FOUR: Transfiguration of our Lord, part one:  A New Gestalt.

ONE:  According to Thomas Kuhn, the catalyst for a genuine scientific revolution is not a critical mass of compelling argument, but rather a shift in the way the scientific community perceives the world—a shift in paradigm. This shift involves, first and foremost, a new interpretation of things perceived, a new way of seeing—to use the German term, a new gestalt. It is this gestalt—this novel way of seeing—that allows us to look up at the night sky and perceive an unimaginably vast cosmos, seething with energy, swirling and transforming. It is this gestalt that allows us to perceive our bodies as composites of dynamic cells, themselves composites of atoms and molecules.

TWO: Psychologists tell us that all of perception involves gestalt to some extent. Our brains “fill in the gaps”: a half-hidden building still appears to us as an entire building; while listening to music, we isolate and attend to certain frequencies amidst a barrage of sonic information; subtle facial expressions communicate emotion with limitless nuance.  (Phil Woodward)

THREE: In life, as well as in science, new gestalts can be acquired. We have all experienced gestalt switches of some sort: when that long-time companion becomes the object of our affection; when a foreign language begins to take on meaning of its own for us; when an insightful analogy clears up an otherwise opaque concept. Perhaps we have experienced spiritual gestalt switches as well: when a song, a work of art, a teaching, or an emotional state is suddenly filled with the reality of the presence of God.  (Phil Woodward)

FOUR:  “Earth is crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God; But only those who see take off their shoes – The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.”  (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

ONE:  There exists a disorder called agnosia in which patients are unable to take in an object as a gestalt and hence cannot interpret it correctly. Sufferers from the disorder are unable to recognize faces—sometimes even their own in a mirror. They can describe their surroundings well enough, and they can recall relevant details about their friends and family members, but when it comes time to interact with them, they miss out entirely, because they lack the relevant faculty of perceptual interpretation.  (Phil Woodward)

TWO: The people of Jesus’ time suffered from a sort of spiritual agnosia—an inability to perceive in Christ the fullness of God. They saw him as a teacher, a prophet, a healer, or a demoniac, a glutton, a drunkard, but few recognized him as the Son of God.  Are we any different now?  (Phil Woodward)

THREE: In a few fleeting moments, just three of the disciples were offered the chance to have every obstacle to perception removed, and to see Jesus plainly and gloriously—to be forever cured of their spiritual agnosia.  (Phil Woodward)

SONG:  ARISE (by Restoration Project)

Arise, arise
Your light, your light has come
Nations shall come
All shall come, all shall come

For your love has turned me around
For your love has turned me around
You whisper in my ear
And you speak to me in tongues
Nations shall come
All shall come, all shall come

TWO: Transfiguration of Our Lord, part two:  A Holy Moment

FOUR: He was your friend.  He was an artist whose medium was metaphor and language, he used words like a scalpel, performing prophetic surgery on a religion that had turned in on itself, an emergency operation on a culture that had grown tired of hoping.  He knew how to talk to the people and he knew how to relate with everyone in such a way that made each person feel like he really understood them.
And he was your friend.  He had become a local celebrity and sometimes it was hard to just get one minute alone with him.  No one had even heard of him when you first met him.  “Where’s this guy from?” people used to ask you as he spoke to small crowds that were growing every day.  These days you spend most of your time as a bouncer, keeping the crowds back, finding lodging for him when you reach a new town.  The tour is relentless.
So when he said “Let’s get away for a little while, let’s go for a hike.”  You were thrilled, “Do you want me to tell the other’s?”  You ask.  “No, it’ll just be the four of us.”  He tells you.  “Finally, just like old times.”
You wake up early, but can’t fall back sleep.  You leave before anyone can see where you and Jesus are going.  It’s cloudy out, perfect weather for a hike—you wont get fried by the sun on the mountain.  He walks in front of you, walking with purpose up the mountain, switching back up the side of the hill.  Small talk seems shallow.  He’s walking as if he wants to show you something—a secret of some kind.  You look at your other two friends, the brothers.  They’re bickering over stupid details about the night before but then they stop.  You share a look of knowing, like “hey, something’s going to happen”.  And Jesus keeps walking ahead of you, determined.  But now you follow even closer, too nervous to ask questions.  (Ryan Marsh)

SONG: TRANSFIGURATION (by Sufjan Stevens)
When he took the three disciples
to the mountainside to pray,
his countenance was modified, his clothing was aflame.
Two men appeared: Moses and Elijah came;
they were at his side.
The prophecy, the legislation spoke of whenever he would die.

Then there came a word
of what he should accomplish on the day.
Then Peter spoke, to make of them a tabernacle place.
A cloud appeared in glory as an accolade.
They fell on the ground.
A voice arrived, the voice of God,
the face of God, covered in a cloud.

What he said to them,
the voice of God: the most beloved son.
Consider what he says to you, consider what’s to come.
The prophecy was put to death,
was put to death, and so will the Son.
And keep your word, disguise the vision till the time has come.

Lost in the cloud, a voice: Have no fear! We draw near!
Lost in the cloud, a sign: Son of man! Turn your ear!
Lost in the cloud, a voice: Lamb of God! We draw near!
Lost in the cloud, a sign: Son of man! Son of God!

FOUR: He was your friend.  He was an artist, a rising celebrity.  But now you know even more than before.  You know something about him that could threaten the religious leaders, that could threaten the government and now your safety could be at stake.  With a sense of urgency in his face Jesus warns you, “Don’t tell anyone.  Not yet.  They will execute me, but I will live again.  After this happens you can tell everyone what you’ve seen today.  But until then keep this just between us.”  And from that moment on Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem, walking with determination.  The city was drawing him, pulling him toward something that you didn’t yet understand.  You came down the mountain changed… a little scared… a lot amazed… and transformed.  (Ryan Marsh)

ONE: Transfiguration of Our Lord, part three: Trans. Formation

THREE: Holy God, you are beyond our knowing,
yet we see your glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
and in the voice from the bright cloud claiming Jesus your beloved Son,
you foreshadowed our adoption as your children. 
Transform us into the likeness of your Son,
who renewed our humanity so that we may share in his divinity. (Prayer of the Day, ELCA)

TWO: The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out. (Jewish Proverb)

ONE: Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us. It is not just in some; it is in everyone. And, as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.  (Marianne Williamson)

TWO: “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”  (St. Matthew)

THREE: “It may be possible for each of us to think too much of his own potential glory; it is hardly possible for him to think too often or too deeply about that of his neighbor.  The load, or weight, or burden of my neighbor’s glory should be laid daily on my back, a load so heavy that only humility can carry it, and the backs of the proud will be broken.” (C.S. Lewis)

FOUR: Dearest Lord, may I see you today and every day in the person of your sick, and, whilst nursing them, minister unto you.  Though you hide yourself behind the unattractive disguise of the irritable, the exacting, the unreasonable, may I still recognize you, and say:‘Jesus, my patient, how sweet it is to serve you.’ O beloved sick, how doubly dear you are to me, when you personify Christ; and what a privilege is mine to be allowed to tend you.  (Mother Teresa)

THREE:  There are no ordinary people. You have never met a mere mortal.  Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations, these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat.  But it is immortals with whom we joke, work, marry, snub, and exploit — (our interactions make up) immortal horrors or ever lasting splendors. (C.S. Lewis)

TWO:  The transfiguration inspires many questions.  How do we perceive Jesus Christ?  Have we seen his glory in others?  In ourselves?  In the unique ways that he has made us and the unique ways we show God’s strong and tender love?  Have you caught people in God’s glory and had the courage to say ‘Wow, in this moment I have seen Christ in a new light!’  And allow those revelations to fill our hearts with gratitude and awe?  In this Free Form time take a moment to ponder the ways you have experienced God’s glory, when the mundane becomes marvelous and the ordinary, transfigured into extraordinary.  You may want to share some thoughts those sitting close by…

(This meditation has been four years in the making… the fingers who have shaped it belong to Phil Woodward, Lacey Brown, Gwen Owen, Ryan Marsh, Graham Travis, Willow Travis and Janet Prichard.)

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