Sunday next before Lent St Paul’s Athens

Deacon Chris Saccali

 

I wonder whether you have ever been electrified by a play, film or book, so stunned by the writing or acting that it leaves you mulling over the performances for a long time afterwards as well as the plot or characters and the insights it afforded ?

One such occasion happened recently when my fellow educationalist and emotional needs specialist, colleague,  volunteer at Apostoli Dilesi nursery school and integration migrant programmes and friend to this church Katia Papaconstantinou and I went to see a performance of The Curious Incident of the Dog at Nighttime based on the book of the same name, in a theatre not so very far from here.

The book has been a favourite of mine for years and one which I read with my students. It tells the story of Christopher, a teenage boy on the autistic spectrum. I had long wanted to see the stage version which premiered in London and toured England but was not able to go. So I was delighted, if somewhat skeptical, to see that the production was being mounted here in Athens. It was not so much the language element I feared, the play was in Greek, but how the plot and script would differ from my preconceived ideas of them. Not to mention the characters.

I need not have worried. The performances from the small cast were outstanding especially the leading role of the boy Christopher. The direction, stage management and scenery basic  but inspiring and innovative.  The crucial line and message of the play towards the end was from the hero Christopher to his teacher Siobhan, “So now do you think I can do anything I set my mind to?” We were uplifted when we left and I heartily recommend you go and see it or read the book.

We did not have much success I must say in persuading other friends to attend, even those who teach here in Athens or have a connection to autism. Yes, most people want to be entertained when they go out. I like to have something to chew over.

That is rather what our Gospel passage is like today- Luke’s rendition of the Transfiguration. This story of transformation is always the set Gospel for the Sunday before Lent in the three year cycle using the synoptic Gospels Matthew Mark and Luke. As well, it is set for the Feast of the Transfiguration which falls on 6^th August in the church calendar.

It is not an easy passage or one to which we are naturally drawn, though, rather it can be one with which we are so familiar with that we fail to look at with fresh eyes. Familiarity breeds contempt goes the cliche. I have to confess that I inwardly groaned when I realized I was preaching today as I have preached on this passage three times in the past year alone.

This time last year we looked at mountain tops and how to glimpse above the ordinary to the extraordinary. In August the transfiguration or Metamorphisi tou Sotiras  fell just two weeks after the devastating fires in Mati and we considered how that had transformed the community and the mountainside and where God was at the time and in the disaster.

 

Today, I think as we read Luke’s version we need to think about why this particular passage is set at the pivotal point, as a view point on the mountain witnessing Christ in glory, just before we enter Lent on Ash Wednesday. The Collect for today has some light to bear on this so let’s hear it again: “Almighty God whose Son was revealed in majesty before he suffered death upon the cross give us grace to perceive his glory that we may be strengthened to suffer with him and be changed into his likeness from glory to glory.”

Let us also consider what journeying intentionally through Lent together means. We and the disciples are being given a unique glimpse of the ascended Christ.  Earlier in the same chapter of Luke 9 the cat had been let out of the bag when Jesus had finally been recognized as Messiah by Peter. In fact, this chapter Luke 9, has an awful lot packed into it, with references to Moses and Elijah more than once foreshadowing the scene of the transfiguration and tying in our other readings today from Exodus and Colossians.

The sayings or logous of Jesus in verse 28 refer to the verses immediately previous to these where Jesus is talking to the disciples about the cost of their discipleship and the suffering the Messiah would face as he continued on to Jerusalem and another Mountain – Mt Zion.

So often, before an important revelation in Luke’s gospel there is the element of withdrawal and prayer as in  verse 29.  Throughout this chapter and immediately before the Transfiguration passage, with only the few disciples present, there are scenes with crowds such as the feeding of the 5,000 and the miracle of the healing with the boy with the demon. There is the constant contrast in tension of the multitudes gathered around them with the need to be alone for Christ and His followers.

I sometimes wonder if we shy away from difficult concepts and passages like that of the Transfiguration just as we prefer entertaining stories to enigmatic ones. However, remember we do not have to figure everything out, just as the first disciples. God is mysterious; “great is the mystery of faith.” Even if the passage, story or vision we are seeing is familiar however many times we revisit it at different stages and ages in our lives and discipleship there is always some more insight we can gain from God’s word.

 

Let us enter Lent prepared to intentionally journey to the cross again, as disciples carrying our own cross, but aware of God’s glory revealed in His only Son Jesus Christ bathed in that light and cloud hearing the words uttered by God: ‘This is my, Son, my Chosen; listen to him.’ We are being asked to climb the mountains not hold or carry them or the weight of the world but fix our eyes, ears and vision on Christ.

Finally, as we exit church this morning I will have a box of scrolls of a scripture verse which you can choose to get you started on Lenten contemplation. More exciting activities for Lent will be announced later in the service. AMEN

 

Let us enter Lent prepared to journey to the cross again, as disciples carrying our own cross but aware of God’s glory revealed in His only Son Jesus Christ.