One of my favorite parts of confirmation is the day we spend in the Church going over the special vocabulary that we have in the Church world. It is a funny thing that we have a different "Churchy" name for everything that we would otherwise call by its normal or non-churchy name. For example, the wall behind me is facing north according to the compass but once inside the Church we always call it the East Wall so that the altar faces Jerusalem, which is East. I am speaking from a pulpit not a speaker’s stand. The book holder is a lectern. The stage are is called a chancel and the table an altar. The assembly area is the nave and the lobby is a narthex.
Even the simplest things have fancy names - we pour from a flagon not a pitcher, the bread sits on a paten not a plate, the cup is called a chalice, and the Baptismal water bowl is called a font. We wear special clothes to signify the fact that we are engaged in God’s work in God’s house. When I try to explain to the confirmands, the students, why we have all of these fancy words I become torn between the special vocabulary and using ordinary words for everything. On one hand I feel that we should teach them this special vocabulary because it does make things here in the spiritual world of the Church seem just a little more special and a little more holy. This special vocabulary has been passed down from one generation to another for ages and does create this space as a place away from the world and the ordinary-ness of our normal day to day work. This special status is also a reminder that we are in this world but not of this world. That we are God’s people not the people of the world.
But on the other hand, this special status and the special vocabulary can separate us from people who are not part of this particular Church culture. It can be a barrier and make us seem like we are trying to be "better" than everyone else or that this is a closed club with a secret handshake or password that you MUST learn all of these words and vocabulary and learn how to navigate through our worship service with the LBW, the WOV and the bulletin. And yet we want people to know that this is a special place - a place that we have set aside to do the most important thing in our week --to come together and pray and worship and seek the fellowship - the friendship and commonness of our struggle together in faith - with other Christians.
Do these words hurt us or help us? I don’t know - so often times I mix up the sacred and the mundane in my speech.
The word that we use for this last Sunday of Epiphany - or season of Jesus’ revelation as the light of the world - TRANSFIGURATION -- one of those Christian words in our vocabulary that does hurt us - not only in our outreach to those who are here as our guests and visitors. But it also hurts us - the gathered believers - since we have made that word such a big and powerful word. Jesus went up on the mountain top and he was TRANSFIGURED - his clothes began to shine and the revelation of God descended upon the cloud and the three disciples understood that Jesus’ life and ministry was taking a huge turn. For in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke this section of the story of Jesus is a turning point - a turning point where Jesus will from this point "set his face upon Jerusalem" and journey there to die and the rise again.
This time in the mountain top is what prepared him for that journey that journey to life through death. This time on the mountain top is what transfigured him --- which all sounds so very "churchy" and quaint. It also sounds so un-obtainable. Jesus was TRANSFIRUED - but the word transfigured merely means transformed - they are almost identical in the dictionary and they are used as synonyms in earlier English.
This morning Jesus was transformed - we should call this transformation Sunday - it would make our task of being part of Jesus’ body in the world easier. For we can all aspire to being transformed - to being changed by God. That is one of the primary reasons that people come to Church in the first place - to open themselves p to the changing power of God - if you were not interested in having God change your life, you would not be here.
We are also on a journey - a journey that begins today - a journey to and through the 40 days of Lent when we to set our sights on Jerusalem and journey with Jesus to the day of his death and the morning of his resurrection. We are not only on this journey but we must become this journey - when we joined ourselves to Jesus and to his life and death through the waters of Baptism we made his journey our journey, we made his death on the cross our death to sin, we made his resurrection our second chance at life, we made his compassion and love of the poor into our own love of the poor and need for social justice in this world.
We joined our lives to his so that we might rise above the mundane labels and expectation s of our world and be the people of God - that we might rise above petty arguments and selfish human need to truly be the people of God - the people whose lives are so transformed by the power of Jesus that we too have our clothes burn with the great light of transformation and God’s power.
This morning we shall have another disciple walking along the road of faith with us - Emma Grace Ling, daughter of my cousin Rob and his lovely wife Laura will be baptized here today. She will join her life with Jesus in a mysterious way - in a way that makes her life part of the life of Jesus and the life of Jesus part of her life also. She will be transfigured - transformed into a daughter of God and a disciple of Jesus. But how can this be? How can a few drops of water and some words from scripture transform her life and change her into a disciple - she cannot even talk yet , she is not making this choice but it is being made for her. There are many arguments that can be made in the negative but without a doubt we know that something will happen in her life today - she will be transformed as the Holy Spirit is invited into her life and asked to dwell with her in a special way so that she becomes one of the children of God.
She becomes one of those people who are walking along with us on the journey to the cross but not the cross alone for that would be a path to death and despair but also along the path to the empty tomb - the tomb that proclaims that Jesus is not dead but alive that he has been resurrected and then the joyous proclamation that he wishes to share that life with us - to have us walk alongside him not only to the cross and the grave but to the mountaintop where we shall be transformed.
Jesus calls upon us to be transformed by the power of his love and the power of his resurrection - the power of the Holy Spirit that we invoke today as we baptize Emma Grace. And then comes the hard part - Jesus calls upon us to transform our lives but only in this place for one hour every Sunday morning but to also allow the love of Jesus to transform our lives at home with friends and with family and with one another at work in our neighborhood and in all of our interactions with other people.
And is a safe guess that we won’t be covered with a cloud and have a heavenly voice proclaim this transformation. But the outward signs of transformation can be seen by us and by others. We can also --- List things from newsletter. (daily prayer, scripture reading, calling another member, acts of mercy and service, etc.) - they are not "good works" that earn us salvation but signs of our transformation to the world around us.
