Change - It is a Part of Life

Mark 9:2-10

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. ¹⁰So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean.

            For being described so regularly as the leader the disciples, the one on whom Jesus will build the church, Peter is pretty much always wrong in the gospels.  He keeps on trying to get Jesus to be comfortable, to not fulfill his mission.  When Jesus first tells the disciples that he is going to have to die, Peter rebukes him, when Jesus is talking to them before he is taken by the soldiers, Peter swears he will also stand by Jesus, no matter what, then promptly tells people that he never knew Jesus.  Of course, he is not the only one who doesn’t get it.

  Just a little while before this, after Jesus had fed thousands with just a few pieces of bread, twice, with plenty to spare, twice, they are sitting on the boat and wondering amongst themselves if Jesus is mad at them for not bringing enough food.  I can just imagine Jesus finding the nearest wall and hitting his head off of it for a while, growing all the more frustrated with the disciples and wondering “where did I find these guys?”  And here we have Peter on the mountain, looking upon Jesus, who is hanging out with Elijah and Moses, and he says “let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one Elijah.”

Sounds nice enough, doesn’t it?  Just to go up and relax on the mountaintop with Jesus and Elijah and Moses, have them live up there forever.  Afterall, Elijah and Moses had already left this world, Elijah via flaming chariot and Moses passed away, although some traditions state he also was taken up by God before his death.  So if Jesus is the Son of God and the other two have already gotten past death, there should be nothing to stop them from just living on the mountain together.  I mean, we have all these stories of wise hermits living on the tops of mountains handing out advice, why not make it even better by having three up there, especially when one is God?

            But that is not what Jesus was called to do.  Sitting on a mountain is not what Jesus’ mission is, instead it is to be active down in the world and to spread the good news of God and to call for repentance, for the people to drastically change their lives due to God’s presence and action in the world.  And it is not going to be getting any easier for Jesus in the days ahead.  Not with the disciples, who on the way down the mountain are going to argue about who is the greatest among them and talk about not letting others do things in Jesus’ name, both of which defy Jesus.  And when he reaches the bottom he is greeted by a father whose son is afflicted with a demon, whom he wants Jesus to cast out.  All round Jesus are people begging him for signs of His power, signs that God is present, and after each miracle the only thing they see is a healer and not God.  Maybe at times he felt like living on the mountain would be the better option.  It would sure be a lot easier.  But Jesus was called to take the easy way out.  Instead of staying up on a mountain, removed from the world and living in blessed ignorance and in stasis, He is called off the mountain to change the world, to even suffer and die, all for the sake of these people who clearly don’t get it.  And judging from the wide variety of denominations that are even just in this country, let alone in the world, can we say that we are any better?  Can we truly say that we understand it all and follow God precisely?  No.  But much like the disciples we are loved anyway.  Christ, while he may have gotten greatly frustrated with them, also understood them and knew that they were trying their best.  He also realized that they would far prefer comfort to anything else, so he prepared them for change and gave them insight so that they could follow him even when it appeared that all was lost.  Through the Transfiguration, through seeing Him with the embodiment of the Law and the Prophets and through hearing the voice of God declare Jesus His Son, and ordering them to follow Him, the disciples are prepared for all that is it come and they are given the strength to do what must be done, through all the changes that were going to happen.  Everything appears to go downhill following this moment, both literally and figuratively.  After this, they go down a mountain and soon the leaders are going to start plotting the death of Christ.  Everything moves towards His crucifixion, but the disciples are continually warned about it and are prepared.

In much the same what, we are also in a time of transition, as all congregations are.  At times it can appear as though the Christian faith is losing a battle to our culture.  People are attending worship less frequently and financial support has been shrinking across the board and our Biblical stories are discussed less and less.  The world has changed since Jesus’ times, it has changed since the 50s, and it has even changed this year already.  All around us change and transitions are happening.  And we need not be afraid, because we know that Jesus Christ is the very Son of God.

It can be easy to fear though, because the unknown is scary.  Yet we are a congregation that has faced a great amount of change already.  Think about it.  Some of them are quite obvious.  For one, you all called a new pastor, to be here and to help lead and be a part of the ministry of the congregation.  We have gone from a different style of communion each week , while using wafers, to having a steady style of communion, where we share together from one loaf of bread, unite as the body of Christ.  We experienced a new style of worship over Advent on Wednesdays, we spent a summer worshipping together as one body, we swapped preachers with local congregations for a Sunday, we have welcomed the Methodist church into our VBS program,  and we are currently redoing the parlor and creating a new nursery.  In less than a year, we have had all these transitions and all these changes, and the world did not end, our ministry did not fall apart.  No, instead we have begun new ministries and more will be coming as well, as each of us finds our gifts and our callings.  We have an active group that visits our members who cannot join us here at worship, we have a group who meets together to do crafts and enjoy each other’s company and gifts, and we having been growing in our connections to the community.

  And the changes don’t stop, and through it all we have been doing the work of God, our ministry has grown instead of shrunk.  Yes, change is scary.  Coming down off the mountain is also scary, especially when it means being confronted with a world that is sick and in need, but yet it is our mission to do so.  We are not called to a life of comfort, but instead we are called to a life of change and transition.  We are changed because of God’s love for us; we are empowered and prepared for transitions because of the gifts of the Spirit that He has given us.

The church is not dead, nor is Christianity dying, it is merely changing in light of the world around it, and we will change as well.  But we have shown already that we can change, that it is not something to be feared but rather is a way of growing.  We know that our Savior has died for us and has been raised in order that we may be with Him for all eternity.  We know that our God is a loving god who will not foreswear us.  There is no power of this world that can destroy the light of God, and we are that light.  Just as Christ shone on that mountaintop, Christ shines through each of us each and every day.

  Each face here is a reflection of God, a life that has been transformed and continues to be changed by God each and every day.  So be not afraid, for while change is inevitable, we go through it together in order that Christ’s light may shine all the brighter through each and everyone of us.  Times may be difficult, but through God all things are possible and all things are made new.

The season of Epiphany may seem like a mountaintop, especially as we end it today with Transfiguration Sunday.  It is the season of light and of growth.  We have heard stories of healings, of people being restored.  We are make a very quick change though, as this Wednesday begins the season of Lent, a time when we remember that we are dust and to dust we shall return, signified with the ashes that will adorn our faces.  This can often be seen as a season of darkness, a season that we just try to get through, perhaps with some sacrifice being made, such as chocolate.  It can be seen as a season of despair, just as we despair over the past, of when pews were filled and Sunday school classes overflowed.  But instead of being a season of despair, it is a season of not only penitence, but of growth.

  It is a season where we discipline ourselves through not only sacrificing, but also adding, adding a time to devote to God, adding to what we give away to the needy, adding to our self-care, in order that we may be better stewards of the bodies that God gave us.  Through our experiences in Lent, in our reminder of our being dust, in our witness to the washing of the disciples feet and our Lord being crucified on the cross, we are prepared.  We are prepared for that glorious day when He rises from the grave and shows that even when it seems that all is lost, God is still there, God is still the most powerful being that ever has been and will be, and that when God shows us love and compassion and mercy there is nothing at all that we need be afraid of and nothing that can defeat us, for not even death can stop God nor can it fully defeat us, for we are the children of God, baptized in water and sealed with the Spirit, united with Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection. We don’t need to go to the mountaintop to find Christ, because Christ comes to us each and every day and calls us to follow him down the mountain and into the world.

So as we journey together through all the changes that surround us, changes in our lives, changes in our congregation, changes in our season, let us be united, let us see the light of God and the face of Jesus Christ imprinted on the faces of all who surround us.  Together we may shine that light all the brighter and help people to see that God is not only on the mountaintops, but also right here in our lives and in our communities.

Amen.