"WEATHER REPORT"
(The Transfiguration)

Have you ever noticed that when all else fails...if there's nothing else to talk about...we can always talk about the weather? Especially here in St. Louis. The weather here always seems to be a dependable source of conversation. For instance...can anybody tell me exactly what season it is? On Friday morning, I went outside to find that is was quite cold and raining. As I walked to my car, I noticed that there was some hale or sleet or something involving little chunks of ice mixed in with the rain. By the time I got into the car, I discovered that there were also large snowflakes falling. Big, fluffy flakes that sort of exploded when they hit the windshield...the way a small sack of flour would if you dropped it off the roof onto the sidewalk. I guess an appropriate name for this kind of precipitation would be "snreet" or "slainow."

Then yesterday, the sun was out...the birds were singing...it was 70 degrees! Exactly what season is it here?

Maybe we need a composite name for the season we seem to be in. Is it "sprinter?" Is it "winring?" Who knows! But it's a good source of conversation!

Obviously, weather-wise, we're at a crossroads...we're in a seasonal transition. Likewise, in the seasons of the church year, we arrive today at a crossroads...a transition. Today is the last Sunday in the season of Epiphany. This Wednesday - Ash Wednesday - will begin the season of Lent. What should we call the next couple of days then? "Epiphanent?" "Lentiphany?" Today's Scripture reading combines aspects ofboth seasons: the revelation of the Godly glory of Christ - which we know as the theme of Epiphany - and the long, hard journey that lies ahead of us in the season of Lent.

The passage we heard from the Gospel of Mark is a story known as the Transfiguration of Jesus. The same story is also recorded in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. And, in all the research and reading and pondering and praying I've been doing this week over this passage in order to prepare a sermon about it, I've discovered that, if we think of sermons as explaining things and making things clear, I can't do it!

I can't explain the Transfiguration of Jesus. It's too extraordinary. And the most extraordinary thing about the story of the Transfiguration is its extraordinary extraordinariness. That's a clumsy way of saying that not only is there nothing quite like this "transfiguration" of Jesus in our experience, there's nothing else quite like it in the Bible.

The story itself is difficult to even imagine. Once, when 3 disciples, Peter, James and John, were up on a mountain with Jesus and apparently were not expecting anything unusual to happen, just some prayer and quiet time for them all...suddenly Jesus was transformed before their wondering eyes. He was transfigured. (Now how can I explain this?) He looked different. (No, it was much more than that!) He looked "glorious." (Which is not the same as "fabulous.") His robes became luminescent - glowing with bright light - and clouds floated around him. (Now that sounds goofy, like bad Sunday school art.)

Whatever Jesus looked like, to Peter, James and John it looked like he was talking with Moses and Elijah, the two biblical figures expected to return to earth to prepare the way for God's Messiah. Whatever conversation they were having, it seemed to Peter to be perfectly sublime. He wanted to hold the moment forever, prevent it from slipping away, keep everything just the way it was. "Let's build three shelters," he blurted out. "One for each of you and we can just stay right here like this." (By that same logic, I would have gone back in for my boots and sled when I saw those snowflakes on Friday!)

Now Peter was never known to be the brightest bulb in the box, and this was a typically inept response to an ovenvhelming situation. But in his defense, St. Mark writes: "Peter did not know what to say, they were so frightened."

Peter didn't know what to say when the glory of God was revealed in the person of Jesus. And neither do I. And, frankly, every year for many centuries the Transfiguration has come up in the seasons ofthe church...and preachers, far greater than I, have been at a loss to explain it all or to encapsulate, into sermons even longer than I would ever preach, what the full meaning of it was.

So, if a sermon is about explaining things and making things clear, this is not a sermon. But as I noted when I began, if all else fails...we can always talk about the weather! So in lieu of a sermon, this morning I offer to you a weather report.

Today, on the Mount of Transfiguration, we stand at a seasonal crossroads surrounded by the cloud of divine presence and human brain fog. This is a turning point in the life of Jesus. From the clear, crisp beauty of a cold winter' s night at Christmas, we have traveled with Christ through the season of Epiphany - a time when the heavy fog over humanity breaks open to reveal that the long awaited Messiah has come in the person ofJesus. This One - the true Child of God - God incarnate - Emmanuel, God with us - has brought light into shadow- enshrouded lives with miraculous healings and amazing, new teachings that have dispersed the dark clouds of oppressive religiousity that have hung over the heads of the people for so long.

Now, along with the disciples, we are about to descend from the mountain of glory back into the valley of reality below...where we will journey with Jesus toward Jerusalem in the season of Lent. On that journey, there will be times when the wind of the Spirit will blow truth into our lives and the lives of all who encounter Jesus along the way. There will showers of mercy found in Christ's healing and teaching. There will be a warm, wonderful day when the people will shout "Hosanna!" and cheer for Jesus as he enters the city. But we will also discover that, for Jesus, the heat is increasing among the religious authorities, and a gathering storm is going to greet us all in a little over six weeks when we will be asked to follow Jesus all the way to the cross. There the lightening will strike and thunder will explode upon the world as God is given over to death. It's not a very pleasant forecast. How can we prepare?

While the story of the Transfiguration is a complex and difficult phenomenon to understand, there is one key verse in our Scripture reading today that can help us to prepare for the difficult spiritual weather of the Lenten season. Verse 7: "Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: 'This is my Child, whom I love. Listen to this One! - Listen to Jesus is what the voice of God proclaimed to those disciples.

I can remember, all those years that Lorraine and I lived in Florida, every year near the onset of hurricane season, the weather people on T.V. would always make announcements and give lots of information on how you should prepare for these potentially deadly storms that could be coming. We were always told to make sure that we had plenty of fresh water, non- perishable food, a good light source and plenty of batteries for power, a first-aid kit, clean, dry clothes, and a plan for where we could go to most safely ride out the storm.

I have to wonder if "listen to Jesus" was God's advice to the disciples - and to us - on how to prepare for the coming storm in Jerusalem...or any storm in life, for that matter. Think of what we have learned about Christ in Scripture.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, "If anyone is thirsty, let that one come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me will have streams of living water flowing within...." "I am the bread of life. If anyone eats of this bread, they will live forever." "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." In 2 Peter we read, Christ's "divine power has given us everything we need for life...." Christ is the Great Physician who binds up our wounds...the One who cleanses every stain within us...and is our sure and safe shelter in times of storm. I think of the old hymn, "On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand": "Christ's oath, and covenant, and love, Support me in the whelming flood; When all around my soul gives way, Christ then is all my hope and stay."

I cannot begin to explain or make clear all that is going to happen to Jesus as we follow his life through the season of Lent. Nor can I begin to explain or make clear why it is that, even when we follow Jesus in faith, we still end up enduring harsh, hot, dry times ofthe soul...and raging storms in life...or the threatening cold ofloneliness and despair. As we are in this world, we stand at a crossroads...and turning to follow Jesus does not change the forecast of what may lie ahead.

The one thing I am sure of is that, beyond the weeks of stormy weather ahead of us in Scripture...beyond the constantly changing weather of the world around us...after the days of cold and rain and the fog of confusion in which we often dwell...there is going to come a springtime ofthe soul that will never end. Easter is coming. It may seem like quite a ways off. But as we head down the mountain, following Jesus, we have seen a glimpse of the glory that's coming. We may not understand it all, but that glimpse of glory we have seen on Jesus' face today is enough to get us all the way to Easter morning and the glory that lies beyond! Amen.

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