Pastor:

Pr. Tom Schoenherr

February 21-22, 2009

Mark 9:2-9

Transfiguration: O Morning Star

Pr. Tom Schoenherr

Some of the most moving mountain top experiences I have had, where it seems as though the space between heaven and earth is very thin, have come through music, either singing with a choir or listening. My response is often silence as the music draws me close to God. I am changed in the listening.

There are times in our lives when we need to be away, to have mountain top experiences, to be renewed and to be refreshed in the presence of God. From February 9-13 I attended a conference and retreat on the “Radical Presence of God.” As part of this experience we spent 48 hours in silence, eating silently, listening, reading, but not speaking to anyone. It was in the midst of those silent times that I could hear God speaking to me and to be in the presence of Christ. In the experience I know I was changed.

The disciples, Peter, James and John, are invited into the presence of God in this experience of the transfiguration. They heard God’s voice calling them into a relationship with Jesus. Something beyond themselves happens to them on the mountain. God tears open the heavens and the space between human and divine is very thin. We can only imagine these three disciples feeling terrified by this experience.

I wonder if the transfiguration is of the disciples more than Jesus. Jesus remains, was and always will be the beloved Son of God. Peter, James and John are the ones who could be forever changed by this experience of being in the brilliantly lighted presence of God.

Philipp Nicolai, who composed this hymn, “O Morning Star How Fair and Bright,” sometimes called the Queen of Lutheran chorales, lived between 1556 and 1608. He composed this hymn during the time of the Black Plague that killed 1400 people in the small town of Unna, Germany. In the midst of the darkness of fear and death all around him, Nicolai experienced the presence of the light of Christ and he was changed in the experience.

(We sing verses 1 and 2 of this hymn, and as we do be aware of the references to light and to different names and phrases for Christ.)

During the time of silence, I was outside reading on a bench near a bronze statue on the grounds of the renewal center where our conference met. I sat there partly because I was struck by this statue. A full-size figure of Jesus sits looking into the eyes of a woman. She looks questioningly into his eyes as he smiles reassuringly into her eyes. Jesus holds her hand and his right arm is cradling this mother’s baby on his lap. The title of the statue is “Hope” and it is dedicated to all of those parents who have lost a child.

As I looked down to continue reading, a couple in their late sixties or early seventies came walking to the statue. I watched as they stood in front of the statue. He was holding her hand and with his other arm around the shoulders of the mother in the statue. She placed her other arm around Jesus shoulders. They just stood there for a moment, possible praying or at least remembering.

It could have been that they had lost a child or a grandchild at one time. They know the statue and they may come here often. Here they come into the presence of God, pray, and receive comfort and healing in the loss that they alone know.

It is Jesus who comes into those dark and lonely places of our lives, who holds us and renews our lives as we walk on life’s journey. It is through faith in Jesus Christ, and standing in his presence, that our lives are transfigured and changed, and we are reassured by his presence.

(We sing verse 3 of the hymn.)

Our lives often have little time for silence. There is so much going on, so many sounds and voices we hear, we may miss the voice and the presence of God who wants to draw us close to himself. If you are missing silent time in your life, Lent may be a time to include intentional times of silence for the purpose of listening for God’s voice. Lent is a time to be aware of the presence of God in the places and people all around us. Lent is a time to worship, to listen to the Word of God in our homes, to spend time in prayer and reflection.

In these days of so much tension and fear, Jesus Christ is present with us in the noise, in the silence, in the singing and the music, in the Word, in the Lord’s Supper and Baptism, and in surprising other places, to give us light and hope, and the promise of an everlasting relationship with him that never ends. In the experience we are changed.

(We sing the last verse of the hymn, and then a moment of silence.)