February 18, 2023

 We come to the end of the Season after Epiphany, when we celebrate the coming of the light.  We began the season with Jesus' baptism and we end it today with the Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain.  At the baptism of Jesus, we heard God's voice expressing delight with Jesus.  Now we come to the Transfiguration, when we again hear the voice of God.  These two stories are bookends to the season.

The story of Jesus baptism happens at the beginning of his ministry.  The story of the transfiguration on the mountaintop happens at a turning point, a while before his crucifixion.  At the point of the transfiguration, Jesus turns his face toward Jerusalem because that is where he is headed for his triumphal entry at Palm Sunday, his showdown with the scribes, lawyers, and religious leaders, the Last Supper, and his arrest, trial, and crucifixion.  

At Jesus' baptism, he and we heard these words, "This is my beloved Son, with him I am well pleased, delighted."  On the mountaintop we again hear God's voice, declaring Jesus God's son, with an added part.  "Listen to him." As we prepare to begin Lent, listening is a big focus of the upcoming season.

During Lent we listen.  We listen to God.  We listen to God at church.  We listen to our neighbors singing and praying.  We listen in the silence, between the words.  Last Sunday, everyone was so quiet.  I could hear the tension in the room because the Gospel was so troubling about divorce and dismemberment.  We listen to the scriptures, take them in, let them reside with us.  We have extra time to listen and worship at our Wednesday evening Lenten services.

Listen to our Latino siblings at Holy Cross.  As we have been gathering in recent months, we have had the opportunity for some sharing across language barriers.  We respond to a question prompt and each person responds in their own language.  Some of the prompts we’ve used: Who are the young people in your life and how are they a shining light?  How do we prepare to receive Jesus?  Then each person has 3 minutes or so to respond.  We don't understand every word, but it means so much to look into the eyes of our neighbors and friends and to hear their voices.  Since only a small part of communication is words, we have received much more than we thought we would.  We are learning each other’s names and making connections.  One woman shared that 20 years ago she lived down the street in a women's transitional home that was partly supported by Trinity.  At that time she used to walk down and attend Trinity even though she didn’t speak the language the prayers and hymns were a comfort to her.  So when Santa Cruz found themselves coming here to partner, she was already part of that congregation and she felt so at home.  Trinity had been and continues to be a safe place for her.  Despite a language barrier, we were able to understand her story and to learn more of our own story of Trinity at the same time.

We listen to God in the world.  During Lent, we especially tune into God all around us.  Lent means lengthen, so we listen as the days of sunlight lengthen and the natural world wakes up and reminds us of the hope we have in Christ.  We listen to people we are in relationship with--what can we learn from them, how can we relate better with them, where can we offer or ask for forgiveness, what is it we need from them, how can we communicate better with them.

We listen to God on the margins.   We listen to our siblings at Santa Cruz.  We listen to our indigenous siblings as The Living Table explores Land Acknowledgment. 

On Transfiguration, the truth of who Jesus is became evident on the outside.  The witnesses of the Transfiguration could see the truth of who he was the Son of God.  Occasionally in our lives we are privileged to witness such a beautiful moment, when someone feels safe enough with us that they take the risk to show us who they really are, even though it might disturb us.  On this Transfiguration day we remember to listen to our Transgender siblings.  When friends and family members, members of our communities come out to us with a different gender, pronouns, or name than we expected that is a holy moment and revealing of a deeper truth of who they are, a reflection of an inner reality of who God made them to be.  In those moments our support and love can mean the difference between hope and despair and as people of faith we must remember that what we say and do can reflect the light and love of God or it can do damage to a person’s relationship with God when we show prejudice and fear.

On the mountaintop, Jesus was changed.  He glowed.  Matthew likes to link Jesus with Moses.  When Moses went up the mountain, he encountered God and it changed him.  He also glowed.  Jesus here encounters Moses and Elijah, another push from Matthews to show us that Jesus came to fulfill all the law and the prophets.  Moses represents the law and Elijah represents the Prophets.  

Jesus didn't come among us so that we could stay the same.  Jesus came to change us.  That is what Lent is all about--about repentance, changing direction, returning to God.  That is what listening is all about--listening will change us.  Listening orients us to others around us that expand our world, our support network, our experience of the realities of others, our compassion for ourselves and others.  

Listening to our LGBTQIA siblings and listening the scriptures in their original context has helped us stop confusing our own biases with the laws of God and to appreciate and honor the gifts of more of our siblings in Christ.

Jesus was changed on the mountaintop and we are changed in our encounter with him.  Jesus shines with the glory of God.  We also let our light shine, even when that is threatening or confusing to others.  We shine with our truth of who we are.  We shine with faith to bring healing to a hurting world.  We shine with justice when confront systems that oppress.  We shine with hope when we put our trust in Jesus and his promise of love.  We shine when we listen and let our hearts respond with compassion.

We come down from the mountain, rather than set up our own comfortable tent.  We come down the mountain, sustained by that vision of Jesus' glory ready to serve those in need,  heal the sick, listen, do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.

We are on a 3 year cycle of Bible readings.  The last time we heard these readings we were barreling toward a pandemic and shutdown.  We were headed for a trauma of separation and illness and grief and upending of traditions and patterns we had followed our whole lives.  We were headed for change that was difficult, that is still affecting us.  I am listening to my feelings, heartbreak for the crushing losses, the loneliness, the lost year and a half of school and setbacks for children in their social-emotional learning, the depression, the spike in opiod deaths.  We stand on the mountaintop with Jesus and we don't want to go to the difficulties of life in the valley, but still we go there with Jesus because that is where he promises to be and where his compassion is most needed.  We go there to grief and pain and we offer a listening ear, a compassionate heart, a vision of glory and hope in a bigger story of redemption and forgiveness.

We go from the mountain with Jesus to the cross, the place of immense suffering, of crushing fear and pain.  This vision of what really is, that Jesus is the one to listen to, sustains us.  This listening will get us through the times of isolation and fear.  It will help us reach out to others who are suffering.  The light is still shining.  It doesn't mean that people aren't still hurting, but we know it won't always be this way, that we're not alone, that love overcomes all fear and that new life, abundant life is God's gracious gift when we need it most.