Christ is in our midst. It's good to be with
you today, brothers and sisters, to parallel
what Peter said to our Lord on Mount Tabor. Lord,
it is good for us to be here. So it's good to
be with all of you on this day. This feast...
is sometimes hard to define because in the middle
of our Lord's ministry, this remarkable event
happens. And we ask ourselves, or at least I
did, early on when I first began to study the
scriptures and go to seminary and everything,
what is this kind of almost resurrectional event
doing in the middle of the gospel? And it's in
all three synoptic gospels, and I believe in
John also. What is it doing there since the resurrection
is coming? The cross is coming. And of course,
we've already had the virgin birth. And I think
the answer comes a little bit from these words
from St. Paul that I picked up from a sermon
from St. Leo. But St. Paul says, for I reckon
that the suffering of this time. In other words,
the struggles of this life, the persecutions
that were certainly going on in their lives,
but just the struggle of being human, if we want
to be clear about that, and all the disappointments
on the one hand and the joys on the other. You
know, we have been baptized into our Lord Jesus
Christ's church. There's no greater sort of joy
than this, and this knowledge or this understanding.
And yet at the same time we find this kind of
paradox going on within us, and that is on the
one hand I rejoice, on the other hand I'm so
easily drawn back into, I don't know what it
might be, my preoccupations, the things that
I want, my depressions or whatever you want to
call them, but my fallenness, our general fallenness.
And so we find ourselves in this struggle constantly,
don't we, brothers and sisters? It's not a struggle
that we should ultimately lament because God
has placed us... in this situation. And he has
given us the tools and the means through the
life of the church to fight the good fight and
to struggle, as St. Paul says. I reckon that
the sufferings of this time, he goes on to say,
the sufferings of this time are not worthy to
be compared with the future glory which shall
be revealed in us later on, which shall be revealed
in us later on. So even though we're going through
all of this, the promise is that if we live according
to the life in Christ, if we struggle with our
sins, not in spite of them, but with our sins,
asking forgiveness, asking repentance, participating
in the life of the church, especially within
the Holy Eucharist, who can be against us, so
to speak? Who can be against us? Who can fight
against us? So we are engaged, let's make no
mistake, every day in spiritual warfare, aren't
we? Every day when we wake up, we are engaged
in spiritual warfare. And let us not shrink away
from that warfare, but embrace the things that
God has given us and fight the good fight. Now,
with regards to this event on Mount Tabor, we
see, really, if we read what comes before, this
event in the scriptures. And a lot of the commentaries
on the transfiguration like to say that it's
kind of the center point of the gospel. The gospel
is very different after and before the events,
but certainly before, certainly before, and especially
after Pentecost to the church on Sundays, we
hear about all the things that established Christ
as the Messiah, as the one who was expected to
come. the one we've been waiting for, the healing
of the blind man, all these healings, not just
of the blind man, the feeding of the 5 ,000,
the casting away, the casting out of demons,
especially in that reading of the demoniacs or
the demoniac who live across the Sea of Galilee,
our Lord walking on water. And then, of course,
there's this remarkable, just in preparation
for this feast, there's this remarkable discussion
that Jesus has with his disciples when he says
to them, who do people say that I am? And there's
a lot of speculation. Well, some say you're a
prophet, others say you're a very holy man. On
and on it kind of goes. It becomes kind of almost
an intellectual exercise. And then you get the
impression from the gospel that then Jesus interrupts
them and says, but who do you? Who do you say
I am? And this is the same sort of question that's
leveled at all of us. But who do you say I am?
What is your confession concerning me? And of
course, Peter, we know what Peter says. You're
the son of God. You're the Messiah. You're the
expected one. And then our Lord says, flesh and
blood didn't reveal this to you, Peter. You know.
Okay. But the kingdom of heaven. But God in heaven.
And so only after all of this. Only after all
of these kind of, I suppose, preparations of
miracles does the event of transfiguration occur.
And how does this happen? Our Lord takes Peter,
James, and John, doesn't he? And they go up Mount
Tabor. And when they get there, we've just heard
about it in the reading so beautifully done by
our deacon. In the reading, our Lord is transfigured.
His face becomes as bright like the sun. And
he is bathed in this uncreated light. We hear
about not just in the gospel, but also sometimes
in the readings of the fathers, the ability to
somehow, on very, very rare occasions, but nevertheless
genuine occasions, to perceive the uncreated
light, the uncreated light, the light of heaven.
And it is always referred back to the uncreated
light that the apostles beheld. on Mount Tabor,
and with our Lord are whom? Moses and Elijah.
Moses, in a sense, representing the law and the
fulfillment of the law in our Lord Jesus Christ,
and Elijah representing the prophets. I like
it in the gospel, and they were speaking to one
another. You know, I'd like to know what that
discussion was all about. It doesn't tell us
what's being said there, but they were speaking
to one another. And then, of course, the apostles,
as we know, are frightened to death. They can't
bear it, as it says in the hymnology, as far
as they could bear it. And in the icon you look
at as you entered into church today and venerated
it, the apostles are faced down, aren't they?
They just simply cannot bear in fear what's going
on. But our Lord goes and touches them and brings
them up and says, don't be afraid. At the same
time, a voice comes, doesn't it? And it's the
voice. It's the voice of God. You know, fear
not. This is my beloved son in whom I am well
pleased. You know, listen to him. That's the
final. Listen, obey, do what he says. So we're
at that point in our lives, brothers and sisters.
Well, some of you are eight years old, like my
grandson here or my granddaughter. My two granddaughters,
one who is four and the other who's 12. But nevertheless,
we're old enough to understand that the time
has come, especially given the fact that the
church is called upon in this age, this age of
confusion especially. My goodness, what a confused
age we live in. Violent, foolish, at times remarkably
ignorant. In this age, more than ever, we're
called upon to, well, how do we respond? We respond.
through the witness of the church. Look at this.
Look what we have. Look what Father Lawrence
has led us to here in this church along with
his father and the other clergy that have served
here over the years. But look at this. The church
is, in fact, the earthly heaven. Gathered around
the table of God, receiving Christ's body and
blood, being nourished to go forward, we are
given this wisdom. To participate, to endure,
not only to endure, but to witness. So God give
us the strength to witness in this age with courage
and with a degree of surety when we speak to
others about the life of the church. We're so
fortunate, we're so fortunate ultimately to be
here. And then within the life of the church
we have each other, don't we? To encourage us
and nurture us. And we often ask ourselves, how
did I get here? I'm a convert, and I would imagine
most of you nowadays are converts. I don't know.
I won't ask for a show of hands. But nevertheless,
I ask myself, how on earth did I end up in the
Orthodox Church, you know, kind of a product
of middle -class America, California, in the
Bay Area? How did I ever end up here? And the
only answer we can finally give is it's a blessing.
It's a blessing from God. I love all the remarkable
coincidences of meeting each other and knowing
about things within the life of the church. All
you have to do is travel and go from one church
to another and you run into these coincidences
and these comings together. And today I had the
same experience with Father Lawrence when I walked
in. He said, you know, he said, today is the
day. remarks the, I don't know, how many years
has it been, Father Lawrence, that Father George
marks the 30 years, the 30 -year anniversary
of the death of Father George Benningson. Did
any of you know him? A few of you did. Well,
guess what? He baptized me. He baptized my wife
and I, Matryoshka that's here. And he received
us into the church, of course. He baptized us.
and brought us into the life of the church. He
and Matryoshka Helen were our godparents, and
we were simply baptized alone with the two of
them one Saturday morning. We kind of stumbled
into the life of the church, and thanks be to
God, it's been given to us. Well, this is kind
of my personal goings -on, so forgive me for
talking like this. It's not very dignified. I'm
sorry. I'm sorry. So, we've got it all. And the
experience of transfiguration reveals to us,
you know, and to those who are kind of struggling
along the way, the apostles, you know, as St.
Paul says, you know, that this revealing, this
experience of the uncreated life is just another
reinforcement for the church and for the apostles
and for those who are transfigured in our lives
because of it. We are transfigured, in a sense,
right along with Peter, James, and John, or at
least we're witnesses to this transfiguration.
But our lives are transfigured because we are
in the church. And if at times it's a struggle,
never doubt that you haven't been transfigured
through your baptism and through what it means
to just be here. Lord, it is so good to be here.
Christ is in our midst.