Uncreated Light

 We can tell it is the end of the Epiphany season

            not just by this Wednesday being Ash Wednesday

                        but that today’s gospel is the Transfiguration.

Ending the Epiphany Season with the Transfiguration 

            is ultimate manifestation, or Epiphany, of Light to the World.

This is Uncreated Light from the Source, the Greek word arch,

            translated in the Prologue of John as the beginning,

            the beginning point or source point of all that is,

                        creation for the Uncreated Light.

 

Before we can talk of the Transfiguration, however,

            we must look first at this story of Moses.

 

Moses comes down from Mount Sinai with the Law of the Covenant

            on two tablets of stone, the revelation of God’s will,

and the face of Moses is ablaze with the reflected Shekinah Glory of God,

                        Moses having been in God’s presence for 40 days and 40 nights.

 

What would you think, how would you react to

            someone coming to you with a message from God

            whose face was emitting a bright light?

 

Weird, freaky, unnerving, frightening…

 

It just might be a little too close for comfort 

            to be around someone on such a close personal basis with God.

 

Yu can imagine the Israelites saying in response:

“Let’s just focus on the Law written on those stone tablets,

            give us something we can do,

and put a veil over that shine, 

            so we don’t have to look at what happens to a person 

                                                                                    in intimate relationship with God.”

 

Does this describe our spiritual condition?

Let me read to you a quotation from something my spiritual director wrote

            about the human condition 

                        in relationship to this encounter with God’s presence.

 

“Give us the Law, give us the rules, give us the traditions, 

give us the structure of authority, …

give us the way of righteousness 

            so we can know we are in and those not of us are out.  

Give us this great, frozen mask of our hearts, 

            our refusal to know our nakedness before God, 

            our continual absorption in issues of will and deed 

                        that we may be distracted from our heart’s condition, 

                        from our fear of pure intimacy, 

                                    our utter openness to great mystery, 

                                                                                    great love, unspeakable power, 

                        from our utter lack of control over love, worth, and death.  

Just tell us what to do.  

Help us ignore that not the merest [veil] separates you and us.”

 

Is this a moment of truth telling? 

Can we be honest enough to admit that there are many times

            when we would put our practice of religion between us and God                                     whose sheer presence is so unnerving?  

that we would put the effort of producing our own righteousness 

                        through the keeping of rules 

               as a buffer between us and the Love of God that is so intensely personal?

 

Okay, now let’s look at the story of the Transfiguration.

Jesus has been praying on a mountain, Mount Tabor,

            There are no stone tablets this time.

Instead it is Jesus himself who is the revelation of God’s will.

            And it’s not just his face shining, but his whole body.

No amount of clothing will veil this radiance, this Shekinah Glory of God.

 

And what is this?  Moses and Elijah are with him.

            Aren’t they supposed to be long departed from this world?

There is something of Resurrection about all this.

 

And Moses and Elijah and Jesus are deep in discussion,

            about what? about the upcoming events in Jerusalem – his death.

 

Peter, James and John haven’t been praying;

They had been trying to stay awake

            while Jesus was pulling another all-nighter in prayer.

Their level of consciousness might be questioned.

 

            So when they are jarred back to consciousness 

by this revelation of radiant being and the presence of Moses and Elijah,

                        Peter starts babbling.

What Peter proposes is less about Jesus and Moses and Elijah

            and more about Peter, James and John,

            about building three little hermitages 

                        where they can sit and contemplate 

                                                this colossal spiritual experience of radiance,

                                                this “mountaintop experience.”

They want to institutionalize it, encase it, hold it, 

            have some way to control it, keep it from going any further.

It’s  not the radiant revelation they want to preserve – – but their experience of it.

 

And so the Cloud comes over all the scene.

 

Where have we heard of a cloud before in Bible stories?

The cloud that led them in the desert, 

            that came over the Tent of Meeting,

            that descended on the Temple, such as in Isaiah, chapter 6.

The Cloud of God’s Presence.

 

And from the Cloud comes the voice:  “This is my Son…listen to him!”

 

                        Shut up, Peter.  Wake up and listen to Jesus.

 

I have stood on the Mount of the Transfiguration, Mt. Tabor.

 

They have built Peter’s three tabernacles there,

            Chapels for Moses and Elijah and the central domed church.

 

Isn’t that just the way!

Turn the revelation into a building, a structure,

            rather than see it immediately present in close proximity

                                    to ourselves personally.

 

In the Eastern Orthodox Church at least 

            there is a fascination with this Transfiguration event,

                        this Uncreated Light that shines through the whole body of Jesus,

                        this Light from the Source referenced in the Prologue of John’s Gospel.

 

There is the realization that this radiance of Uncreated Light 

            is the NORMATIVE state for Jesus,

                        not something he took on at that particular time

                                    to dazzle the eyes of Peter, James and John.

The Eastern Orthodox say that rather at this time

            the eyes of the disciples were released to be able to see

                        what has always been there, the Truth of what Jesus is like.

Jesus opened the spiritual eyes of his disciples

                        so that they could see the Uncreated Light,

                                    that same Light reflected in Moses’ face,

                        the Uncreated Light in him, in Jesus, the Word incarnate,

                                    the Word that is Light coming into the world.

 

The implications of this are enormous,

            because of the Resurrection,

for in Resurrection Jesus fulfills his promise to always be with us,

                        even to the completion of the age.

 

There is nowhere that is not full of the Resurrection Presence of Jesus,

            and specifically this is said of the Church, his Body.

 

Here’s the connection between ourselves and the Transfiguration,

            this shining revelation of God’s Glory Presence,

and there is no way to keep a distance from it,

                        except in our own ignorance, denial and avoidance,

            which, unfortunately, we are quite adept at doing.

 

There is a story from a collection of the Sayings of the Desert Fathers and Mothers,

            those mainly from the 4^th Century on 

                        who went out into the desert places of Egypt

                        fleeing the ease of life in the cities 

that was having such a corrupting influence on the Church.

They went out into the desert seeking to follow their Lord more purely.

 

The story goes that Abba Lot went to see Abba Joseph and said to him,

            “Abba, as far as I can I say my little office, I fast a little,

            I pray and meditate, I live in peace

            and as far as I can, I purify my thoughts.

            What else can I do?”

Then the old man stood up and stretched his hands towards heaven.

His fingers became like ten lamps of fire 

            and he said to him,

            “If you will, you can become all flame.”

 

The Radiance of God is all around us all the time,

            but we don’t see it.

And we need to see this 

            in order for our ministry to one another and the world outside our door                                     to become even more effective.

 

St. Theophan the Recluse, one of the great saints of the Eastern Church, wrote:

            “As God is Light, so also our spirit is light.

            Having been breathed into us by God,

            it seeks God, knows God, and in [God] alone finds rest.”

 

Now when we celebrate the Eucharist,

when we partake of the Body and Blood of Jesus

            we receive into ourselves his Life energy.

 

How many years have you been coming here Sunday by Sunday

            consuming the Body and Blood of Jesus?

You are shot through with this same Light 

                        as the disciples saw in the Transfigured Jesus.

 

May the Church awake to this great truth of being,

and may we be delivered from our fears about coming into 

                        the brilliant Presence of this Love,

            so that we may serve faithfully with the gifts entrusted to us.