What does a Vicar seeking to appoint a new Curate ask potential candidates? How does he find out what has compelled them to seek ordination? How does he get a sense of the shape of their spiritual life?
I remember 3 years ago visiting this parish for the very first time and meeting Fr Stephen for lunch. Obviously he had to get a sense of who I was. We had had a pleasant lunch discussing matters of theology and priesthood and as we walking along Heath Street Fr Stephen asked, in a very conversational sort of way ‘So have you had any intense spiritual experiences’. I remember internally doing a double-take thinking to myself ‘where did that come from?’ And then I took a deep-breath and said ‘Yes, I have actually’ and then went on to describe that intense spiritual experience. Indeed it was that experience which had led me to ordination and whether I had become a priest or not, it was a defining, if not transfiguring period in my life that I described.
As we hear today about the transfiguration of Jesus, the moment when God’s glory revealed Jesus in a new way to his closest disciples, we might want to think back over our own lives and the landmarks showing God’s presence along the paths of our existence.
As we think of these things we stand on the cusp of Lent, a period when traditionally Christians prepare for the death and resurrection of Christ at Easter through penitence, fasting, almsgiving and prayer. So it might seem surprising that at this point in the liturgical year we are faced with three accounts of moments when God’s glory was revealed: In the OT Moses ascends Mount Sinai and enters the presence of the glory of God. In this encounter he will receive the 10 commandments. God’s law, a holy gift for his people, is revealed. In the gospel reading Matthew describes the moment when Jesus ascends another mountain with Peter, James and John and he is transfigured, transformed, and his identity as God’s beloved Son was revealed. In Peter’s epistle the significance of the transfiguration is spelt out for the early Christian community in Rome.
So it seems before we set out on the wilderness experience of Lent we are immersed in extracts from Scripture which speak of God’s glory. Is this to provide us with a spiritual ‘high’ to sustain us in the period of penitential soul-searching which lies ahead? Clearly for Peter, James and John Jesus’ transfiguration was a defining moment; a landmark on their journey of faith which was both glorious and overwhelming; an experience which leads them to fall on the ground overcome by fear; an experience which will compel them to proclaim Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, whatever dangers and persecutions which might befall them as a result.
The transfiguration was clearly an experience which took them beyond the everyday- the world they have left behind in the valley of the mountain where Jesus’ position is becoming increasingly precarious. He has already predicted his passion, to an angry and alarmed Peter. As Jesus’ glory is revealed and the disciples see him with Elijah and Moses perhaps we can understand Peter’s response: “I will make 3 dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah”. There are differences of opinion as to why Peter might have suggested this but the possibility that he wanted to preserve this moment of God’s glory revealed is understandable. Who doesn’t, when they experience something they know to be transcendental, holy, of God, want to preserve it, hold on to it, retain it, especially when the everyday world in comparison seems so, well everyday?
God interrupts Peter’s suggestion of booth building by saying ‘this is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased’. We have already heard these words uttered by God at Jesus’ baptism- another moment when the boundary between earth and heaven is blurred, but in the event of the transfiguration God adds a phrase addressed directly to the 3 disciples ‘listen to him’. They are not simply to observe God’s glory in Jesus Christ, nor even to be awestruck and amazed by it; by saying ‘listen to him’ God is calling upon the disciples to respond, to be changed by the experience. It seems God’s revelation is not the full story because the experience has to be taken beyond the mountain to the people who they interact with everyday. In this way we can say that the transfiguration does not stop with Jesus but extends to all of us as well. How are we transfigured or transformed through our encounters with the divine? How can listening change us?
If we try to examine our own lives in the light of Christ’s transfiguration we could feel many things; perhaps you find it hard to think of moments when you have experienced God’s glory as a palpable presence, or may be you distrust the accounts others give of their spiritual highs and then feel guilty or inadequate about your own spiritual life.
Whatever the difficulties I imagine we can all look to experiences when we have felt overcome by a sense of the awesome nature of God and his love. Having had such an experience we can turn to it as a source of nourishment when faith is difficult and our doubts risk overwhelming us. But these landmarks moments are not there to provide something that simply feed me and help me escape some of the messiness and dullness of everyday life. If they do that they will feature more like a photograph album which I can leaf through when times are hard- a memory of happier times. It is precisely this sort of instinct that Peter has when he tries to capture the glory of Christ alongside Moses and Elijah. Instead we are called to see the world through this transfiguring lens so that all aspects of our lives are changed. Not necessarily suffused with the glory of God but as containing the potential to be transfigured.
Our moments of transfiguration need not be the sort of purple, mountain top experience that feature in the story of the disciples. Transfiguration is a word closely allied to conversion; conversion can be thought of as a one-off ‘on-the-road-to-Damascus type experience’ but for most of us, even if we are granted a moment of revelation and clarity, we are always engaging in a process of conversion. We are always seeking to become more like Christ and be His true disciples. In the life-long process of conversion prayer is an important aspect. The Dutch theologian Henri Nouwen has written about conversion as one of 3 transitions. In the Christian life we make the move from loneliness to solitude, from hostility to hospitality and from fantasy to prayer.
So rather than engage in fantasising about the ideal life, or looking back to an idealised past or to a future when we are the sort of people we have always wanted to be, prayer grounds us in the present and helps us to discern God alongside us in the here and now.
This year our Lent course encourages us to engage in the practice in the prayer with the support of our fellow Christians in each group. We will be exploring what prayer is, who is the God we pray to, how we understand ourselves in the light of these things, all the while engaging in different methods of prayer. We might approach these groups with a mixture of feelings; excitement, apprehension, a sense of duty, fear.
But we hope that through these Lent groups we will find ourselves responding to God’s imperative spoken to Peter, James and John: ‘Listen to him’. If we are to grow in faith, learning to listen is key. And if we listen what might we hear? What did Jesus say to the disciples who fall to the ground? ‘Get up and do not be afraid’. And so they came down the mountain, and entered their everyday lives as people transformed. In doing so they changed their world and ours for good.
Amen