The Last Sunday after Epiphany
Year B

Changing Our Perceptions

Based on the Gospel reading: Mark 9:2-9

 During the season of Epiphany we have explored our unique relationship to God.  With the magi we followed the star to its rising searching for meaning in our existence.  Like Samuel, we listened for the call of God.  We explored how God can be both loving and powerful.  We were challenged to consider the colour of love.  We experienced God’s healing touch.   As we complete this season and prepare ourselves for a holy Lent we encounter God on the mountaintop.  On the mountaintop, we look to God to transform our lives and transfigure our perceptions.   

It is part of our human nature that we almost always seem to grasp the truth about a person long after we should.  We are especially blind to the greatness of people we know well.  Blindness to their gifts can come about through peer pressure.  It can happen through our own ambition or from our lack of willingness to see who they really are.  That was the very human relationship that the disciples had with Jesus.  They simply didn’t understand who he was.   

Then Jesus on the mountain is changed in form.  He appears in dazzling white, even his garments shining.  When the disciples see Jesus transfigured, brighter than the star that illuminated the stable, they see his greatness.  However, they see more than that; they see his future and risen life.  They look at themselves.  Jesus shows them who they are becoming.  He shows them the glory and destiny of all of humanity.   

Unfortunately we live most of our lives in the lowlands and valleys.  There our vision is limited.  It is when we are in the mountains that we know that we are called to great heights, to take wings.  If we really wish to see Jesus as he is, we must ascend the mountain with him.  Discipleship is an invitation to do just that.  It is an invitation to be transformed into new people.  Jesus’ transfiguration is a sign of the change we all undergo as we live out our faith as disciples of Jesus.  It is a sign of great hope that the death experiences we all face in our daily lives will be followed by resurrection experiences.   

How do we do that?  How do we allow the mountaintop experiences to transform the drudgery of life?  Moses came down from the mountain with such a vision of freedom that he was able to lead the people of Israel out of bondage.  Elijah had such a vision of God that he brought fulfillment and hope to a nation in exile.   

It begins with changing our perception of ourselves.  We need to see ourselves as beloved children.  God loves you.  If you never hear anything in a sermon that I preach, hear that.  God loves you.  It is so important to take that in, to really know it.  To be as sure of it as we have been of anything in our lives.   

Is it easy?  No! Life has a way of putting us down, of making us feel unworthy.  If we can begin to change our perception of ourselves, then we will be able to change our perception of others.  Believe me when I say it works.  I have seen it work.   

I can remember many difficult children from my teaching days.  One of the most troubled was a little girl in a grade five class.  She was the most unlikable child I have ever met.  Looking back I cannot remember any particular reason for not liking her.  I was not alone in my perception.  People instinctively took a dislike to her.  The children in the class would walk by her desk and give her a poke.  I heard complaints about her from other teachers.  I found it very difficult to be civil to her.  I realized I had to do something about it.  I decided to find something positive to say to her each day.  I knew it needed to be genuine.  I remember my relief as she walked into the classroom that morning wearing a rather nice pink dress.  I complimented her on how pretty she looked.  It was as if she couldn’t believe it.  Her face lit up.  I don’t remember when the change in the classroom took place.  It was gradual.  But I do know that the children eventually began to treat her differently.  The teasing and poking stopped.  We all began to see her in a different light.  I like to think I made a big change in that child’s life.  I certainly learned something about myself, and my capacity to transform a situation. 

  What transformation needs to take place in the life of our church?  For so long the vision we have had of this church is that we are failing.  We never have enough money.  Clergy come and go.  There is no sense of stability.  Other churches are growing as we stagnate.  I have had people say to me, I feel as if I am on a sinking ship.  How does it become a place on fire with enthusiasm?  How do we begin to see signs of God at work in our lives?  How do we change our perceptions?   

It begins with looking around you.  This is a wonderful Christian community.  Every Wednesday morning we have a service with ten or twelve people in attendance.  We pray for each person on the prayer list by name.  We pray for the work of the church.  We pray for our parish leadership.  Then we gather around the altar for Eucharist.  I have seldom experienced the kind of power that I experience at work in that service.  It is a gift to this parish that happens every week.  We have gifted people in leadership – lay readers, lectors, servers, choristers, wardens.  We have people who care for one another, who see one another as family members.  We need to allow God to change our perceptions of this place so that we will become all that God wants us to be.  God has great things in store for this congregation.  We need to begin to accept that, take up the challenge and see this place transformed.  

What transformation needs to take place in our world?  9-11 changed the world.  Economic instability! Fear of people! Threat of war! How do we begin to change our perceptions?  We need to pray for peace in our world.  We need to pray for Saddam Hussein and for George Bush.  We need to pray knowing that God can transform the world. 

Our challenge during the coming Lenten season is not to give up something, but to allow God to take us on a journey of transformation.  We have forty days to allow the spirit working in us to change our lives.  I read in some article a few years ago that forty days is optimum for making a real change in attitude.  There was an experiment to get people to change innocuous things like squeezing the end of a tube of toothpaste instead of the middle, for example. 

Lent offers us the opportunity to make some significant changes in our own lives.  Let us begin by seeing ourselves as beloved children of God.  Let us take it beyond ourselves so that we are able to see the face of Christ in others.  Let us take it into our church and allow the spirit to renew our lives.  Let us take it into our world as we pray for God to transform it into a world of peace. 

We cannot stay on the mountaintop any more than the disciples could.  Their vision ends suddenly, like a bubble bursting.  They are back in the valley to the place between the rock and the hard place.  They are called to serve lovingly and faithfully in the difficult arenas of the world.  They come back renewed, equipped for service, enabled to face and overcome the hardships and sufferings.  

We too look back on transfiguration moments to help us get through the difficult times.  We remember that we are beloved children, loved by God.  We in turn reach out in love to a broken world.  We are transformed.  Amen.