Transfiguration 2022

Sometimes, what would it have been like? What

would it have been like? We look at this fresco.

Well, you heard the Apostle Peter tell you what

it was like. He was there. We have the prophetic

word confirmed, which you will do well to heed,

said Saint Peter, reflecting on this feast day

as a light that shines in a dark place until

the day dawns and the morning star, that's Christ,

arises in your heart. It's about light. It's

about change. Many of you speak to me about concern

about the division in our country on so many

different levels. It's amazing how many different

levels it really is. This brief look at the news

reveals a deep satisfaction with people. No bright

stars, no morning stars there. Mostly... People

are dissatisfied with how other people are. What

they say, how they act. We're here in this church

as Orthodox Christians and we regularly go over

to that corner to be honest about what we say,

what we do, how we act, our assumptions. Not

to feel guilty, but to feel cleansed by God so

we can stand here and receive the Eucharist as

a vessel of grace, to use the phrase that was

used at the All -American Council. A vessel can

be a ship, of course, and the church is this

vessel, but also a vessel is a holder, and that's

what we become. This dissatisfaction in this

country, as I say, we'll apply it to ourself.

Now, all this can be complicated. I apologize

for overgeneralization about the political, spiritual,

emotional, psychological divisions. But it seems

to me that this discontent, this dislike of that

group or another group, this strange discomfort

with one's own body, which we read so much about,

and the prejudice of all that, it truly reveals

that we're not really in the right place. That

heaven is our home. That we yearn to be changed.

We yearn for others to also be glorified. We're

not just earthbound, consuming, computing, cloning,

pleasure -seeking beings. We're not free without

God. The only true freedom is God. And we're

bound to him when we offer ourselves to him.

Because he gives us freedom from sin and death,

from fear and the devil. Any other freedom is

just a phantom. God boundlessly loves us. We

instinctively yearn. to be changed, to become

what Christ is. When our Savior appears at the

resurrection, we use the term second coming,

but we also say Christ is in our midst, so he

hasn't gone from us. When he appears in the resurrection

on the day of the Lord, as St. Peter the Apostle

says, we will see what the Apostle saw that day.

Christ Even his clothes were changed and sanctified.

It says they became whiter than any fuller, any

cleaner could make them. St. Gregory Palamas

calls this light from Christ, the uncreated light,

inexpressible, God's divinity, his kingdom, the

beauty and resplendence of the divine nature,

the vision and the delight. of the saints in

the age without end the natural ray and glory

of the divinity and we will not only see what

the chosen disciples peter james and john saw

that day and they heard this is my beloved son

we ourselves are going to share and we do even

now but fully and completely will share in the

uncreated light of God's presence with the saints

and experience fully his boundless love, which

we talk about so much. St. John would write of

the vision he saw near the end of his life about

the truth of this statement by St. Gregory Palamas.

He said he heard a loud voice from heaven saying,

Behold! The tabernacle of God is with men, and

he will dwell with them, and they shall be his

people. God himself will be with them and be

their God, and there will be no sun because God

himself will be the light. We have a destiny

not defined by biology, not defined by economics,

not defined by suffering, not defined by death.

not defined by our sin. Our destiny, our true

calling, our true nature, the meaning of our

life is to become, to change, to be like Christ.

On the mountain, for now, we cleanse ourselves

as we can. Transfiguration tells us that if we're

going to attain this, our faith... for 2 ,000

years, tells us that if we're going to attain

this, this shining in our hearts of the day star

of Christ continually, well, we have to ascend

the mountain. We have to labor. God will not

send us a taxi driven by an angel. It's the way

up to heaven. But sometimes, as... Abbott, Sergius,

and St. Tecans want to say, we have to go down

before we go up. We have to move towards humility

before we're ready for what God has for us. In

the chapter before what we read today, chapter

17 of the Gospel of Matthew, just previous to

that, just previous to that, there's St. Peter

saying to Christ, when Christ says, The Son of

Man is going to be crucified. You follow me,

pick up your cross, deny yourself. And Peter's

like, no, no way. The Messiah does not go to

the cross. Lord, you're a little mistaken here.

What kind of Messiah is crucified? Peter pushes

back against the message of the gospel, which

contains God's love for us. And this is a good

reminder that this comes just before transfiguration

because we might have a little trouble following

Christ. We might have a little trouble with that

message of the cross. We might unfortunately

question Jesus. Well, an honest and heartfelt

question to the Lord, our Savior, will be answered

with love, for sure. But a contradiction? of

what he says, out of fear, frustration, or pride,

will not go very well, as we know from how Jesus

responded to St. Peter. Get behind me, Satan.

You speak of the things of man, not of God. We

will learn looking at the saints through prayer,

through the gift of peace, peace of heart. Have

you experienced that peace of heart after confession

or communion? If so, Hold on to that precious

gift. And when it is gone, when there's anxiety

in the soul, when there's turmoil in your heart,

then that's not your normal state. You want to

attain that. But you have to get up there by

going low, by carrying the cross. The Lord is

good. He is trustworthy. Psalm 100 says, He is

good. His loving kindness is everlasting. His

faithfulness is to every generation. Let us rejoice

in this day, knowing that he will transfigure

us. And we offer ourselves to him like this fruit

is offered to him. It started from a seed. It

didn't look like this when it began. Neither

shall we. We don't know how we shall be, but

we know that we shall be like Christ. Amen.