A Sermon for the Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany
The Rev. Patricia A. Gillespie
Genesis 45:3-11,21-28
Psalm 37
1 Corinthians 15:35-38,42-50
Luke 6:27-38
Do you know what this is?
It's a little, plastic rhinoceros.
She lives in my bedroom at home.
Do you know what it does? (Move your mouse over her and see.) Her name is Cleo and she glows in the dark. When we turn out the lights at night, there she sits, shining away like a night light.
How does she do that? There's no little opening for a battery and place to plug her in, so she's not electric. And after she sits in the dark for a while she begins to fade.
Cleo glows because she's made of plastic that contains "glow powder" that works by absorbing and releasing light energy. If there's no light, she sits in darkness. But after she's been in the light, she is radiant.
Fill in the blank now ... "She's radiant as a _____"??? Most folks will say "bride." And it's true, you know: Brides do glow. It's one of the special blessings that priests get – to watch the couple's faces as they celebrate their marriage. (Grooms glow, too, but they usually don't like you to mention it.) Why do they glow? (No, it's not glow powder.)
Brides glow because, as they say, "she's taken a shine to him." Grooms look at their bride and think, "You light up my life." The radiance reflects what they see in the person they love. Just like Cleo, they don't glow without the light that someone else brings.
Moses talks with God, and the skin on Moses' face shines so brightly that everyone is terrified. Jesus goes up the mountain with his friends, Peter, James, and John; he goes to pray ... to talk with God ... and he becomes radiant. Elijah and Moses stand with him and the glory is blinding.
Did you notice that no one seems to be glowing alone?
Transfiguration happens in relationship with others. This radiance is about love. It's God's love that makes people glow. The light isn't our own; the light and the love doesn't start with us, anymore than Cleo can glow on her own. We are reflections of the light, reflections of God's love for us.
When you feel that the darkness in this life is overwhelming, do you know where to find the light?
Moses and Jesus found light when they turned to the Father in prayer. Prayer is a relationship with God. The overwhelming love in that relationship made Jesus and Moses radiant.
It's likely that Moses shared the radiance with the 70 with whom he shared his leadership, and then they, too, glowed. It's possible that Peter, James, and John came down the mountain that day in silence but with glowing faces.
The light, you see, is contagious. The love people may find in prayer, in relationship with God, can be shared in caring for others. The radiance happens in relationship. Most of us can name people who have brought light into the darkness of our lives. When we have been touched by God's love in prayer, we, too, can light up the dark places in other people's lives.
Sounds good doesn't it? At least until I realize that I'm not Moses or Jesus; I'm not certain I even have the courage or trust of Peter, James, or John, to follow Jesus up the mountain of prayer; there seem to be frightening clouds and talk of departure and death up there. And I'm not even sure I know what this prayer stuff is all about.
On the other hand, maybe I am more like those guys than I think: it's hard for me to stay awake and pay attention in prayer; like Peter, I sometimes say things without knowing what I am saying; and I'm scared of the bright light in prayer that shows all my flaws; and frightened, too, of the truth about darkness and shadows and departures and death. Prayer, that relationship with God, sounds great until I start to think about it.
In today's gospel reading, the voice from the cloud gives some helpful advice, though. The good advice that works in prayer, that is in our relationship with God, is, not surprisingly, the same advice that wise people suggest to newlyweds or for any relationship: "Listen."
Listening is where relationship begins. That's where love begins, when we put aside ourselves (and our own ideas, feelings, and thoughts) and listen to the other. That's where prayer begins: Listen in the silence. Listen to the Bible. Listen to God's children waiting to be loved. It's all prayer. It's all opening ourselves to the Light who has come into the world.
Maybe the dirt that the Creator used to make us is like glow powder. We were made to absorb and release God's love. We are made to be in love with God, to be radiant as a bride. And we are asked to share that love.
For now we see God's love in a mirror, dimly, but one day we all will see face to face, and the world will be radiant with love.