It's been a week! Cold. Ice. Kids home: no school… crushed! And just for good measure, no electricity. So I know you all just longed to come here today. The children were nestled all snug in their beds, while visions of… Sunday School… danced in their heads. And you, to family, most surely have said, "Sunday's the day I have circled in red. I know it's not Christmas, not Easter, not that, or Pentecost, or Shrove Tuesday-for-using-up-fat. No, Sunday's that one day we're rid of frustration, it's the day that we lift up the Trans-figuration." Well, not exactly. But, let's make the most of it!

Here's our story, every year, the Sunday before Lent. It's a hinge. It swings us from the beginnings of Jesus and his ministry to his march t'ward the cross. It's Jesus' high moment, before heading for Jerusalem. He takes Peter, James and John up the mountain. (That's a sign. Somethin's up. 'Last time he did this, he raised a young girl from the dead!) Well, up there, Jesus prays. So intense his communion with God, he shines with holy light. His robes are bleached by the glory of it, a kind of Clorox climax. There's more. Moses, the Lawgiver, Elijah, the Greatest Prophet appear, confer and confirm Jesus' journey to Jerusalem and his climb to the cross. The disciples? They were, "Heavy with sleep." Like kids on your shoulder. Like your partner at the movie's most exciting part, slithered off to sleep. Like me with Meghan, botchin' Batman. (She never forgot.) Peter, James and John nearly miss it, clearly don't get it…. All Peter gets is the afterglow. Still, even he knows, "It doesn't get any better than this. Let's make camp here. I'll build y'all a place… up here in this rarefied air. Nobody in their right mind'd wanna leave this mountain. There's trouble-all-around down below!" Even Peter can see. Mountaintops teach Jesus, teach us. Here's the plan. "There's glory to be toted down this hillside to the valley there below. YOU are the bringer of God's glory. You are right, now do right and be right… with God!" Enter: a cloud. Bible-talk for God's arrival, just like Exodus times. God is active here, the disciples are passive. While they can't see, God speaks. "This [Jesus] is my son, listen to him!" Wonders. Clouds. A word to hear. A path to tread. O, what a story for Jesus. For us!
The disciples get a mountaintop moment with Jesus, replete with great wonders. We have our moments too. Some are mountaintops. Others may be anthills or molehills that pass for top-of-the-heap. What wonders have you seen with Jesus?… Have we ever had a moment that found us blindsided by glory all around? That was Peter, James and John. They were witness to perhaps the greatest conspiracy of all time. And now Luke has let us in on it. Oh, we're not talkin' sinister here. This isn't The Da Vinci Code. It's not the latest episode of X Files. And certainly not the latest of the Anna Nicole chronicle. THIS IS THE CHRIST CONSPIRACY. Now remember, to conspire, con-spire, is just to breathe with, breathe together. It all begins with Jesus praying. He prays so deeply, he begins to breath like God, breathe with God, breathe-in God. (You can do it too. Try this. Nose in. Mouth out. Hear the sound? (Whoo, whoo, whoo. Do it with me as I speak, it'll be like on that mountain long ago.) Who? Who indeed? Who but God to guard your spirit, guide your way? (Keep breathing!) Conspire with God, breathe God's breath with God, and it won't be long 'til you begin to get a glow on just like Jesus. Now you're shinin'! O, it won't be long 'til Moses and Elijah come to share the air! And tell Jesus, and tell us… where! Down to the valley. Onto the path. Up to Jerusalem. Out to the hillside. Up onto the cross. Over to the garden. Into the tomb. Out from the rock. Beyond to the sky! (Shhhh! You can stop now.) No wonder Peter wanted to stay. Us too, once we see this.

I mean, Holy Smoke! Really! Well, at least a walk-in-the-clouds, anyway. It seems to be what happens next when people conspire with Jesus, breathe with God. That old cloud rolls in, and now we Jesus-people, we who've been with him and glimpsed the glory got a problem. We're so head-up, holy, hopin' we're gonna stay up here on top of the world, well, frankly, we can't see straight! So we live our very real, everyday lives, in our very routine, ordinary families and churches, and somehow, we can't see straight! Did you ever say this? "I'm so angry with ___, I can't see straight." You're in the cloud, friend. "I'm not so sure of the way. I hear what___ is sayin', but I just don't see it!" "I know I should, I know he (Jesus) might want me to, but I just can't see my way clear to…." Right about here, it's time to pray again, and listen even more. It's when we find out, like Moses on Sinai, or the three disciples with the one true Son, God can be present in the clouds! And God has a way of speaking through the "confoundingest" of the fog. Here's what he said then, to them. Here's what he says now, to us. "This (Jesus) is my Son, my chosen, listen to him!"

How that transfigured, made over, Peter, James and John! How it can, us. Here's the heart of the lesson at last. WHEN YOU CAN'T SEE, JUST LISTEN! Get this; Jesus isn't the only one to be transfigured. Not in that ancient day. Not in our day. We are too, not just by what we see when we can see straight, but by what we hear when we can hardly see at all. "This is my Son, my chosen, listen to him!"
When everything you've piled up doesn't fill you, everyone you've told off can no longer be counted on, and your blessing-count seems of little account, LISTEN. "Blessed the poor in spirit, theirs is the kingdom. Blessed the mourners, they shall be comforted. Blessed the meek, theirs is the earth. Blessed the hungry & thirsty for righteousness, they shall be satisfied. Blessed the merciful, they will get mercy. Blessed the pure-hearted, they shall see God. Blessed the peacemakers, they shall be called sons of God. Blessed those persecuted for righteousness' sake, theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when put down on my account. Rejoice! Be glad! Your reward is great in heaven!"
When you're just plain fed up, unsure with how much more you can put up, LISTEN. "Put on the new nature, God-fashioned from inside out. You're supposed to look like Christ, who looks exactly like God. No more lies or pretense, tell your neighbor the truth. We're connected in Christ. Be angry but don't sin; don't let the sun set on your anger. (It'll give the devil a foothold.) Do honest work with honest hands… so you can give others a hand. Make a clean break with cutting, back-biting, profane talk. Don't break God's heart or take the Holy Spirit's breath away. Afterall, that's what your breathing! The Spirit's making you fit to live with God. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving… as God in Christ forgave you. Ephesians 4: 25-32, Contemp., ed.
When you're really impressed with yourself, or think you're worth nothin' at all, LISTEN, "I came that you may have life, and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep… Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you…. I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, fruit that lasts." And again, "In as much as you have done for the least of my brothers (and sisters), you have done for me."

Transfiguration. A new Jesus. A new you. A new me. A divine conspiracy. Breathing with God. Beginning with prayer. Changing our appearance, even as Christ is changed. Disciplining and denying ourselves. Finding fellowship with God and with one another. …This Sunday, our one day, circled in red. Not same old, or same mold, but trans-figured instead!

Posted Sunday, February 18th, 2007