[Propertalk] Transfiguration Sunday Reflection

[Allison Dean]

Greetings.

This is really early however I have to pre-record this Sunday's service for
hospital radio.  Here in the UK it is Transfiguration Sunday so it is
off-topic for many of you.  However, I post it in hopes that if it needs
amendment and/or revision that others would be willing to offer comments
and I can amend same prior to Friday morning at 0600.  With many thanks for
your thoughts and inspirations each week.

Allison Cline-Dean
Lead Chaplain, East Suffolk & North Essex NHS Foundation Trust
Based at Colchester Hospital, Colchester, Essex, UK

I have noticed just how much talking there is these days, including what we
see and hear on social media.  There are so many voices:  voices from
outside of us including commentators and politicians talking about what has
happened and what should happen as well as what things should look like.  There
are voices of judgment, voices of fear, voices that second-guess.  Then we
have the voices from within ourselves:  the voices of self-doubt, voices of
criticism, and our own voices of fear.  There are the voices of flight or
fight, voices that tell us to hide.  It’s tiring to pay attention to all
these conflicting voices.  Often I just want some peace, some stillness,
some quiet which is why I value time spent in quiet each day.   As I read
through the passages, there were two lines that stuck with me:   “This is
my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” and “Get
up and do not be afraid.”  Three things that we are told to do by God:  to
listen, to get up, and to not be afraid.  On this Feast of the
Transfiguration, this last Sunday before Lent, let’s see where these three
phrases take us.

As we listen to everything going on around us, we realise that not
everything we see or hear, is good.  Some is just plain dangerous or bad
for us, causing damage to us physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  So
how do we discern who to listen for?  There is only one voice that we
should listen for and that is Jesus.  It is Jesus who speaks to us about
the changes in our lives, our world, our homes.  All of us become anxious
and afraid when things change.  Yet, if we listen closely Jesus will speak
to us hearts and minds, transfiguring us when we least expect it.  Fr.
Michael Marsh writes:

 In the midst of change Jesus speaks a word of life, a word of hope, a word
of forgiveness, a word of mercy, a word of beauty, a word of generosity, a
word of courage, a word of love, a word of healing.  Jesus speaks a word to
and for you and me. Are we listening to that word, to his voice?

 I mentioned that often change can be a time of uncertainty, indeed
possibly a frightening time.  Yet the second phrase that caught my
attention was “Get up and do not be afraid.”  How many of us have slipped
and fallen either literally or figurataively?  For older people, especially
persons living with dementia, a highly waxed floor or a slippery pavement
can be viewed as frightening due to the fear of slipping and falling,
breaking a hip, a leg, even an arm.   For others having to ask for
assistance and revealing that we don’t know as much as people thought we
knew thus losing face in front of colleagues is frightening.  As I did some
research on “Get up” Greek theological scholars state that the phrase “get
up” actually means to “be raised up,” “be aroused from the sleep of death,”
or maybe even “be resurrected.”  The writer of the Gospel of Matthew uses
this same phrase several times:

   - Jesus heals the paralytic, telling him, “Stand up” (Mt. 9:6-7);
   - Jesus takes the hand of dead daughter of the synagogue leader, “and
   the girl got up” (Mt. 9:25);
   - Jesus instructs the twelve, “Raise the dead” (Mt. 10:8);
   - Jesus foretells his own resurrection (Mt. 16:21; 17:9; 17:23; 20:19;
   26:32); and
   - The angel tells the women who come to Jesus’ tomb, “He is not here for
   he has been raised, as he said” (Mt. 28:6).

Many of us are struggling right now with changes in our lives.  For some
Brexit has caused no end of difficulties in their relationships, studies,
even work.  It may seem like life has ended yet if we are willing to let
Christ be a part of our life, Jesus’ touch will raise us up and give us new
life.  We will be changed and transfigured so that we can move forward with
new hope and peace.  Our life choices may have brought the difficulties we
are experiencing upon us yet God always finds new life in all circumstances
as God raises us up.

The last phrase “Do not be afraid” is so familiar as it is used in not just
Matthew but also the gospels of St. Mark and St. Luke.  We all have fear:  fear
of the unknown, fear of change, fear of the dark, fear of losing someone we
love, fear of changing values.  Yet here is God saying to the disciples and
to us “Do not be afraid”.  Why?  Because when we allow Jesus into our
lives, when we listen, when we allow Jesus to raise us up, then Jesus can
deal with our fear.  It is a reminder that we, the world, those voices, do
not have the final word, Christ does.  Christ is the light that shines in
the darkness.  Christ is the one who holds our hand, is above, below,
beside, in front, and behind us as we walk through what may be for us
difficult times.  Christ walking with us gives us the courage to move
forward into a new chapter in life in the midst of change, just as the
paralytic did, just as Mary did when she said yes to bearing Christ, just
as the woman healed of the haemorrhage began a new life, just as Jairus and
his family started anew when his daughter was raised from the dead, as did
Lazarus, Mary, and Martha when Lazarus was raised from the dead.

Fr. Michael Marsh writes “Listen to him. Be raised up. Do not be afraid.
What if those words are holy wisdom for times of change? What if they are
the means by which we step into our own transfiguration?”  Our individual
mountain-top transfiguration experiences with God will be what change us.  If
we listen, are raised up, and have the courage to move forward, then
possibly we may be the light that shines in the dark for others, making a
difference for even one individual.  We are hope in a world that knows
little hope, love to a world which knows little love, peace to a world
which knows very little peace.  Our challenge is to go forth to love and
serve the Lord in the world, if we have the courage to listen to God, to be
raised up by Christ, and to be sustained by the Holy Spirit which will give
us the courage to move forward into a new life in a new world.
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