You Are Light - A Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday & AGM February 11 2024
GOSPEL: Mark 9:2-9
The holy gospel according to Mark.
Glory to you, O Lord.
Mark’s gospel presents the transfiguration as a preview of what would become apparent to Jesus’ followers after he rose from the dead. Confused disciples are given a vision of God’s glory manifest in the beloved Son.
2Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. 4And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 6He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” 8Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
9As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
The gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, O Christ.
(Slide 1 - Transfiguration)
In this secret vision,
these disciples, along with us,
can see Jesus for who Jesus is.
The transfiguration reveals that the glory of God
resides in Jesus of Nazareth.
In this huddle with Moses and Elijah,
we can imagine how Jesus is the fulfillment
of the law and the prophets.
As ancient ears hear the voice from the cloud,
we are left with no doubt;
this Jesus of Nazareth is is the Son of God.
Listen to him.
Listen to Jesus.
People of God, my siblings in Christ,
friends and family of Advent
I believe that’s what we are doing.
Or, at the very least, we are sure trying
to listen to Jesus.
Over the past two years,
we at Advent have intentionally spent time
in faithful conversation,
in prayer,
in discernment,
intentionally asking the question,
“What is our purpose in God’s mission?”
Or put another way,
we have been listening to Jesus,
listening for the guiding of the Spirit
and moving forward with tangible steps.
Two of these tangible steps
will be presented at our Annual General Meeting today.
(Slide 2 - Purpose Statement)
The first is the opportunity for us to adopt
our proposed Purpose Statement and Guiding Principles,
statements intended to help us
with all our decision making.
The proposed purpose statement:
“Sharing God’s Love and Acceptance For You”
This wasn’t some tagline that I came up with,
or that our church council came up with.
Rather we,
as a community,
dwelling in God’s Word,
listening to one another,
listening to Jesus,
praying,
we heard God’s Spirit saying to us,
the people of Advent
that God unconditionally loves and accepts us,
and we join in this Godly work:
Sharing God’s Love and Acceptance
for you,
for any,
for us,
for all.
I don’t want to jump the gun,
I don’t want to be manipulative,
we haven’t officially adopted this yet,
but allow me to be bold in declaring
this is both who we strive to be
and who we already are:
Fellow bearers of God’s love and acceptance,
dare I say - fellow bearers of Christ’s Light.
(Slide 2 - Guiding Principles)
Furthermore, we discerned guiding principles;
basic ideals that we will strive towards
as a community of faith.
Again, we haven’t officially adopted these yet,
these are not creations of mine nor councils,
but a faithful reflection of what we have heard
in our discernment.
First and foremost, we heard the Spirit say
“Jesus is Lord and Saviour.”
To be fair,
this was guiding principle number 1 from the start.
There was no choice here.
But like these 3 disciples on the mountain with Jesus,
all that we do and all that we are
is about Jesus, our Lord.
Really, this is about the only guiding principle
we should need;
For every thing we do
as a community of faith,
as individuals,
if the thing does not point to Jesus our Lord,
then we don’t need to be doing the thing.
Listen to Jesus.
A few years ago,
I was part of a fun conversation
we were sharing “Lies told in church”
Some of them were pretty funny - such as:
I wasn’t sleeping, I was just praying really hard.
Or
You’ll only have to volunteer for a few months.
Or
when the preacher says
“I’ll be brief” or “In conclusion”
But in this conversation there was one
lie told in church that stood out for us:
“All are welcome”
The unfortunate truth of many congregations
is that the sign says “All are welcome”
but this is not what is experienced inside.
Yet we have a proposed guiding principle:
we have discerned that the Spirit is saying
“Living in God’s grace,
all are welcomed, included, and treasured here”
at Advent.
After all, we are one of those congregations
whose sign as you enter the parking lot reads:
“All Are Welcome In This Place”
In our discernment,
We are hearing that it is not enough to just welcome,
but to value,
to include,
to treasure you:
any, us, all.
To recognize and celebrate the Light of Christ that lives
in you,
in any,
in us,
in all.
This is the kind of community that God is calling us to be,
the kind of community that we strive to be,
and we pray, by God’s grace,
That this is who we are:
not just with a sign,
but with God’s radical acceptance
lived out here.
This is who Jesus is,
arms wide open for children,
for cultural and religious outsiders,
for tax collectors,
sex workers,
enemies.
Jesus even loves and accepts Saskatchewan Roughrider fans.
Listen to Jesus.
Jesus says that you are welcomed,
you are included,
you are treasured.
Listen to Jesus.
In the transfiguration,
we see Jesus for who Jesus is;
God’s Beloved Son,
bearing the glory of God Almighty in flesh,
shining with radiant Light.
We also see these disciples for who they really are;
regular people, who,
when faced with God’s glory,
with eyes opened to who Jesus really is,
are people invited down the mountain
to continue the ministry of Jesus Christ.
In baptism,
we too are invited down the mountain,
we continue the mission of God
with all of God’s people.
We listen to Jesus.
(Slide 4 - Grateful Hearts)
For us, this means with grateful hearts,
we are nourished through prayer,
Word and Sacrament,
called and sent
to be people of justice and peace,
that we continually listen for the Spirit to guide,
that we are called into togetherness,
hospitality, fellowship, love shared.
that we are committed to living our faith and hope
in loving service to the world.
Listen to Jesus.
(Slide 5 - Transfiguration)
One particular Word from Jesus kept coming to me this week.
Light.
On the mountain,
Peter, James and John
see Jesus shine with brilliant Light.
As I gathered in Canmore with clergy friends and colleagues,
up in the mountains,
I was reminded that the Light shines in the darkness,
that God is with us in darkness and in light.
As I gathered with youth at Kuriakos,
not on a mountain,
but on a hillside by the lake,
I was reminded of Jesus’ proclamation
in the Sermon on the Mount.
You are the light of the world.
Let your light shine before others,
that they may see your good works,
and give Glory to God.
Yet we can be pretty good at hiding this light,
like a candle hidden under a basket.
Too many of us have been taught that
we are broken,
that we are no good, dirty, rotten, scoundrel sinners.
Too many of us have been taught
an unhealthy way of being humble
and we lack self worth.
The truth of the Transfiguration
isn’t just that Jesus is Messiah,
that Jesus shines with brilliant Light,
but so do you.
Can you see yourself on the mountain,
glowing, radiating Light?
I can. I can see your Light.
It is who Jesus says you are,
and it is who we become.
You are God’s beloved.
you are created in the image of God,
you are beautiful,
you are precious,
you have value and worth,
Jesus welcomes you in,
Jesus includes you,
Jesus treasures you.
and yeah,
you’re a sinner.
Correction: You’re a forgiven sinner.
we can’t not sin.
But sin and brokenness is not what defines you,
Baptism defines you,
Light defines you.
And not just you, singular
but you, plural
each, any, us, all.
My blessing for you this day is a camp song.
please sing along with me as you’re comfortable.
You are the light of the world,
you are the light of the world,
so shine, shine,
shine where you are.
You are the light of the world.
You are a candle in the dark
You are a candle in the dark
so shine, shine,
shine where you are.
You are a candle in the dark
You are a city on a hill
You are a city on a hill
so shine, shine,
shine where you are.
You are a city on a hill
You are the light of the world
You are the light of the world
so shine, shine,
shine where you are.
You are the light of the world
Thanks be to God. Amen.
