PREPARE FOR
TRANSFIGURATION
January 2006
article for the Collect, publication for St. Thomas Episcopal Church,
Medina, WA
A church reader board near my house says, “Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?” It sounds like a commercial for laundry detergent. Yet there’s something about these words that appeals to me, too. You know that great feeling when you pull that badly stained shirt out of the wash and it’s been transfigured into cleanness? Sometimes that can happen to us, too.
It’s easy for us to get hung up on the word “clean.” For some reason, it makes us start to wonder who’s clean and who’s dirty. But the focus really should be on our own cleanness and our own transfiguration. Life is grubby, and the grime gets on all of us; a good washing can make us ready for God to wear again.
During the season of Epiphany, we hear stories about Jesus’ true nature suddenly being revealed. We hear about the Magi from the east who brought gifts to the baby boy. We hear about Jesus’ baptism, when the Holy Spirit descended on him like a dove. We hear of his calls to the disciples to follow him, and then we hear a series of healing stories. One could argue that Jesus’ main purpose in life was to heal. After all these stories, as we move from Epiphany to Lent, we hear the story of the transfiguration, when the disciples first became aware of the eternal nature of Jesus.
So Epiphany is about calling, healing, and transfiguration. God calls us to work in the world. Through that work, we bring healing to others. Through that healing, we and those around us are washed clean, transfigured more and more into the likeness of God.
What work will you and God do together this year? You may be deeply involved in an existing ministry, or you may be planning to embark on a new calling. You may have no idea what you’re doing, but by the end of the year, you may look back in surprise at all the washing, the healing, the transfiguration that you and God have accomplished together.
To the youth of St. Thomas, I say: Prepare for transfiguration. As we climb the Bank of America tower to raise money for leukemia research, we bring healing, and we are healed. As we leave for El Salvador to work among those in need, we wash and are washed. As we minister to each other each week in fun and conversation, we transfigure and are transfigured, and we start to see Jesus in each other’s faces.