"A Vision of Glory" February 11, 2018

2nd Kings 2: 9-12 Mark 9: 2-9 What do we do with The Transfiguration? Have you ever seen Glory? What does it mean to Witness Glory? Is Glory the same as Holy? Different from routine, there are holy life events like contests, Graduation, getting Married, a career change, the birth of a child or grandchild, surviving Cancer. There are also faith journeys, when we risk leaving our comfort zone to do something Spiritual, be it singing in the Choir, Teaching Sunday School, being trusted as an Elder or Deacon, going to Tanzania to teach. These are life changing and holy faith events, but “Witnessing A Vision of Glory” I take it to be even different from that. I asked other who suggested simply exchanging the word Light for the word Glory. Recall God created LIGHT, and Christ represents LIGHT entering a darkened world. The problem we have to get over, is that with Light or Glory, we want to understand, we want to know, and as we experienced last Summer with the Eclipse, you cannot see the Light, you can only Experience it, Accept and Share that light with others. In recent weeks, we have discovered a new Light, in partnering with the Eastern Farm Workers. The point of that Light is not financial support, its not about coats or tamales, but folk who are invisible to the world, knowing that this Church supports them, they are not alone but our light illumines their light. But then Friday night at the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics in Korea, we witnessed a single light passed to others, become the Ying and Yang of the North and South sides of the Mountain, become two Doves, then the Doves fill each other to become not simply the outline of doves, but the fullness of Peace. It is holy to experience one Candle enter on Christmas Eve, but “Glorious” when everyone shares their light together in “Silent Night.” So we go back to the Gospel… The Disciples had been on the Road with Jesus. Having left their careers, family, friends, listening to Jesus’ parables, witnessing miracles, their lives had been touched by this faith journey. When suddenly Jesus asked them, just who they thought he was? A Teacher? A Prophet? Like one of the great prophets of Old? The other day, I was invited into a conversation as someone described their thinking of whether Mario and I, were their Pastors, or their Friends? There is overlap but difference. There are times in which the distancing of being Ordained maybe helpful; But I recall a morning early in ministry, when I rushed to a Parishioners home that his wife had collapsed in the back yard. I sat with the two of them, and as the EMTs arrived pronouncing his wife as Dead, they asked who I was, and Maynard said “He is my trusted friend!” I cannot think of a better way to explain the Community of faith. Simon Peter makes this monumental leap of Faith, that no one had previously made: “You are the Messiah”, literally “The One anointed by God!” And Jesus says Yes! You get the Gold Star! But immediately challenges what Peter and the Disciples think it means for Jesus to be Messiah. by describing the suffering that comes with this identity from God for the world. 6 days later comes this morning’s circumstance. Not everyone is there, only Jesus and the 3: Simon Peter, James and John. When they WITNESS A VISION OF GLORY. Maybe it was like a Dream Sequence in a movie, a moment out of time. Witnessing a Vision of Glory appears to be a Moment that not only changes individual lives, but alters Time and Space… When Neil Armstrong, Astronaut; became Man on the Moon; there is a BOTH / AND that the individual represents more than the person we knew: in the Gospel three Glorious Visions occur: 1) Baptism by John when the Heavens Opened, God spoke and a dove descended; 2) HERE at the Transfiguration; 3) at the Crucifixion, when after Jesus cries out to God, “My God, My God, Have You Forsaken Me?” the sun turns black and a Roman Centurion declares “Surely, this was The Son of God”. On Mount Tabor, they witnessed the man Jesus, whom they knew and trusted as Friend, become Gloria. The Bible says “Glowing” “Radiant” “His Robes Whiter than Fuller’s Soap” (this is not the Super Bowl Tide Commercial!) Peter, James and John witnessed Moses who was Man & Law-Giver; Elijah who was Man & God’s Defender against the King and Queen and Idols of Baal. And Jesus as both Man & Savior! Why Moses and Elijah? The Bible describes that when we die, it is not about Burial, decay, heaven and Hell, No instead, when God had used Moses and Elijah in this life, and they were done, God Took them to God’s self, they went to be part of God. So Jesus speaking with Elijah and Moses, is witness of 3 Revelations of God. That is what I believe WITNESSING GLORY is all about, in one moment realizing that those who are most Personal to us, are also Meaningful to us; Divine, larger than life, present in a reality outside of time. Tragically, in our reality we tend to identify those larger than life, then tear them down as being only human. It is difficult to keep the two in tension… The humanity and suffering of Jesus, with the Glory of the Divine. Which did you learn first, Jesus the person who was born at Christmas, taught parables, healed people, died on the Cross? Or Jesus, the Son of God, Lord and Savior, Redeemer and King, who rose on Easter and sits at the right hand of God. My guess is that for many of us, we get comfortable with Sweet Baby Jesus hidden in our mangers, and never consider Jesus as Savior, Redeemer, Lord, Son of God.