When David, our
oldest, was about two and a half years old, we attended a party at the home of
one of our clergy colleagues. There were
children of various ages and David was soon swept away by the ebb and flow of these
energetic young ones. At one point I
looked over to a small table where David was playing with some of the older
children and I was suddenly aware of God's presence.
What I saw was a
brief revelation of David as an older and more mature person. It was a clear to me as the words I am typing
now. My vision only lasted a very brief
moment, perhaps two or three seconds, and then the two and a half year-old
David returned. I have held on to this
vision through all the years because I liked what I saw and because I hope for
its eventual fulfillment as David continues to make his own way in life.
What I had
experienced was a 'transfiguration' or, as the Gospel according to Luke calls
it, a 'metamorphosis'. When the word is
examined more closely, it can be loosely translated as 'beyond the form that is
seen or touched'. Metaphysics, for
example, is the study of those things that are beyond the physical or
understood by the laws of physics.
On the mountain top
the Jesus that the disciples knew at the bottom of the mountain was revealed as
someone more than the teacher whom they had followed from Galilee. For a brief moment Peter, James and John saw
beyond the form of their beloved teacher and they beheld Jesus as the agent of
God's redeeming purpose for them and for the whole of humanity. They beheld the fullness of Jesus as the Word
made flesh and they were changed.
Note what I have
written: Peter, James and John were
changed, not Jesus. The Jesus with whom
they climbed the mountain, whom they experienced as transfigured on the summit
and whom they accompanied down the mountain was God's Beloved, the One who
shows us the way, the truth and the life.
But now that they had had this vision, this revelation, the three
disciples were no longer the same.
This is what
transfiguration means; it means the revelation of the fullness of a person,
whether Jesus or you or me. All the
disciplines of the Christian life --- prayer, study, worship, working for
justice, peace and the integrity of creation --- are meant to enable us to
become who we truly are as God intends each one of us to be. Transfiguration is not meant to be a one-time
event on a mountain far away from us in time and space; transfiguration, the
movement from the restraints of our present into the freedom of our future, is
God's intention for all the beloved.
The transfiguration
that God wishes for each one of us is not achieved in a moment but in a
lifetime. There are moments when the
clouds of our lives obscure our full selves and moments when our fullness
shines brightly. It is those moments of
brightness that give us the hope to persevere through the shadows.
The vision of David
that I beheld more than twenty years ago awaits its time --- but then the
fullness that God has placed in me still awaits its time. But there are moments, glorious, joyous
moments, when the light of Christ shines forth and hope is renewed. Thanks be to God.
Richard Leggett
6 August 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment