| The Foundation of Lady Katherine Leveson at Temple Balsall | ||
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St
Mary's Church
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Will we look for God this Lent Luke 9: 28 - 36 Sermon preached on 22nd February 2004 by The transfiguration is an odd occurance, and it's difficult to know just how to interpret it. I prefer to think of it as an occurrence out of time. An in-breaking of God's eternal now into our linear calendar year. The Greeks have two words for time. Chronos is the kind we are most familiar with. It is linear, moving from one moment to the next. It is the kind of time measured by watches and noted in encyclopaedias. There is another kind of time. The Greeks call it kairos, God's time, timeless time, the kind that never moves from moment to moment, that simply is, at all times and in all places. This is the kind of time that is measured by mythology and dreams, where all things exist simultaneously. We celebrate Chronos, by going to work, making our appointments, marking our birthdays. But when we come to Church, suddenly we are in a different kind of space. We come to this table and partake of the meal shared by the faithful in all time and in all places. We witness before our very eyes the mystery of the Crucifixion in the breaking of the bread, and we proclaim the ever present reality of the Resurrection. The liturgical year does not rack up the numbers like our birthdays and calendars do: it is cyclic, always bringing us back to the manger, to the cross, to the empty tomb. The veil of ordinary reality is drawn back, and for an instant we see the timeless being of God, a God who is not bound to dogma, or to calendars, or to Bishops or priests or to the ideas of mortals. If this all sounds too theological let me give you another phrase. The transfiguration, if you like, was a God-moment. A holy and sacred moment where we experience God around us, even in the midst of daily life. A holy and sacred God-moment - they're all around us if we are tuned to them and are ready to encounter them. Sometimes we have to just stop and look at what is happening around us. Sometimes we need to seek experiences that draw us closer to God. Sometimes we need to wait and pray to see these God-moments. One final thought. The response, in the end, of the three disciples is that of awe (verse 34) and silence (verse 36) that seems to be the only possible response to what they have witnessed in this awesome, holy and sacred moment. Their silence acknowledges the mystery of this event and the magnitude of its implications. Their silence also reflects their own lack of readiness for the task of witnessing that will later be theirs - it is not yet time for the disciples to speak. This silence does not mean that the disciples fully comprehend what they have seen and heard - from what follows in chapter 9, they clearly do not. So the lesson for them and for us is that they must learn to look and listen, but that this hearing has its rightful beginning in awed silence. So, too, for us - our understanding; our listening; our apprehension begin in contemplations and silence. May God guide and bless our spiritual growth this Lent. The Reverend Dr James Woodward |
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