Sermon by Pr. Michelle Sevig on the Transfiguration of Our Lord + February 11, 2024
The day we’ve been waiting for is finally here. We’ve been moving toward it for weeks. The anticipation is palpable, the hype over the top. You know what I’m talking about, right? Some know it as Super Bowl Sunday (and it is), but I’m talking about Transfiguration Sunday when Jesus is transformed right in front of his disciples on a mountaintop. He sparkles, his clothes dazzle, the disciples are transfixed by this divinity shining forth and they are inspired to make some changes.
The way the NFL marks time is through a season that leads to this Sunday of all Sundays-the Super Bowl. The way we in the church mark time is also experienced through whole long seasons, known as the liturgical calendar. Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent. And right now, on this day, it’s our half-time show. Because we are exactly halfway between the Gloria of Christmas and the Alleluia of Easter.
And this event on the mountaintop is also the halfway point of Jesus' ministry–between his baptism and his resurrection. Right in the middle of his earthly ministry comes this trek up the mountain with Peter, James, and John and the ultimate of mountaintop experiences. Jesus is transfigured to dazzling white. Moses and Elijah the two great prophets of all time suddenly appear. And a voice comes from a cloud saying, “This is my Son, the beloved; listen to him.”
Halfway. We all know the importance of halfway points–especially in any kind of significant endeavor. Halfway through–the point when we need the most encouragement, that point where we wonder if we can complete the journey. Maybe that spot when we take a deep breath to persevere. The novelty of a new beginning has worn off and the exhilaration of a destination reached seems a long way off. Halfway.
Then, as quickly as it started, it was over. They came down off the mountain; back to the other disciples, back to the towns and villages, back to the crowds. Back to the work, back to the same ol’ same ol’. But things were fundamentally different.
Bishop Yeihel Curry, in a transfiguration sermon a year ago, asked, “What if Jesus’ face was always shining? What if Jesus’ clothes were always sparkling? What if God had always been talking from the mountain? What if mountaintop experiences allow us to see our neighbors, the world, and ourselves as we really are?” Then he said, “We’d see ourselves as change agents. We’d see our neighbors as dazzling. We’d see the church as powerful. Yes, (I’m suggesting to you that) Jesus didn’t change. The disciples did.
And if the disciples were changed, surely so are we. We are changed every time we pray. Changed every time we open up the scripture. We are transfigured every time we fellowship with our neighbors. Every time we respond to ministry needs. Every time we expand our definition of family. Every time we let our light shine at school. Every time we remember at our jobs that we are the salt of the earth. Every time we realize that the least of these…Jesus called them blessed.
Yes, we are changed by the transforming love and power of God who meets us daily in the valley of our lives, not just the mountaintop experiences. Mountains are where we get our inspiration. Valleys are where we live and serve.
As we celebrate 150 years of ministry this year we take stock of what we’ve done and ask one another who we can be–in this community, in the neighborhoods of Lakeview and the South Loop, and wherever we live. We are transformed when we identify in ourselves, and for each how our passions, energy, and gifts are being called to meet the world’s needs. We are transformed when we challenge one another to use our gifts, money, and resources to heal a hurting world that is broken by poverty, racism, war.
It is no accident that we read about Jesus’ transfiguration right before Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent. There is a connection between this epiphany–the transfiguration–and what is to follow. In three days, Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent–a time of self-reflection, of simplifying life and sharing with others.
In these three days–of football and feasting, Mardi Gras and Fat Tuesday, may we lean into this next season knowing our lives are and always will be filled with change, with transitions, with transformation–between birth and death, sorrow and celebration.
God tells us, too, that we are beloved. As a faithful mother and tender father, God holds us and bids us to follow the One who was sent to serve and to save. The table has been set and the feast prepared. Here, all are welcome and there is enough. You are enough. May the light of Christ shine through us in our prayers, in our giving, and through acts of mercy, compassion, and justice, so that others, too, may see that we are changed by the glory of God in us. In this meal and in the waters of baptism, we are transformed to live life anew, confident in the one who transforms us from the inside out.