Transfiguration Fr Ian MacKinnon

Christ is in our midst. It's good to be with

you today, brothers and sisters, to parallel

what Peter said to our Lord on Mount Tabor. Lord,

it is good for us to be here. So it's good to

be with all of you on this day. This feast...

is sometimes hard to define because in the middle

of our Lord's ministry, this remarkable event

happens. And we ask ourselves, or at least I

did, early on when I first began to study the

scriptures and go to seminary and everything,

what is this kind of almost resurrectional event

doing in the middle of the gospel? And it's in

all three synoptic gospels, and I believe in

John also. What is it doing there since the resurrection

is coming? The cross is coming. And of course,

we've already had the virgin birth. And I think

the answer comes a little bit from these words

from St. Paul that I picked up from a sermon

from St. Leo. But St. Paul says, for I reckon

that the suffering of this time. In other words,

the struggles of this life, the persecutions

that were certainly going on in their lives,

but just the struggle of being human, if we want

to be clear about that, and all the disappointments

on the one hand and the joys on the other. You

know, we have been baptized into our Lord Jesus

Christ's church. There's no greater sort of joy

than this, and this knowledge or this understanding.

And yet at the same time we find this kind of

paradox going on within us, and that is on the

one hand I rejoice, on the other hand I'm so

easily drawn back into, I don't know what it

might be, my preoccupations, the things that

I want, my depressions or whatever you want to

call them, but my fallenness, our general fallenness.

And so we find ourselves in this struggle constantly,

don't we, brothers and sisters? It's not a struggle

that we should ultimately lament because God

has placed us... in this situation. And he has

given us the tools and the means through the

life of the church to fight the good fight and

to struggle, as St. Paul says. I reckon that

the sufferings of this time, he goes on to say,

the sufferings of this time are not worthy to

be compared with the future glory which shall

be revealed in us later on, which shall be revealed

in us later on. So even though we're going through

all of this, the promise is that if we live according

to the life in Christ, if we struggle with our

sins, not in spite of them, but with our sins,

asking forgiveness, asking repentance, participating

in the life of the church, especially within

the Holy Eucharist, who can be against us, so

to speak? Who can be against us? Who can fight

against us? So we are engaged, let's make no

mistake, every day in spiritual warfare, aren't

we? Every day when we wake up, we are engaged

in spiritual warfare. And let us not shrink away

from that warfare, but embrace the things that

God has given us and fight the good fight. Now,

with regards to this event on Mount Tabor, we

see, really, if we read what comes before, this

event in the scriptures. And a lot of the commentaries

on the transfiguration like to say that it's

kind of the center point of the gospel. The gospel

is very different after and before the events,

but certainly before, certainly before, and especially

after Pentecost to the church on Sundays, we

hear about all the things that established Christ

as the Messiah, as the one who was expected to

come. the one we've been waiting for, the healing

of the blind man, all these healings, not just

of the blind man, the feeding of the 5 ,000,

the casting away, the casting out of demons,

especially in that reading of the demoniacs or

the demoniac who live across the Sea of Galilee,

our Lord walking on water. And then, of course,

there's this remarkable, just in preparation

for this feast, there's this remarkable discussion

that Jesus has with his disciples when he says

to them, who do people say that I am? And there's

a lot of speculation. Well, some say you're a

prophet, others say you're a very holy man. On

and on it kind of goes. It becomes kind of almost

an intellectual exercise. And then you get the

impression from the gospel that then Jesus interrupts

them and says, but who do you? Who do you say

I am? And this is the same sort of question that's

leveled at all of us. But who do you say I am?

What is your confession concerning me? And of

course, Peter, we know what Peter says. You're

the son of God. You're the Messiah. You're the

expected one. And then our Lord says, flesh and

blood didn't reveal this to you, Peter. You know.

Okay. But the kingdom of heaven. But God in heaven.

And so only after all of this. Only after all

of these kind of, I suppose, preparations of

miracles does the event of transfiguration occur.

And how does this happen? Our Lord takes Peter,

James, and John, doesn't he? And they go up Mount

Tabor. And when they get there, we've just heard

about it in the reading so beautifully done by

our deacon. In the reading, our Lord is transfigured.

His face becomes as bright like the sun. And

he is bathed in this uncreated light. We hear

about not just in the gospel, but also sometimes

in the readings of the fathers, the ability to

somehow, on very, very rare occasions, but nevertheless

genuine occasions, to perceive the uncreated

light, the uncreated light, the light of heaven.

And it is always referred back to the uncreated

light that the apostles beheld. on Mount Tabor,

and with our Lord are whom? Moses and Elijah.

Moses, in a sense, representing the law and the

fulfillment of the law in our Lord Jesus Christ,

and Elijah representing the prophets. I like

it in the gospel, and they were speaking to one

another. You know, I'd like to know what that

discussion was all about. It doesn't tell us

what's being said there, but they were speaking

to one another. And then, of course, the apostles,

as we know, are frightened to death. They can't

bear it, as it says in the hymnology, as far

as they could bear it. And in the icon you look

at as you entered into church today and venerated

it, the apostles are faced down, aren't they?

They just simply cannot bear in fear what's going

on. But our Lord goes and touches them and brings

them up and says, don't be afraid. At the same

time, a voice comes, doesn't it? And it's the

voice. It's the voice of God. You know, fear

not. This is my beloved son in whom I am well

pleased. You know, listen to him. That's the

final. Listen, obey, do what he says. So we're

at that point in our lives, brothers and sisters.

Well, some of you are eight years old, like my

grandson here or my granddaughter. My two granddaughters,

one who is four and the other who's 12. But nevertheless,

we're old enough to understand that the time

has come, especially given the fact that the

church is called upon in this age, this age of

confusion especially. My goodness, what a confused

age we live in. Violent, foolish, at times remarkably

ignorant. In this age, more than ever, we're

called upon to, well, how do we respond? We respond.

through the witness of the church. Look at this.

Look what we have. Look what Father Lawrence

has led us to here in this church along with

his father and the other clergy that have served

here over the years. But look at this. The church

is, in fact, the earthly heaven. Gathered around

the table of God, receiving Christ's body and

blood, being nourished to go forward, we are

given this wisdom. To participate, to endure,

not only to endure, but to witness. So God give

us the strength to witness in this age with courage

and with a degree of surety when we speak to

others about the life of the church. We're so

fortunate, we're so fortunate ultimately to be

here. And then within the life of the church

we have each other, don't we? To encourage us

and nurture us. And we often ask ourselves, how

did I get here? I'm a convert, and I would imagine

most of you nowadays are converts. I don't know.

I won't ask for a show of hands. But nevertheless,

I ask myself, how on earth did I end up in the

Orthodox Church, you know, kind of a product

of middle -class America, California, in the

Bay Area? How did I ever end up here? And the

only answer we can finally give is it's a blessing.

It's a blessing from God. I love all the remarkable

coincidences of meeting each other and knowing

about things within the life of the church. All

you have to do is travel and go from one church

to another and you run into these coincidences

and these comings together. And today I had the

same experience with Father Lawrence when I walked

in. He said, you know, he said, today is the

day. remarks the, I don't know, how many years

has it been, Father Lawrence, that Father George

marks the 30 years, the 30 -year anniversary

of the death of Father George Benningson. Did

any of you know him? A few of you did. Well,

guess what? He baptized me. He baptized my wife

and I, Matryoshka that's here. And he received

us into the church, of course. He baptized us.

and brought us into the life of the church. He

and Matryoshka Helen were our godparents, and

we were simply baptized alone with the two of

them one Saturday morning. We kind of stumbled

into the life of the church, and thanks be to

God, it's been given to us. Well, this is kind

of my personal goings -on, so forgive me for

talking like this. It's not very dignified. I'm

sorry. I'm sorry. So, we've got it all. And the

experience of transfiguration reveals to us,

you know, and to those who are kind of struggling

along the way, the apostles, you know, as St.

Paul says, you know, that this revealing, this

experience of the uncreated life is just another

reinforcement for the church and for the apostles

and for those who are transfigured in our lives

because of it. We are transfigured, in a sense,

right along with Peter, James, and John, or at

least we're witnesses to this transfiguration.

But our lives are transfigured because we are

in the church. And if at times it's a struggle,

never doubt that you haven't been transfigured

through your baptism and through what it means

to just be here. Lord, it is so good to be here.

Christ is in our midst.