Last Epiphany, Yr A (2023) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
Last Epiphany, Yr A (2023) The Rev. Karen C. Barfield
Exodus 24:12-18 St. Andrew’s on-the-Hill
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9
In the name of the one, holy, and living God:
who was, and is, and is to come. Amen.
Evelyn Underhill said that the first task of the clergy is union with God.
That is well and good,
but why should it not be the first task of every Christian to seek union with God?
Now, union with God seems a lofty goal,
perhaps a “theophany” would be good for starters…
experiencing a visible manifestation of God.
If we are honest, I think many of us long for a theophany,
(especially in these days and times)
and yet we fear it at the same time.
During the season of Epiphany, our Gospel readings have been about the revelation of God through the person of Jesus.
Seeing God revealed in the person of Jesus is daunting enough,
but it is at least a little bit approachable and understandable.
The manifestation of God in Glory is quite another thing.
If you recall, the Israelites, in their fear, told Moses that he could go up the mountain,
for who could see God and live?
In today’s reading from Exodus God does call Moses up the mountain,
and when God shows up,
the glory of the Lord appeared to the Israelites below as a “devouring fire.”
Fire burns….
let Moses go!
There are two interesting points to this story (aside from the fact that Moses actually had the guts to go meet God face-to-face):
1) When Moses went up the mountain to meet God, he had to wait for six days before God showed up, and God had invited Moses up there in the first place!
Perhaps the lesson here is that God shows up in God’s time…
it is our task to wait with patience and in preparation.
2) After God and Moses chatted, Moses hung out for 40 days and nights, basking in the glory of the Lord. Not only was Moses not burnt to a crisp, but he was able to bask in the glory of God!
Another theophany we hear of today is the story of Jesus’ transfiguration.
Jesus takes Peter and James and John with him up the mountain.
Fortunately, he didn’t inform the disciples that he was going to meet God face-to-face,
or I bet they would have run the other direction!
When the cloud overshadowed them and the voice of God spoke,
the disciples fell to the ground in fear.
They were overwhelmed by the manifestation of the Divine.
And yet Jesus’ response is not to chastise them
but to reach out and physically touch them
and offer them comforting words:
“Get up and do not be afraid.”
“Do not be afraid.”
We long for a theophany,
and at the same time, part of us hopes it never happens.
If we see God’s glory,
will we live to tell about it?
If we encounter God face-to-face,
might it radically alter our lives?
Perhaps it’s easier, or safer, to hide….
or to send someone else along the journey first.
Evelyn Underhill said that our first task is union with God.
John Main, OSB, says that our task is
to be open to the divine reality
that is closer to us
than we are to ourselves. (Main, The Way of Unknowing, p. 3)
So, perhaps, we seek union with God by opening ourselves to God’s presence,
whenever and wherever that might be,
even when we might be caught off-guard.
When I read the texts for today,
I remembered a sermon that Sam Wells preached at Duke Chapel some years ago,
entitled “The Power and the Glory.”
He says that “glory” is:
“the whole identity and purpose of God summed up in a single word….
glory is something that comes to fulfillment as God shares it with us,
like a cloud that billows out as we enter it.”
Perhaps this is why we long to see God’s glory…
because God, and we, are incomplete without it.
God’s glory is fulfilled as we share it together!
Sam continues:
“Glory is the wonder of the full presence of God
that reveals God’s utter desire to be present to us
in joy and delight and attention and love,
and at the same time it’s the magnetic, billowing aura that draws us…
into the intimate, thrilling, everlasting, and fulfilling discovery of our destiny in God.
“It’s both the cloud of unknowing
and the seeing God face to face,
all at the same time.
“But it’s not something for keeping –
it’s something for sharing.
“Glory is what God created us to enter and to enjoy and to share.
“Glory is the complete and overwhelming revelation of God’s character,
and God’s character is the ever-expanding,
ever-embracing,
ever-enfolding enjoyment of us.”
(from sermon preached Nov. 3, 2013)
So, it may be true that God’s glory appears as fire,
but it is a fire of purifying love that burns away all that is not true and good and loving.
It is a fire that clarifies our vision of unity within ourselves
so that we may find union with one another and with God.
Peter, James, and John,
in accompanying Jesus,
were issued directly into the presence of God.
Yet, even after experiencing this divine vision,
Peter still managed to deny knowing Jesus three times,
and all three of them managed to abandon Jesus at the cross.
Nevertheless, I imagine that experience sustained them
as they entered into dark times following Jesus’ death and resurrection.
This journey we are on is not easy or simple…
we have many witnesses to tell us that!
It is a journey of seeking and finding
and then losing our way.
But, when we lose our way,
we are called to again turn toward seeking and finding God
in response to our being sought and found by God.
Today is the last Sunday after the Epiphany.
On Wednesday we will begin our observance of a holy Lent.
Lent is a time when we might take on a new spiritual discipline
or renew a discipline that has lost its salt for us.
The goal of our disciplines is to create some space within ourselves…
to come to some clarity about what distracts our vision from union with God
so that we may move into a closer and deeper relationship with God.
In these next few days,
I invite you to take some time to consider what discipline might re-focus your vision,
helping you to seek union with God,
and God’s ever-expanding,
ever-embracing,
ever-enfolding enjoyment of us.
Amen.
