Transformed by the Love of God

Last Epiphany, Yr. C; Ex. 34:29-35; Luke 9:28-36

St. Paul’s Smithfield, NC 2/7/2016

Jim Melnyk: “Transformed by the Love of God”

Last Sunday I had the privilege of attending my sixth annual Vestry Retreat with St. Paul’s – sixth!  I came away with a deeper understanding of my own faith journey and a deeper understanding of the faith held and shared by our Vestry.   We met with the Rev. Dr. Otis Hamm as our facilitator, who led us in prayer and conversation about how experiencing and sharing the incarnate love of God in our lives can be a way of enhancing our leadership qualities.  He also gave us homework to work on both nights before we turned out our lights.

Some of what we listened to and talked about felt comfortably familiar – especially because the idea of incarnate love, and the love that God holds for each of us, was the theme from Isaiah a couple of Sundays earlier in Epiphany. 

Otis shared with us a quotation from St. Augustine’s Confessions about the allure of God’s love in Christ, part of which I’ve shared from this pulpit before in years gone by.  “How late I came to love you, O Beauty so ancient and so fresh, how late I came to love you!   You called, you cried, you shattered my deafness.  You sparkled, you blazed, you drove away my blindness.  You shed your fragrance, and I drew in my breath and I pant for you.  I tasted and now I hunger and thirst.  You touched me, and now I burn with longing for your peace” (Quoted by Marcus Borg, The God We Never Knew, page 47 – emphasis by Borg).  Augustine knew the compelling love of God in Christ and was overwhelmed by that love.

Our homework for one night, based on the words of St. Augustine, was to imagine and write down a conversation between ourselves and God about the last time we felt such intimate love with God, and I think that exercise fits in neatly with the lessons on this last Sunday after The Epiphany of our Lord.

I say this because the transfiguration of our Lord goes far beyond what takes place on the mountain top with Peter, John, and James.  In fact, as fantastical and as meaningful as that moment of transfiguration is in all three of the synoptic Gospels, it seems to have little or no impact on the three disciples until long after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.  They don’t seem to understand what’s going on during the experience, and we have no record of them asking Jesus to explain it later.  None of them seem to say on Easter Day, “Oh, yeah, remember what happened back there on that mountain!  Makes sense now – Jesus was giving us a resurrection preview!”  Peter, for all his grand sermonizing reported in Acts following Pentecost, never mentions it – unless one counts 2 Peter, whose authorship is quite dubious.  Luke, for all that he has to say about the resurrection, all he has to say about the coming of the Holy Spirit, and all he has to say about the birth of the Church, never pulls the experience of the transfiguration forward for further comment: neither in the post resurrection stories nor anywhere throughout the book of Acts.  

The importance of The Transfiguration of Christ comes to us much later – in the ways the Church later tied it to similar theophanies – or visual manifestations of God – in the scriptures, and in how the Church seeks to interpret the event in light of the Spirit’s work in the people of God and our lives.  Today’s lesson from Exodus, for example, points to precisely the same sort of experience for Moses before God on the mountain – perhaps even more so.  In the story about Moses on the mountain, the radiance of God is so overwhelming that, unlike the disciples in our Gospel lesson, Moses’ appearance is permanently changed – so changed that he has to where a veil to calm the people who are fearful of his encounter with the Holy.

Brother James Koester of the Society of St. John the Evangelist writes, “Our very first encounter with God  That change continues today as we are changed from one degree of glory to the next and our faces shine with the splendor and glory of God” (Synthesis, 2/7/2016). 

began the moment God conceived of us and in that moment we began to change.

You, God, you. “You called, you cried, you shattered my deafness.  You sparkled, you blazed, you drove away my blindness.  You shed your fragrance, and I drew in my breath and I pant for you.  I tasted and now I hunger and thirst.  You touched me, and now I burn with longing for your peace” (Augustine, again). All of which brings me back to my homework during the Vestry Retreat.

“God,” I began, “The last time I felt the way Augustine describes himself feeling happened while I was writing the sermon on how Jesus is calling us to love.”

And God replied, “I remember that.  Why do you think you felt that way Jim?  I don’t think you started in that place at the beginning.”

“No, you’re right about that.  I was busy trying to make sense of the readings and trying to listen for a sense of what we needed to hear in that moment – and what you wanted us to hear…”

“So, Jim, the writing did it for you, is that what you’re saying?”

“Not exactly, God.  The writing started getting my brain and my heart in sync, I guess.  It got me excited – somehow the words take on a life of their own at times – they connect to the readings and they just seem to spill out on the page.  I knew at that moment, in the depth of my heart – just like Isaiah in the reading that morning and Augustine now, that I am indeed precious in your sight and beloved.”

Looking back I realize that God and I were talking about transfiguration – about how what happened to Jesus on the mountain as he prepared to head toward Jerusalem wasn’t just about the promise of God to transform the pain and ugliness of the cross through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead, but to transform humanity as well – to transform me and to transform you in the midst of our lives – making us ever more like the One we follow, Jesus, and bringing to light in us, and through us, the image and likeness of God which we all bear.

Brother Curtis Almquist of the SSJE writes, “We remember the Transfiguration of Jesus… to remind us all about our own transfiguration.  ‘Christ lives within you.’ That is what we say. Today is also a reminder about your own transfiguration. Claim the power, and then don’t hang onto it. Let it flow. Let it go. The world is dying to know it (Brother Give Us a Word, Br. Curtis Almquist, 8/6/2012). 

So, one question facing us might be, “What is Christ dying to see happen within us and around us?”  Another might be, “What is the world actually dying to see in and from us?”  God’s deep love for each of us calls us forth into transfiguring light – calls us into awe inspiring places of transformation that can indeed help change our world – because we are created and called to be participants with Jesus in God’s transfiguring love.

The story is told of someone who in deep despair cried out to God, “Lord, why won’t you do something about the sorry state of this world – the bickering, the hatred, the hungry children, and so many wounded hearts?  Why don’t you do something, God?”  “I have done something,” God replied firmly, yet gently, “I created you.”

So, this morning I’m giving you some homework for the week – and please, don’t say the dog ate it!  I hope everyone will give it a try.  In your bulletin, just below the sermon line, is the quote I’ve referenced from St. Augustine.  Please take your bulletin home with you and spend a little time with the quote during the week.  I am asking you to do the same homework Dr. Hamm asked the Vestry to do during the retreat.  Journal a conversation with God concerning the last time you felt as St. Augustine describes.  If you’re not into journaling, try drawing a picture – anything that helps you imagine a conversation with God.  If you have not felt in such a way, speak with God about what can be done in your life to help bring you to that same place as St. Augustine.  Another possible exercise would be to simply journal a conversation with God about a time when you have experienced at least a hint of transfiguration in your life, and ask how you can experience transfiguration more fully in your life.  And Vestry members – you’re not off the hook – perhaps you’ve thought of more to say or ask, or listen for in the past week. 

You, God you! “You called, you cried, you shattered my deafness.  You sparkled, you blazed, you drove away my blindness.  You shed your fragrance, and I drew in my breath and I pant for you.  I tasted and now I hunger and thirst.  You touched me, and now I burn with longing for your peace” (Augustine, again).