We pause in our journey through the Psalms because today is the Feast of the Transfiguration. Rarely does it fall on a Sunday. This is the commemoration of Jesus on the Mountaintop with Peter, James and John as found in Luke 9:28-36 and Matthew 17:1-8.
It is also the day that the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. With the newly released movie Oppenheimer about the development of the bomb, it’s hard not to remember that event. Images of the results of the bombing of Hiroshima are popping up on the internet, like this one of shadows burned into the side of a building at the instant of explosion. Apparently, this happened because of the intense light and heat from the implosion. The objects and people shielded the walls and sidewalks from being bleached by the energy. Dr. Michael Hartshorne tells Live Science, “In other words, those eerie shadows are actually how the sidewalk or building looked, more or less, before the nuclear blast. It's just that the rest of the surfaces were bleached, making the regularly colored area look like a dark shadow.”
In a totally different way, the atomic bomb changed life,
and a generation’s perception of the safety of all the world’s families and
children. Those of us who grew up during the Cold War can remember the fear talk
of “the bomb” instilled in us. The current ‘saber-rattling’ by Russian president
Putin and images of emergency workers in Ukraine having nuclear response drills,
brings up memories of that time and raises concerns even with those who never
experienced the ‘duck and cover drills.’
Each of us has times when we were transformed or changed by
events in our lives. I recently heard a speaker talk about the ‘conversion
events’ of our lives. Often, we narrowly define these as religious experiences.
Certainly, we can be converted and transfigured by an intense retreat or prayer
experience. These encounters with God are important in our faith journey. From
the Hebrew scriptures this Sunday we hear that after Moses met with God, he
came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand,
Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking
with God. (Exodus 34:29-35) Like Jesus, he was literally transfigured.
Transformative events in our lives are also
conversions and transfigurations. These are the turning point times that make
us look at the world and ourselves differently. Perhaps it’s the death of your
parents, aunts, and uncles. You realize you are the senior representative of
the family. Perhaps it’s a world event like 9/11 or the pandemic which makes
you reconsider your role in the whole of society. Maybe the birth of a child or
grandchild changed your perspective on who you are. It may be that you get a
new perspective from something your read, a video you watch, or a conference
you attend. Travel can also be a transforming event as you see how people in
other places live and understand that they are very similar in their wants and
hopes and desires, no matter how different their lives may look on the outside.
When your perspective is changed you want to do things
differently. A religious conversion, in the traditional sense, makes you want
to change so you are living more closely aligned with God. When you experience transformation
because something in your life has changed, you cannot think and live quite the
same way as before.
Have you ever had a transfiguration experience with God? Did
your life change?
What are some of the other conversions or transfigurations in
your life? How do you live differently now?
Whether your transfiguration or conversion is religious or
personal, it is from God. As the Psalmist exalts, Proclaim the greatness of
the Lord our God and worship him upon his holy hill; for the Lord our God is
the Holy One. (Psalm 99:9) God finds us in all parts of our lives.
