4th February Trinity 2018, Creation's Hour

February Trinity
(5^th Sunday before Easter)
Matthew 17: 1-13

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others.
There his appearance was transformed

Tissot

before them. His face shone bright as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit with Jesus.
And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish, I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly they heard a voice from the cloud that said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him, I am revealed. Hear him.”
When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in awe and terror.
And Jesus approached them, and touching them said, “Rise, and do not fear.”
And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them: “Tell no one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”
And the disciples asked him, “What is meant when the scribes say, ‘First Elijah must come again’?” He answered, “Elijah comes indeed, and prepares everything [restores all things]. But I say to you, Elijah has already come, and the people did not recognize him but rather have done to him whatever they pleased. In the same way, the Son of Man will suffer much at their hands.”
Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

4^th February Trinity
February 25, 2018
Matthew 17: 1-13

The sun sings. Most of us do not hear the song; it is part of what the ancients called the harmonious music of the spheres. The poet Goethe, in Faust, has the archangel Raphael say:

The sun-orb sings, in emulation,
Mid brother spheres, in his ancient round:
His path predestined through Creation
He ends with step of thunder-sound.

Today’s Gospel reading enables us to see how the sun orb sings. Christ, the great out-pouring Spirit of the Sun, descended from the Cosmos. In this reading, He now shines in radiance from within Jesus. Two others, like planets circling, are with Him; one is Moses, the great leader of his people down into spheres of earth. The other is Elijah, the prophet, half angel, who works in sun, wind, and air. They are joining together with Christ, as past, present and future come into existence. A fourth voice joins them from a cloud, the voice of the Father. ‘This is the son of my love; My love is visible in Him. Hear Him; take him in.’ (Matthew 17: 5). Raphael continues:

The angels from his visage splendid
Draw power, whose measure none can say;
The lofty worlds, uncomprehended,
Are bright as on the earliest day.

We have come to a time in human history when we must begin to hear, to see, and to understand what happens next. Today’s reading is a wake-up call - keep your eyes and ears and hearts open. Christ says, ‘Rise, and do not be afraid.’ (Matthew 17:7) and then He comes down the mountain, down from the heights, and walks the path toward his death, his own transformation and resurrection.

Goethe’s poem goes on and now it is the archangel Michael who speaks:

And rival storms abroad are

Aivasovsky, The Ninth Wave

 surging
From seas to land, and land to sea.
A chain of deepest action forging
Round all, in wrathful energy.
There flames a desolation, blazing
Before the Thunder's crashing way:
Yet, Lord, thy messengers are praising
The gentle movement of Thy day.
Around us, there is desolation and frantic action. On Good Friday the sun’s light will go out. All will be wrapped in the silence of the tomb. But on Easter Sunday, the joyful sounding light of a thousand suns will burst forth. The light will scatter and each human being will receive a spark of new life. The archangels will sing:

Though still by them uncomprehended,
From these the angels draw their power,
And all Thy works, sublime and splendid,
Are bright as in Creation's hour.*

*Goethe's Faust, Part 1

3rd February Trinity 2016, Coming to Light

February Trinity

(5th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

Transfiguration, by Theophanes the Greek, Wiki Commons

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others.

There his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone bright as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit with Jesus.

And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish, I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly they heard a voice from the cloud that said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him, I am revealed. Hear him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in awe and terror.

And Jesus approached them, and touching them said, “Rise, and do not fear.”

And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them: “Tell no one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

And the disciples asked him, “What is meant when the scribes say, ‘First Elijah must come again’?” He answered, “Elijah comes indeed, and prepares everything [restores all things]. But I say to you, Elijah has already come, and the people did not recognize him, but rather have done to him whatever they pleased. In the same way the Son of Man will suffer much at their hands.”

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

February Trinity

(5th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

Here in the west one can look out over the ocean from the mountains. Later in the day one can gaze out upon a sea of light so white, so piercingly bright that one wonders how one can look at it at all. The living waters shine like the sun.

In our lives, too, there are events and moments that are piercing; they may be moments of happiness or of pain; but they remain in our memories forever. In Jesus’ life this is one of those moments. On the mountaintop, Christ, the great being of the Sun, descends so far into him that his living body becomes ‘shining bright as the light.’

With him are two witness in the spirit, Moses and Elijah. They are conversing with him about his coming death. And the three earthly witnesses, Peter, James and John, perceive this living, light-filled, light-emanating body in awe. And further the Light is deepened into the voice of Love; they hear the voice of the loving Father of All. He claims Christ Jesus as His son, the revelation of the Father’s own being. The Father’s Love reveals itself in the living light form of a divine human being. Christ, ‘the son born in eternity’, reveals the Father’s light and love on earth. The poet says:

Transfiguration, Lewis Bowman

…we hear the great seas traveling

underground,

giving themselves up

with tongue of water

that sing the earth open.

They have journeyed through the graveyards

of our loved ones,

turning in their grave

to carry the stories of life to air.

….

We have stories

as old as the great seas

breaking through the chest,

flying out the mouth,

…

all the oceans we contain

coming to light. *

* Linda Hogan, “To Light”, in Seeing Through the Sun

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5th February Trinity 2012, Morning Star

4^th or 5^th February Trinity

Fra Angelico

(5^th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others.

There his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone bright as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit with Jesus.

And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish, I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly they heard a voice from the cloud that said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him, I am revealed. Hear him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in awe and terror.

And Jesus approached them, and touching them said, “Rise, and do not fear.”

And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them: “Tell no one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

And the disciples asked him, “What is meant when the scribes say, ‘First Elijah must come again’?” He answered, “Elijah comes indeed, and prepares everything [restores all things]. But I say to you, Elijah has already come, and the people did not recognize him, but rather have done to him whatever they pleased. In the same way the Son of Man will suffer much at their hands.”

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

February Trinity, 5^th Sunday before Easter

March 4, 2012

Matthew 17: 1-13

When the sun is hidden, either at night, or behind clouds, the earth seems dark and the heavens distant. But when the sun shines, it envelops the earth with its light and warmth. Heaven and earth are re-joined in an embrace.

Today’s reading shows us another level of how heaven and earth are rejoined. The Sun-God came down to earth. He embraced earthly life. At the top of the mountain, He revealed Himself by shining like the sun, and He converses with Moses and Elijah in the heavenly world. The disciples hear the voice of the Father resounding from the sun-bright realm.

When they come back down, they ask about Elijah’s return as the forerunner of the Messiah. But Christ tells them that Elijah has already come and gone. They are given to understand that Elijah had reincarnated as John the Baptist.

Earth and heaven are united for each human soul. We sojourn in the heavenly worlds in sleep, in death; we return to earth at birth, and each morning, bringing with us radiant gifts from heaven. And Christ is the Sun that shines both on earth and in the heavens; He is the one who guides us in both realms. For as He says, ‘I am with you always, even to the end of the age.[1] I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death….[2] I am…the bright Morning Star.’[3]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Matthew 28:20

[2] Rev 1:18

[3] Rev 22:16

Picture: Fra Angelico, The Transfiguration

5th February Trinity 2009, Sun-Orb Sings

4^th or 5^th February Trinity

Fra Angelico

(5^th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others.

There his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone bright as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit with Jesus.

And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish, I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly they heard a voice from the cloud that said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him, I am revealed. Hear him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in awe and terror.

And Jesus approached them, and touching them said, “Rise, and do not fear.”

And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them: “Tell no one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

And the disciples asked him, “What is meant when the scribes say, ‘First Elijah must come again’?” He answered, “Elijah comes indeed, and prepares everything [restores all things]. But I say to you, Elijah has already come, and the people did not recognize him, but rather have done to him whatever they pleased. In the same way the Son of Man will suffer much at their hands.”

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

  

Archangel Raphael, Woloschina

5^th February Trinity

March 8, 2009

Matthew 17: 1-13

The sun sings. Most of us do not hear the song; it is what the ancients called the harmonious music of the spheres. The poet Goethe, in Faust, has the archangel Raphael say:

The sun-orb sings, in emulation,

Mid brother spheres, in his ancient round:

His path predestined through Creation

He ends with step of thunder-sound.[1]

Today’s Gospel reading enables us to see the sun orb singing. Christ descended from the Cosmos. He is the great out-pouring Spirit of the Sun, which creates life. He now shines in radiance from within Jesus. Two others, like planets circling, are with Him; one is Moses, the great leader of his people down into spheres of earth. The other is Elijah, the prophet, half angel, who works in sun, wind and air. They are singing together with Christ, singing past, present and future into existence. A fourth voice joins them from a cloud, the voice of the Father. ‘This is the son of my love; My love is visible in Him. Hear Him; take him in.’ Matthew 17: 5 . Goethe continues:

He ends with step of thunder-sound.

The angels from his visage splendid

Draw power, whose measure none can say;

The lofty worlds, uncomprehended,

Are bright as on the earliest day.

We have come to a time in human history when we must begin to hear, to see, and to understand what happens next, long ago, and now. Next Sunday Passiontide begins. Today’s reading is a wake-up call—keep your eyes and ears and hearts open. Watch what happens next. Christ sings to us: ‘Rise, and do not be afraid.’ Matthew 17:7 Christ comes down the mountain, down from the heights, and walks the path toward his own transformation.

Goethe’s poem goes on; and now it is the archangel Michael who speaks:

Archangel Michael, Woloschina

And rival storms abroad are surging

From seas to land, and land to sea.

A chain of deepest action forging

Round all, in wrathful energy.

There flames a desolation, blazing

Before the Thunder's crashing way:

Yet, Lord, thy messengers are praising

The gentle movement of Thy day.

Around us there is desolation and frantic action. On Good Friday the sun’s light will go out. All will be wrapped in the silence of the tomb. But on Easter Sunday, the joyful singing light of a thousand suns will burst forth. The light will scatter and each human being will receive a spark of new life. Will we see it? Hear it? Will we understand? Will the archangels sing:

Though still by them uncomprehended,

From these the angels draw their power,

And all Thy works, sublime and splendid,

Are bright as in Creation's hour.

www.thechristiancommunity.org

---

[1] Goethe’s Faust, Part 1

6th February Trinity 2014, Have No Fear

4^th or 5^th February Trinity

Transfiguration, Fra Angelico

(5^th Sunday before Easter)

Matthew 17: 1-13

After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James and led them together up a high mountain apart from the others.

There his appearance was transformed before them. His face shone bright as the sun, and his garments became white, shining bright as the light. And behold, there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, conversing in the spirit with Jesus.

And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be in this place. If you wish, I will build here three shelters, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them and suddenly they heard a voice from the cloud that said, “This is my son, whom I love. In him, I am revealed. Hear him.”

When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces to the ground in awe and terror.

And Jesus approached them, and touching them said, “Rise, and do not fear.”

And raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them: “Tell no one what you have seen until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”

And the disciples asked him, “What is meant when the scribes say, ‘First Elijah must come again’?” He answered, “Elijah comes indeed, and prepares everything [restores all things]. But I say to you, Elijah has already come, and the people did not recognize him, but rather have done to him whatever they pleased. In the same way the Son of Man will suffer much at their hands.”

Lewis Bowman

Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

 6^th February Trinity

March 16, 2014

Matthew 17: 1-13

Sunrise approaches in stages. First the lightening of the black sky; then the world resolves into color; and finally the sun itself appears over the horizon, shining white, calling to life all things in the world. Musicians have often tried to express the experience of the sunrise in sounds of rising tones.

In today’s reading, the three apostles behold a mighty stage in Christ’s penetration of the body of Jesus. They see His living body take on the characteristics of the sun—a white radiance of pure living forces. And then they hear--first of all the voice of the Father of All Being. He proclaims that Christ Jesus is His Son, the out-flowing of His own Being’s love. And the Father directs their hearing, their attentive listening, to Christ. And what does Christ say to them, to us? What do we hear from Him? He speaks in the voice of an angel: Rise, and fear not.

Photo Mike Fisk

Thus is implanted the beginnings of a new sunrise in the bodies of human beings: Rise and fear not.  In the words of the poet:

The red dawn now is rearranging the earth

 ….

Child stirring in the web of your mother

Do not be afraid

Old man turning to walk through the door

Do not be afraid[1]


www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1] Joy Harjo, “MORNING SONG”