Sermons - March 2025

“As Moses came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand,
he did not know that the skin of his face shone
because he had been talking with God.” Exodus 34:29

“Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James,
and went up on the mountain to pray.
And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed,
and his clothes became dazzling white.” Luke 9:28

Do you recognise these words? Locate their time and place?
“Current Guidance: We encourage people to wear face coverings in the building
(unless exempt), but the requirement to do so has now been lifted.
Some people will be more comfortable maintaining social distancing:
please be respectful of their choices.
Our arrangements are under review –
the Out of Lock Down working group will meet this week.
We will publicise any changes as promptly as possible, should the need arise.”

The St Columba’s intimation sheet three years ago.
Time of masks and direction arrows –
their faded outline, still visible on wooden floors,
ghostly reminder of strange days.
Today, seemingly barely believable - Did that really happen?

You will have your own COVID memories.
People had such differing experiences.
We went from livestreaming services in an empty church,
to gradual readmission of worshippers into the sanctuary – spaced and masked.
I was often asked: Did it feel lonely to conduct worship with a
musician and a technician and no one else?
To which I always answered:
That was easy - when people came back that was difficult!
(Which needs a little explaining):
When the church was empty there was never a sense that nothing was happening.
On the contrary, the leading of worship felt more important than ever –
and though the pews were empty, there was always a sense,
that in ways we couldn’t fathom,
we were connected and sharing something profound.
In contrast, the return of “live” worshippers was much more disconcerting:
A sprinkling of people – thinly spread – faces covered – unable to sing.
That felt much more disconnected.
It turns out, faces were/faces are important.

We shouldn’t be surprised:
A wedding couple choose lines from by Scots poet, Edwin Muir’s “The Confirmation”
to be included in their ceremony:
“Yes, yours my love, is the right human face,
I in my mind had waited for this long,
Seeing the false and searching for the true,
Then found you as a traveller finds a place
Of welcome suddenly amid the wrong
Valleys and rocks and twisting roads.”

Or today, a baptismal day; welcoming, celebrating, Winifred,
words that we sang together:
“The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make his face to shine upon you…”
The presence of an infant, a fresh reminder of the wondrousness/the shiningness
of a human face;
a double delight: both to really look into the face of an infant;
but also, to behold a child looking at the world;
their curiosity and attention re-teaching jaded adult eyesight the G K Chesterton truth:
“The world will never starve for want of wonders; but only for want of wonder.”

Today’s focus on faces and accompanying masked musings,
prompted by scripture; serving up two notable faces,
masked and revealed; revealed and masked.
The link appears to be mountains and faces.
Moses at Mount Sinai (receiving the Commandments)
then returning to the children of Israel with a face all aglow.
Mask on, mask off.
Then Jesus echoing much of Moses’ experience:
Taking the high road, clues and symbol abound –
mountain, dazzling light, glowing countenance –
The presence and commendation of Moses and Elijah –
dignitaries, representing the Law and the Prophets.
Lest we be in any doubt: A cloud descending – very presence of God;
and that Voice: “This is my Son, the Chosen. Listen to him!”

Luke’s account really starts:
“Now about eight days after these sayings…”
Which sayings?
“Who do you say that I am?” asks Jesus. “The Christ” trumpets Peter.
But to Crown, Jesus responds, Cross.
“The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, be rejected…be killed
and on the third day be raised.”
…
“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves
and take up their cross daily and follow me.”

Eight days later the great witnesses, Moses and Elijah talk with Jesus;
“speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.”
Our translation is departure; but the word Luke uses is exodus –
a profound, loaded word, for those shaped
by Israel’s long walk to freedom, out of Egypt’s chains.
Luke uses exodus both in the sense of journey and more profoundly, death.
The Transfiguration/the Big Reveal is an assurance,
before the end, about the end.
A glimpse, a confidence, a provision for the way, –
something to feed on when the going gets tough.

Perhaps it is Jesus who most needs to comprehend the confirmation.
Given the journey ahead, he will need all the affirmation of purpose he can get.
The Transfiguration representsa recognition/commendation of his true self –
chosen and beloved of the Father.
And for disciples, something in time,
that will defy the apparent meaninglessness
of Jesus’ vicious, filthy, tortured passing.
His exodus, not a dead end, but gateway to a Promised Land.

Peter, patron saint of the foot in mouth comment,
makes the mistake of wanting to tabernacle the moment,
harness the holy, contain/perpetuate it for posterity.
The sight of Jesus striding down the hill, educates him swiftly,
to what Jesus thinks of that idea.
Neither the rabbi, nor Gd, appear much concerned with permanent mountaintop real estate.

What happened next?”
All three Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) tell the story of the Transfiguration -
and all three conclude the story with the healing of a “demon-possessed” boy,
down in the valley.

In the Vatican Museum, the last painting of the Renaissance artist, Raphael
depicts this gospel account; entitled The Transfiguration of Christ,
it divides in two parts.
The upper, bathed in light, portrays the events on the mountain-top;
Peter, John and James witness Christ in glory.
But, scrolling down to the people at the foot of the hill,
one becomes aware of a darker scene;
a jostling crowd, and a boy with agitated features, looking up to the Risen Christ.
His father seeks help; the other nine disciples are there,
some arguing with the scribes, as others look on.

Layered as it is, it is a single piece – its unity, an amalgam or fusion,
conveying a difficult truth.
The Christ story will not be neatly segmented –
beauty and order and light in one domain –
life’s difficulties – illness, intolerance, anger, disappointment,
somehow exiled to a lesser, non-sacred category.
Artist and the gospel author, weave the two together –
the glory and the grey, certainties and doubt, vision and gloom,
hope and despair, belief and unbelief.
Mountain “God” moments may come, unanticipated, gifted –
but more reliably, Christ is to be found in the valley,
amidst the sorrows and beauties of everyday, messy, imperfect human life.

Debie Thomas highlights the danger of “God on the mountaintop” Christianity:
“As if God is somehow more present during a rousing choral anthem,
a stirring sermon, or a silent retreat in a seaside monastery,
than God is when I'm doing the laundry, buying my groceries,
or sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic. 
Desperate for the mountain, we miss the God of the valley,
the conference room, the pharmacy, the school yard.” 

Peter eventually learns that the compassionate heart of God
is most powerfully revealed amidst the lost and the lonely;
shines most brightly against the backdrop of the parent who grieves,
the child who cries, the “demons” who oppress,
and the disciples who try but fail to manufacture the holy

So, with Peter, John and James, after our worship together,
we are invited back to the world,
imperfect and flawed, complex and complicated;
there to seek and serve the face of Christ:
Found “…. as a traveller finds a place
Of welcome suddenly amid the wrong
Valleys and rocks and twisting roads.”

Or as another poet penned:
“… for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men's faces.”
(As Kingfishers Catch Fire, Gerard manly Hopkins)