The Sunday before Lent - The Transfiguration

The story of the Transfiguration is familiar to us, and we know that on that high mountain, Peter and James and John saw the true glory of God shining in the face of Jesus. We, too, who profess to be Christians, see the same thing, although we were not there with Peter and James and John. For us, as St Paul says, "It is the God who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." We have not seen Christ transfigured, but we have been told about it, and we use our imagination and our intellect to say, "In Jesus Christ we can see what God is like." However, it is through our faith that we believe this to be true. We read the evidence with our eyes and hear it with our ears, but we believe it in our hearts.

The question then arises, so what? What are we going to do with this knowledge, this belief? How is Christ's transfiguration going to affect our lives?

I believe that at least part of this answer to this question lies in the love - hate relationship that human beings have with change. Change is both exciting and challenging. Change is something we look forward to as well as something that we dread. Change brings newness and interest and growth, but we also know it brings the unfamiliar and the frightening, change brings decline and decay. Change is both positive and negative.

Change is inevitable - there is nothing we can do to stop change - it is going to happen, whether we like it or not. But at the same time, we can choose to change or not to change - the choice is ours, we do have the freedom to change or not to change.

At this point I am reminded of the Serenity prayer, by Reinhold Niebuhr, which says, in part, "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference." Serenity is usually seen as a rather passive virtue, and Niebuhr originally wrote the prayer to encourage people facing difficult times, but this first section can be used as a springboard for action.

For example, take the story of Elijah and Elisha we heard today. It is the story of the death and departure of Elijah. The writer has included a lot of special effects to make sure we get the point. Elisha knew that Elijah was going to be taken from him. Elijah, the prophet, the inspiration of the people of Israel, the man of God, was going to die. This is the thing Elisha couldn't change. The companies of prophets at Gilgal and Jericho were there like a chorus of doom to remind him. "Do you know that the Lord will take your master away from you?" And he answered, "Yes, I know, be silent."

At this point Elisha could have stopped, as Elijah urged him, but there was something Elisha wanted, something to be changed. If he could no longer have his master, then he wanted a double share of his spirit. And if we were to read on, we would hear how Elijah's mantle fell on Elisha and Elisha had his wish, the change he sought had come about. Elisha was one of those people who was prepared to accept the thing he could not change, Elijah's death, but he demanded of God the thing he could change - a double portion of Elijah's spirit.

St Paul reminds us that there are some things that we cannot change - our human frailty. We are the clay jars in which the spirit of God resides. We cannot change our human nature, but we can change the way we live, carrying in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. That is the way Paul expresses it, in metaphorical and poetic language. We could say, more simply, that we accept who we are as humans, but always seek after that more excellent way which is life in Christ. None of us has achieved the fullness of life in Christ, we are all beginners, but beginners know that they can change and become experts if they really want to. We look at the transfiguration of Christ and see how perfectly the glory of God shone in him. This, then, becomes our goal, to see how brightly we can shine with God in our hearts.

There are many ways to build up the treasure we have in our clay jars, through Bible reading, Lenten studies, small groups, the quiet day, prayer, worship, discussion with friends. Christians must try to build up their treasure, which is their faith. After all, it is the task of the church to work together with God to change the world. We may not be able to change the world immediately, but we can begin work on ourselves. The transfiguration of the church begins with our own transfiguration. The life of Jesus is only visible in the church when it is visible in the people of the church, and that life of Jesus is only visible in us if we allow God to shine in our hearts and change us. Lent is a time when Christians are particularly open to Christ, and God through Christ, so that at Easter time we may celebrate the Resurrection, not merely in the same way we've always done it, but with renewed faith, hope and courage.

I am not satisfied with my faith and my witness to Christ, and I hope that you also are filled with this divine dissatisfaction. If you are, then you will be like most Christians, wanting change but fearing to make it, wanting growth, but fearing to begin. By change, of course, I'm not talking about service times or things which are not productive, but a real change in belief, faith and attitude to faith.

Lent begins next Wednesday, and I commit myself to change and grow in faith during the next forty days. If there is anything I can do, as your parish priest, to help you in your own change and growth, then I pledge myself to you in this work.

God grant us all the serenity to accept the things we cannot change; courage to change the things we can; and wisdom to know the difference. Amen.