Transfiguration | Grace Episcopal Church (Sheldon, VT)

Last Sunday after Epiphany Year B February 14, 2021

Posted on February 14, 2021 by Beth Crane

2 Kings 2:1-12
Psalm 50:1-6
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Mark 9:2-9

In our opening reading today, we meet the great prophet Elijah and his disciple, Elisha. Elijah is about to be carried up to heaven in a chariot of fire drawn by horses of fire. His student and successor, Elisha, cannot bear to think of Elijah leaving. He is also a faithful disciple, so he keeps following Elijah. He does not want to leave his teacher. He will follow Elijah to the end.

To make the parting a bit more gentle, Elijah asks Elisha what he can do for him before he goes to be with God. Elisha’s response is full of wisdom and honesty. He asks for a double share of Elijah’s spirit. And then, Elijah is borne up to heaven.

Scholars tell us that, by the time his Second Letter to the Corinthians was written, there were some tensions between Paul and the community in Corinth. Paul had planned to visit them and that had not happened, and other issues had arisen. In this passage, Paul is calling us to concentrate on why we are here and what our mission is.

He calls us to focus on “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” He reminds us that “…it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ who has shone is our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

In our gospel for today, Jesus has been telling his disciples about the cross, and he has been calling them to take up their own cross. He takes his closest followers, Peter, James, and John, and they go up on the mountain. This morning, we have the privilege of walking with Jesus, Peter, James, and John.

Here we are, climbing higher and higher with our Lord and his three most trusted companions. Just a few days ago, he fed five thousand people. Now, we are following him upward, upward, into more and more silence. As we move upward, the noise and stress of the world slip away.

As we follow Jesus and Peter and James and John, we think of how Moses received the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. We think of how many times Jesus goes to the mountains to pray, and we know that we are going to a special place, a hallowed place.

Shortly after we reach the summit, something happens that we will never forget. Jesus is transfigured. His skin and clothes become a dazzling white, so bright that we have to shade our eyes. And then two great prophets appear, Moses on one side of Jesus and Elijah on the other side, and they are talking with Jesus as if they are old friends, communicating with the greatest love and respect.

Peter is so overcome that he says a few things about booths and trying to preserve this moment forever. We cannot speak. We are in awe and silent in the face of what we are witnessing.

Then a cloud overshadows Jesus and Moses and Elijah. There is a voice, unlike any voice we have ever heard. It is a voice resonating with the power of love and grace. “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him.” That is the same voice we heard at his Baptism in the Jordan River, the voice of God, telling us who Jesus truly is, the Beloved Son of God.

We are blinded by the dazzling light, and our hearts almost stop when we hear that voice telling us that Jesus is not only our teacher and our friend and our leader, but the Son of God. And then that voice commands: “listen to him.” And we answer with a silent promise to listen to him always. To seek and do his will.

And then we remember that our Lord has been saying he is going to have to die on a cross, He is our king and yet he is going to suffer. But right now, as we stand in the remaining glow of that shimmering, powerful light and listen to the receding echoes of that unforgettable voice, we are realizing that our beloved leader is the Son of God. We are in the presence of the Son of God.

And then, Moses and Elijah are gone. Only Jesus remains.

On the way down, we don’t talk very much. We are thinking about what has just happened, absorbing the meaning of it. He is going to suffer on the worst instrument of torture ever invented. But he tells us not to tell anyone about all of this until after he has risen from the dead. He is telling us that he is going to rise from the dead!

Coming back to Vermont, Virginia, and Florida in 2021, this is the end of the Epiphany season of light and mission. This Wednesday will be Ash Wednesday and we will begin our Lenten journey. In our gospel today, we are given the vision of our Lord transfigured so that we can remember that he is the Son of God; he is God walking the face of the earth. He suffered on the cross to show us the Way of Love and he calls us to live the Way of Love.

In some small way, we will be following him this Lent by fasting, praying, and giving alms. Some of us will be following Lent Madness. Some may be attending the Social Justice Bible Challenge with Bishop Shannon on Wednesday evenings from 7-8 PM.

We will be walking the Way of the Cross during this season of penitence and that way will lead to the cross on Good Friday. As we walk that path of self-examination, self-discipline, and transformation, we will have this vision from the Last Sunday of Epiphany to lead us and guide us. We will recall that dazzling image of our Lord atop that mountain standing with two great prophets and we will hear the voice of God reminding us about whom we are following and calling us to listen to him.

May we listen to him, carefully and with open hearts. May we follow him faithfully. And, as we pray in our collect, “May we be changed into his likeness from glory to glory.” Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: 2 Corinthians 4:3-6, 2 Kings 2:1-12, Elijah, Elisha, Mark 9:2-9, Psalm 50:1-6, the way of the Cross, Transfiguration | Leave a comment »

The Last Sunday after Epiphany 3/3/2019

Posted on March 3, 2019 by Beth Crane

Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-36, (37-43)

Today is the Last Sunday after Epiphany. We move from the Epiphany season, the season of light and mission, into Lent, a time of penitence, self-examination, and prayer, a time for askesis, spiritual fitness, a time to confess our sins, ask God’s forgiveness, and grow closer to God. Today is also called Transfiguration Sunday because of our gospel reading.

Our first reading is from the Book of Exodus. The people of God have been enslaved in Egypt, and they are now on their journey to freedom. Moses, their leader, goes up Mount Sinai to receive the tablets of the law. The skin of Moses’ face is shining with the light of the presence of God. When Aaron and the people see Moses’ face, they are afraid to come near him. They are afraid of God, They believe the old saying that, if you see the face of God, you will die. So Moses covers his face with a veil when he returns from talking with God.

In our gospel, it is about eight days after the feeding of the five thousand and after the conversation in which Jesus asks his disciples who they think he is. Peter answers, “The Messiah of God.” Jesus takes his closest followers, Peter and James and John up to the mountain to pray.

And while he is praying, his entire person shows forth the the light of the presence of God. The two great prophets, Moses and Elijah, are there talking with Jesus, showing that he is in the line of the greatest prophets in history. Peter, dear Peter, says, “Master, it is good that we are here with you. Let’s make three shrines, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. He wants to make sure this moment will be forever preserved in history. He wants to build a monument.

Then a cloud comes over them, the same cloud that covered Moses on Mount Sinai, the cloud that shows God is present, and God speaks, “This is my Son, my chosen. Listen to him!”

If this had taken place in the time of Moses, Peter and James and John would never have been on the mountain. They would never have been in the presence of Jesus and God. If by some strange error they had been, they would have run down the mountain screaming in horror because they were afraid of the presence of God.

But none of that happened. Yes, they had been drowsy but they had stayed awake and they had seen the whole thing—Jesus with Moses and Elijah, and then God descending to the top of the mountain and telling them to listen to His Son. Yet they did not run away howling in terror.

Paul talks about this in his letter today. He writes, “All of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord, …are being transformed into the same image from one glory to another.” In other words, we are being transformed into Christ.

Peter and James and John had decided to follow Jesus. They had prayed with him, eaten meals with him, watched him heal people, listened to his teachings, helped him to feed five thousand people. They had observed how he treated each person with great care and respect. Peter had figured out that Jesus was the Savior whom they had all been expecting, they had all been hoping for.

And yet, when they were on that mountain, and the two great prophets were there and then God was also there, Peter and James and John were in awe for certain, but they were not afraid as God’ s people had been afraid in Moses’ time, a little over a thousand years before.

Why was that? What had happened? Why were these three close followers awe-struck but not running away in terror? Because God had come to live with them, to walk with them, to talk with them, to teach them, pray with them, heal them, lead them as their good shepherd, and be with them every day of their lives.

God had come to be close to them, to be with them, and what they felt most of all, was God’s love for them, a transforming love, and that is what St. Paul is trying to express in this portion of his Second Letter to the Corinthians.

Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus has come to be with us, to lead us and guide us. Here on Transfiguration Sunday, we see our Lord as he truly is—powerful, but not in a way that paralyzes us with terror. His is the power of love.

As we prepare for Ash Wednesday and for the season of Lent, and as we do honest self-examination and confession of our sins, our Lord calls us to remember that this is part of our ongoing process of transformation. We are becoming more like him. We are placing ourselves and our lives in the hands of our loving God.

He is in our midst, calling us to follow him, not out of fear but out of love. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: 2 Corinthians, askesis, Elijah, Exodus 34, James, John, Luke 9, Moses, Peter, Psalm 99, Transfiguration | Leave a comment »

Last Sunday after the Epiphany Year A RCL February 26, 2017

Posted on February 26, 2017 by Beth Crane

Exodus 24:12-18
Psalm 99
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9

The Epiphany season, the season of light and mission, is coming to a close. We are about to begin the journey of Lent. In our opening reading, God’s people have escaped their slavery in Egypt, but they are going to embark on their forty days of journeying in the wilderness.

God calls Moses to go up on Mount Sinai. Moses will receive the tablets of the law. This is a terrifying journey for Moses. Herbert O’Driscoll reminds us that Mt. Sinai at this time was an active volcano. Moses is a very smart man, He does not go into this terror alone. For the first part of the trip, in addition to his assistant Joshua, he takes the seventy elders plus Aaron and Hur. As he moves to the final ascent, he leaves Aaron and Hur in charge of the assembly. They will help to resolve any conflicts that may arise.

Moses remains on the mountain for forty days. When he comes back down, the people have already grown impatient and have fashioned the golden calf.

In our gospel for today, Jesus has just told the disciples that he is going to have to go to Jerusalem, that the authorities are watching his every move, and that he is going to die. He has also asked them who they think he is, and Peter has made his passionate and forceful statement that Jesus is the Messiah.

Jesus takes his three closest disciples, Peter, James, and John, and leads them up the mountain. Jesus is transfigured. He becomes luminescent, dazzling white. Moses and Elijah appear with him. They even talk with him, reminding us that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. It is an impressive, even scary, scene. Peter tries to capture the moment. offering to build three dwellings, one for each of the three revered figures. As we know, we cannot hold on to these moments. They are incredibly powerful and life-changing, but their meaning can be held only in the heart and mind.

Then God speaks and reminds us who Jesus really is. God also adds the wise command, “Listen to him.” With this, the disciples are totally overcome with fear. They fall to the ground. It is one thing to climb up a high mountain with your beloved teacher and Lord and see him utterly transformed. It is quite another thing to hear the voice of God saying, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.”

They have lost their footing. They have perhaps even lost consciousness. In any case, they have fallen onto the ground. The text says, “They were overcome by fear.” They are shaking in terror. They are beside themselves. They have no idea what to do.

They have seen Jesus as he truly is. Peter was already aware of this reality, and I think the others had realized it, too. But now the close relationship between Jesus and God is completely apparent. They may have thought they were climbing the mountain with their friend and teacher, Jesus, whom they loved and admired, but now it is clear that Jesus is the Son of God. Peter and James and John have now been in the presence of the living God. We have to remember that, even in the time of Jesus, people believed that you could not be in the presence of God and survive. And yet they have. They may be on the ground shaking with terror, but they are still alive.

Jesus has told them what is going to happen, and now, they may be wanting to run for their lives. Away from the turmoil and violence. Away from the horror of the cross. But they cannot do it. Their legs are like rubber and they are paralyzed with fear.

And then something amazing happens. Jesus comes and touches them. Maybe he puts a reassuring hand on their shoulder. In times of fear and lostness, a touch can heal as nothing else can. Not only does he touch them, he also says something that they will remember all their lives. He says, “Get up and do not be afraid.” “Get up and do not be afraid.”

How many times have we been paralyzed by fear, or helpless with fear and Jesus comes and calls to us to get up and not be afraid. How many times will Peter and James and John remember this moment and these words from our Lord as they go about their ministries?

They will remember these words and the love of Jesus as they mourn his death. They will remember these words and the love and healing and forgiveness of our Lord as they realize what has happened on the first Easter.

Every year we read the gospel of the Transfiguration on this Last Sunday after the Epiphany. I believe that we do this because we need to know who Jesus really is as we prepare for our Lenten journey. Jesus is the one who touches us, touches our places of fear and doubt, and calls us to get up, have faith, and follow him.

This year, our Bishop has given us the gift of the Lenten Program, “Living Life Marked as Christ’s Own.” As you follow this program though Lent, you can also subscribe to the video series 5marksoflove.org. You will receive a daily email, a video, and a question for reflection. Please see your booklet to find out more.

Lent is a time to grow closer to our Lord, as the old hymn says, “To see him more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly. day by day.” May we follow him. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: 2 Peter 1, 5marksoflove.org, Aaron, Epiphany, Exodus 24, Golden Calf, Herbert O'Driscoll, Hur, Matthew 17, Moses, Psalm 99, Transfiguration | Leave a comment »

Last Sunday after the Epiphany Year C RCL February 7, 2016

Posted on February 7, 2016 by Beth Crane

Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-36, (37-43)

We are ending the Epiphany season and getting ready to enter the season of Lent. In our opening reading from the Book of Exodus, Moses comes down from the mountain with the tablets of the Ten Commandments in his hand. The skin of his face is shining with the shekina, the light of the presence of God.

Moses is showing forth the glory of God because he has spent time in the presence of God receiving the Law. This makes him a holy person, a person to be revered and admired. It also makes him someone to be feared because people of that time believed that you could not see God and live. So Moses veils his face to protect the people from the light of God’s presence.

As we look at our reading from the Second Letter to the Corinthians, we remember that Paul was a Pharisee, a legal scholar, and an expert on the Law. He had studied the Law carefully all his life. Yet he is the one who said that the law convicts us. We do the things that we do not want to do, and we do not do the things that we know we should do, and we are caught in a tangle of sin, and we are paralyzed in that tangle and we lose hope of ever making any progress.

In this letter, Paul is contrasting the grace of the law and the grace that comes through Jesus. Moses had to put a veil over his face because people were scared of God. Now, we can see God face to face as we look into the face of Jesus, our Lord and Savior. And so, we are a people of hope. We are being transformed into the likeness of Christ.

In our gospel for today, we go up on the mountain with our Lord. Just before this, Jesus has asked the disciples who they think he is, and Peter has replied that Jesus is the messiah. We go up the mountain to pray with our Lord, and with Peter and James and John. And Jesus shines forth with the presence and power of God. Then Moses and Elijah, the two great prophets, are talking with him, and they are shining with the light of God’s presence.

Peter and James and John are, the text says, “weighed down with sleep.” We know how that feels. They have been awake for a long time, They are tired, but they are awake and they see Jesus and Moses and Elijah.

Peter knows that this is a holy moment and he thinks it would be good to build a shrine so that they can come back and see Jesus and these two great prophets. But, like all mountaintop experiences, this one cannot be frozen in time.

And then the cloud, much like the cloud that often hung about Mt. Sinai when Moses was meeting with God, the cloud that signifies God’s presence, descends upon the mountain, and God tells them and us, “This is my Son, my Chosen. Listen to him!”

The next minute, the cloud is gone; Moses and Elijah are gone. Jesus stands alone.

We have all had those mountaintop experiences. There may have been moments on retreats when we have been aware of the closeness of our Lord. We realize that he has been leading and guiding us all the time, and we can sense the depth of his love for us.

Our mountaintop experience may have been time in worship when the beauty of the service touches us so deeply that we cannot even find words to express it. When I first began to attend the Episcopal Church, just those few words at the end of the Lord’s prayer, “For ever and ever,” meant so much to me. They gave me a sense of the everlasting and infinite nature of God. Ancient chants such as, “Let all mortal flesh keep silence” express so much about the power and holiness of God.

So often, these moments come right in the midst of ordinary life. Barbara Brown Taylor writes of feeling close to God as she was hanging laundry on the line in the warm sun and the fresh air. How often have we been deeply aware of God’s presence in a sunrise or a sunset, in a beautiful natural setting.

Many times, we sense God’s presence when we are with people we love. Their acceptance and understanding when we share something that is troubling us; their wise guidance when we are feeling overwhelmed; or their enthusiastic sharing of a triumphant moment in our lives all speak of God’s love.

Today, we are on the mountaintop with Jesus, and we see who he really is. We see the glory of God radiating from him, but we are not like the people of Moses’ time so many centuries ago. We are not afraid. We see who he really is, but we also experience his love. We remember all the sick people he has healed, all the children he has held in his arms, all the people who thought they were outcasts welcomed into his loving community. We remember all that he has done for us.

So, when we are commanded to listen to him, this is something we can do. We can listen to him and we can follow him, because he has taken away the old fear and replaced it with love. He has taken away the old paralysis in the face of the law and replaced it with hope, He has taken away the overwhelming weight of sin and replaced it with forgiveness and the grace to learn and do better.

We are on a journey with him to become more like him. We are on a journey of transformation. May we follow him. Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: 2 Corinthians, Exodus 34, Luke 9, Moses, Paul, Psalm 99, shekina, Ten Commandments, Transfiguration | Leave a comment »

Last Sunday after the Epiphany March 2, 2014

Posted on March 2, 2014 by Beth Crane

Exodus 24:12-18

Psalm 99

2 Peter 1:16-21

Matthew 17:1-9

Our first lesson takes us back three thousand years. The people of God have arrived at Mount Sinai. God has called Moses to go to the top of the mountain to receive the tablets of the law. Herbert O’Driscoll reminds us that back in those days, people thought that gods lived on mountains because mountains are elevated, reaching to the heavens. He tells us that at that time Mount Sinai was an active volcano, so when we read of fire and smoke coming from the mountain, we have to imagine the active volcanoes we have seen in pictures or perhaps experienced.(O’Driscoll, The Word Today, Year A, Vol. 1, p. 120.)

Back in those days, people truly believed that you could not look on the face of God and live, You could not get close to God and live through it. What courage Moses shows in going to the top of the mountain to meet with God! The elders go part way up. He tells them to stay and wait. Then Moses and Joshua go to the top of the mountain. They stay for forty days and forty nights.

What a different experience we have of God because of Jesus coming to be with us.

Six days after Peter says that Jesus is the Savior, Jesus takes Peter and James and John and they go up the mountain. Scholars tell us that it was probably Mt. Hermon, near Caesarea Philippi. Jesus is transfigured. He becomes who he really is. Moses and Elijah are there, showing that Jesus is a great leader along with the spiritual giants of his people.

I can’t help but think of our favorite super heroes. Mild mannered Clark Kent ducks into a phone booth and emerges as Superman. Jesus has shared meals with the disciples, taught them, encouraged them, loved them. He has been one of them. He has been and is a fellow human being. Now they see that he is something much more than human. They see what they and we can become as spiritual beings.

Peter wants to capture the moment. Oh, how we want to save these mountaintop experiences for all time! But we can’t. Nor can we live at that level of heightened excitement all the time. We would die of heart attacks.

They see who he really is—the Son of God—and the voice of God confirms the fact. They are terrified. They still believe that you cannot be near God and live. But Jesus touches them and reassures them, He tells them not to be afraid. Everything has changed because of Jesus. We can now walk with God, We do not have to be afraid.

This is the scene we see on this last Sunday before the beginning of Lent. As we prepare to walk the way of the Cross, we see Jesus in his glory. This reminds us that, with Jesus, there is always light in the midst of darkness, wholeness in the midst of brokenness, life in the midst of death. It also reminds us that we are on a journey of transformation.

Our epistle from Peter talks about something very powerful. Think what it was for people to hear about Jesus from someone who had gone up the mountain with our Lord. Think what it must have been like to hear about Jesus from one of the people who had spent all that time with our Lord, someone who had walked and talked with Jesus, someone who knew Jesus as friend, mentor and teacher, someone who had seen Jesus transfigured on that day.

This is someone who can convey the very presence of Jesus to us, someone who can bring us into the presence of Jesus. By the time this letter was written, the Church was undergoing persecution. Peter writes, “You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

The reality of Jesus, his love and his grace, his presence walking with us through the challenges of life, is a powerful thing. He is the light in the darkness. He brings a new day of hope, and faith rises again in our hearts.

This Wednesday we will gather to begin Lent. We will have ashes on our foreheads, which will remind us of our mortality and our frail humanity. We will begin to walk the Way of the Cross.

As we prepare for Lent, let us think about these two mountaintop experiences. In the first one, Moses and Joshua went up the mountain, and it was terrifying. God’s power was something to be feared. In the second experience, with Jesus and James and John, yes it was awe- inspiring and scary to hear the voice of God, but, when it was all over, Jesus was there alone before them. Yes, he is the Savior, and he walks down the mountain with us and keeps on walking with us just as he had before.

Jesus is one of us. Yet he is God walking the face of the earth. He is fully human and fully divine. And we are going to walk the Way of the Cross with him. And he is going to face the worst of what warped human power can do. And it is going to be awful. But, through it all, there is going to be that light shining in the very darkest places. The day will dawn, and the morning star will rise in our hearts.

Amen.

Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: 2 Peter, Exodus, Herbert O'Driscoll, Matthew 17, Mt. Hermon, Psalm 99, Transfiguration | Leave a comment »

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Last Sunday after Epiphany Year B February 14, 2021

The Last Sunday after Epiphany 3/3/2019

Last Sunday after the Epiphany Year A RCL February 26, 2017

Last Sunday after the Epiphany Year C RCL February 7, 2016

Last Sunday after the Epiphany March 2, 2014

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