Sunday next before Lent   

Opening Verse of Scripture Mark 9

And a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!"

Collect Prayer for the Day—Before we read we pray

Almighty Father, whose Son was revealed in majesty before he suffered death upon the cross: give us grace to perceive his glory, that we may be strengthened to suffer with him and be changed into his likeness, from glory to glory; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Holy God, you know the disorder of our sinful lives: set straight our crooked hearts, and bend our wills to love your goodness and your glory in Jesus Christ our Lord.

First Bible Reading 2 Kings 2.1–12

Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Stay here; for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.’ But Elisha said, ‘As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.’ So they went down to Bethel. The company of prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, ‘Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I know; keep silent.’ Elijah said to him, ‘Elisha, stay here; for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.’ But he said, ‘As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.’ So they came to Jericho. The company of prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha, and said to him, ‘Do you know that today the Lord will take your master away from you?’ And he answered, ‘Yes, I know; be silent.’ Then Elijah said to him, ‘Stay here; for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.’ But he said, ‘As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.’ So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the company of prophets also went, and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his mantle and rolled it up, and struck the water; the water was parted to the one side and to the other, until the two of them crossed on dry ground. When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Tell me what I may do for you, before I am taken from you.’ Elisha said, ‘Please let me inherit a double share of your spirit.’ He responded, ‘You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.’ As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha kept watching and crying out, ‘Father, father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!’ But when he could no longer see him, he grasped his own clothes and tore them in two pieces.

Second Reading 2 Corinthians 4.3–6

And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake. For it is the God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Gospel Reading  Mark 9.2–9

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!’ Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.  As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

Post Communion Prayer

Holy God, we see your glory in the face of Jesus Christ: may we who are partakers at his table reflect his life in word and deed, that all the world may know his power to change and save. This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Commentary

Transfiguration Sunday marks the end of the season of Epiphany. There is a lot of talk about light during Epiphany, beginning with the shining star that led the Wise Men to Jesus. Epiphany literally means ‘to shine on’ or ‘give light to’ and today’s gospel reading about the Transfiguration is all about light shining, from people’s faces, because they have encountered the mystery and presence of God. But how confusing for the disciples. Peter, James and John have been with Christ up the mountain. There can be no confusion for them as to who Christ is, He truly is the Messiah, the Son of God. Even though Peter has already made his declaration that Jesus I the Christ the voice from the cloud leaves them in no doubt as they are then instructed to listen to Christ. After such an experience they would certainly do anything Christ asks of them. But strangely, the first thing Christ says to them is that they should tell no one about what had happened and what they had seen until the one they had just seen transfigured in glory has died and risen from the dead. How could being the Messiah, the Son of God involve suffering as well as glory, pain as well as light and life? Jesus had already begun to explain what would happen to Him but it’s easy to imagine the disciples forgetting this in the heat, light and glory of the moment. Mark records that the disciples obeyed Christ’s command faithfully, but then did talk among themselves as to what this could possibly mean! There are times when we too catch glimpses of God’s glory, and even reflect its radiance it in our faces. There are times too when we are confused and don’t understand what is happening in the heat of the moment. Those are the times when we, like the disciples, have to step out in faith, sure in the certain hope that we will only fully understand God’s plan and our part in it when we meet with the transfigured and resurrected Christ resplendent in all His light and Glory.

Seeing the Light

Today’s gospel reading follows the declaration by the disciples that Jesus is the Messiah. So their decision about Jesus is not prompted by what they see on the mountain. It’s more like what they see and hear on the mountain is a confirmation of what they have already come to believe, that Jesus is indeed the Messiah. As Jane Williams writes,”’ This is my Son, my Beloved’ – you have made the right choice”. The thin curtain that separates the spiritual and physical dimensions of the cosmos is pulled back and the disciples see revealed the glory of the Father and His heavenly Kingdom about to break through on earth. Jesus is the fulfilment of the Old Testament law and the prophets and brings to a completion their work. In Jesus, confirmed once again at the transfiguration, a new day is now dawning, a new era has come. Light is breaking though in our world in a new way. Jesus coming was not a trivial event – it would have cosmic and cataclysmic consequences! The memory of the glorious encounter would last with Peter, James and John for the rest of their lives and into eternity. Whatever they would encounter as they followed Jesus, the joys, trials and tribulations of life as a disciple of Jesus that particular experience and memory would remain with them. They would recall it at night, they would think of it as Jesus spoke to them and taught them of His Father’s love for them and the world. They would hold it before them as they went out into the community in which they lived, to share what it meant to have had an encounter with the Son of God and the transformation that brought in their own lives. If they’d lived in an era of smartphones they would certainly have taken a few ‘selfies’ to capture the moment and to help them remember it for the rest of their lives!

Given that Peter, James and John witnessed the bright light of the glory of God its perhaps not surprising that it is these same disciples who are with Jesus in His hour of deepest agony and darkness in the Garden of Gethsemane. In the dark, they would remember the light. In the hour of Jesus’ deepest affirmation and challenge, they would remember the mountain top experience. And yet, not all the disciples experienced the transfiguration. They, like may others to follow them, would need to live off the experience of the few who had witnessed firsthand the intervention of God and His voice speaking in His creation. But mystical experiences are not just the privilege of a few. Each of us in our own way can experience similar mystical experiences at different times of our lives. They can be times when we are reassured of God’s personal relationship and love for us as individuals, they can assure us of God’s purpose in our lives, or that can just be a mystical experience of a power other than ourselves in our lives for a brief moment. But just because we do not always see and hear the transforming and transfiguring light and voice of God does not mean that they do not exist, for others or for ourselves. Our faith will always be a mixture of our own personal experience and spiritual journey and the reflected experience and stories of others on the same road. We may not always hear and experience God in the same way as others but we should not deny the reality of that experience just because it is not ours. God, through His Son Jesus, speaks to each one of us differently, meets with us in different ways; wants us to encounter Him not only in our mountain top experiences but in our valleys of despair. And as He does, as we acknowledge the voice that says, ‘This is my beloved Son, listen to Him’, as we listen to Him and let the light of the transfiguration into our lives, so Christ is able to transfigure and transform our lives.

When life is at its most confusing and uncertain or when we are most afraid (like the disciples up the mountain with Jesus) we can still look around and see and realise the glory of God, and in so doing begin to get an insight into Him and of our place in His world. Our place in reflecting the glory which is His however badly and inadequately we might feel we do this. We also need to appreciate the elusive quality of the revelation of God’s glory. The disciples found that it could not be contained or controlled and it never will be. It is, by its very nature, elusive. When God touches us, as he does to each one of us, we should appreciate the moment and move on down the mountain and back to real life, not try to build structures around an experience or to try to capture it or put it on record as if it was something to be photographed but live it for the immediacy and let it change our lives forever. Sam Cappleman

Meditation

From the point of view of a Christian spirituality, it is important to stress that every human being is called upon to be a healer. Although there are many professions asking for special long and arduous training, we can never leave the task of healing to the specialist….we all are healers who can reach out to offer health, and we all are patients in constant need of help. Henri Nouwen,

Hymns

• O Worship the Lord Tune Was Lebet 
• There’s a sound on the wind
• One day when heaven
• Thou who wast rich Tune Fragrance 
• Ye holy angels bright Tune Darwells
• Christ triumphant, ever reigning
• Father hear the prayer we offer
• Christ upon the mountain peak
• Guide me O Thou great Jehovah

Prayers for Sunday and the week ahead

As the beautiful, dew covered rose rises from amongst its thorns, so may my heart be so full of love for you my God, that I may rise above the storms and evils that assail me, and stand fast in trust and freedom of spirit. Amen. Hadewijch of Brabant - 13th Century

Lord, in so many ways we are blind to you. We too fail to see you for who you are. Forgive us when we miss the reality of your transfiguring and transforming presence among us. Amen

Almighty God, you sent your Son to proclaim your kingdom and to teach with authority. Anoint us with the power of your Spirit, that we, too, may bring good news to the afflicted, bind up the broken hearted, and proclaim liberty to the captive; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

God of dawning light, hear our prayers today and give us the strength to put aside all cares and to chose to follow you in your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Christ the Son of Righteousness shine upon you and scatter the darkness from before your path; and the blessing of God Almighty, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be among you and remain with you always. Amen

Mother/Father, all-powerful and ever-living God,

we praise and thank you through Christ Jesus

for your presence and action in the world. 

In the midst of conflict and division, 

we know it is you who turn our minds 

to thoughts of peace. 

The Spirit changes our hearts: 

enemies begin to speak to one another, 

those who were estranged join hands in friendship,

and nations seek the way of peace together. 

The Spirit is at work 

when understanding puts an end to strife, 

when hatred is quenched by mercy, 

and when vengeance gives way to forgiveness. 

For this we never cease to thank and praise you.

Amen. Prayer for Peace John Bucki, SJ 

Let me prefer your presence, O God, to all other company. Let me exalt your name, O Lord, above all other names and let me love your will, O God, beyond all other desires; for the sake of Jesus Christ. Amen. Therese of Lisieux, 1873-1897

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen. 

Holy and Eternal God, you know our need for you, our need for your love to warm our hearts, for your word to guide us, for your Spirit to sustain us, for your presence to make us whole. Help us to wait upon you now with penitent and believing hearts - help us to hear your word, to see your glory, to feel your touch, and then to follow in the way the Spirit directs us. We ask all these things in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen 

O God, you are the light of the minds that know you, the life of the souls that love you, and the strength of the wills that serve you; help us so to know you that we may truly love you, so to love you that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Augustine of Hippo 

Additional Material

Commentary

The episode today recorded in the Gospel of Mark has been called 'a window into a different world.'

The recent film of 'The Lion the witch and the wardrobe.' by C.S. Lewis is a wonderful story of three children and their adventure in the magical land of Narnia. It is a children's book but also very grown up. It causes us to question whether there is another world. Many people are oblivious to a spiritual world, they are mindful of and governed only by the ordinary and the mundane.

• This episode reminds us 
• That there is a place beyond our own time
• That there is a spiritual realm. 
• That when we die we go to meet with God and exist in his presence. Interestingly of course Moses had not entered the promised land, yet now here he was clearly alive in God's promised land. For those considering what happens when we die this may be an interesting piece of scripture to remember. In this place clearly Moses and Elijah are presented as alive in God. 

Christian are called pilgrims for many reasons, one of them is because we believe that we are on our way to another home, a kingdom which is not of this world, whose values are different. Success is to be measured in very different terms. We are to have hope and judge ourselves by the values of that Kingdom

Jesus had spoken to his disciples of death and suffering and they were afraid. Then the disciples saw Moses and Elijah! They must have been terrified. Here were two great pillars of the Jewish faith, men who it was believed had been spared death in the normal way. The disciples feared over so much, they were paralysed with fear, we too can be fearful without need. There is much over which we can be afraid, this episode gave the disciples something which would give them strength in the days ahead. This was an opportunity upon which they could reflect. This moment was something which they could not hold onto in time, but they could hold it in their hearts and draw strength from it. It was a God - given encouragement. 

So it was to be, Peter spoke about it later: we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty [2 Peter 1:16-18]. 

It empowered them for service

We have all had some experience of the wonder of God. Sometimes it comes to us through the appreciation of nature, sometimes, indeed, on a mountain. But we all have to come back down the mountain and get on with real life, and most of our time is spent at the bottom of the mountain in the valleys of life. The ministry of Jesus could not be conducted from the mountain top, it was instead something carried out on the cross of suffering. But when the disciples were tempted to give up and think that the Christian service to which they were called was a hopeless cause, they were to look back and remember Christ as they knew him in the Transfiguration, clothed in glory. Some of the details of the story are worth mentioning. Mountains were important places. If we think back in the Bible we will remember Moriah, Horeb, and Sinai. These were important mountains upon which God was made known. Moriah was where Isaac was nearly sacrificed, on Sinai Moses received the law and at Horeb Elijah met God. 

We are told by Mark that the clothes of Jesus became 'stilbein.' This is a word which is used for the bright appearance of gold or shinning polished steel. We are reminded of the shekinah, the divine presence. In Jewish thought the presence of God is often associated with the appearance of cloud. Remember this is where Moses met God. When Solomon dedicated the Temple it was filled with cloud. By including the presence of cloud, Mark was saying something important about the presence of God with Jesus. This was important because Jesus had just been to Caesarea Philippi and determined to go to Jerusalem to die. This was a signal that God was with Jesus in this decision, he was following the path of God. This was confirmed by the presence of Moses the law giver and Elijah who represented the prophets. Everything that had gone before was now finding fulfilment in Jesus. 

It is important for us to try and understand how significant this would have been for the disciples. They had no doubt been shattered by the decision of Jesus that he would go to die in Jerusalem. Now here was a scene in which they could receive assurance that Jesus had made the right decision. For a moment the cloak which divides our material world from the spiritual realm is drawn back for the disciples and they are able to receive a glimpse of the 'other side.' Many people would want to see the incident as some kind of hallucination, but this is to miss the point. In some ways this story is not unique. Throughout the ages there are times when many Christians have been able to speak of having experienced the reality of God presence is a manner which is extraordinary and convincing. There are occasions when the curtain is pulled back momentarily and that we which hope for, which lies unseen is confirmed in a dramatic way. We should be sceptical of such reports, we should not expect them to come often, nevertheless they are true and we should rejoice that there are those who are able to speak of them and reassure us all in times when the valleys seem so much lower than the mountain tops. 

God's grace is shown in such moments. By such tokens we are sustained in times of need or prepared for future service. God's grace is sufficient for us, for our empowerment, not for our enjoyment. God gives to our needs, not our greeds, the spiritual uplifting is to sustain us, not for our indulgence. Charles Royden

Meditation - Transfiguration

Today we leave the season of Epiphany firmly behind and we are at a Sunday once commonly known as Quinquagesima. What does that mean? This is our quiz question for this morning ! You need the Latin. · Quinquagesima means 50th · and this Sunday is 50 days before Easter. 

 This is the last Sunday before Shrove Tuesday, apparently it was once referred to as ‘Pork Sunday’ because people feasted on meat before beginning their fast on Ash Wednesday, which marks the first day of Lent.  So why is it important that the Transfiguration reading is located on this Quinquagesima Sunday, 50 days from Easter, just before Lent? The Transfiguration is on this Sunday to remind us through Lent that God is with Jesus every step of the way on that journey to Jerusalem to his death and Easter resurrection.

You will remember that just before the Transfiguration Jesus told his disciples that this is what he intended to do and they were horrified, Peter tried to talk him out of it. So before they set off for Jerusalem, on their road to Easter, Jesus takes his trusted three disciples Peter, James and John and Jesus gives them a glimpse of something reassuring and special which will sustain them in the days ahead and stay with them for the rest of their lives.   So it is that on this Sunday as we embark on our Lent journey and the remembrance of Jesus travelling to the cross, we have this Transfiguration reading to give us hope and perspective. The Transfiguration is a very strange event in many ways, one of those times when the disciples are given a very special glimpse into who Jesus is. It is a window into a very different world in which the glory of Jesus is recognised by them, as Jesus is shown alongside Elijah and Moses.  This is one of those pivotal moments in the gospels when the voice of God is heard, as it did at the Baptism of Jesus. It clearly had a profound impact upon the disciples and they speak about it later in the Epistles. But the Transfiguration is a strange thing for us because it is so different from our daily experience.

• We don’t see Jesus with Moses
• We don’t have that reassuring glimpse of Jesus in glory
• Or hear God speaking out loud from heaven.

However what the Transfiguration does is to encourage us to see the world in a new way, to gain a new perspective which places us within the context of a world which has God in it and which is not just the haphazard mess which we see all around us today. As the disciples accompanied Jesus through the events of his Passion it was important for them to know that God was present in all of the events which took place. The same message goes for us today. Do not think that God has given up, he is with us even when the world seems such a depressing place and the darkness of it all threatens to overwhelm us.

Life is quite scary right now and we might worry about what the future holds. I suspect that Elisha in the Old Testament reading felt exactly the same. He had been a young man working on his family farm when a dramatic change happened in his life. There he was working away when the great prophet Elijah turned up and put his cloak around him and took him away. For the next 7 or 8 years he followed Elijah around, learning from him. They were really close and then suddenly Elijah tells him he is going to leave him. Can you imagine how Elisha would have felt? We get an indication of how desperate he was from the number of times he repeatedly says to Elijah ‘I will not leave you’  The more Elijah speaks of his departure the more Elisha protests. When eventually Elijah does leave, Elisha is so upset that he tears his clothes. Now in the Transfiguration story we see Jesus with Elijah so I understand why those who put the lectionary readings together have this reading about Elijah for the Old Testament reading. But it also serves another purpose, to help us to understand that the Transfiguration has most meaning for us when we are left feeling hopeless like Elisha felt when he lost his master.

The Transfiguration is a message from God to us when at some time in our life we know that pain and sense of bewilderment.

• It might have been a moment when life was so dramatically changed that you hoped it was all just a dream and you would wake up and things would go back to being just like they were before
• This week we had an important announcement of a cancer diagnosis, I know many people speak of that kind of news being a moment when everything about life changes.

 Elisha is at such a time, he is in denial with Elijah, this cannot happen, you cannot go. He probably has a panic attack and can’t control his breathing, everything is falling apart. Life is about to change. I suspect that everyone of us has moments when we are at this kind of threshold. We can’t control this anymore than Elisha. He sees Elijah taken away in a chariot and he is gone and the world will never be the same.  Now from the story we know that even though Elisha understood that Elijah was in God’s hands, he knew that there was no harm to him, he still felt bereft. He was human and to be human is to feel sorrow at parting to know pain when our life circumstances are torn apart. This is true to what being human is all about . 

Our faith does not challenge us to deny the reality of the awfulness of the human condition. It is not about denial or wishful thinking. The difference for us is that we can see that there is life beyond the veil of this earthly condition. As we journey in the weeks ahead through Lent and towards the pain of Good Friday, we are reminded by the Transfiguration of the ultimate victory of God. Just as surely as this moment was given to the disciples to sustain them on their journey towards Jerusalem through all of the suffering and death, so it is given to us also. It is a gift to us, to give hope.  This year we are in the Lent Course looking at the Stations of the Resurrection and we will do so using the book by Guli Francis Dehqani and Malcolm Guite. Guli is the Bishop of Chelmsford and came to the UK from Iran following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, whilst Malcolm Guite is a poet and fellow of Girton College, Cambridge. The book brings together scripture, poetry, art reflection.  I have included one of the poems of Malcolm Guite about the transfiguration. You can read it later but the final sentence is the one which really grips and expresses in two lines what I am trying to say in ten minutes. It says

Nor can this blackened sky, this darkened scar
Eclipse that glimpse of how things really are

And so thorough the darkened skies and scars may the Transfiguration be for us a sustaining moment to reassure us of God’s enduring presence. May he sustain you in all things. Amen.

Transfiguration by Malcolm Guite

“For that one moment, ‘in and out of time’,
On that one mountain where all moments meet,
The daily veil that covers the sublime
In darkling glass fell dazzled at his feet.
There were no angels full of eyes and wings
Just living glory full of truth and grace.
The Love that dances at the heart of things
Shone out upon us from a human face
And to that light the light in us leaped up,
We felt it quicken somewhere deep within,
A sudden blaze of long-extinguished hope
Trembled and tingled through the tender skin.
Nor can this blackened sky, this darkened scar
Eclipse that glimpse of how things really are.”

Malcolm Guite

Meditation

Jesus had just spoken of death and suffering and the disciples were afraid. Just then the disciples saw Moses and Elijah and they must have been even more terrified! The disciples feared over so much, they were paralysed with fear, we too can be fearful without need. There is much over which we can be afraid, this episode gave the disciples something which would give them strength in the days ahead. This was an opportunity upon which they could reflect. This moment was something which they could not hold onto in time, but they could hold it in their hearts and draw strength from it. It was a God - given encouragement. So it was to be, indeed Peter spoke about it later: 'We had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.' [2 Peter 1:16-18].

Many people can speak of moments when they glimpsed something of the wonder of God. Sometimes it comes to us through the appreciation of nature, sometimes, indeed, on a mountain. But we all have to come back down the mountain and get on with real life, and most of our time is spent at the bottom of the mountain in the valleys of life. The ministry of Jesus could not be conducted from the mountain top, it was instead something carried out on the cross of suffering. But when the disciples were tempted to give up and think that the Christian service to which they were called was a hopeless cause, they were to look back and remember Christ as they knew him in the Transfiguration, clothed in glory. May God give us grace to do the same.

Meditation

Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one getting burned. - Buddha