We Need Transfiguration Now

“O God, who before the passion of your only ­begotten Son revealed his glory upon the holy mountain: Grant to us that we, beholding by faith the light of his countenance, may be strengthened to bear our cross, and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” Collect for the Last Sunday after the Epiphany

When I was in residence with our choir in the summer of 2017, I spent a great deal of time wandering the length of Durham Cathedral following morning prayer. One of the most striking stained-glass windows at Durham depicts the Transfiguration and was installed in honor of the former Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey. From a distance, it looks like a tall column of white light that gradually becomes different colors of flame as you approach the edges. If you didn’t survey the window in more depth by viewing it at different times throughout the day, you would miss the fullness of the image because so much of the detail fades the more that the light shines behind it.

It is meant to offer an image of the love of God and the way it transfigures or transforms the whole world. At the top is the image of Christ, holding his arms out in welcome, and within that welcoming Christ is a smaller Christ with his arms outstretched on the cross, apparently in defeat. The welcoming Christ, cradling the crucified Christ, is what allows the flows of brilliant light to first capture your eye. When you approach a bit closer, you see, bathed in the light, countless figures that represent all the people of the world. They are bent toward the light and are being transformed in their seeking. Archbishop Ramsey had a particular attachment to the story of the transformation because it served as a mirror for a different view of the world.

Much of our lives are lived in these liminal spaces. We carry the glory and the suffering of our world so close that they may appear indistinguishable. Only when we open a holy space of prayer do we allow the light to seep in — perhaps even blinding us just a bit.

Archbishop Michael Ramsey invites us to, “place the events and circumstances which daunt you, and frighten you, and damage you, in the setting of the Eternal – just as Christ himself upon the Mount with his Passion and death before him was observed to be transfused with light, the Shekinah…not to avoid the darkness, but ‘to avail ourselves of the liberation, from fear, despair, cowardice, and compromise.’” (From the dedication of the window at Durham.)

There is much to be disturbed by in our world these days. But as we prepare to enter the season of Lent, we are offered a vision of light and transformation. The gospel calls us to be both at the top of the mountain bathed in holy light and deeply in service to those in need as bearers of that light. My prayer for all of us is the wisdom to hold these tensions with grace and love, with the support of the God who loves us. It is holy work, and the light will lead us.

Peace, Beth +