Last week in our Lacuna service we climbed a mountain.

We climbed a transfiguration mountain….

Its such a simple story, four friends tramping up a hill when all of a sudden

one of them gets a little bit ahead and then bam, just like that

‘His face shone like the sun and his clothes became dazzling white.

What an image, what a vision, what a gift to see things as they truly are,

to see what Thomas Merton would call the thisness of a thing.

Many of us would, I imagine, assume that in order to see such a sight,

to witness a ‘Transfiguration’ we would have to be particularly noble,

or holy

or good.

Maybe, we imagine, that we would need to have sat in  deep meditation

for many years

or fasted for months on end

or lived a life seeking God,

but such imaginings do not match what is revealed to us

in the  transfiguration story

In actual fact, as theologian Pheme Perkins writes:

‘The three disciples who are singled out for this manifestation of Jesus identity

as

Son of God

do not demonstrate exceptional insight or fidelity.

Peter has already been castigated for rejecting the necessity of suffering.

James and John show themselves to be preoccupied with greatness

rather than service and all three will fail to watch with him

during the agony in the garden’

What this reveals to us

is that the possibility of being present to moments of

transfiguration

and revelation

is real

for every single one of us

no matter how confused or frightened or distracted we may be.

And these moments -

when the curtain of the temple is torn in two,

and the clouds clear on the mountain peak and we see

no longer thru a dark glassly but now

face to face,

these moments of seeing behind the tired frown of the checkout girl

or past the uptight smile of a neighbour

and of seeing them as who they truly are:

a child of God, vulnerable, blood and spirit and heart and hope,

these moments

are happening all around us.

My gran, who died a few years ago, spent a lot of time in her last few years

in and out of hospital.

And there was one particular time that stays with me

when she seemed to be teetering on some kind of edge and we,

the doctors and the family,

had begun to give up hope

and we feared that she would not live for much longer.

But then, slowly little by little, she began to recover.

Her heart began to pump clearly again, her lungs began to breathe unassisted

and her infections cleared.

But and but and but…

her mind was gone,

gone somewhere far away

and she sat slumped and bound,

strapped into a chair, her hands picking fretfully at the bonds

that kept her trapped.

The doctors wanted to know:

‘Was she like this before

and ‘has there been another stroke’

and ‘maybe there is a new infection’

but no and no and no

and so there we were

and here she was.

But then one day in the middle of this darkness

I went in to see her with Anushka

who was only a tiny girl at the time

and as we walked in,

one of my Aunties said ‘look mum its sweetpea’

(My gran used to call Anushka Sweetpea

because she thinks Anushka is a silly name)

‘Look mum here’s sweet pea’

and my gran

looked up

and held out her arms and anushka sat on her lap and was

kissed and kissed and kissed.

And her face shone like the sun and her clothes became dazzling white.

And the next day my mum went in and there was my aunty,

on her knees and weeping and my gran sitting up and saying:

‘Hello Margaret, where are my teeth,

what have they done to me I look like an old woman’

And her face shone like the sun and her clothes became dazzling white

And his face shone like the sun and his clothes became dazzling white

Transfiguration.

To change into a more elevated, spiritual or glorious a form.

Glorious: illustrious, beautiful, shining splendour.

Can you  reflect upon one of your own moments of transfiguration.

Can you let your mind wander?

Where were you when it happened?

Was there anyone with you?

How did it feel inside?

Did your world become charged with the grandeur of God?

Is it still?

If not…..why not?

What is getting in the way?

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