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DonateFebruary 14, 2010 Commentary by Bruce G. Epperly |
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Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-43
Today’s scriptures invite preacher and congregation alike to consider practicing transfiguration. Throughout the season of Epiphany, we’ve be exploring the mystical encounters that undergird and lie just below the surface of everyday life. A number of years ago, Marsha Sinetar titled a book Ordinary People as Monks and Mystics, and such a quest should be part of the Christian life, whether we are pastors or laypersons. In focusing too much on Jesus’ transfiguration as an anomalous event, we may fall into the trap of implying that certain persons have sole responsibility for the spirituality of a faith community or that most persons cannot attain the spiritual insights reserved for the “saints” of the church.
Historically, certain persons are set apart by their experiences of the holy – shaman, medicine person, yogi, Brahmin, brujo, prophet, and healer. Perhaps due to the matrix of family of origin, DNA, spiritual sensitivity, divine decision, and training, certain persons are more “permeable” to the movements of the ever-present, ever-active God, than others. But, this does not exclude the rest of us from seeking to experience God in life-transfiguring ways.
In today’s scriptures, Jesus and Moses are “set apart” by their encounters with God. Indeed, Luke’s transfiguration narrative implies that Jesus belongs to the tradition of spiritual leaders, such as Moses and Elijah; Luke also implies that the highest manifestation of the revelations they mediated to humankind is found in the life and teachings of Jesus.
As the spiritual children of shaman and prophet, pastors and preachers are called to be “spirit persons” (Marcus Borg) whose encounter with the holy invites others to share in God’s holy adventure of shalom and wholeness. From this perspective, the church is called to be a laboratory for spiritual experiences, a place where persons expect God to “show up” in their lives in life-changing ways. There is a spiritual continuity between Moses, Elijah, Jesus, and us, and that continuity is found in God’s presence in every moment and encounter of our lives. The Gospel of John’s affirmation, “the true light that enlightens everyone, was coming into the world,” is an invitation for each of us to embrace, express, and expand the divine light that is always emerging in our lives and communities, even when we are consciously unaware of it. Accordingly, I choose to focus on God’s global call to transfiguration rather than limiting transfiguration to the experiences of a handful of persons. This is not a denial of the incarnation, or God’s ability to decide to be more active in some places than others, but an affirmation that Jesus’ transfiguration will always remain an “era piece” of little relevance to our lives unless we choose to seek transfiguration in our own lives.
I believe that both Moses and Jesus practiced transfiguration, they journeyed prayerfully to holy mountains, “thin places” of divine transparency, and so can we by creating our own sacred times and spaces in the course of our daily lives. We can, as Barbara Brown Taylor notes, create “an altar in the world” that awaken us to experiences of the holy. (For practical guidance in this area, I refer you to Diana Butler Bass, Christianity for the Rest of Us; Bruce Epperly, Holy Adventure and The Power of Affirmative Faith, Bruce and Kate Epperly, Tending to the Holy: The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry).
Exodus 34 describes the relationship of theophany and physiology. Moses literally glows after his encounter with God on the mountain. He is a changed person, and everything about him reveals the impact a quantum leap in divine energy. At first, this transfiguration is frightening to his fellow Israelites, but both they and Moses learn to adapt to the effects of Moses’ mystical encounters.
Hebraic spirituality is profoundly holistic and embodied: what happens to our spirits transforms our bodies, and the quality of our embodiment shapes our spirits. The same is true for Jesus’ spiritual life: his mountaintop experience inspires and energizes his healing of a “possessed” child. Jesus not only touched people in need of healing; he also invited them to touch and be touched in ways that enlivened and healed body, mind, spirit, and relationships. Today, our spirituality must embrace our whole bodies; churches need to be leaders in promoting safe, whole person healing through worship services, dialogue with complementary and Western medicine, and exploration of the mind-body relationship in worship, spiritual direction, and pastoral care. (See Bruce Epperly, God’s Touch: Faith, Wholeness, and the Healing Miracles of Jesus and Healing Worship: Purpose and Practice and Bruce and Kate Epperly, Reiki Healing Touch and the Way of Jesus.)
Psalms 99 gives thanks to God for mountaintop experiences. The “enthroned” God of high places encounters us in special places, such as Mount Sinai, with the purpose of giving us guidance, challenge, and inspiration, personally and corporately. This same God is also concerned about social justice and care for vulnerable persons. The “wholly other” is also “wholly here,” transcendence and immanence are complementary aspects of divinity, described in the bidding prayer we use at our church, “God in all things, and all things in God.”
I think Paul misses the point in his interpretation of Exodus 34: in his desire to affirm the superiority of the way of Jesus over the tradition of his parents, he diminishes the mysticism of Moses and its impact on the people of Israel. As awesome as the experience was for Moses’ contemporaries, it was not legalistic, but rather inspired the formation of a people. At its best, the law is not a dead word but a living process, shaping our character and relationship with one another as persons in community.
Paul rightly notes that where God’s Spirit is present there is freedom – initially, the freedom from guilt and sin; but also the freedom to be creative in transforming past religious practices without nullifying their value. Spiritual freedom calls us to a life of continuous transformation in our quest embody the Spirit of Christ. Commitment to God’s Spirit takes us on pathway that leads from glory to glory. Through God’s revelation in Christ and in the world, we can experience the holy without the need for mediation. Still, I believe that formal religious structures provide an anchor as well as an inspiration for our spiritual pilgrimages. In the context of today’s spiritual landscape, these passages call us to be “both spiritual and religious.”
I think it’s important to join the passage narrating Jesus’ transfiguration with the account of the healing of a “demon possessed” child. (Today, we suspect that the diagnosis might actually have been epilepsy. This is not a judgment on first century medicine or biblical descriptions, but a recognition that the language of illness changes from one era to another. We do a disservice to the healing stories if we imprison them in archaic understandings and world views.)
Transfiguration leads us beyond ourselves to become God’s partners in healing the world. The energies of transformation are intended to shine forth beyond ourselves as we claim our vocation as “lights of the world.” Accordingly, Jesus mediates the energy of transformation to bring wholeness and restoration to a child and his family. Transfiguration leads to mission, to letting our light shine, and giving glory to God by acts of mercy, kindness, and justice.
These passages invite us to consider within our congregations practices of transfiguration. First, they call us to explore the spirituality of place as we ask our congregants “Where is your holy place? Where is the ‘mountaintop’ that promotes your personal transfiguration?” Second, they invite us to consider the spirituality of time as we ask our congregants, “When are your holy times? Do you have times that you regularly devote to prayer, meditation, and retreat?” Third, these passages call us to consider importance of mission as completing and heightening the experience of transfiguration as we ask our congregants “In what ways are prayer and mission, spirituality and social concern, connected in your life?” (This Sunday, the congregation might have a “spiritual practices” fair following worship, highlighting spirituality and healing practices, such as centering prayer, breath prayer, T’ai Chi, Reiki, yoga, liturgical prayer, etc.)
Bruce Epperly is Professor of Practical Theology and Director of Continuing Education and co-pastor of Disciples United Community Church in Lancaster, PA. He is the author of sixteen books, including Holy Adventure: 41 Days of Audacious Living and Tending to the Holy:The Practice of the Presence of God in Ministry (with Katherine Epperly).
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