"into the whirlwind"

First UMC, Osage
Transfiguration Sunday

2 Kings 2:1-12
Mark 9:2-8

These are not easy stories in scripture to hear. It can be hard to pay attention. We’ve got both chariots of fire and horses of fire. We’ve got revelation on a mountain top, and Jesus transfigured, transformed, all dazzling and perplexing. In the first story we’ve got Elijah, about to be lifted up into the heavens, and in the next story we’ve got Moses and Elijah, dropped back down to earth. Any questions?

Gospel group Sweet Honey in the Rock offer this introduction to the gospel song, “Wade in the Water.” A song appropriate for us to sing today, if only we could fit everything in, or extend worship by a few hours. Hear their words: “And when there is a promise of a storm, if you want change in your life walk into it. If you get on the other side, you will be different. And if you want change in your life and you’re avoiding the trouble, you can forget it. So as the prophet says, wade on in the water. It’s gonna really be troubled water.” Let us pray…

We have the promise of a storm. And the lure of a mountain top experience. And some dazzling, confusing changes taking place. Some troubled water, indeed.

In 2 Kings, the story begins with a whirlwind. In Mark’s gospel, the mountain top is overshadowed with clouds. Something big is about to happen. Enter our cast of characters. Elijah, a revered prophet and mentor. Elisha, the successor, the intern, gaining on the job training with the hopes of one day stepping into Elijah’s shoes. And from the gospel, we have Peter, James and John. People we have met in other Bible stories. They’ve become trustworthy to the hearers of these stories. We have seen them mess up. We know they aren’t perfect, but we also know they are faithful. They keep trying. We know they are committed to searching for the Holy One. They have experienced God’s transforming presence in their lives. They keep practicing their calling to become disciples, witnesses to the divine transformation that comes from our faith, and from our faithful action.

So something big is about to happen. Sweet Honey in the Rock’s warning rings true for individuals, as well as for communities. If we want change in our life, walk into it. If we get on the other side, we will be different. And if we want change in our life and we’re avoiding the trouble, we can forget it.”

Theologian H. Richard Niebuhr says that revelation happens when we gain insight into the mystery of our lives. For Niebuhr, revelation isn’t so much something new being given—some new insight or answer to prayer—but about us discovering, anew, what has already always been there…

Like God’s naming and claiming us as God’s own, through the waters of our baptisms…Like members of this community, mentoring future generations in God’s word…Like God’s grace, and God’s promise of forgiveness…

Like Elisha, realizing his mentor is about to leave this life, and refusing to leave Elijah’s side. In Bethel. And again in Jericho. And again at the Jordan… Over and over Elijah begins to take his leave. “Stay here,” he tells Elisha. And over and over Elisha resists. “As God lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So the prophets try to nudge him back to reality. “But you know your mentor is going to be taken away, today, don’t you?” And again and again, Elisha offers a curt response. “Yes. I know. Now shut up about it. He is stubbornly refusing the trouble. Until he can’t avoid it any more.

Until the troubled waters are parted, and they wade right in. And transformation occurs. And Elisha realizes what he needs to keep doing the work of prophetic witness and transformation. His mentor, he will loose. What he needs now is a double share
of his spirit. And receiving this double share doesn’t take away his deep loss and grief. He grasps his own clothes and tears them in two. We need to know, the story needs to show, that after transformation occurs, nothing will ever be the same.

Seeing anew what has already always been there. If you get to the other side, you will be different.

And like Peter, James, and John. Up on a mountain top, a place where we know grand things happen, miraculous vistas are viewed, transforming memories are made, here these disciples see Jesus transfigured. And it is dazzling. And suddenly Moses and Elijah are there, too. A holy haunting. And it is terrifying. And it is also so good the disciples don’t want to leave. They don’t want it to end. Can’t I build some houses here, begs Peter? Then we won’t ever have to leave. One for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. You can stay then, right?

After transformation occurs, nothing will ever be the same. Seeing anew what has already always been there. If you get to the other side, you will be different.

It is tempting to believe these moments of transformation require mountain tops. Or parting seas. Or holy hauntings where Moses and Elijah appear out of thin air or whirlwinds of chariots and horses of fire pull us up into heaven. This is tempting. But it misses the point.

In Grace, Eventually, Anne Lamott writes, “I used to believe if you could only get to see sunrise at Stonehenge, or the full moon at the Taj Mahal, you would be nabbed by truth. And then you would be well. And able to relax and feel fully alive. But I actually knew a few true things: Almost everyone was struggling to wake up, to be loved, and to not feel so afraid all the time.”

In Eugene Peterson’s translation of the Bible, The Message, he writes, “The streets and fields, the homes and markets of the world are an art gallery displaying new creation.”

On a mountain top, next to a dazzling, transfigured Jesus. And in the streets and fields around us in Osage. At the River Jordan, when a mantel’s touch parts the sea. And in the homes and markets of our world. In the whirlwind of chariots and horses of fire. And in the whirlwinds of our lives.

And when there is the promise of a storm, if you want change in your life, walk into it. If you get on the other side, you will be different. And if you want change in your life and you’re avoiding the trouble, you can forget it.

Welcome into the whirlwind. Wade on in the water. We can travel together. God will meet us. Transformation will happen. Amen, and amen.