Mark 9.2-9  homiletically holy hmmm's.... on the High Hill

It was "six days later" not a complete week or an overfull octave. On "a high mountain apart" time would be complete with eternity and flesh enlightened with perfection seen, if only by its dazzling seams.

The New Testament term for mountain _ oros _ is connected in its range to_ ouranos _, the term for the heavens. Do the heavens only touch the earth in its upper reaches or does the earth aspire only in breathless upheaval to the heavens?

Hardly questions of this text because it is not to the peak that we are to be drawn but to the climbers. Peter, James and John roped by flesh to Jesus leading them upward.

The top is a tenuous place. Plant the flag, take a look around at the surrounding scene, the world beneath and retreat quickly in the face of a place that is hostile to human exploration. Any Everestic conversation happens in frosted shouts and the real talk, self-congratulations, usually happens at the bottom of the mountain. But here it is different, here Moses and Elijah appear and talk with Jesus. About what? Sinai dulled in this dazzling doxology? Pillars of cloud and fire, whirlwinds and parted waters? Amid the eye-shattering snowy moment, like ravens the two dark figures come to Jesus for feeding. Even heaven bows before, in reverence at the rocky walk of the incarnate One.

To transfigure ... we cannot figure how to cross from death to life, from weakness to unyielding power, from dim days to the potentials we can dream, so God must.

Peter wants to erect three shrines that will hold to the moment, tethered like tents in the airless wind of that which appears strictly spiritual. To remain here and to be human will need the divine. A kindly cloud, like a prop in children's story, envelops them. It is only the habitation of Jesus, hazy as it may appear in plain skin tones, that covers their presence ... on the mountain or as they come down to the days before the resurrection.

2 Kings 2. 1-12

Elisha does not seem to want to leave the side of Elijah. The pupil does not want to go beyond the teacher. But there is a parting in the water, at the heights, in the inheritance. One cannot cling long in the whirlwind of light teamed with fire. Such separations will be recalled, the ripping of flesh and the parting in power. And yet... there is more to come, not only for Elisha but also for Elijah, who it seems by the Transfiguration account could also not leave the side of his salvation. The chariots come and go until the seamless robe is un-torn and the gamble of God brings victory.

Psalm 50. 1-6

There is beauty to be blessed for a God who rejoices not to consume in a raging storm but reveals, un-petalling divine glory amid our flesh.

2 Corinthians 4. 3-6

There is light and there is light. There is neon giddiness and the mirrors of manipulation. And then there is the unveiling of God's goodness.

Cloaked by the DNA of the virgin, the robes of Palestinian poverty and cloaks of commonality, perish the thought that we should know him as God much less good and good for us.

The blinding light in this passage is not that of high places but of the depths of our depravity. We are familiar with the palette of dark shades of bruised purple and cold blue for the perishing but this Corinthian letter brushes evil with the attractive brightness of golds, greens and glow, anything that will keep people from seeing the image of God in the glory of Christ. The lights of our earth and age are not to be trusted to portray the news that is good about God. There is rather a lamp in the heart; it is the Spirit, God has placed within. Not some private vision or insight but the knowledge of God's radiance in the face of Jesus Christ. A face and glory which is known, truly unveiled, in its bruising and as it grows cold in dying and death. To him we are willing by God's strength to be enthralled.

Seasonal Prayer

Triune God of all light, we thank you for this season of unveiling. When in sign and wonder our faith has been blessed to grow and share. Prepare us now to see you veiled for those who cannot see. Prepare us, who think we rule ourselves, to be governed by your grace and mastered by your mercy in Jesus Christ, our Lord. AMEN

Evening Prayer

Your dwelling is enough, O Lord Christ, let us see you alone among the peaks of life and living and then in the depths of sleep or death we will never be left alone. Make all our tomorrows resurrections until there is only you to face. AMEN

I noticed that while the Lutheran Book of Worship collects for the Feast do not use the word, the one a bulletin uses, in this phrase: "Transfigure us by you beloved Son...." Do you think this is a good or even adequate use of the word TRANSFIGURE or should it only be used of our Lord? Obviously his transfiguration was of a different sort than any morphing on our part. One year I looked up all the trans-words that are used in English.... quite a few.

why I never noticed it before, don't know but the second lesson from 2 Cor 4 has an interesting juxtaposition especially if you or your parish have the custom of veiling crosses, crucifixes and religious pictures or icons.. "Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing.... (not seeing the light of the gospel in the glory of Christ, icon of God." There are two kinds of veiling... one that reveals and one that is the product of blindness. The Lenten one is like the Jesus on the downside of the mountain; his flesh hides his divinity but is the revelation of God with us. We notice if we use the off-white Anglican Lenten array that the crucifix has disappeared into the white wash of the walls or if we use the bruised color the purple protuberances say, "look at me, his death is so scandalous it demurs our devotion. Additionally there is this Pauline veiling to those perishing, they miss both the divine and human natures, and they miss the Christ. The church has had its problems with heresies on both sides denying one or the other nature but the world today denies both as Christ disappears from view well before and after Lent and Transfiguration. How to transfigure the "god of this world" so that people can see there is no good news in its worship, no light for the heart. The face of Christ, the incomprehensibly divine and human reveals us, who we truly were created to be and the Father to us.

I was surprised to learn from Philip Pfatteicher's new book celebrating the Church Year that justification for the use of veils may have come from an application of John 8.59. Have you ever thought of the length (relates to the word Lent I recall) of time Lent takes... 40 days is a chunk of the calendar. It is, as some observed, a generous tithe of the year. An offering that lifts our Lord's offering which was not a tithe but a whole, living and unblemished offering. And then the Easter's 40 days till Ascension, another tithe. Only Advent is not long enough for its civil contents to be wrapped by blue or violet observance.

The voice and sacred sparklers are not for our Lord but for us... again, like at the Jordan baptism, it is not as if Christ has to stretch his glory because it is cramped or aches for the heavens... he has chosen to be among us in the dull and darkness of the shadowed valleys where healing is needed...

A Stilling/Silencing Sunday, a Veiling of the Voice Sunday just before Lent when we begin to hear the loudest from the silencing of God. Congregational Council Report please. "Our deficits are rising but I am happy to report that the crucifixion is in the red again,; the cross is going up; God is going down."

We use phrases that say (and I am going to make it much longer than we usually phrase it) things like... Christ, conceived of the Virgin, born, lived a life of suffering servanthood, crucified, died, was buried, rose, ascended and will return... but never or almost never in the list is "transfigured"... how do you figure that? not that important an event, not seminal enough, doesn't fit into the flow of steps of humiliation followed by steps of exaltation as we usually teach... while we can surmise what it meant to the disciples lives are we not sure what the transfiguration means to our lives?

I have always found it interesting that times of personal faith-renewal, retreat highs, even blessings that have ecclesial ritual attached like births and weddings and ordinations, all of them duly descend. It helps to see the cloud and hear the voice of the Word's Father when one is being dazzled by the gifts of glory and transient transfiguration.