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“Face-to-Face Fear”
Exodus 24:12-18; Psalm 99 or 2; Matthew 17:1-8; 2 Peter 1:16-21
Rev. Sandy Nuernberg
Oakland-Cambridge Presbyterian Church, Cambridge, WI
Transfiguration of the Lord -
Souper Bowl of Caring
February 3, 2008
Please pray with me,
Lord, help us to see the whole bright picture, the appearance in glorious
form of your Son, Jesus Christ. We ask your Holy Spirit to come upon us and
allow our clinging face-to-face with emotions of awe, amazing grace, fear,
and wonder at your presence to follow atop the high mountains and to realize
that you are leading us, and that we might follow where ever your path leads
us. AMEN.
One of the striking things I
notice each time I read in our Gospels of the Transfiguration of the Lord, this
Sunday’s lectionary, is the brilliance, the blinding brightness like the sun,
the glorified presence of Christ in dazzling white. A powerful, somewhat fearful
image, a purely visual experience of Light so glorious in form on a mountaintop
that for us and the children’s message today, is ‘awesome,’ hard to believe, let
alone describe. Perhaps similar to the mountaintop experience of Moses, given
the Law of the covenant, experiencing God (Exod. 3) and hiding his face, ‘for he was afraid to look at
God.’ Moses had fear near the burning bush; face-to-face fear.
This kind of supernatural
transformation of Christ was perhaps not even similar to the God of the
Old Testament; in the Psalms as Mighty King, Counselor, Holy is the Lord our
God, lover of justice, a forgiving God, and avenger of wrongdoings. Yahweh was
the Lord of the great prophet Elijah, though, that colorful Israelite who had
courage enough to climb a mountain, Mount Carmel
(1 Kings 18), and snuff out the likes of the weather god, Baal and those
many followers of a somewhat twisted faith. Elijah confronted them with the Lord
‘indeed is God’ and Baal was not; fire and rain came from the God of the
heavens, not from Baal. Elijah fled in fear for his life after being
face-t-face with God. Elijah emerges a hero of Israel and a servant of God.
This face-to-face fear of the
prophets of the Law, Moses and Elijah, and the inner circle of disciples, Peter,
James, and John, upon encountering God’s Son, Jesus Christ, is, for me, a kind
of fear and awe that announces to them and to us that God is God and they/we are
not!! What can we make of this direct contact, this transfiguration of
face-to-face fear in God’s presence?
Last Tuesday our Presbyterian
pastors, five of us, met for our weekly lectionary at WPC discussion; I told
them I kept thinking of fear and if I’d been confronted with an experience atop
the mountain, I’d be frightened too in describing my theophany. I’d probably be
scared to death! Others agreed, giving examples of a scary fear of the unknown;
a terminal health diagnosis, an unexpected accident with injuries, or some
danger or pain unannounced like 9/11. Craig laughed, commenting, “For me fear of
face-to-face confrontation with God is enough to make me _______ my pants!” I
said, yes, ‘but I can’t relate that expression and give it meaning, I don’t
think!’ Well, you get the point; one kind of fear in today’s world is that of
anxiety, of fright in what’s to come, a fear that may affect you the rest of
your life. Some of us have experienced that uneasiness or apprehension in this
kind of fear.
There’s also the kind of fear in
avoidance of something; a former show, or I believe it is coming back, on
television, ‘Fear Factor’ (I think it’s called ‘Survivor” now) reminds me of
fear-induced uneasiness. If you got out of the box or container of bees, worms,
or snakes fastest you moved on to possibly winning whatever gift (a trip, money,
job) was offered. Time was the factor; it included hanging, running, dipping and
diving in and out of ocean waters, sky-diving, running, all to promote ‘the fear
of the Lord’ in you to move fast to completion. This is a self-imposed fear, not
always sudden and unknown.
Similar to Jesus’ disciples, I
have both awe and a kind of fear of anticipation of what is to come in meeting
God. Awe with Jesus response, ‘do not be afraid;’ fear of what might be next and
that I’m not better prepared. I don’t believe I’ve ever had an actual
mountaintop experience; but I’ve learned to quietly anticipate what is best for
me through my faith in God being God. I trust Jesus’ response, ‘do not be
afraid.’, and in being led and guided by God in the Light and the steadfast love
of God’s presence.
You see, for me, there are
opportunities with a trust that God will provide in a gradual way in what is to
come; patience, faith and reward in God’s presence. Of course my best example is
being here nearby my home in church ministry with you; your search committee
took risks in having me come here, my first calling with little experience, your
wanting young people to come and participate in our church community, and
together our providing stimulating glory and praise to God each week in worship.
Yet, together, with God leading us, I believe we’ve learned, grown, and are
becoming better disciples in teaching each other, talking out our concerns and
differences in respect and love, and we are trusting one another in bringing us
closer into our Christian spiritual life, faith and growth in God’s Name.
As we come to the communion table
together in Christ’ presence, the Gospel’s good news for us is in that
unforgettable and awesome, fearful moment on the mountaintop for Jesus’
disciples, in witnessing God’s Son in blazing, glorious Light. God wonderfully
revealed the fullness and goodness of God in the life, death, and resurrection
of Christ Jesus.
Jesus’ identity was not
all glory; but he was one of us, the Son of Man, representing God’s revelation
of healing, suffering, claimed as God’s Own on earth, in God’s glorious kingdom.
In seeing the kingdom of God, in Christ, let us see face-to-face the awe and the
fear in the presence of the Lord; in his coming into the world to save ‘his
people from their sins( Matt. 1:2,3)’ and
‘to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophets
(Matt. 3:17)’ and to be God’s ‘Son, the
Beloved, with whom I (the Lord) am well pleased ’and to proclaim repentance,
‘for the kingdom of heaven has come near (Matt.
4:17).’ Yes, God is God and we are not!
Thanks be to
God. AMEN.
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