

as they whisper

softly

proclaiming their love

for one another,

and

for you?

Do you yearn

to join the joyful

throng

encircled in their midst? 

For you are invited

to this heavenly

ceilidh!  

Will you dare to take

the outstretched hand,

kick off your shoes

and dance?

 

 

 

1.      Westminster Catechism question 1.

2.      2 Corinthians 4

3.      John 15:5

4.      Luke 9:28-33

5.      Luke 9: 34

6.      John 4: 24

7.      Luke 9: 37-43