When I went to confirmation class, even though it was quite a long time ago, and I didn’t listen very much at the time anyway, I can still remember being taught the colours that we use in Church for the different seasons of the year. One of the things that we were taught was that the colour purple was used for Advent and for Lent, two of the great penitential seasons, seasons of examination and repentance – seasons where we try to get our spiritual lives on to the right track.
However this year the colour mentioned in the Church in Wales guide for the couple of weeks before Lent is also purple, which, though I am no expert on such things seems a bit confusing to me – it seems that in a way we are preparing to prepare, and this is a quite a dangerous thing to fall into.
As we build up to Lent we have time to contemplate God’s glory, last week we had the readings about creation, and about power over creation, and this week we have the gospel reading of the transfiguration (Luke 9:28-36), and as we reflect on those readings we are called to go into lent ready to consider our own relationship with God and with other people, as we build up to the most significant week of the Christian year, Holy Week, and we are challenged to do something that makes a difference in our lives not just for lent, but for ever.
So a danger of preparing to prepare is that we never really move on – we just stand still. And this is one of the things that Peter failed to understand in the account of the Transfiguration – he saw the wonders of Jesus appearing with Moses and Elijah on the mountain top. It was an incredible experience and one that he wanted to preserve for all time, and so he offered to build these booths for each of them to live in up on that mountain.
But Jesus said that it couldn’t happen – in fact this was just a glimpse of something that would not be seen again until heaven was reached. There was still work to do, experiences to gain, and joys and disappointments to be faced. For Jesus of course there was the pain of his betrayal, his torture, his death, and for his disciples there was the confusion of a Saviour apparently taken from them.
All of these things had to happen in order for faith to move on – and in the same way we must ensure that as we approach lent, we think of things that are going to change our lives, our relationship with God and with other people, for ever. For so many people lent is a discipline to be faced for just that period, and there may be many good things we can do along those lines – many people give up chocolate or cigarettes, or wine, and these can be for very good reasons, but more than that we must also find ways of changing our lives – learning something more about God, growing closer to him, repairing relationships with other people and so on.
Lent is not a season of misery and pain – even though I’m starting my lent discipline with a visit to the dentist on Ash Wednesday, but rather it is a season of planning of preparation for the future – a future lived a little bit closer to God.
All of us will have mountain top experiences; times when we feel really close to God, when faith seems comfortable and we are full of the joys of a resurrection faith, but those mountain top experiences are just blessings to be gathered in and remembered as life goes on from day to day.
In his famous "Mountain Top speech" the day before he was shot, Martin Luther King said, "I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountain top. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land.
I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
In those words Martin Luther King was expressing a confidence in the ultimate victory of God, regardless of what part he would play in that victory, and that is what transfiguration is really about – recognising the power, the wonder and the awesome love of God, and letting the realisation of those things make a difference in the way we act towards him, and towards everyone we meet.
And lent is not a time to just punish ourselves for a specific period, or to even work at doing something better for a specific period. It is not about trying to preserve the good times in our lives, but it is about maintaining some sort of discipline of prayer, study, or whatever else is useful, in order to move on in the future – our mission as Christians is not up on the mountain top, living the perfect life and enjoying comfort at all times, but it is on the ground, it is where people are.
Lent is a period of self examination, a period where we look to the future, and the work on the ground that we have to do, confident in the power of God, and secure in his love. May God give us the vision of his work that he is calling us to do. AMEN
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