10:30 am, Sun, Feb 11, 2024 ~ FBCA

(2 Kings 2:5-12; 2 Cor 4:5-6; Mark 9:2-10) J G White

Today is the end of the Church season of Epiphany! Have you had an epiphany? Any amazing, bright idea given to you? Today is Transfiguration Sunday. Jesus shines brightly on a mountaintop, with James, John and Peter watching. Have you seen any transformations before your eyes?

Today we ask about the Transfiguration of Jesus: what does this mean? That’s just what Peter and James and John wondered. They were quite alarmed by their friend and leader, as He glowed brightly, and with Moses and Elijah meeting with Him. So, frightened, Peter nervously speaks up with an idea, not knowing what on earth to do. As soon as it happened, it’s over, and the four men headed back down the mountain.

Christ is a bright Light in our world. So we proclaim in our Faith, so we believe and trust, in our better moments. We have our own experiences of seeing the light of Christ. Most are not what we call ‘mountaintop experiences.’ Many moments are private, subtle, yet moving and transformative for us. Recently, a person mentioned how she can’t say she had some dramatic conversion moment on a certain day in her early life, but she has experienced many miracles thru life. Those touches of grace that helped just when things were not good - they shine with the light of God.

I wonder how we talk to one another about our experiences. When we are together here, for instance, could our scripture readers be given the opportunity to speak of the impact of the Word they read? Tell your own mini sermon, about the light that shone for you? Let’s celebrate the life of God among us.

I suppose we celebrate this event of Jesus glowing on a hilltop because it is about people seeing more of Jesus, who He truly is. And still, as with those disciples, there is much beyond our understanding. Did you notice what Peter, James and John end up talking about on the way down the mountainside? They don’t chat about Jesus glowing. They don’t ask about what Moses said, or Elijah. The divine Voice they seemed to hear from the cloud, they don’t speak of it. They talk of something Christ mentioned, once the moment was over. What this resurrection from the dead could mean?

Life and death moments are transformative. They are where God often meets us. When someone dies, or when their dreams die, or when the world becomes a death-dealing place, people run into the arms of God, or slam the door completely on God.

Jesus enters into suffering and death, completely. We see the glory of God in Jesus in beautiful moments that are pure gift… and in harsh moments of pain and death. It goes without saying, the pinnacle of the Jesus story is death and resurrection.

I glimpsed a bright moment, a moment of connection, when Tracy Chapman sang her 1988 song at the Grammy Awards last Monday. Suddenly, new generations of people grasped this song of hope in the midst of going nowhere. The beauty of a song that resonates with millions. The words still seem poignant for 2024. You got a fast car

We go cruising to entertain ourselves

You still ain't got a job

And I work in a market as a checkout girl

I know things will get better

You'll find work and I'll get promoted

We'll move out of the shelter

Buy a bigger house and live in the suburbs

A dream, a hope, a vision, living in a song. Is this not the hope of resurrection? And the hope of personal transfiguration: that someone will see your inner beauty for what it is, who U R.

Also this week I saw the brightness of hope in one of our dear saints who lives down in Windsor, NS, now. I think it was more than a year ago, Nova T. moved down to a nursing home in Halifax. Her health seemed to be so poor, her mobility and her eyesight were almost gone. I think it has been a hard year.

Lately, she moved to a new place, Dykeland Lodge, in Windsor. She was looking so bright and so much better when I saw her there on Friday! I think she said she was ‘shocked’ when she arrived there, ‘in a good way.’ She knew it was home. They gave her such a warm welcome. They have activities all day, every day. She is out, rolling around in her wheelchair, taking it all in, so much happier, looking so much better. I took cards from some of you to her; others that are coming in, we will mail. Nova sends her loving greetings to you all!

So good to see a little moment of resurrection in the life of someone who has been following Jesus for 80 years.

The vision of Jesus we hear about in Mark 9 is a preview of the risen Christ. It will be an executed Man who rises from death. And brings this life to us.

I just heard a podcast of a talk by Bible Scholar John Dominic Crossan. He spoke of times travelling in Turkey and seeing the Byzantine Church artwork, images of the resurrection. And what do you see in these thousand-year-old pictures? Jesus coming out of the tomb, bringing two people with Him. It’s Adam and Eve! Jesus coming to life after death, bringing humanity with Him. As it says in 1 Corinthians 15, Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. Jesus first, the rest of us follow.

If we say heaven and hell are experienced here, in this life (and many of us do say this), then we are in awe, and rejoicing, that resurrection happens for us now, in these days, thanks to Jesus, who leads us out of the tomb of death.

My upcoming journey with you in the Sundays of Lent will follow the story of Holy Week in Mark’s Gospel, beginning next Sunday with Jesus’ entering Jerusalem, with palm branches waving. Each Sunday will be a day of that week, Monday, Tuesday, to Good Friday and beyond. May we see Him more for who He is. May Christ shed some light upon our lives: upon all our misplaced hopes, our wonky religion, our world of violence, the betrayals we face, our intense need for prayer, and even death itself.

Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again.