Transfiguration: "Don't hide yourself away... let it shine!"

Sermon 2-11-18 Mark 9:2-9

Grace and peace to you from God our creator and from our Lord and savior Jesus the Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Frankly, sometimes the Bible can be pretty gosh darn weird. Every year, at the end of the season of Epiphany, right before we cross into the of the season of Lent, we get this strange little story from three of the four gospels - Matthew, Luke, and this year we hear from Mark– where Jesus - literally - lights up brighter than the Griswold’s house at Christmas.  It just seems particularly strange on a dark rainy day like today!! 

But perhaps it’s not quite as weird as we may think. After all, the season of Epiphany is all about light shining in the darkness, remember? It began with the shining of a star high up in the sky, which led wise men from far away to a child with the face of God, who would grow up to be the king and savior of all. And so, it kind of makes sense in its own way, that Epiphany ends with that same child, now all grown up, whose clothes and face and whole being are shining as bright as any star…. And this is something to celebrate.

Forget for a moment that the Eagles won the Super Bowl last week…forget all the Valentine’s Day candy and the onslaught of President’s Day sales. THIS is a story to get psyched about! Because it isn’t just a story about Jesus. It’s also a story about us. It’s a story… about… you.

For Mark, Jesus’s story begins with his baptism, where the heavens are torn apart and a voice from heaven says, “You are my son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.” Doesn’t this sound familiar? Today we find ourselves right in the middle of the story of Jesus that Mark tells, at the event of Jesus’ transfiguration, where Jesus is transformed before his disciples and revealed his true resplendent nature.

Did you catch that word - “resplendent” - in the prayer of the day? I think it’s such a great word: Resplendent – adjective; attractive and impressive through being richly colorful or sumptuous. Synonyms: splendid, magnificent, brilliant, dazzling, glittering, gorgeous, impressive, imposing, spectacular, striking, stunning, majestic; splendiferous.

Yeah, I think it would be fairly accurate to say that Jesus is splendiferous, as well as resplendent. Up on that mountain top, God made Jesus resplendent and God called him Beloved, just the same as God did on the day of his baptism.

The day that YOU were baptized, you likely wore a brilliant white gown – perhaps not quite AS white Jesus’s was. But you might have still had a special glow about you, the glow that comes from being surrounded by the love of your parents, the love of your family, the love of your sponsors and congregation, and the love of God. That day, YOU became beloved, AND YOU became resplendent.

But the glow fades, and life moves on. We grow up, and it becomes easy to think that over time we tend to out-grow our baptisms, like we outgrow our baby clothes the fancy little white shoes that we might have worn. But what if our baptisms are something that we are always growing INTO? –sometimes (maybe too often) in fits and starts… hopefully, though, always moving forward, more or less, toward working out what it really means to be BELOVED and RESPLENDENT.

So perhaps THIS is why the baptismal gowns that we put on our babies tend to be much too long for the babies who are actually wearing them. As if it’s going to take a little time for them to grow into their baptism and figure out how to wear it out in the world. And for most of us, this is a process that we’re still figuring out, year by year, day by day, moment by resplendent, transformational moment.

But most of the time, I don’t FEEL very resplendent. Being resplendent, LIVING resplendent is kind of uncomfortable, and even scary at times. People notice. Much easier, much more comfortable, is it to stay up there on the mountain, where we feel safe and secure. After all, that’s exactly what Peter suggests. He knows full well that the world down there is a very dark and fearful place. Better to dig in and put off dealing with that scary world for as long as possible. Better to hang out with shiny Jesus where no one else will notice him up here on the mountain top, where it’s safe.

I think that the poet Marianne Williamson, who I have quoted in the past, shines a spotlight on our fear being noticed. She writes, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure…We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?” (Here I would add RESPLENDENT and AWESOME) But she goes on: “Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God….We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.”

I’ll say it again – YOU were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within you. Year by year, day by day, moment by resplendent, transformational moment.

Now these moments look different for everyone. Sometimes they are big, resplendent, beacon-on-the-mountain-top experiences. Other times, it’s more like a small candle that bravely burns in the blackest night. You can have them at five, fifty-five, or a hundred and five. And they tend to happen to us when we are least expecting them. But once they happen, we are often never the same again. And often they become part of our “call” stories.

One respondent moment of transformation that happened in my journey changed the course of my life and I believe leave led be directly to the path of ordained ministry. It was such a small moment at the time, but I can remember it as if it happened yesterday.

Let me set the scene for you: The summer after my freshman year of college. My first week of my first summer of as a Counselor at Pine Lake Lutheran Bible Camp in central Wisconsin. Believe it or not, I used to be a shy introverted college kid who loved confirmation camp as a teenager…. but at this point during staff training I was wondering what in the world I had gotten myself into. I was being stretched and coaxed out of my comfort zone. 

Let's play, Find Pastor Lydia!

One afternoon was spent in team-building activities as a staff, and our camp director LOVED to throw in a wrench here and there, to make them even more challenging and make us work together!  She would suddenly jump in and blindfold one person, or tell another they can’t speak or use their right arm to finish an activity, to up the ante for every challenge!

In the middle of one game, the camp director suddenly yelled “for the rest of this activity, Lydia is the only one with the ability to speak!”

After the initial moment of panic, I wanted to call a time out, remove myself from the game, insist that I am a much better follower than a leader. Surely, she didn’t mean for ME to be in charge.

But in that moment, a spark lit a light that God had created and instilled in me from the moment of my baptism, just waiting for the right moment to ignite. Before I even knew what was happening, I was putting a plan into action, guiding the group to a solution, and suddenly the task had been successfully completed. I … did it. That was around fourteen years ago, and I still remember how accomplished I felt at this moment. And I believe that this resplendent – transfiguration – transformation moment is what God used to launch me to where I am today.

Now your story is going to be different. And it’s your job to come down off the mountain in order to tell the tale.

When we tell our resplendent stories, the light of God that shines in us gets brighter and brighter. And the fear, though it might not go away completely, seems to become just a little dimmer. We can say, I am resplendent, and you are resplendent, because Jesus is the resplendent one shining out from our hearts. Through Jesus, we are witnesses to the shining, resplendent, lavish, dazzling love of God that refuses to be extinguished, even in the face of the dark powers of this world who try to snuff it out. We are resplendent, because we know, that, in the end, they cannot and do not succeed.

Arise, shine, for your light has come. “Don’t hide yourself away…. Let it shine.” Go out into the world… and be your resplendent self. Because, God knows, the world could use a little more light in it.  Because, God knows, it’s time to come down the mountain. It’s time for you to be who you are. Thank be to God. Amen.