The reading is the story in the Gospel of Luke about Jesus’ transfiguration in front of three of his disciples.
Jesus and all his disciples
are on the road to Jerusalem, and his teaching is increasingly focused on the
way of the cross. One day, leaving the
rest behind for a while, Jesus and three of the disciples go up a mountainside
to pray.
Mountains are holy
places and two of the people’s greatest spiritual heroes had life-changing
encounters with God on mountains.
First, at the very
beginning, Moses was called to go up Mount Sinai to speak with God and receive God’s
Law for the people, and when he came down his face shone with such heavenly
light that the people could not look at him.
Centuries later Elijah
also met God on a mountainside. The
people had become a kingdom and had wandered into idolatry and what today we
call secular paganism, and Elijah felt alone and powerless against the tide of
his time. But when he fled to a
mountain, and there was able to see God’s back and to hear God’s still, small
voice, he was given all the power he needed to speak God’s truth to his age,
and eventually be carried to heaven in a shining chariot without suffering
death.
In the Gospel story,
the disciples see Jesus in that company Jesus, before they go back down to the
valley, to face the realities of life with him.
The sermon:
I have
a vision – a bit of imagining I want to share with you, and invite you to share
in.
I am going
up the mountain with Jesus, and so are you.
We are going up in any of a number of ways. We each have our favoured ways – ways maybe
that suit who we are and what we’re good at.
It’s
Jesus who invites us to step away from daily life in the valley, and just let
it be for a while. We follow practiced
steps and ways of ascent that he shows us.
At times it’s hard work and takes real commitment – even stubbornness, to
keep going. Sometimes we wonder if the
journey up the mountain is worth it.
But we
want to be with him, and he leads us to a special place. When we get there, when we find that
mountaintop place with Jesus, we are glad.
We see
him maybe as we have not before.
We
know God with a closeness we can only marvel at.
We see
ourselves in new light, standing at the intersection of human and divine and
knowing it is our calling and capacity to be vessels of the holy and of God’s
good will in our daily life.
And
we also see … others!
We
become aware of another company of pilgrim climbers beside us. They are wearing yamulkas and some of the men
have ringlets of hair.
“Praise
Moses, the friend of God and our saviour” one says. “Blessed be Elijah, God’s servant and our
prophet, now and forever,” another says.
They
are Jews, and they have followed their calling to be here, have traced the
steps that are made known to them, and like us are resting gladly in what they
see and feel and know beyond themselves on the mountaintop.
And
then we hear, “Praise to Allah and his prophet, Mohammed” and other voices
repeating the same, with the same measure of humble gratitude and holy awe that
we feel. Muslims are here, too, guided
by their prophet and pathways in their five pillars of faithfulness to Allah.
We
talk together freely and gently. We
realize we have a common father and mother in Abram and Sara. We realize we climb one mountain by different
pathways. We realize that this mountain
is our way and our place of really knowing who we are as human beings, and how
we are to live in the valley. We realize
how hard it is for us all at times to sort out the truth and heart of our
tradition from its perversions and corruptions.
We also realize our shared place in the world, and shared importance to
the life of the world.
And
then as discussion of the world turns our gaze from upward and inward to
outward, we see other mountains. Not
just the one mountain we are on with different pathways, but different
mountains with their varied pathways all leading upward like ours to touch and
be touched by the stratospheric mystery of the Divine that both covers and
embraces us all from above invisibly and completely.
And on
those mountains with their pathways, are people like us, climbing to special
places to see and know and feel something of that mystery in their own
way. Hindus. Buddhists.
Confucians. First Nations. And many others.
We see
them. They see us.
And we
look down together at the valley between us.
One valley ringed by all the mountains with pathways upward to help humanity
enter the realm of the higher mysteries, and then downward again to lead us to
return enlightened and empowered for new life down below. One valley called Earth where at our best we dwell
together in the light of what things we see and feel and know at these heights.
We
come up this particular mountain with Jesus, and we see something that he
especially brings to light. The world
needs to know what it is. If life on
Earth is to be made good – if there is to be real peace in the valley for all, the
world needs us to bring back to it what we see and learn here from him.
And
what really is it? What is it that Jesus
helps us to see of the Divine mystery that makes life good?
The communion prayer:
L: The God
of mountaintops be with you.
P: And
also with you.
L: Come,
People of God, to the One who will
transfigure your hearts.
P: We
offer them to God, who will make them
dazzle with grace.
L: Let us
join in giving praise to our God.
P: Our
voices rejoice in glad thanksgiving to the One who comes to us.
You came down into chaos, Lord our God.
In the beginning, now, and probably to the end of time
both all the world and each one of us
are so often in chaos
created so good,
so full of potential,
so blessed with enough and more than enough,
so many expressions of your good will
and yet we are so often at odds
with you, with others, and within ourselves
You come in so many ways
to show us The Way
the one way of your own heart
the way of forgiving, redeeming, self-giving love
that tames the chaos within and around us
and helps make Earth and our life in it
a good and glorious thing
We trust that this way, your way of love,
is found at the heart – the truest and deepest heart,
of other faith traditions
between the lines and into the words
of the Law you gave to Moses
Love is what you spoke and acted out
in the words of the prophets
Love is what you lived and made come to life
in Jesus, our messiah
the one in whom you came to tame the chaos
to heal the world we are
to lead us into living your way of Love
for our good and the good of all Earth
as we take and live out our place in it
This table is our temple
our special and holy place of transformation
as we remember Jesus
and see in him your way of love
As we take this bread we remember him
and the way he shared himself with others
As we take this cup we remember him
and the way he poured out his life and your love for all the world
We give you thanks, O God,
and lest we be too hasty and not actually live out
what
we celebrate and remember here,
we take time now to pause,
to consider the world and others around us,
and to pray for others:
And now we do remember
how
Jesus on the very night he was betrayed,
took
bread, broke it,
and
gave thanks for being able
to
share his life with and for others
And
how he also took a cup, poured it and shared it,
and gave thanks for being able
to
pour out his life and your love for all the world
Do
this in remembrance of me, he says.
This
is your way
of
living the glory of God into the world.
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