February 7, 2016 – Luke 9:23-48a
Luke 9:23-48a
Glimpses of Glory
Transfiguration of our Lord – February 7, 2016
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
I hadn’t really thought about it before but this is a perfect Gospel text and
a perfect festival to celebrate at the beginning of February,
for those of us in the middle of winter in Manitoba.
Why?
Because of something I hadn’t noticed before in this story:
in Luke’s version of the Transfiguration, the disciples –
although tired and weighed down with sleep –
struggle against sleep and manage to stay awake.
And so they see Jesus’s glory, they see him shining like the sun.
The key is struggling to stay awake enough and alert enough to catch the vision.
It is not easy following Jesus and working to do as he does and minister as he does –
that was their calling and that is ours.
They followed him into darkness and difficulty and hunger and illness and exclusion –
but how do they know that it is worth it? How do they know they are following the light
into all those places?
At some point they need to know they are investing their lives in and following the light –
and not some sham and not some imposter.
Like you they have staked their lives on Jesus and need to know that it’s real, that it’s worth it.
They need to know that in him, as John has it, the true light is coming into the world.
They need to know that Jesus really is the true light.
Most of you know I am prone to depression and that I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder,
which has the greatest acronym ever – S.A.D. Sad!
I haven’t suffered from clinical depression for years and for that I am exceedingly grateful.
But I do often find the winter months hard – and many of us do.
And those of us who do suffer from it realize our need for more sunshine at this time of the year.
I was talking with someone about this not long ago and they were saying that
it kind of makes sense when you get to a certain stage in life that you have to be
proactive about getting sunshine.
When you were a kid you probably went outside and played no matter what the weather was like.
Then, if you had children of your own, you probably got outside with them in the winter.
But when the kids get older, you tend not to get outside much.
And if you suffer from S.A.D. that is not G.O.O.D.
You suffer from a lack of sunlight – even though that is what you need.
The temptation is to crawl into bed and go to sleep because
you feel tired and lethargic from a lack of sun.
But then you go to sleep and you miss the sun!
But like the disciples in Luke’s Gospel what you want to do is struggle to stay awake,
and be pro-active, and go outside even though you don’t feel like it and
walk around in the sunshine for half an hour or so – which is what I do.
And then you feel reinvigorated – once you get a glimpse of the sun;
because you need to know that somewhere, the sun is shining.
You need to know that behind the clouds you are experiencing, the sun is still shining.
Well, our spiritual lives are like that, right?
God has called us to many things in our baptisms:
a couple of weeks ago we heard what those things are in Ruth Alice’s baptism:
to serve all people according to the example of Jesus,
to care for others and the world God made,
and to work for justice and peace in all the earth.
Whoa! That is a tall order, God!
And it’s hard work – as the disciples know and as we know.
Well, it’s easy if we somehow shrink the demands, and make them small enough to manage.
But it’s not easy if we look at the example of Jesus and really try to follow it.
And it’s not easy to trust that participating in God’s mission to love, bless,
and heal this whole world and every person in it
is going to make any difference whatsoever.
Because it seems sometimes like it is always going to be winter!
Because some weeks it seems like the clouds are never going to move!
Because it seems like the sun is never really going to shine again – in our lives or the world!
Because it seems – sometimes – like there is no hope for this world.
But from the beginning of Advent Jesus has been inviting us to stay alert.
To stay awake. To be watchful. To be attentive.
This morning the three disciples get a glimpse in glorious technicolour that
I guess couldn’t be missed: Jesus shining like a million watt light bulb!
The veil is somehow removed and they see the full glory of God shining in him.
And they are like, “Okay! We totally get who we have been following around and
working so hard with! Cool! This dude is light itself!”
And of course they just wanna hang out with Jesus and Moses and Elijah on the mountain.
Jesus being Jesus he doesn’t allow that –
but he does graciously allow a glimpse of his shining glory –
and that will sustain them when they go back down the valley and
return to their work of healing and feeding and forgiving and including.
They have to know that in all their hard work they are actually following the light.
And so they stick with it.
Like those of us who suffer from seasonal affective disorder,
they need that glimpse of Jesus shining like the sun in order to keep going.
They need to know that the sun is actually always shining, even on cloudy days.
So where is the glimpse of glory you need to sustain you in Christian life and hope and work?
For me it comes in few different places.
For sure I can see glory and light and grace in Jesus – that is why we worship him, after all!
You can see it in everything he does.
Jesus was an amazing person –
it seems clear to me why we claim he is an exact image of the invisible God.
Full of grace, full of compassion, full of healing, full of mercy, full of inclusion,
full of forgiveness –
a person who works tirelessly for God’s great day of justice and peace.
This is a person in whom we see all a human being can be and is meant to be: divine.
I see light shining through his story, and it gives me hope as I realize that that is what
I am meant to be, that is what we are all meant to be, that is what we can be –
in the story of Jesus we see that the sun is still shining somewhere.
Then, too, I see it in what we do here, in the meal of inclusion and grace where all are welcome,
where all are fed, where all are forgiven, where all are renewed.
That is a great vision for our world, and it is actually happening right here at
First Lutheran Church in our worship life and in our community life – in
the experience of worship at FLC we see that the sun is still shining somewhere.
I see it at our Food Banks and Community Meals, where I see people sharing their gifts
and sharing what they have – both volunteers and clients – for the common good of all.
That is actually happening – that is real – and that gives me hope!
in food banks and community meals at Sargent and Victor we can see that
the sun is still shining somewhere!
And if it happens on a small scale like this,
why not dream big and wonder why it cannot happen on a global scale?
And then I see the sun shining in each of you, the glory of God.
This is a beautiful, sustaining community if you give it a chance.
Okay: everyone knows I am not only down because of a lack of sunlight this year,
but because of my personal circumstances.
The thing is: so many of you, as Paul promises, are reflecting the light of the glory of God to me
as you are being transformed week after week after week in the very image of Jesus
shining with light and love and grace.
You are a community shining like the sun!
I can see it today!
I have seen it all winter!
And that has given me hope, and that has kept me going.
Your kindness, your concern, your true interest in my well being and lack of interest in gossip,
your hospitality and understanding, your conversation:
the light of God is shining through all of them –
in this very community we can see that the sun is still shining somewhere!
Like the disciples who catch a glimpse of God’s glory on the mountain,
this keeps me going.
This gives me hope for a better day.
This helps me to keep on working for a day when we all can live in communities like
First Lutheran Church and be filled with hope and light – this helps me follow Jesus.
We can’t take this beautiful community for granted, and I hope you never do.
A community like this itself offers a glimpse of God’s glory.
It’s important to struggle to stay awake to see that glimpse;
it’s important to struggle to stay alert and get up and take that walk and discover that
the sun is still shining somewhere.
So let’s be pro-active in looking for the glimpses of God’s glory here.
Let’s be pro-active in sustaining it and contributing to it.
For it’s worth the effort to come on Sunday mornings to sustain it.
And it’s worth the sacrifices necessary to maintain it.
It’s a rare and beautiful thing a community like this and its ministries.
It affords a vision of what God intends for all creation – even though it is not perfect.
And that is invaluable.
A community that has no other intention than to follow the example of Jesus and
care for others and the world God made and work for justice and peace.
It is not here to make money. It is not here for its own glory. It is not here for fame.
It is here for a higher purpose: to care for all people and so afford a glimpse of true glory.
It’s worth the effort of staying awake for.
It’s worth the effort of being attentive to: for here you too can see Jesus shining like the sun.
So together, let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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