A Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday 2011

The following is a sermon offered by Rev. Michelle Miller (Holy Trinity Lutheran Church
Chicago, Illinois) on March 6, 2011.

TransSunday
Transformers, transfusion, transportation, translation, transcendent, transfix, transaction, transgender, transfer, trans fat, transubstantiation..that’s one I won’t even begin to try and explain.

Have you ever noticed how many words begin with trans? Until this week, with a Transfiguration sermon looming in front of me, I didn’t pay much attention to all the Trans words. But once I did, I couldn’t stop noticing them. They were everywhere: transparent, transplant, transition, transpire, transgress. In my Webster’s Dictionary, 111 “trans” words fill up nearly four pages.

Trans is a Latin word that means across, beyond or on the other side. Trans comes from the Greek word metemorpho, as is metamorphosis, meaning change.

It’s a perfect prefix to pay attention to at this time and in this place. We, as a country, are on a transformation journey. No matter what side of the political aisle we’re on, we’re trying to transform this country, and our place in the world.

And yesterday, in this space, we celebrated the transformation that has happened in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America when our pastor, Craig, and his partner, Ernest, celebrated their union as the first couple to do so since the ELCA changed its official policy for gay or lesbian pastors. We celebrated Transformation—in their lives, and in our church.

Another transformation that has been on my mind lately is the change my good friend has gone through as he transitioned from female to male. His transformation is my first experience journeying with someone who is transgender. The outward physical changes in the past 3 years have been remarkable. But when I asked him about these changes and what the word Trans means to him, he simply said, “The thing is, I don’t feel like I’ve changed at all. The transitioning let my true self be known and seen by others. "This is" really who I have always been all along.” Then he said, “Transitioning affected the people around me much more than it affected me. They were the ones who changed their ideas, assumptions and prejudices about gender.”

Wow! Was that an eye opener! Especially as we look toward the transfiguration text before us this day. Now transfiguration is a strange word, one that we almost never use in everyday speech. And it’s always been a difficult concept for me to preach on. Traditionally we understand the transfiguration of Jesus to be about the changes Jesus goes through on the mountain top with Peter, James and John at this side. Jesus’ face shone as bright as the sun. Jesus’ clothes become dazzling white. In this miraculous story of the transfiguration, Jesus changes form on the mountain.

But what if this transfiguring on the mountaintop, witnessed by his closest friends and disciples, wasn’t as much about Jesus’ transformation, as it was about theirs? In the transfiguration Jesus’ true self was known and seen by others, perhaps for the 1st time. Jesus revealed more of who he’s always been—Human and Divine.

But the disciples' lives, and their understanding of Jesus, were transformed on that mountaintop. While they are getting busy building a home for Jesus, Moses and Elijah, a voice from heaven breaks in and declares, “This is my Son, the beloved, with him I am well pleased.” Immediately they fall to the ground in fear, as was expected when someone is in the presence of the holy. But Jesus reaches out a very human hand, touches them and says, “Get up. Do not be afraid.”

Jesus, Peter, James and John, and the nine waiting below, had plenty to fear once they came off the mountain. There is suffering, persecution, and a crucifixion ahead. The disciples will be overcome with doubt and fear, and will deny and desert Jesus in his final trials. But they will also be transformed from fearful, anxious, inactive cowards to brave, confident, active champions of the faith. In their transformation, through their encounter with the glorified and holy Jesus, their true selves will be revealed as well. They become who they have always been called to be—Beloved ones who belong to God.

And their experience is ours as well. Perhaps this place is our mountain, our place of transformation. We meet Divine Jesus, and catch a glimpse of his glory. And we also experience through this body of Christ human touch, comforting and challenging words, and silence that enables us to unplug the everyday noise from our ears and hear, “You are my beloved, with you I am well pleased.”

We may gather in this place transfixed or in transition, but here we are transfigured and transformed to live more freely and purposefully, revealing more fully our true selves. Be transformed by this bread and wine, this water and word, this silence and song—all full of courage and promise—and go out beloved children of God joyfully living as the ones you were created to be.

The miraculous and glorious Transfiguration story provides for us a TRANSition between the seasons of Epiphany and Lent. As we hover this day between two liturgical seasons, we change not only our season, but our focus: Jesus is revealed on the mountain as both human and divine, and we are pointed toward the experience of his death and resurrection. We bury the glorious and joyful Alleluia, until that Easter morn when his death is transformed into life—for him, for you and for me. And then we will hear once again, “Do not be afraid, with joy go out and share the good news of transformation, new life—changed lives.