Saying “Yes” to Spirit: Removing the Veil 2-10-13

God, it is so much easier for us to say “no” rather than “yes”. We say it to ourselves, to each other and to you. Forgive us when we fail to comprehend the power of saying “yes”. Show us this day what you would have us to learn. Use my words to bring glory to you. Amen Happy Transfiguration Sunday! What is transfiguration, you might ask? One of my young friends in Orlando loved Transfiguration Sunday. A very devout young man with a great sense of humor, he always called it: “The Sunday of the Great Holy On-Stage Costume Change”. It won’t surprise you to discover that he is a professional drag queen and was always looking for a way to change costumes without his audience realizing it.” But that gets me a little ahead of myself. Let me tell you a great story that we need to understand in order to grasp the meaning of our chosen texts. Some of you will remember that Moses had a bit of trouble with the Ten Commandments. He and the Israelites are in the desert and they’ve been there a long time. Moses has gone up the mountain to receive the Ten Commandments, the Law of God. He was there for 40 days and the Israelites have little to no patience. They convince the guy left in charge, Aaron, to build a golden calf so that they have something they understand to worship. When Moses comes down, sacred tablets in hand, he finds that the people have deserted Yahweh while he was gone. The consequences are not good. Moses and God are very angry. Moses goes ballistic and smashes the holy tablets to the ground and says some harsh words. Then God executes some harsh retribution. After the yelling dies down, Moses goes back up the mountain to try to “atone” for the sins of the Israelite people. Among other things, God gives the Ten Commandments to Moses a second time. As Moses comes back down the mountain, Aaron and the other leaders notice that Moses’ face is shining, bright as the sun itself. At first, they are afraid, but Moses calls them and the others to come and they do. This time they have not wandered away like children who have no ability to determine right from wrong. And Moses gives them God’s Law a second time. Then he covers his face so that the people cannot see the glow. Every time Moses speaks directly with God up on the mountain, he takes his veil off. He comes down and speaks the word of God to the people; and, then, the veil is pulled over his face again. This is because Moses’ face is reserved for the conveying of the relationship between God and the chosen people. As soon as that communication has been accomplished, Moses puts the veil back on because, so far, he is the only person who has seen and talked with God face-to-face. The others cannot bear to see his face since he has seen God. The time changes by many hundreds of years. Jesus has been teaching and healing and chooses three disciples to take up the mountain with him for what they believe will be a spiritual retreat of sorts and, perhaps, some R and R. Peter, John and James are the folks picked for this special occasion. When they reach the top of the mountain, the disciples sit down. Jesus begins to pray, and although the disciples are very sleepy, for once they do not give in to the temptation of napping. As they are watching Jesus pray, something mysterious happens. First his face changes—becoming dazzling white. Then he is all in white. Suddenly, Moses and the prophet Elijah, both dead for centuries, show up and begin talking with Jesus. They, too, appeared in a glorified manner. They were talking to Jesus about all that was to happen in Jerusalem, especially of his departure from this earth. Peter, who you will remember from other verses as the disciple who always had a bright idea, told Jesus that it was a good thing the others were there with Jesus so that they could build a dwelling for Moses, Elijah, and Jesus as a monument to the occasion. Just as these words came out of his mouth, a cloud came and completely surrounded them. They were, understandably, terrified. Suddenly, before they had time to react, there was a voice from the cloud, saying, "This is my Chosen one; listen to him!" The terror had quieted all of Peter’s other thoughts so that when the cloud lifted, and only Jesus remained, the three disciples kept quiet and told no one what they saw. From here, we speed forward only about 5-10 years at most. Paul is writing to the Christians at Corinth. And the subject of his discourse is this very story of Moses. However, since the ministry, death and resurrection of Christ, the story has a twist. The second letter from Paul to Corinth is written by a very frustrated Paul. The people have become negative—slandering each other and spending time in creating divisions instead of building each other up in Christ. They are also arguing over whether or not Paul’s ministry is the leadership they wish to follow. Paul, in his letter, explodes at them and questions their actions with honesty. Just before our chosen scripture, he reminds them that the Ten Commandments which brought punishment and condemnation were engraved in stone. Moses, carried them to the people, came with so much glory that the people could barely stand to look at him. Paul asks a penetrating question: “If there was this intense glory with the rules that brought condemnation, how much more glory will come with the ministry of the Spirit—that ministry which promises to restore and set the world right?” This glory, which accompanies the New Covenant, is everlasting and does not fade away like the previous glory. It is with this promise of hope, then, that we act with great boldness. People’s hearts were hardened by the Old Covenant, just like the veil that separated the glory on Moses’ face from people’s sight. Immediately, the point of Paul’s preaching is revealed—when someone turns to the Lord, Jesus Christ, the veil is removed. And then the line which gives us great hope and the chance for transformation: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”. Indeed, all of us now see with unveiled faces the glory of the Lord reflected in a mirror. We are, in fact, being transformed into the image of Christ, one degree at a time, for transformation itself comes from that same Lord. What does all this glory from glory and transformation mean for us here, very much firmly planted in our everyday lives, and most certainly, not on top of some mountain waiting for God’s divine word to us? First, the Transfiguration of Jesus—I think that God surprises us with the unexpected breaking through into Jesus’ and the disciples’ lives. Jesus was about to enter the most difficult time of his ministry. He went up the mountain to pray, to seek guidance and, perhaps, to ask for strength. Who should appear, but two of the men of God who would understand what was ahead for Jesus? The scriptures record that they talked with Jesus about the next steps in his ministry. It is not hard for me to understand that God would send these Spirit Guides to Jesus just when he needed them the most. God always answers our prayers, although not always in the ways we expect. Perhaps, the disciples needed to hear one more time, God’s affirmation of the identity of Jesus Christ. “Listen to him” says God, something we still do not very well. Paul leads us into the nitty gritty of transformation. God’s glory, because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, is no longer hidden or veiled from us. Additionally, when we experience our solitary encounters with God, it radiates through our faces and all are welcomed into the “unveiling” of the transformation in our lives. God’s work of transformation is no longer hidden. And in the showing of the growth or transformation of each of us, one degree at a time, we experience community transformation as well. This sacred transformation is both free and freedom for us. It is free in that there is no price to be paid—it is through God’s grace that we are transformed. This great gift, freely given, is freedom to our souls, our hearts, and our bodies. God, through Paul, calls us to trust the process of transformation, one degree at a time. Here is where we become like the ancient Israelites or the feuding Christians at Corinth. This process feels like desert—we are often alone, waiting for our souls to catch up to God. It is not God who leaves us alone in the process, it is us, in our haste and impatience that causes us to feel deserted, or left in a desert of uncertainty. We want to know and, by the way, we want to know now. We want our faces to radiate with the knowledge of divine presence, the first time we encounter God. What is this one degree at a time thing—surely we have more important things to do than to wait for God’s word and call. And in our impatience to get to the destination, we miss the journey. Yet we journey one degree at a time, fully unveiled for all to see. God’s work in our lives shouts to those around us: it is pure freedom in the radically accepting arms of God that pulls us deeper and deeper into our relationship with God and lifts us higher and higher in our work as God’s people. When we travel together, each as each can, with faces unveiled for all to see, the Spirit takes hold of our time together. We are linked by the freedom of the unveiling of God’s presence by the life and work of Jesus Christ. Having grown together in the love of God on our collective journey—made unique by each traveler—we are transfigured and share the transforming love of God to each and to all. Amen and amen.