I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.
Communication is a challenging thing! And sometimes in attempting to communicate the tendency is to pile on more and more words, so that the words begin to trip over themselves. More words don't necessarily mean more communication. Sometimes it can actually mean more confusion.
In a way, Peter is caught up in his words. He witnesses one of the most stunning, most powerful moments in the amazing list of powerful moments with Jesus. And his reaction is to attempt to fill up the space with words. "Lord," he says, "it's good that we were here...and he's what I'll do: I'll build booths..."
It's kind of like standing before one of the wonders of the world...like right there, before Niagara Falls - one of my favorite places - or the Grand Canyon, or whatever else is on your list of magnificent sights, and immune to the wonder of it, talking about your grocery shopping list. No, there's a time to be silent, to take it in, to just let the sight speak on its own.
So it's telling the way Matthew relates the story. He says, "While he was still speaking, suddenly...a voice overpowers his voice, 'This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!" No subtlety there. God might have added, "Shut up and listen" ...but the point is there. Some have suggested there's a reason why we have two of these and only one of these.
And you know yourself what it is to be truly listened to. It's a powerful thing. Most of the time we just use words, and most of the time they get us by...pick up a gallon of milk, check the gas tank... But every now and then we have something much deeper to share, something that's connected with deeper meanings, with much more significance.
The prophets say, "The whole earth is full of God's glory." (Is 6:3) The Hebrew word for glory is "kavod" - which means weight or significance. The whole earth is full of the weight or significance of God. In the Hebrew world-view, God is not somewhere else. It is God's world and God made it and God is present everywhere in it. And in our dullness we aren't always aware of it. It takes focus...an ability to listen, to see, to pay attention to the weight and significance.
We've known for a long time that the world is not flat. And yet, in many ways we keep viewing the world as flat, one-dimensional. We miss the kavod.
One of the memories of my first year or so in ministry here was visiting a couple - the Woodwards, who accompanied our youth on trips - in the hospital at the birth of their son,... Ill, so ill, so tiny, so fragile. Father and Mother - Justin and Janelle - barely taking time to get rest. Wanting, needing to be with him. I remember walking in the room, he being held by Mother. It's a moment of such profound relationship that it seemed almost unholy to fill it with any kind of small talk. Of course you do engage them. But when you walk away you have a sense that there was more there than can ever be said. Kavod.
Or were you ever touched by the unexpected understanding of a friend? Searching for your way, trying to find yourself, perhaps not even knowing your own heart at the time, a friend was able to be with you, to stay with you, to believe in you perhaps when you had even stopped believing in yourself. It was lifting and affirming, and in their friendship there was something holy at work...kavod. (See Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis, pp. 74 ff.
Or was it Niagara, or the Grand Canyon, or the Cardinal in winter, or the stars on a clear winter night, or the peacefulness of falling snow, or the warm waves of the ocean returning again and again. Kavod. For a moment I want to let my words get out of the way... Take a moment. Close your eyes. Breathe easily. Relax your body. And let your mind take you back in your experience and bring into this moment that awe that you felt at the presence of God - the kavod...
When you're ready, come back. When you're ready, open your eyes...
Now I wonder if by chance, of all the experiences that there were to choose from, if anyone was drawn to think of the holy in this place....the holiness not just of a building or a space, but also the holiness of what we do here: of worship, of community, of church, of listening to each other...listening for those moments when someone shares out of their experience of God and reminds us of our own experience with God.
Some say that one of the worst things we can do in family, in friendship, in relationship, even in the church, something that works against faith and trust, is to try to manage or control each other....or like Peter, to take the experience and try to contain it in a booth. It's better to trust....trust. Frederick Beuchner puts it this way, "...Stop trying to protect, to rescue, to judge, to manage the lives around you - your children's lives, the lives of your husband, your wife, your friends - because that is just what you are powerless to do. Remember that the lives of other people are not your business. They are their business. They are God's business because they all have God whether they use the word God or not..." (Telling Secrets, p. 92)
And if that's true about our relationships, perhaps it's even more true of God. Peter wants to manage Jesus, to talk Jesus up, to do anything but trust. But an amazing thing happens when we let God be God. In that trust and openness and peace that comes from letting God be God, we become more ourselves.
God wishes, desires, longs for us to have this peace, this openness, this freedom.
And while he was still speaking, suddenly, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, "This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him."
Let us pray
Come Holy Spirit, claim our lives. Come Holy Spirit, claim our wills...our desires...our hopes. Let all that we are and all that we do be surrounded by holiness...by you. Amen.
Children's time: can it still be dark if you have even the smallest amount of light. One candle means you have light. John said, "The light shone in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it."