Like travellers forging their way forward on the Appalachian Trail, we have finally made it to the top of the mountain, in this case, Mount Tabor, the Mount of Transfiguration. And like long-term hikers, once we have appreciated the beauty and wonder of the scenery immediately before us, our gaze goes further off into the distance to the horizon, where we see another mountain… for us journeyers, Golgatha. In between the Mount of the Transfiguration and the Mount of the Crucifixion, we have a long walk ahead of us. At least we have an idea of where we are headed, even if the twists and turns of the path are not clear.
Many, but not all, lectionaries customarily place the story of the transfiguration on the Last Sunday of Epiphany (in addition to its other place, 6 August). The transfiguration, an event which appears in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, is a defining moment not only for Jesus but for the disciples who are its witness.
The story of the transfiguration, as recounted in Mark, appears at the mid-point of the gospel. It is such a critical event that it is often called the hinge of the gospel. It is at this moment that Jesus’ fate becomes connected to his ministry. Mark gathers up into one moment what the writer of the gospel of John scatters throughout the gospel, the depiction of the glory of Christ. The event anticipates the resurrection, perhaps especially important for the gospel of Mark since there is no actual resurrection appearance.
The placement of the transfiguration story holds other symbolic weight. Located in the central section of Mark (8.22-10.52), the event in itself duplicates the healing stories which surround it. On either side, Jesus heals a blind man. In between, however, the disciples remain blind. Jesus predicts three times his death. On each occasion, the disciples amply demonstrate their inability to accept a cross and death as being anything but a contradiction of all the messiah and kingdom mean. Peter’s confession has the right words but the wrong meaning.
In the blaze of light, which Mark emphasises through his description of it being bleached white, the disciples are confronted with the incredible change happening to Jesus and the changes that will happen to them, too. They really have no idea what they are in for when they start at the bottom of the mountain. They might have known they were being taken out of what was familiar to them. Now they know for real. The future for Jesus and for them will entail massive change — new life risen from the tomb of the old. They, as followers of Jesus, will someday shine with that same transfiguring light of change. And in that moment, they understand that they will be asked to and be able to do more than they ever expected to do.
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Change often times involves fear, struggle and calls for much patience. If upgrading the operating system and word processing application on my computer is a test of my patience (as it has been in the past — taking up many more hours than I anticipated because invariably there is some incompatibility between the old and the new and I have to hunt around in gazillions of computer files to figure out how to eliminate the glitches), how so much more change tests our patience and hearts when it touches those parts of our faith and our lives.
For those of us who have been in The Episcopal Church a while, we have gone through lots of change. And for those of us who have been at Trinity even within the past year, we have seen change. Some people thrive on it; some people shy from it, but as the hackneyed adage says: The one thing in life that is certain is change.
As a church, we have also changed the way we understand mission. This is a passion of mine and there is no way I can do justice to it in a sermon. So here are some Cliff Notes: No longer is mission a north-sending-people-to-the-south proposition; it is a north-south journey of companionship. ‘Mission now is understood as the activity of sending and being sent across significant boundaries of human experience to bear witness in word and deed to God’s action in Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Mission means sending and being sent, and it involves moving beyond who and where we are to encounter situations, people, and cultures that challenge and extend our experience.’
In 2003, the Standing Commission on World Mission, a body of General Convention, published a booklet, Companions in Mission. The theology expressed there still remains current today. Of the characteristics of what it means to be engaged in mission — companionship, witness, pilgrim, servant, prophet, ambassador, host, sacrament — I think the first three are critical.
Several of my friends have been missioners to places in Latin America and I think of how their experience has broadened their understanding of community in Christ. I have seen these missioners on site and have witnessed how they have learned companionship in the sense of being a pilgrim with the community. I have seen how they have learned from the community but also seen the moments when they have witnessed back to the community what they have seen. Their time with the people is a work in progress as both parties mold one another.
Amy whose photo is on the poster and insert for today (she’s holding her son) first went to El Salvador in the early part of this decade. Like so many others she was moved by the ministry and tenacity of the Anglican Episcopal Church of El Salvador. So five years ago in March, she went back there to see if this country was where she truly wanted to live. She and I spent a day together (I was there on sabbatical), talking about the challenges of the country (it is like being Hans Brinker with the water flowing out of the dike and one runs from one breach to the next) but also about the joys of Salvadoran life. I drove her out to one of the congregations where she experienced a typical (noisy) Eucharist. She was still in seminary at the time but was pretty sure she’d be back. Indeed, in 2005, she got a Fulbright to study issues of religion and social justice in El Salvador. She and her husband returned where she served first as deacon then priest-in-charge of a congregation in metropolitan San Salvador.
Amy entered into the nitty-gritty aspects of life in an urban community that is wracked with gang warfare. She mourned with the families whose loved ones were shot dead for being in the wrong place in the wrong time. She participated in vacation bible school, directed the church’s school, accompanied the many, many visiting groups to El Salvador, led the congregation in the feasts of the year, and even made a coffee tree (complete with berries) into a Christmas tree for the congregation. When the first year was up, she and her husband listed the top ten reasons for staying there, the number one reason being: ‘LA GENTE– The people of El Salvador, who are so incredibly welcoming, loving, resilient, and inspiring, and whom we’ve come to love so much.’
In her three years there, she became truly Salvadoreña (her Spanish is amazing and so Salvadoran!) and even more fun, a madre. She never went with the idea to change the people; she went with the idea to walk with them. In the process, she was changed. In the process, she found Christ in them.
In her blog, Updates from El Salvador, she reflects on what it means to be a witness to Christ — not just as a gringa in El Salvador but as a Christian — in this day and age: I know that it is important to keep love several blocks ahead of fear. I know accompaniment is key—it’s important just to be there with people; to show up. And I know that mission is about transformation—of the world in Christ’s image, yes, but first and foremost, of ourselves. It won’t happen by sitting still. That transformation-that-is-mission happens when we allow ourselves to be turned inside-out by others’ reality, which we come to realize is our reality too. Then, there is true solidarity: we stand together. Then we can start to talk about change in the world, together, because we ourselves have been changed. (2)
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On this Sunday when we move away from the season of Epiphany to the season of Lent, away from the season of light, hope and expectation to the season of journey and pilgrimage, of fasting and forgiveness, let us remember that our Christian sisters and brothers throughout the world are about to engage in the same walk. In this walk, we engage in common mission of transformation in Christ.
Hymn 778 describes this journey thusly:
We all are one in mission,
we all are one in call,
our varied gifts united by Christ,
the Lord of all.
A single, great commission
compels us from above
to plan and work together
that all may know Christ’s love.
END NOTES
(1) Pressler, Titus, Horizons of Mission, The Church’s Teaching Series, vol. 11 (Cambridge, MA: Cowley, 2001), 18.
(2) http://www.updatesfromelsalvador.blogspot.com/
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