THE GLORY OF GOD SHINES THROUGH

(Preached on Sunday, February 22, 2004)

And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.                                                     -Luke 9:29

 

On the top of Mt. Tabor in the region of the Sea of Galilee, the traditional site of the transfiguration of Jesus, is a splendid church.

When you visit that church, if you exhibit a special sense of reverence, one of the Franciscan brothers who are the caretakers of the place, might offer to show you something special.

He will take you to a place in the church, near an altar, where he will lift a section of the floor to reveal a pretty unremarkable chunk of rock.

He will then explain to you that this is in fact the top of the mountain, the very spot on which had stood the transfigured Jesus.

 

Make what you will of that claim, I rather like the idea of the sacred object lying so obscurely beneath all the ornate and fascinating furnishings of devotion.

Under all the lovely layers of religious practice is an honest-to-goodness real mountain.

It seems to fit with something Evelyn Underhill once said: that the really interesting thing about religion is God.

Under the floor, out of sight, lost to the one who doesn’t know to notice it is there, wholly invisible to many a religiously preoccupied pilgrim, is the thing itself, the real thing.

 

The transfiguration is the story of God appearing in a tangible, vivid, and real way.

Jesus takes his three closest disciples on a mountain hike.

When the four reach the top of the mountain, Jesus begins to pray.

Peter, James, and John close their eyes, dozing off like so many dear saints do in church.

While the disciples are asleep, the four become six as Moses and Elijah join Jesus on the mountain and discuss Jesus’ coming departure.

The disciples soon open their eyes and see this glorious event.

They witness the dazzlingly bright face of Jesus.

They behold Moses and Elijah.

They view the three men standing in front of their very eyes, with a blazing, bright light illuminating their bodies.

It is undoubtedly an unforgettable sight to behold.

 

The glory of God is revealed to the disciples for only a matter of minutes.

After God speaks, the cloud disappears, and the disciples climb down the mountain with a plain-clothed, ordinary Jesus.

The disciples have seen Jesus’ real identity though.

In truth, that shining “otherness” which they saw in Jesus was not a one-time event.

Peter, James and John experienced a brief break-through; but the Holy Light which they saw had been there all the time.

The glory is mostly hidden, but the God-light had always been there in Jesus from the very first.

It was there at his birth; in the Temple when he was 12 and asking the rabbis hard questions.  It was present when he was baptized and when he was tempted in the wilderness.  It was there when he called his disciples to follow him and when he taught in parables and healed the masses.  It was there when he shared his last meal with friends and when he prayed in anguish in Gethsemene.  It was there when he was arrested and abused and tortured.  It was not extinguished as he hung on a cross and died.  And it shone brightly in the resurrection experience. 

That God-light had been shining since before the foundation of the universe, and it will be shining still when this cosmos is no more.

 

But even more than that.

The God-light that we glimpse in Jesus, is always all around us every day, in every place, with every person.

In Jesus the God-light is sharply and uniquely focused.

But it is the same Light in which we live and move and have our being.

This Light is not some alien force.

It’s at the heart of our very existence.

 

We are children of the Most High.

We are God’s people, God’s beloved.

The glory of God is each and all of us fully alive.

To see ourselves this way can be as startling and wonderful as it was to see Jesus transfigured, bright and shining.

It can also be just as disturbing, as it gives the lie to some of our usual working assumptions about ourselves and our worth.

 

For just as Peter, James and John had barely arrived at the bottom of that mountain before they had forgotten the true identity of Jesus, even so we get all caught up in our daily lives and our busy religion that we forget our true identity as well.  As a result, we hide too well our light.

We hide the wounds we drag around with us, which are like those of everyone else around us, but we also hide too well the God-given talent and spiritual gift that is in every one of us.

 

God did not hide, though.

God chose to be found.

God became vulnerable in Jesus and let that God-light shine brightly into the shadows to bring life.

God’s light continues to shine through us.

Today I want to salute all of you, ordinary children of God who without the tooting of trumpets allow the God-light to shine brightly in your lives.

 

Without you, my task as preacher would be vain indeed.

Every act of Christ-love, small or large, puts body into the Gospel.

Many of you are still shy about sharing your light, so let me share a few examples of those who are sharing their light so that we might celebrate how God’s light is shining out from this place.

Bobbye Marshall volunteers in the office, maintains the church library, prepares the sanctuary for worship, sings in the choir, works with the women of the church, and is one of our Care Givers.

Andrea Terrelonge, George & Meredith Parker prepare the Garden Chapel for worship each week and Richard Terrelonge prepares the coffee.

Graham Bryan locks the church property after worship each Sunday.

Dorothy Thomas provides counseling guidance to parents in our Pre-School.

Helen Boreman, does recording for the Blind each week, and has volunteered over 9,520 hours at Jackson South Hospital.

Sonya Williams has worked for more than 10 years as the glue holding the Florida Center for Theological Studies together each day as receptionist and registrar.

David Williams a complete purchasing service for those seeking to buy a home in an honest and trust-worthy manner.

Bennie Wiley is the author of a website: www.blessedgodsend.com.

 

There are many of you who provide a quiet influence on the people in your work place by your attitudes toward colleagues and customers, the quality of your work, and the way you handle yourselves in difficult situations.

Through your integrity in business dealings the God-light shines brightly in your lives.