Transfiguration Sunday is one of the extra special Sundays on the church calendar, but it often goes unnoticed. It serves as a bridge between the weeks following the Christmas season and the beginning of the Season of Lent.
And maybe that’s the whole point of this Sunday on the church calendar because it reminds us of how easy it can be to miss the holy moments that happen in our daily lives. Take Moses from our Old Testament reading for example.
This is the story of when Moses went up a mountain and the Lord gave him the Ten Commandments to present to the people. So, he goes back down the mountain, and our scripture reading is quick to point out that Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face was shining because he had been talking with God.
And so, when Moses makes it down to the people, they were afraid because this doesn’t look like the same Moses who had left them. This was a Moses whose face was now radiating the glory of God. And when Moses discovers that he now looks very different, he needs to put a veil over his face just so that the people would no longer be overwhelmed.
During the pandemic, there were times when I didn’t recognize people I knew because we were wearing masks. I remember one time I got out of my car in a grocery store parking lot, and I saw one of my church members wearing a mask. Thinking that person was someone else, I called called that person by the wrong name! Wearing masks made it difficult to recognize each other.
During the pandemic one of my church members made the observation that masks were making it difficult for people to see their true selves.
Masks can hide our expressions to varying degrees and this church member said how it was challenging to get a sense of how the other person was really doing. This person’s comment reminded me of how important it is to really see each other beyond just a surface level.
And so, when the Israelites first saw Moses coming down from the mountain, they couldn’t help but to see that he had truly been with the Lord because his skin was shining. The people could see that Moses had encountered the living God.
What does it mean for us to see God’s presence in our daily lives? What does it mean for us to see each other? And for that matter, what does it mean for us to see ourselves and who we are deep down in our very being?
This is what Transfiguration Sunday, this obscure Sunday on the church calendar invites us to do each year. It invites us to open our eyes and see ourselves, each other, and the presence of God at work in our lives.
Let’s begin with how we see ourselves. How we see ourselves can have a significant impact on our attitudes as well as our actions.
You may have heard the story about the Episcopal Priest who went to the Harley Davidson dealer to buy a motorcycle.
The salesman came out to the parking lot, noticed the man admiring the bike, and said: “that there bike is the most powerful piece of machinery you’ll ever be seen on. It goes from zero to 60 in 5.8 seconds. Jet black fuel tank, chrome muffler, raised handlebars. Can’t you see yourself, flying down the road, hair on fire, everyone’s head turning as you go by?” So, tell me, what sort of work do you do for a living?” the salesman asked.
“I’m an Episcopal Priest.”
“Oh,” the salesman said, now with a disappointed look on his face. “Forget about what I just said because this motorcycle is also known to be the safest, most practical bike we’ve got on the lot. It comes with two helmets and free riding instructions.”
How do you see yourself? Do you see yourself through the eyes of the assumptions of what others may expect you to be or do you see yourself for who you truly are, a child of God?
I have a friend who says that if only we would remember our baptism more often, this would be a game changer in how God wants us to see ourselves. When Jesus was baptized, a voice from heaven said, “You are my child, the beloved; with you I am well pleased.”
For various reasons, we sometimes forget this very basic truth that is revealed in our baptism. We are God’s children. We are all beloved by God. And God is pleased with us.
Our baptism reminds us that we are each a blessed, beloved, and beautiful child of God. And as I like to say, “There are no exceptions, asterisks, or loopholes.”
Or, if you’re not baptized, no worries because we are told in the first few pages of the Bible, that each one of us has been created in the image of God. Each one of us. Again, no exceptions, asterisks, or loopholes.
And when we think of who God is like, descriptive words like loving, patient, generous, forgiving, kind, compassionate, and holy come to mind. And just to think that we are all created in the image of this God who is described in this way! This is who we have been created to be.
This is what it means to be fully human. This is who we are. Do you see this in yourself? If you do, that’s great because that is who God has created you to be.
If you don’t see this basis truth about who you are, that you have been created in God’s image, then I would encourage you to reflect on this until you do. You are a blessed, beloved, and beautiful child of God. There are no exceptions, asterisks, or loopholes, or footnotes, fine-print, or disqualifications. You are a child of God!!
And, this morning, I want to ask you how you see others. I think this has been more challenging over these past several years, just because of the widening political and theological polarization that we have been experiencing. It’s not easy to see beyond the different labels that we attach to each other.
Christian author and speaker, Brian McLaren was asked what helps him to stay in a loving relationship with family members and friends who have very profound political and ideological differences than his own. When Brian was asked this question on a theological podcast I was listening to at the time, I remember writing down his answer because I really appreciated his response.
He said, “I have learned to just say to people that I disagree with in the most loving, gracious, and genuine way that I can, ‘I just see it differently.’”
Isn’t that a great response! Of course, this assumes that we’ve truly listened to the other person. But this response is concise, to the point, genuine, but also true to what you believe. No need for arguments. No need for passive/aggressive behavior. We simply say, “I just see it differently.”
One of the ways that we can help people who feel unheard, ignored, and brushed aside is to truly listen to them and affirm them by saying, “I want you to know that I see you. I hear you.”
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism was known for how he encouraged those early Methodists to ask each other the question, “How is it with your soul?” That question invites us to see beyond what is going on the surface and go deeper in how how we are really doing emotionally, relationally, physically, and spiritually.
If we truly want to see others, that’s a great question to ask. “How is it with your soul?”
In addition to seeing ourselves and others, Transfiguration Sunday is also a time to see and recognize God’s presence in our daily lives.
Now, you probably won’t have the same experience as Moses did who had spent six whole days with God on a mountaintop.
And you probably won’t have the same experience as the three disciples, Peter, James, and John who witnessed Jesus being transfigured and radiating God’s glory right in front of their eyes. These were literally and figuratively mountaintop experiences.
Even if we may not have mountaintop experiences like the ones in our scripture readings today, God is still present in holy and mysterious ways. We refer to these as thin place moments, those moments where heaven and earth overlap reminding us of God’s presence.
The Apostle Paul writes in our scripture reading from II Corinthians, “And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord.” What are those veils that are keeping us from seeing the glory of the Lord?
Some of these veils include the veil of a modern-day world view that has squeezed out any notion of the holy and mysterious. There is also the veil of our own daily preoccupations that can prevent us from seeing how God is at work.
Another veil is the veil of simply not giving ourselves time to reflect on the events of our lives to see how God was present. I like to refer to these as “delayed thin place moments” because it’s only in retrospect that we see how God was present in the people and situations we encountered.
Whether we recognize God’s presence in real time or upon reflection, it’s amazing what we can see when we remove the veils that would keep us from seeing the glory of the Lord.
Several years ago, I was part of a team of people who led a weekend youth retreat at the church I was serving. On that Saturday morning, we led the 25 or so teenagers up to the sanctuary. Once everybody was seated in the first pews, one of the leaders told everybody to bow their heads in a time of silent prayer.
Well, the mistake this adult leader made was to tell the youth to bow their heads because they ended up missing the first five minutes of a very moving mime skit that some of our other leaders had put together and were acting out in the front of the sanctuary.
Since the skit was in silence, the youth didn’t know that it had started and we as leaders didn’t realize that the youth still had their heads bowed toward the floor in an attitude of prayer. I still laugh when I think about that memory.
On this Transfiguration Sunday, let’s not miss seeing the glory of God. Let’s see ourselves as God’s blessed, beloved, and beautiful children of God. Let’s see others as people created in the image of God. And let’s be open to seeing God’s mysterious and holy presence at work in our daily encounters.
And as the Apostle Paul says, may we all see the glory of the Lord.
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