sophiaGlory [Sermon]
In Celtic traditions there is an idea of thin places: actual physical places where the visible and invisible universe are so close that sometimes there is communication, or even movement, between the places.
The idea is older than the Celts.
But thin places are revered because they are places of mystery and power. Thin places are feared because they are places that connect with the unknown.
Such spaces are sometimes called “liminal,” leaning boundary or threshold. There are liminal times, too: often during rites of passage into adulthood, or membership, or other changes in a person’s life. When someone gets a diploma, the person may experience it as a liminal moment, especially if their academic path was complex or difficult.
Liminal spaces and times can become milestones in our development.
Let’s go to God in prayer.
God of wisdom, may the words that I speak, and the ways they are received by each of our hearts and minds, to help us to continue to grow into the people, and the church, that you have dreamed us to be.
Amen.
What eally happened on the mountain?
Our Gospel reading tells us
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John
and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.
2And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun,
and his clothes became bright as light.
3Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.
Matthew 17:1-3, NRSVue
If we are to take the text literally, Jesus started generating light, and Moses and Elijah appeared.
Some would say
The Bible said it, I believe it, that settles it.
Others would say
I have questions.
For instance, was Jesus really radiating out light? Where did that energy come from? And how did the disciples recognize Moses and Elijah? They didn’t have photographs to compare them.
And then a voice from a bright cloud said
“This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”
Matthew 17:5b, NRSVue
The obvious implication is that this is all supernatural, that is, beyond what is natural.
God can do anything, so why not this?
But why this?
The mountain represents a liminal space: God is often though of as “up” in heaven:
- The tower of Babel was an attempt to reach into heaven.
- The ten commandments are given to Moses on a mountain.
- Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind.
So being up on a mountain represents being closer to God.
The light coming from Jesus, and the appearance of Moses and Elijah, represent a liminal time.
Jesus was not shining before or after this. Moses and Elijah were not traveling with Jesus and the disciples after this event.
So this moment is a threshold time and place, but for what?
In the previous chapter, Peter proclaims about Jesus
“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
Matthew 16:16b, NRSVue
and then Jesus says he will be tortured and killed.
This is a turning point from “Jesus the popular but controversial teacher” to “Jesus who will be crucified.”
So the glory that comes to Jesus here is not at all random, but because of his own discipline in following the path laid out for him. Whether or not we believe Jesus literally shown light from his face and clothes, we can see this story as a moment when glory came to Jesus. Whether or not we believe that Moses and Elijah were literally with Jesus on the mountain, we can see this story as a place where Jesus was placed among the most important people in Judaism.
We, too, will have our liminal moments.
Maybe it’s when we made a tough decision, and suddenly a beam of light fell on us. Maybe it’s when we’re having doubts about our path, and a person drives her car off the street into a driveway, gets out, comes up to us and says
“God wanted me to tell you to keep doing what you’re doing.”
(this actually happened to me.)
We might dismiss these events as mere coincidence. And they may be. But if those places and moments seem meaningful to us, if they inspire us, if they help us to continue to grow into the people God has dreamed us to be, we ought to embrace them.
My challenge to us all this week, as we move through Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday into Lent, is to watch for those liminal times and places.
Linger in them.
How do you feel?
What does this mean to you?
How can this moment help you to move forward in faith?
Don’t fear the thin places.
Rejoice in the glory of them.
Amen.
Let’s sing NCH 183 Jesus, Take Us to the Mountain
* Scripture quotations marked NRSVue are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. https://www.friendshippress.org/pages/about-the-nrsvue
* Scripture quotations marked KJV are taken from the King James version of the Bible.
#boundary #glory #liminal #thinPlaces #threshold #transfiguration
Ron Piggott
ポイズン雷花
Spatialists
graeme fawcett