Five Seconds of Fame

Sermon Luke 9:28-36 February 7, 2016 Transfiguration

Five Seconds of Fame

Today the church calendar indicates that this is Transfiguration Sunday. Next Sunday is the first Sunday in Lent where we begin our journey with Jesus to the cross and the empty tomb.

Every year before we begin the journey with Jesus through the stories about his life, death, and resurrection, we return to this story of Jesus going to the mountain to pray.

This story about Jesus, James, John and Peter appears in three gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke. Jesus is on the mountain and the three disciples with him are tired and they doze off. We learn that Jesus is praying and during his prayer the appearance of his face changes and his clothes become dazzling white. Moses and Elijah show up and are talking to Jesus. Then the two men begin to disappear. Peter calls out to Jesus and recommends they build some tents so everyone can hang out together. As Peter is saying this, a cloud comes over them and the voice from the cloud says, “This is my son, my chosen, listen to him.”

Then poof, Jesus is by himself with the disciples. The cloud, the wonder, and all the glory is gone.

Jesus is back to being the Jesus the disciples have known from the beginning. But, something in the disciples has changed.

They have been transformed.

They have been changed forever.

They have experienced the unexplainable.

They have seen the glimpse, the vision of God.

This is the experience that everyone refers to when they talk about having a mountaintop experience of their own.

People are seeking experiences that change their lives;

opportunities to be transformed into new ways of being.

Some seek to find meaning to life by traveling the world

and then writing books about it.

Others are out there seeking fame

or glory

or a million likes

or a chance to appear on pop culture news,

or have a video or selfie go viral.

All are seeking & searching.

Perhaps it’s for that one moment of ‘five seconds of fame’.

Or perhaps it’s for thrill, or for need of purpose.

Back in the 60’s Andy Warhol said that all people would end up being famous for 15 minutes.

No one knew he would be a prophet; because with today’s social media there is constant hype about the tiniest and silliest of things.

-You could be on national news tomorrow based on one selfie or one twitter quote.

Imagine if Peter had had an Instagram account while he was on the mountain?

In today’s world it is no longer fifteen minutes of fame people get,

it is much shorter,

that’s why I say five seconds.

The glimpses of stardom or attention are just that.

Short lived and quickly forgotten.

Peter’s desire to make tents to hang out for a while was just a natural response to wanting the wonder and the glory of the moment to last.

It was an appropriate reaction to being in the presence of a holy moment.

It makes sense to want to honor and preserve our glimpses into the sacred.

But,

even the sacred

and the holy moments

can’t be held on to in ways of statues, or houses, or tents.

It’s as though those moments slip through our fingers

and we wonder why.

We want to relive and recapture the time when we saw the glow and the dazzle of God before us.

We seek to have this all the time and wonder what’s wrong with us when we don’t.

Those times in our lives when we enter into an experience of the sacred and glory of God, they change us.

There seems to be an awakening within,

a clarity of vision,

a sense of direction.

At these times our very being has the courage and the power to change the course of our lives.

These times we note as transformation.

We, like Moses, have stepped on holy ground.

We, like Peter, have seen the glory of God surround us.

We, like Jesus, have heard God call us chosen and child of God.

We have been dazzled by the presence of grace.

These moments are important to our story of our journey with God. That is why we come to the mountain again this year.

We have the opportunity together to remember our glimpse into the holiness of God. We have the moment in which we can remember that we have been transformed as Jesus was transfigured before our eyes.

We are witnesses to the mystery of God before us and God within us.

And so, with this dazzle still in our memory we have what it takes to go down the mountain and deal with the needs of daily life.

We will not be overcome or over whelmed by the pressures of the world.

We will be able to reach out and touch and do

because the One who can shine from glory to glory

is the same one who will shine through us

as we respond to voice that calls out our name.

We can and we will receive and be blessed. Jan Richardson is an amazing woman, artist author, and poet. She shares this Dazzled poem for us this year. Hear this blessing from Jan Richardson.

DAZZLING

A Blessing for Transfiguration Sunday

Believe me, I know
how tempting it is
to remain inside this blessing,
to linger where everything
is dazzling
and clear.

We could build walls
around this blessing,
put a roof over it.
We could bring in
a table, chairs,
have the most amazing meals.
We could make a home.
We could stay.

But this blessing
is built for leaving.
This blessing
is made for coming down
the mountain.
This blessing
wants to be in motion,
to travel with you
as you return
to level ground.

It will seem strange
how quiet this blessing becomes
when it returns to earth.
It is not shy.
It is not afraid.

It simply knows
how to bide its time,
to watch and wait,
to discern and pray

until the moment comes
when it will reveal
everything it knows,
when it will shine forth
with all that it has seen,
when it will dazzle

with the unforgettable light
you have carried
all this way.

- See more at: http://paintedprayerbook.com/#sthash.KCsKoSYI.dpuf

AMEN.

Resources: Feasting on the Word, Painted Prayer book.