A message from your Interim Rector 8/5

The Feast of the Transfiguration is celebrated on August 6^th each year and it is an important event in the earthly life of Jesus, in the lives of the disciples who accompanied him, and to us; because it shows us who Jesus is and who we are called to be.  The readings appointed for this feast include Exodus 34:29-35 (Moses encounter with God) & Luke 9:28-36.

Look at what happened.  The inner circle of Jesus' disciples:  Peter, James and John find themselves up on the mountain top and "poof" - in a blinding flash of light - Jesus is transfigured right before their very eyes.  Jesus is revealed in that brief instant as the Christ, the glorious son of God.  His divinity is obvious in this moment of transfiguration and a voice from heaven confirms what Peter, James and John can’t really believe they are seeing.

Jesus, with his three most trusted disciples, had gone up the mountain to pray.  It was in the midst of his intense praying that Jesus' appearance was changed to a blinding light so powerful that his clothes were dazzling white and his face shone.  For a brief fleeting moment, God's glory was glimpsed by the disciples.  They saw Jesus for who he really was - in that instant they saw God and felt the holiness of the event.

But the transfiguration of Jesus was not about Jesus being changed, it was about the disciples being changed by what they witnessed - glimpsing the holiness of God even for just a moment changed them forever.

Moses also had a close encounter with God and after that he was so radically changed that he had to cover his face so people would not be frightened by what they saw.  Moses' face shone from just being close to God's glory; so we can only imagine what Jesus' transfiguration must have been like for the disciples.

An encounter with God changes anyone who gets close to God's Holiness.  And so after the disciples witnessed Jesus' transfiguration they and the world were so radically changed as to never be the same again.  Years later on his death bed, Peter thinks that this particular event in the life of Jesus was so important that he recounts it in a letter to the early churches.  He points to this event as proof of who Jesus is.  Peter did not remind them of the resurrection, he reminded them of his eyewitness account of the transfiguration.  Remember Peter was a witness not only to the resurrection and transfiguration but also to Jesus’ ascension into heaven, but he writes about the transfiguration to remind us that an encounter with God changes us, it does not change God. 

We may not have the chance to visually glimpse God's glory like Moses or the inner circle of the disciples.  But we do see God's glory in the work of the Church, in the core of our hearts, in the stirring of the Holy Spirit in the lives of others.  In fact, the Holy Spirit fills us with God's presence so that we are trans-figured from the inside out.  By God's transfiguring Spirit we are transformed.  At our baptism God’s process of transfiguration starts to work in us.  Slowly and deliberately we are changed.

Our trans-figuration is from the inside out, just like Jesus.  He was so filled with God's presence that in that moment when the veil was lifted those who saw him instantly knew they had encountered God.  Our trans-figuration is often less obvious.  We have been filled with God's presence, but we often mask the glory of God by living for ourselves and not letting God’s light shine into the world.

At our baptism we are transformed, and we can never go back.  Even though our faces may not shine like Moses’ face, the transfiguration's effects are permanent.  God dwells within us and continues to transfigure us into holy and hopeful people of God.  There is more inside us than we realize.  What we see in ourselves and in others is not all there is, for deep within us God’s transforming light shines and from time to time the world still glimpses the glory of God shining in us.

Our Stewardship theme for the coming year is, “Let your light shine”.  You already possess that light and now is the time to use the power of God within you to work for God’s kingdom.  Blessings on your discernment and on your commitment to share the light of Christ with the world through the ministries of St. Catherine’s and the community. 

Mother Pat+