This morning I prepared the Order of Service for next Sunday, August 6. That day we mark the Feast of the Transfiguration. That got me thinking...
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| The Transfiguration Raphael - ca. 1520 |
Over 2,000 years out, this story from Scripture may be very familiar to those of us with the habit of regular church attendance, who've sat through years of lectionary readings, hearing it repeated on a regular cycle -- perhaps even studied it in a Bible Study or theology class.
But have any of us ever stopped to think about the reality of what happened in that "mountain-top experience"? I'm betting those disciples never saw that coming!
For reflection this week I offer up this sonnet by Rev. Malcom Guite from his book, Sounding the Seasons (Canterbury Press, 2012)...
Transfiguration
For that one moment, ‘in and out of time’
On that one mountain where all moments meet,
The daily veil that covers the sublime
In darkling glass fell dazzled at his feet.
There were no angels full of eyes and wings
Just living glory full of truth and grace.
The Love that dances at the heart of things
Shone out upon us from a human face
And to that light the light in us leaped up,
We felt it quicken somewhere deep within,
A sudden blaze of long-extinguished hope
Trembled and tingled through the tender skin.
Nor can this this blackened sky, this darkened scar
Eclipse that glimpse of how things really are.
If you wish, you can listen to Rev. Guite read this aloud HERE -- an invitation to light a candle, sit quietly, close your eyes and let the Spirit get under your 'tender skin'...
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