The Rev. Carol S. Wedell

More often than not, the way we see things is not the only way that something can be seen.  As I meet with couples prior to marriage, we often laugh about their varying perspectives on neatness or cleanliness.  A room that looks totally fine to one person may look like a pigsty to another.  More than one fiancé has been accused of not "seeing" dirt! Come to think of it, I've witnessed this same phenomenon with my kids!  

We view the world through different lenses.  Most often that means that while we may see parts of it quite clearly, we may be blind to other aspects.  Let me show you what I mean.  I would like all of you to pull out your bulletin.  Some of you have seen this picture before and likely know where I'm heading - which is great.  I may need you to point a few things out!

Now look closely at the picture.  How many of you see a young woman?  How many of you see an old woman?  At choir rehearsal last Thursday, I overheard Craig asking whose mother it was, so we know which he'll choose.  Save for those who have viewed this picture before, is there anyone who can see both an old woman and a young woman?  If you can only see one or the other, find someone near you who can point out the other one to you.

Hopefully you all can see now that this is actually a picture of both a young woman and an old woman, complete within the same picture.  Most of us need the help of someone else to move past the limitations of our own viewpoint.  There is a "veil" that keeps us from seeing the whole picture that needs to be removed if we are to have our vision expanded.

Today is Transfiguration Sunday, a transitional day in the church year, when we conclude the season of Epiphany and prepare to move into the 40 days of Lent, in preparation for Easter.  What began with the star over the manger ends up with Jesus appearing in a dazzling light on the mountain top.  Epiphany is the season when we celebrate the ways in which God is made real in our lives.  These past weeks our gospel readings have told us about the ways in which God is made flesh in Jesus in the everyday events of life. Today is quite a different story!   Our gospel lesson this morning invites us to another way of viewing Jesus, rather than the friend of fishermen.  It invites us to expand our vision of who God is and how God works.  Maybe we've only been seeing part of the picture.

I'll be honest.  The group of pastors I meet with to discuss the texts for each Sunday all groaned in unison as we approached the readings for today.  Transfiguration rolls around every year, and there just doesn't seem to be that much new or exciting to say about it.  And if the truth be told, it's among the more challenging texts in the synoptic gospels.  This story reads more like the supernatural events of the Old Testament than the earthy, real-life Jesus of the gospels.  It speaks in the language of imagery and emotion rather than logic and rationality.

Jesus takes Peter, John and James with him and goes up on the mountain to pray.  In scripture when mountains are mentioned, you usually can tell that something important is about to happen.  While Jesus was praying something occurred that went beyond anything the three disciples could comprehend.  Jesus is still there - but he looks totally different.  We read that "his face was changed" and that his clothes became dazzling white.  Two heroes of the faith, Moses and Elijah appear and speak with Jesus.  For a brief moment in time, heaven and earth meet.

Can you imagine how the three disciples must have felt?  Perhaps they rubbed their sleepy eyes and looked again.  Perhaps they stood there in stunned silence.  Eventually, however, Peter tries to get things back under control.  Clearly this is not decently and in order!   Like me all too often, he says the first thing that pops into his mouth. "I've got a great idea!  I've got a way to contain this whole thing.  I'll build three tents for you to stay in."

As Peter is speaking a cloud comes over them.  Well, if they weren't scared and confused already, they sure are now.  They can't see a thing and they are terrified.  And in the middle of that confusion, when all vision is cut off, they hear a voice, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"  In my imagination, I hear a dramatic silence for a moment. Then, as quickly as it had come, the cloud lifts, the earlier vision is gone and all the three disciples see is Jesus, standing in front of them.

Luke tells us that the disciples kept silent and didn't tell anyone about the things they had seen.  Makes sense to me!  For even in an age much more receptive than ours to experiences which went beyond human understanding, this was impossible to comprehend.  How could they explain this amazing event?

Comedian Lily Tomlin is quoted as saying, "If you speak with God, they call it prayer.  But if God speaks to you, they think you're crazy."    In fact, the disciples couldn't explain it, any more than we can.  They had been brought face to face with a God who could not be explained, but only experienced.  And that is what is so difficult for so many of us.

Most of us Presbyterians are vastly more comfortable with talking about God, with wrestling intellectually with our understandings of God than moving into the experiential realm.  But remember that picture on the front of the bulletin?  If we limit our understanding of God to that which can be grasped by our minds, we are not seeing the whole picture.   Our knowledge of God is "veiled" by our single-sighted vision.

Wesley White, in his online blog writes:

whatever our brand of faith
we work with veils
some call them creeds
masking new revelation
some call them experience
avoiding larger grounding
some call them discipline
fencing in options
some call them mercy
lost without boundaries
some call them hope
insulation from pain
some call them literalism
deflecting multiple meaning
some call them heresy
bypassing engagement
whatever our brand
we work with veils

(Wesley White  kcmlection.blogspot.com)

Indeed, we do work with veils of varying types.. Yet in our epistle lesson this morning, we are invited to let the veils be removed.  Paul speaks of those who follow Christ as being people with "unveiled faces."  We need not only to hear about God, we need to taste and see that the Lord is good.

I can assure you that most non-churched folks today are not particularly interested in a nice intellectual discussion about God.  They are much more interested in an experience of God in their lives, of seeing how the presence of God in their lives makes a difference. They are less concerned with "correct" theology than in a faith which connects to the lives they live day in and day out.

What I'm guessing we'll find, is that if we listen to each other, we'll find that many of us have had moments when we did experience God.  For some of us, it will be as moving and dramatic as the text from Luke.  Some of you have shared those "beyond words - beyond comprehension" experiences with me - a time when you knew, beyond a doubt that God was present with you. I have been honored to hear what you have had to say.  From our post-enlightenment western perspective, it is often difficult to give voice to what some would call "mystical" experiences.  We don't often share them with others for fear of appearing foolish.  Our silence is another kind of "veil" which keeps the power of the experience from reaching others.

Many more of us have had more subtle experiences of God, when looking back we realized that God's hand had been at work in our lives --moments when we were choked with emotion or awe, or moments when we simply knew something, even without cognitive data to support it. These moments are available to all of us - if we open ourselves to them - if "the veil" has been removed and we look with new eyes.

Here's an idea.  What if every night at the dinner table you sat down and inquired about the day in this manner:  "Where have you seen God today?"  As we reflect back over the course of our day and the people we've interacted with, where do we see God involved in what's going on?  What are those events telling us about God?

God is at the heart of every moment of experience, and we can come to know God in a host of ways, through our hearts, minds and personal encounters.  Surprising and unexpected things can happen.    We can experience the Holy, receive divine guidance and wisdom and become a channel through which God works.  That is after all, what is means to worship the living God - one who is alive, real, energetic and life-transforming - even when we can't fully comprehend how God works.   Every moment holds the potential to be a time when God is made known, if the veils don't blind us to God's presence.

Our reading from 2 Corinthians invites us to drop the veils that keep us from seeing God face to face.  Veils can serve to protect or hide us. They may keep us from facing the full weight of what God calls us to do and be. They may keep us from seeing things we don't want to see.  It may be frightening to drop them.  Yet if we are "unveiled" we can live more fully in the presence of God.  The result, according to Paul is lives that are changed, transformed.  When we are alert to the presence of God in our lives, we live differently. We become the face of holiness - the face of God for others. 

This week, one of you shared with a group about a friend recently diagnosed with breast cancer - a frightening diagnosis, to be sure.  Yet this woman's faith was apparent in her response to this unwelcome news.  While she was praying for a positive outcome, she also viewed this challenge as an opportunity to draw closer to the God whose love she claimed with each breath.  The result?  Her "unveiled" face became a powerful witness of God's love to those around her.

Remember that picture on the front of the bulletin?  Remember how many of us had to have someone else show us how to find the second picture?  The same is true for the veils that so many of us wear.  It's hard to remove them ourselves.  More often than not, we need others in the community of faith to remove the veils for us and help us see God's glory - right in front of our eyes. 

May we dare to live with "unveiled" faces, open this day and every day to God's presence and power.