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Texada Island
United
Church
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Sermon: The Transfiguration, Feb. 22, 2009
Scripture: Mark 9: 2-9
Last June, when I was in Montreal, I attended Union United Church one
Sunday. Union United is a Black church, and that Sunday happened to fall
during Black Heritage Week. I heard a really energetic Black preacher talk
about how each generation of their people builds on the contributions and
accomplishments of those who went before. He talked about how we owe a debt
of gratitude to those who did what they could in the past, to stand up to
injustice and to further the rights of the Blacks in North America.
In our gospel reading this morning, we heard about how Peter, James and John
saw Jesus transfigured – he was transformed before them, his garments a
dazzling impossible white, his person changed into someone they didn’t know,
someone more divine than human in that moment. They saw him talking to
people they knew were long dead – Moses of the Law – and Elijah – a revered
prophet.
These three disciples, who some have suggested were Jesus’ inner circle,
were invited by him to witness – to “see” this event. Having no context for
any of what they saw, they were bewildered and terrified.
This is the mid-point of Jesus’ ministry. From here he will turn his head
toward Jerusalem – toward the Cross – and then the empty tomb.
Still they do not truly “see” him. They don’t really get who he is. They
don’t understand all this talk of dying and rising. Jesus must take steps
now to prepare them – for the scales must fall from their eyes by the time
of the resurrection, or they will not be effective witnesses. The disciples
are blinded, by their own pre-conceptions of what kind of Messiah God is
sending, and in this very moment by the God-light of Jesus the Christ.
Frankly, they are just terrified.
But there is more: “from the cloud there came a voice. This is my Son, the
Beloved. Listen to him!”
Last Sunday we handed out some papers from the United Church National Office
– to be considered before the next General Council in August. The National
Church is asking for our input. Where are we going as church? What is our
vision for the future? As you prayerfully study this paper, and sit
reflecting on the questions it asks you, I humbly invite you to remember
these words: “Listen to him!”
Could it be that like Peter, James and John – we are at the moment blind to
where God is leading us at this time in our history? Elijah and Moses have
disappeared – presumably having given their counsel to Jesus – and he,
having been anointed once again by the words and the radiance of God – now
stands alone. Is it too much to imagine that we too are to “Listen to him!”
– and to him alone?
The new president of the United States, Barach Obama, visited Canada last
week. He is the first Black man ever to hold that office. He is the first
Black person to attain such high office in the history of that country.
February is Black History Month in Canada. Let’s take a few minutes and look
at how the Black people in North America have been transformed.
We all know that African slaves were a fact of life and one of the reasons
for the Civil War in the US. Abraham Lincoln, whose presidency has inspired
Barack Obama, was dedicated to abolishing slavery in his country.
But did you know that in the 17th century British North America (now Canada)
also imported negro slaves from Africa, and enslaved Pawnee Indians as well?
When the British conquered New France in 1760, the Articles of Capitulation
stated that Blacks and Pawnee Indians would remain slaves.
It wasn’t until 1793 that Lieutenant Governor Simcoe’s anti-slavery measure
was passed into law, and slavery was gradually eliminated in Canada, a
process that was not complete until the 1820’s.
Blacks later fled to Canada to escape slavery in the US. Many fought as
Canadians in WW1 and WW2. Despite their loyalty and their bravery, and their
best efforts to serve and be part of a free Canada, Blacks faced much
discrimination and persecution in Canada.
In 1962, Ellen Fairclough, then Minister of Citizenship and Immigration,
over saw improvements to the Canadian Immigration Service – including
radical reform of the government’s “White Canada” immigration policy. The
new regulations of 1962 helped to eliminate racial discrimination in
Canada’s immigration policy.
Since those first slave ships arrived in Jamestown in 1619, through a period
of abuse and exploitation, to freedom without dignity, and then to Pierre
Trudeau’s multi-cultural society, and now our zero-tolerance for
discrimination based on race, gender or religion – we, and they, have come a
long way.
You might even say we have been transformed! And what do you think guides us
as we struggle to find our way out of the darkness? The true light of God –
the teachings of Jesus Christ gently goad us to treat one another as we
would like to be treated. To love our neighbours as ourselves, and to be
slow to judgement. These are big broad principles, but as we struggle to
become a “just” society, a society guided overtly by our Charter of Rights
and Freedoms, we can see at work the straining of those who “listen to him”
– who hear the call of Jesus to love one another – as I have loved you.
Barach Obama is a super star – especially to Black people – because he
represents for them the butterfly that they have been waiting so long to
become. They cry tears of joy when they see him. They will wait hours in the
freezing cold and the snow of Ottawa in winter – just to see his car!
We want to be transformed. We want to become all that God intends us to be.
As Christians we know what will make that happen for us. “This is my beloved
Son, listen to him!” Like the disciples on that far away mountain top so
very long ago, we need to do that too. We need to listen to him!
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