Monday 24 February 2020

Readings, hymns and
sermon ideas for
Sunday 1 March 2020,
the First Sunday in Lent

‘Christ in the Desert’ or ‘Christ in the Wilderness’ (Христос в пустыне), by Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoi, oil on canvas, 180 cm × 210 cm, the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Patrick Comerford

Next Sunday, 1 March 2020, is the First Sunday in Lent. The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland are:

The Readings: Genesis 2: 15-17; 3: 1–7; Psalm 32; Romans 5: 12-19; and Matthew 4: 1-11.

There is link to the readings HERE.

‘Then the devil left him …’ (Matthew 4: 11) … a sculpture in the Llotja de la Seda or Silk Exchange in Valencia (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Introducing the Readings:

Unless they have pancakes in the canteen at work on Tuesday, or resolve (yet again) to give up smoking on Wednesday, I am sure many people will not notice that Wednesday is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.

But has Lent become wholly irrelevant in the prosperous and increasingly secular Ireland we live in?

Giving up smoking on Ash Wednesday is one of the few Lenten resolutions that survive in Irish society. But even as I was growing up, Lenten resolutions were broken and forgotten as quickly as New Year’s resolutions. How many of us promise on New Year’s Eve to give up smoking, to drink less, to cut out sugar or to lose weight? How many of us can remember our New Year’s resolutions for this year, never mind those for 2019?

Lent originally began as six weeks of preparation and instruction for the newly-converted Christians before their Baptism, before joining the Church, on Easter Eve. Lent should still be a time of preparation for discipleship, ministry and mission. And the temptations or distractions that take us away from that discipleship, mission and ministry are similar to those faced by Christ in the Gospel reading.

Sunday's readings are about temptation and obedience, fasting and feasting, themes that offer an opportunity reflect on Lenten disciplines.

‘You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat’ (Genesis 2: 16-17) … ‘The Salmon of Knowledge,’ a tree carving by Will Fogarty in Tarbert, Co Kerry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Genesis 2: 15-17; 3: 1-7:

This first reading introduces us to parts of the story of the creation of humanity, after the creation of ‘the heavens and the earth’ (Genesis 2: 4), when there was ‘no one to till the ground’ (2: 5). God formed humanity (Hebrew: adam) ‘from the dust of the ground’ (2: 7), gave us the spirit of life, and placed us in Eden (2: 8), to cultivate and care for the earth.

God tells Adam it is permissible to eat the fruit of the trees there, except for two:

● the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (2: 17)

● the fruit of the tree of life (2: 9, 3: 3)

He is warned that should ‘you eat of it you shall die’ (2: 17; 3: 3).

God provides this human with an equal partner (2: 18).

At this point, the couple do not have any shame about their nudity, and they know of no guilt in their relationship with God.

However, the snake, or serpent sows doubt in the woman’s mind about what God has commanded. She inaccurately says not only that she may not eat the fruit, but that she shall touch it’ (3: 3).

The temptation is not only in the act of disobedience, but in contemplating or moving towards the act of disobedience. The snake suggests that God is trying to fool the woman. Instead of dying, she will come to know good and evil and so become divine, like God (3: 5).

The temptation is irresistible. She eats the fruit and gives some to the man. Now they are embarrassed that they are naked before God, and lose their innocent, trusting relationship with God (3: 8).

‘Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle’ (Psalm 32: 9) … ‘The Gaelic Chieftain’ by Maurice Harron off the N4, near Boyle, Co Roscommon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Psalm 32:

Psalm 32 tells us that happiness is found in knowing that God has forgiven us, leaving us without guilt.

The psalmist was seriously ill and in pain, which were signs of being alienated from God, ‘day and night.’ But when he acknowledged his sin, acknowledged his transgressions, confessed to God, and God forgave him.

Now he is now protected by God, and God promises to lead him, guide him and teach him, showing him mercy. For this, the psalmist is glad and rejoices, and his shouts of joy should be echoed by all who worship God.

‘Just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous’ (Romans 5: 19) … Frank Roper’s ‘Crucifixion’ in the centre of the nave of Peterborough Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Romans 5: 12-19: (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

The Apostle Paul has said that Christians, reconciled to God, will be saved, sharing in the risen life of Christ.

Adam’s sin has been punished with both physical and spiritual death, for ‘death came through sin’ and we share in his sin which has ‘spread to all’ (Roman 5: 12).

Saint Paul contrasts Adam and Christ, who both inaugurate new eras. Adam foreshadowed Christ as head of humanity, and disobeyed God’s command. On the other hand, Christ is obedient to God the Father and brings new life.

Adam was separated from God, but Christ brings union with God. Adam’s action led to the sin of many and death, but Christ’s action leads to godliness and eternal life.

‘Driven by the Spirit into the Wilderness’ (1942), by Stanley Spencer (1891-1959)

Matthew 4: 1-11:

In this reading, Christ is tempted three times with words from the scriptures, and three times Christ responds with words of wisdom from the scriptures:

● One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (verse 4; see Deuteronomy 8: 3).
● Do not put the Lord your God to the test (verse 7, see Deuteronomy 6: 16).
● Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him (verse 10, see Deuteronomy 6: 13).

As that Gospel passage was being read, did you notice the sequence of events as they are recalled by Saint Matthew? How, as the drama unfolds before us, we are moved in each sequence to a greater height each time?

We start with Christ standing on the ground, amid the stones and boulders of the wilderness. From there, he is taken to the pinnacles of the Temple, and is able to look across the city. And then he is brought to the mountain-top where he looks across the kingdoms of the world.

The movement is from the particular to the general. As readers, we are challenged to move from the temptations that affect our own lives to temptations that have consequences for the lives of those around us, and then to temptations that concern the world we live in. It is a dramatic movement from my own life to the spiritual lives of others, and then to the social, economic and political life of the world. It is a stern reminder that there is no such thing as personal sin unless there is also social sin.

TS Eliot’s play Murder in the Cathedral was first staged in Canterbury Cathedral in 1935. This verse drama is based on the events leading to the murder in Canterbury Cathedral of Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1170. It was written at the prompting of Bishop George Bell, a friend of Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

The dramatisation in this play of opposition to authority was prophetic at the time, for it was written as fascism was on the rise in Central Europe. The principal focus of the play he is on Becket’s internal struggles. As he reflects on the inevitable martyrdom he faces, his tempters arrive and question the archbishop about his plight, echoing in many ways Christ’s temptations in the wilderness when he has been fasting for 40 Days.

The first tempter offers the beleaguered Becket the prospect of physical safety:

The easy man lives to eat the best dinners.
Take a friend’s advice. Leave well alone,
Or your goose may be cooked and eaten to the bone.


The second tempter offers him power, riches and fame in serving the king so that he can disarm the powerful and help the poor:

To set down the great, protect the poor,
Beneath the throne of God can man do more?


Then the third tempter suggests the archbishop should form an alliance with the barons and seize a chance to resist the king:

For us, Church favour would be an advantage,
Blessing of Pope powerful protection
In the fight for liberty. You, my Lord,
In being with us, would fight a good stroke
At once, for England and for Rome.


Finally, the fourth tempter urges Thomas to look to the glory of martyrdom:

You hold the keys of heaven and hell.
Power to bind and loose: bind, Thomas, bind,
King and bishop under your heel.


Becket responds to all his tempters and specifically addresses the immoral suggestions of the fourth tempter at the end of the first act:

Now is my way clear, now is the meaning plain:
Temptation shall not come in this kind again.
The last temptation is the greatest treason:
To do the right deed for the wrong reason.


In the Gospel stories of Christ’s temptations in the wilderness (Matthew 4: 1-11; Mark 1: 12-13; Luke 4: 1-13), he is tempted to do the right things for the wrong reason.

What would be wrong with Christ turning stones into bread (see Matthew 4: 3; Luke 4: 3-4) if that is going to feed the hungry? With showing his miraculous powers (see Matthew 4: 3; Luke 4: 9), if this is going to point to the majesty of God (see Matthew 4: 4; Luke 4: 10-11)? With taking command of the kingdoms of this world (see Matthew 4: 9; Luke 4: 5-7), if this provides the opportunity to usher in justice, mercy and peace?

Let us not deceive ourselves, these are real temptations. Christ is truly human and truly divine, and for those who are morally driven there is always a real temptation to do the right thing but to do it for the wrong reason.

We all know Ireland benefitted in recent years from wanting to be a modern nation, like your neighbours. But that ambition turned to greed, and we were surprised when greed turned to economic collapse. We found we had given in to the temptation to do what appeared to be the right thing for the wrong reason.

Too often when I am offered the opportunity to do the right thing, to make a difference in this society, in this world, I ask: ‘What’s in this for me?’

When I am asked to speak up for those who are marginalised or oppressed, this should be good enough reason in itself. But then I wonder how others are going to react – react not to the marginalised or oppressed, but to me.

How often do we use external sources to hide our own internalised prejudices?

How often have I seen what is the right thing to do, but have found an excuse that I pretend is not of my own making?

I hear people claim they are not racist, but speaking about migrants, immigrants and asylum seekers in language that would shock them if it was used about our own family members in England, America or Australia.

The victims of war in Syria or boat people in the Mediterranean are objects for our pity on the television news night after night. But why are they not being settled with compassion, in proportionate numbers in Ireland?

How often do I think of doing the right thing only if it is going to please my family members or please my neighbours?

How often do I use the Bible to justify not extending civil rights to others? Democracy came to all of us at a great price paid by past generations, but how often we try to hold on to those rights as if they were personal, earned wealth.

How often we use obscure Bible texts to prop up political, racist, social and economic prejudices, forgetting that any text in the Bible, however clear or obscure it may be, depends, in Christ’s own words, on the two greatest commandments, to love God and to love one another?

We can give in so easily … we can convince ourselves that we are doing the right thing when we are doing it for the wrong reason. And when we allow ourselves to be silenced or immobilised, those we should have spoken up for lose a voice, and we lose our own voices, and our own integrity.

A wrong decision taken once, thinking it is doing the right thing, but for the wrong reason, is not just about an action in the present moment. It forms habits and it shapes who we are, within time and eternity.

The Revd Martin Niemöller (1892-1984), a prominent German Lutheran pastor and an outspoken opponent of Hitler, spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. He once said:

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out –
Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out –
Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out –
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me
.

In each case in this Gospel reading, Christ is asked to be complicit in social sin for tempting, self-centred reasons. Whenever I am tempted to look after my own interests first, there are always consequences – potentially dire consequences – for those around me.

In the first temptation, Christ is invited to take control of the essentials of life for his own personal comfort and gain. He is asked to prove himself by turning the stones into bread. He is asked to take control of nature and the environment and to use them to meet his own personal need for food. The consequences of looking after my own needs when it comes to the supply of food has left us with an abundance of food in northern Europe, both naturally grown and produced food and genetically-modified food.

Controlling the supply of food without fully considering the social consequences for others and the needs of others is one of the first great social sins. When the Church feeds the hungry, we are seen as encouraging charity. When we challenge the reasons people are hungry we are easily accused of interfering in politics and economics. As the late Dom Helder Camara said: ‘When I feed the poor, they call me a saint, but when I ask why the poor are hungry, they call me a communist.’

Try to imagine how famished Christ was after 40 days in the wilderness. I get a migraine if I do not eat regularly; I cannot imagine how unbearable life is for those who are hungry on a regular and continuous basis, day-by-day, every day.

Desperate people are so willing to do desperate things when they are hungry they are even willing to go against their own better interests. The Children of Israel murmured after 40 years in the wilderness without proper food and shelter. They were so unsettled they were even willing to go back into slavery in Egypt. The fear of hunger allows people to accept structural injustice and unjust societies. Yet, as Archbishop Helder Camara pointed out in his book Spiral of Violence (1971), structural violence is the beginning of all violence.

In the second temptation, Christ is invited to take control of sacred and civic space for personal gain. He is taken to the heart of the city and the pinnacle of the Temple and challenged to show that he can command and hold power.

How many of our religious and political leaders in our society, in our world, use their political and religious leadership to give themselves power and command, to control, and to guarantee their personal gain? The use of political power for personal gain is so common among politicians today that it makes people cynical and alienates them from the political process. But how often have those with religious power also used their power to protect their own personal interests?

From the heart of the city and the pinnacle of the Temple, Christ is then taken to the mountain top, where he is shown all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. Why do these temptations start on the ground, move to the pinnacle of the Temple, and reach their climax on the mountain top? Moses receives the commandments on the mountain top; Peter, James and John witness the Transfiguration on the mountain top; Christ is crucified on a hilltop.

The invitation to throw himself from the pinnacle holds no attraction for Christ, who later refuses to come down from the cross. He is not afraid of death. He knows where the true Temple is. Who or what is worshipped in the temple of your heart?

When he was threatened with death and murder during the apartheid era in South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu declared: ‘I cannot help it. When I see injustice, I cannot keep quiet … But what is it that they can ultimately do? The most awful thing that they can do is to kill me, and death is not the worst thing that could happen to a Christian.’

In the final temptation, we see the real connection between social sin and idolatry. There is a world of difference between being political in the party sense and being prophetic in the unexpected sense.

When I visit people in hospital, I am engaged in pastoral care. When I question why patients are on trolleys, or why we have a two-tier health service in one of the richest countries in the world, I are bringing together pastoral theology and the prophetic call of the Church. But I also run the risk of being accused of being political or, even worse, of being party political.

When we greet others with the sign of Christ’s peace at the Eucharist, we are being liturgically relevant. When I ask why the world is not at peace, why hundreds are killed in clashes and wars in Syria, Iraq, Sudan or Afghanistan, I am bringing the liturgy to life in the world, but I run the risk of being accused of being political.

In each of these temptations we see the subtle attraction of doing the right thing but using the wrong means.

After saying no to each of these temptations, Christ is waited upon by angels (see verse 11). The words in our Gospel passage can also be read as telling us messengers of good news ministered to him, those who proclaim the Gospel served him. At the heart of the ministry and mission of the Church, at the heart of our proclamation of the Gospel and our diaconal service, at the heart of our true worship of God, there is always a call to the Church to minister to and to serve the needs of others in a world that often deprives them of food and shelter, of political and religious rights, and of a true place in this world.

This is the ministry and mission Christ was preparing for during his 40 days in the wilderness. This is the ministry we in the Church need to remind ourselves about during the 40 days of Lent. And if we do this, then we can truly live in – and truly invite others to live in – the light and joy of the Resurrection as Easter breaks into our lives.

‘Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me’ … the cell where Pastor Martin Niemöller was held in isolation in the concentration camp in Sachsenhausen (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 4: 1-11 (NRSVA):

1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ 4 But he answered, ‘It is written,

“One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”.’
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,
“He will command his angels concerning you,”
and “On their hands they will bear you up,
so that you will not dash your foot against a stone”.’

7 Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test”.’

8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour; 9 and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ 10 Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! for it is written,
“Worship the Lord your God,
and serve only him”.’

11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

‘ … and suddenly angels came and waited on him’ (Matthew 4: 11) … two angels by Eric Gill support a bishop’s coat-of-arms in Jesus College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical Resources:

Liturgical Colour: Violet

The canticle Gloria may be omitted in Lent.

Traditionally in Anglicanism, the doxology or Gloria at the end of Canticles and Psalms is also omitted during Lent.

Penitential Kyries:

In the wilderness we find your grace:
you love us with an everlasting love.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

There is none but you to uphold our cause;
our sin cries out and our guilt is great.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

Heal us, O Lord, and we shall be healed;
Restore us and we shall know your joy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty God,
whose Son Jesus Christ fasted forty days in the wilderness,
and was tempted as we are, yet without sin:
Give us grace to discipline ourselves
in obedience to your Spirit;
and, as you know our weakness,
so may we know your power to save;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Collect of the Word:

O Lord,
who for our sake fasted forty days and forty nights:
give us grace to use such abstinence,
that, our flesh being subdued by the Spirit,
we may ever obey your godly will
in righteousness and true holiness;
to your honour and glory,
who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit,
one God, world without end.

The Lenten Collect:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you hate nothing that you have made
and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent:
Create and make in us new and contrite hearts
that we, worthily lamenting our sins
and acknowledging our wretchedness,
may receive from you, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

This Collect may be said after the Collect of the Day until Easter Eve

Introduction to the Peace:

Being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5: 1, 2)

Preface:

Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who was in every way tempted as we are yet did not sin;
by whose grace we are able to overcome all our temptations:

Post-Communion Prayer:

Lord God,
you renew us with the living bread from heaven.
Nourish our faith,
increase our hope,
strengthen our love,
and enable us to live by every word
that proceeds from out of your mouth;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Blessing:

Christ give you grace to grow in holiness,
to deny yourselves,
and to take up your cross and follow him:

‘And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness’ (Matthew 4: 1) … (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Suggested Hymns:

Genesis 2: 15-17; 3: 1-17:

250, All hail the power of Jesu’s name
212, Jesus, grant me this, I pray
484, Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim
555, Lord of creation, forgive us, we pray
102, Name of all majesty
108, Praise to the Holiest in the height
545, Sing of Eve and sing of Adam
290, Walking in a garden at the close of day
186, What Adam’s disobedience cost

Psalm 32:

562, Blessèd assurance, Jesus is mine
92, How sweet the name of Jesus sounds

Romans 5: 12-19:

218, And can it be that I should gain
108, Praise to the Holiest in the height
186, What Adam’s disobedience cost

Matthew 4: 1-11:

66, Before the ending of the day (verses 1, 2, 3d)
207, Forty days and forty nights
668, God is our fortress and our rock
652, Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us
635, Lord, be my guardian and my guide
214, O Love, how deep, how broad, how high (verses 1–4, 7)
595, Safe in the shadow of the Lord
596, Seek ye first the kingdom of God
641, Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin

Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness … [and] fasted forty days and forty nights (Matthew 4: 1-2) (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.

The hymn suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000).

‘The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendour’ (Matthew 4: 8) … vineyards on hillsides in Tuscany (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Wednesday 19 February 2020

Readings, hymns and
sermon ideas for
Wednesday 26 February 2020,
Ash Wednesday

The Crucifixion and the Harrowing of Hell, depicted in a chapel in Saint John’s Monastery, Tolleshunt Knights, Essex (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

Next Wednesday, 26 February 2020, is Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.

The readings for the principal service on Ash Wednesday are the same each year and do not vary.

Readings: Joel 2: 1-2, 12-17 or Isaiah 58: 1-12; Psalm 51: 1-18; II Corinthians 5: 20b to 6: 10; Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21.

There is a link to the readings HERE.

Introduction:

It is striking how often in the Bible encounters with God take place on a mountain top: Mount Sinai, Mount Zion, the Mount of Olives, Calvary and the Ascension from the mount called Olivet.

On the previous Sunday [23 February 2020], in our Gospel reading, we hear the story of the Transfiguration, where Christ is presented on a high mountain as the Father’s beloved Son, and placed on either side of him are Moses and Elijah – for Christ is truly the fulfilment of the Law and the Prophets, of all of God’s promises.

In the Gospel reading for Ash Wednesday, we meet Christ as we as we listen to his Sermon on the Mount.

In Lent, we are preparing once again for Good Friday and for Easter. This season began not as a time of repentance, but as a time of preparation for the catechumens – those preparing for baptism at Easter, those preparing to die with Christ and to rise again with Christ.

Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, is a day that is often marked by the spiritual disciplines of fasting, abstinence from meat, and repentance. And so, the Book of Common Prayer designates Ash Wednesday as a day of ‘special observance’ and a day of ‘discipline and self-denial.’

For many in this culture, it is a day associated with long faces, the joyless giving up of some questionable pleasures – such as smoking – and of doing so in a way that sometimes amounts to self-indulgent penitence.

But, instead, this should really be the start of a time of preparation, a time to look forward to our real hope and joy. For the countdown is beginning – Ash Wednesday is only 40 days from Easter.

Perhaps Easter is in danger of losing all meaning in society today. Just like people readily sing Christmas carols even before Advent begins, people are now eating Cadbury’s crème eggs long before Lent begins – without ever thinking of the symbolism the egg once carried of the gravestone being rolled back on Easter morn and new life rising in joy.

But just as the whole point of Advent is looking forward with joyful anticipation to Christmas, so too should Lent be a time of looking forward with joyful anticipation to Easter.

And in so many ways that tone – that set of values or priorities – is captured by TS Eliot in his first long poem, ‘Ash Wednesday.’

This poem has been described as Eliot’s conversion poem. It was written to mark his conversion to Anglicanism over 90 years ago, on 29 June 1927, although it was not published until 1930. In this poem, he answers the despair found in The Waste Land, and this is a poem that is less about penitence and more about repentance.

In ‘Ash Wednesday,’ Eliot deals with the struggles that arise when one who once lacked faith turns and strives to move towards God. In this poem, he writes about his hopes to move from spiritual barrenness to hope for human salvation. And that is what Lent and the spiritual disciplines we associate with it are all about.

Burning Palm Crosses from Palm Sunday to prepare ashes for Ash Wednesday (Photograph: Barbara Comerford)

Ashes on Ash Wednesday

In some parishes, people come forward for ashes. The practice is more common among our neighbours and throughout the Anglican Communion than in the Church of Ireland. Despite its gradual introduction in the Church of Ireland, some people are more reserved, bearing in mind, perhaps, the words of Christ in the Gospel reading: ‘And whenever you fast, do not look dismal like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting … But when you fast, put oil on your face and wash your face …’ (Matthew 6: 16-17).

Those words are not merely wise, but words that reprove those who would misrepresent the meaning of the Lenten fast. For I sometimes think that the misrepresentation and misinterpretation of Lent has, in turn, deprived many of its true meaning and significance.

Writing in the Guardian ten years ago [2010], the Orthodox theologian Aaron Taylor wrote of how he hoped that the Lenten fast ‘must never become a source of pride on the one hand, or something oppressive on the other. It is a measuring stick for our individual practice … [it] is primarily about obedience, and thus humility. But it also creates a sense of need and sobriety. It teaches us to seek our consolation in things of the spirit rather than of the flesh.’

He pointed out that fasting ‘is merely a physical accompaniment to the real heart and joy of Lent: the prayer and worship that are intensified during this season …’ and he referred to the ‘joy-making mourning’ recommended by an early writer, Saint John Klimakos, in The Ladder of Divine Ascent, to the ‘bright sadness’ of Lent.

At Lent, we should remind ourselves that we have all fallen short, so that we are not the people we should be. We all too easily focus on ourselves. But true Lenten fasting allows us to experience a sense of freedom as we relinquish our self-centredness and can produce joy in our hearts – just what TS Eliot experienced, just what we pray for in the Collect of Ash Wednesday.

And Aaron Taylor added: ‘If we do not to some extent attain to this joy-through-mourning, we have entirely missed the point of Lent.’

He concluded his ‘Face to Faith’ column in the Guardian by saying: ‘As long as there is evil in the world, we can be sure that some of it still lies hidden in our hearts. And as long as we are able to shed tears over our condition, there remains hope that we will one day see the glorious day of resurrection.’

Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world … the Byzantine-style crucifix by Laurence King (1907-1981) in the crypt of Saint Mary le Bow, Cheapside, London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21:

1 ‘Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 ‘So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

5 ‘And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

16 ‘And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

19 ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.’

A window ledge in the chapel in Dr Miley’s Hospital, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Liturgical Resources:

Liturgical Colour: Violet (Purple).

The Gathering:

The traditional Ash Wednesday invitation or exhortation in the Book of Common Prayer begins:

‘Brothers and sisters in Christ: since early days Christians have observed with great devotion the time of our Lord's passion and resurrection. It became the custom of the Church to prepare for this by a season of penitence and fasting.

‘At first this season of Lent was observed by those who were preparing for baptism at Easter and by those who were to be restored to the Church’s fellowship from which they had been separated through sin. In course of time the Church came to recognize that, by a careful keeping of these days, all Christians might take to heart the call to repentance and the assurance of forgiveness proclaimed in the gospel, and so grow in faith and in devotion to our Lord.

‘I invite you, therefore, in the name of the Lord to observe a holy Lent, by self-examination and repentance; by prayer, fasting, and self-denial; and by reading and meditating on God’s holy word.’

Silence may be kept.

Then the priest says:


Let us pray for grace to keep Lent faithfully.

Almighty and everlasting God
you hate nothing that you have made
and forgive the sins of all those who are penitent.
Create and make in us new and contrite hearts,
that we may be truly sorry for our sins
and obtain from you, the God of all mercy,
perfect remission and forgiveness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


The Book of Common Prayer suggests that at the Confession and the Commandments may be read (and should be read during Advent and Lent), but neither the Beatitudes nor the Summary of the Law is used at the Ash Wednesday service. The Book of Common Prayer suggests ‘there should be two readers if possible, one reading the Old Testament statement and the second the New Testament interpretation’:

Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ says:
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like it.
You shall love your neighbour as yourself
On these two commandments depend all the law
and the prophets. (Matthew 22: 37-39)

Lord, have mercy on us,
and write these your laws in our hearts.


Penitential Kyries:

In the wilderness we find your grace:
you love us with an everlasting love.

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

There is none but you to uphold our cause;
our sin cries out and our guilt is great.

Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

Heal us, O Lord, and we shall be healed;
Restore us and we shall know your joy.

Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

The Book of Common Prayer (pp 340-341) also provides this form of Confession and Absolution:

After The Litany Two (pp 175-178), silence is kept for a time, after which is said:

Make our hearts clean, O God,
and renew a right spirit within us.

Father eternal, giver of light and grace,
we have sinned against you and against our neighbour,
in what we have thought, in what we have said and done,
through ignorance, through weakness,
through our own deliberate fault.
We have wounded your love, and marred your image in us.
We are sorry and ashamed, and repent of all our sins.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who died for us,
forgive us all that is past;
and lead us out from darkness to walk as children of light. Amen.


This prayer is said:

God our Father,
the strength of all who put their trust in you,
mercifully accept our prayers;
and because, in our weakness,
we can do nothing good without you,
grant us the help of your grace,
that in keeping your commandments
we may please you, both in will and deed;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Or

The priest pronounces the Absolution:

Almighty God,
who forgives all who truly repent,
have mercy upon you,
pardon and deliver you from all your sins,
confirm and strengthen you in all goodness
and keep you in life eternal;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The canticle Gloria in Excelsis may be omitted in Advent and Lent and on weekdays that are not holy days. Other versions of this canticle may be used, or when appropriate another suitable hymn of praise.

The invitation to Communion:

The invitation to Communion begins:

Most merciful Lord,
your love compels us to come in.
Our hands were unclean, our hearts were unprepared;
we were not fit even to eat the crumbs from under your table.
But you, Lord, are the God of our salvation,
and share your bread with sinners.
So cleanse and feed us with the precious body and blood of your Son,
That he may live in us and we in him;
and that we, with the whole company of Christ,
may sit and eat in your kingdom. Amen.


This prayer may be used in place of the Prayer of Humble Access (see p 342). As such it comes before the Peace and not as part of the Invitation to Communion (the Church of England usage).

Introduction to the Peace:

Being justified by faith,
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 5: 1, 2)

Preface:

Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who was in every way tempted as we are yet did not sin;
by whose grace we are able to overcome all our temptations:

Post Communion Prayer:

Almighty God,
you have given your only Son to be for us
both a sacrifice for sin and also an example of godly life:
Give us grace
that we may always most thankfully receive
these his inestimable gifts,
and also daily endeavour ourselves
to follow the blessed steps of his most holy life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Blessing:

Christ give you grace to grow in holiness,
to deny yourselves,
and to take up your cross and follow him;
and the blessing of God Almighty,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
be with you, and remain with you always. Amen.

The Crucifix on the Nave Altar in Lichfield Cathedral (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Suggested Hymns:

The hymns suggested for Ash Wednesday in Sing to the Word (2000) edited by Bishop Edward Darling include:

Joel 2: 1-2, 12-17:

210, Holy God of righteous glory
538, O Lord, the clouds are gathering

Isaiah 58: 1-12:

647, Guide me, O thou great Jehovah
125, Hail to the Lord’s anointed
535, Judge eternal, throned in splendour
592, O Love that wilt not let me go
712, Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord
497, The Church of Christ in every age
510, We pray for peace

Psalm 51: 1-18

630, Blessed are the pure in heart
297, Come, thou Holy Spirit, come
614, Great shepherd of your people, hear
208, Hearken, O Lord, have mercy upon us
553, Jesu, lover of my soul
305, O Breath of life, come sweeping through us
638, O for a heart to praise my God
557, Rock of ages, cleft for me

II Corinthians 5: 20b to 6: 10

643, Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
566, Fight the good fight with all thy might
352, Give thanks with a grateful heart
417, He gave his life in selfless love
322, I bind unto myself today (verses 1, 2, 8 and 9)
587, Just as I am, without one plea
652, Lead us, heavenly Father, lead us
487, Soldiers of Christ, arise
488, Stand up, stand up for Jesus

Matthew 6: 1-6, 16-21:

207, Forty days and forty nights
646, Glorious things of thee are spoken
619, Lord, teach us how to pray aright
363, O Lord of heaven and earth and sea
625, Prayer is the soul’s sincere desire

The liturgical colours change to Violet in Lent (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Monday 17 February 2020

Readings, hymns and
sermon ideas for
Sunday 23 February 2020,
the Sunday before Lent

The Transfiguration depicted in a stained-glass window in a church in Lucan, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Patrick Comerford


Next Sunday, 23 February 2020, is the Sunday before Lent.

The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary, as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland, offer two choices:

The Readings, Option A (The Transfiguration): Exodus 24: 12-18; Psalm 2 or Psalm 99; II Peter 1: 16-21; Matthew 17: 1-9.

There is a link to the readings HERE.

The Readings, Option B (Proper 4): Genesis 6: 9-22, 7: 24, 8: 14-19; Psalm 46; Romans 1: 16-17, 3: 22b-28 [29-31]; Matthew 7:21-29.

There is a link to the readings HERE.

The Transfiguration depicted in a stained-glass window in the Collegiate Church of Saint Nicholas, Galway (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Part 1, Option A (The Transfiguration):

Introducing the readings:

The Feast of the Transfiguration is traditionally celebrated on 6 August. So, you may wonder, why is it also marked in the Book of Common Prayer, the Church Calendar and the Lectionary as the first and preferred option for the Sunday before Lent?

In early Church tradition, the Transfiguration is connected with the approaching death and resurrection of Christ, and so was said to have taken place 40 days before the Crucifixion.

There is historical evidence that the feast of the Transfiguration belonged first to the pre-Easter season of the Church and that the Transfiguration was then celebrated on one of the Sundays of Lent. A sermon on the Transfiguration was preached in Lent by John Chrysostom while he was a priest in Antioch in 390. Saint Gregory Palamas, the great teacher of the Transfiguration, is commemorated during Lent.

We know from iconographic evidence that the Feast of the Transfiguration was celebrated on Mount Sinai from the mid-fifth century, and the feast may have reached Constantinople in the late seventh century.

From 1474 until at least 1969, it was observed in the Roman Catholic Church on the Second Sunday in Lent. In some modern calendars, including Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Anglican calendars, the Transfiguration is now commemorated on the Sunday before Lent.

However, traditionally, the Feast of the Transfiguration is observed in the Anglican, Roman Catholic and Orthodox calendars on 6 August. It may have been moved there because 6 August is 40 days before 14 September, the Feast of the Holy Cross, so keeping the tradition that the Transfiguration took place 40 days before the Crucifixion.

This celebration disappeared from the 1549 Book of Common Prayer, and when it reappeared in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer it was only named in the calendar without any other provisions.

In the Book of Common Prayer 2004, the Church of Ireland provided Collects and Post-Communion prayers for the Feast of the Transfiguration on 6 August, and there is an alternative provision to mark the Transfiguration on the Sunday before Lent.

The Transfiguration has immense Christological importance, for both the humanity and divinity of Christ are manifested to the disciples, and so to us. This was developed as a theological thought in a sermon on the Transfiguration once said to have been written by Saint Ephrem the Syrian (ca 306-373), but now thought to have been written by a latter writer. Nevertheless, celebrating the Transfiguration at that time helped to underpin the teachings on the divine and human natures of Christ, encapsulated in the Creeds of Nicaea, Constantinople and Chalcedon.

The Transfiguration also points to Christ’s great and glorious Second Coming and the fulfilment of the Kingdom of God, when all of creation will be transfigured and filled with light. The vision of Christ in his glory and the experience of the divine light are at the very heart of both Orthodox mysticism and Orthodox eschatology. The ‘uncreated light’ is a hallmark theme in Orthodox spirituality, especially in the writings of Saint Gregory Palamas and the school of the thought that is hesychasm, which draws constantly on the themes of the Transfiguration.

Saint Gregory Palamas distinguishes between the essence of God, which is beyond human apprehension, and the energies of God, which are the ways in which we can experience and know God. According to him, the light of the Transfiguration ‘is not something that comes to be and then vanishes.’ Rather, Christ’s disciples experienced a transformation of their senses so that ‘they beheld the Ineffable Light where and to the extent that the Spirit granted it to them.’

This was, therefore, not only a prefiguration of the eternal blessedness to which all Christians look forward, but also of the Kingdom of God already revealed, realised and come.

The Transfiguration is both an event and a process. The original Greek word in the Gospel accounts for Transfiguration is metamorphosis (μεταμόρφωσις), and gives us access to deeper and more theological meaning, a deeper truth, than the word derived from the Latin transfiguratio, which can be translated by ‘to be changed into another from.’ But the Greek metamorphosis (μεταμόρφωσις) means ‘to progress from one state of being to another.’ Consider the metamorphosis of the chrysalis into the butterfly. The metamorphosis invites us into the event of becoming what we have been created to be. This is what orthodox writers call deification.

Or, as the Revd Dr Kenneth Leech once said: ‘Transfiguration can and does occur ‘just around the corner,’ occurs in the midst of perplexity, imperfection, and disastrous misunderstanding.’

‘Aleph Male’ a ceramic glazed tile (20x30x1.5 cm) by Joel Itman, depicting Moses with the Ten Commandments and illustrating a Jewish Art Calendar published in Italy (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Exodus 24: 12-18:

Moses has ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Law. Now God offers to put all the laws in permanent form, on tablets of stone. So important is Moses’ ascent of the mountain that it is mentioned four times in this reading. Moses leaves the elders in charge and commissions Aaron and Hur to administer justice in his absence.

God’s glory is an envelope of light, a bright cloud, veiling his being. The people can see the cloud, but not God. Unlike the light from the Burning Bush (Exodus 3), this appearance of God is frightening, ‘like a devouring fire.’ Moses prepares to meet God for ‘six days’ (verse 16), the time of creation in last week’s creation reading. The 40 days and 40 nights in verse 18 recall the days of the Flood, the time the Israelites scouted out Canaan’s defences before entering the Promised Land, Elijah’s later experience on the same mountain.

This reading prepares us for the Gospel account of the Transfiguration, but also prepares us for the 40 days of Lent.

‘Moses and Aaron were among his priests’ (Psalm 99: 6) … Moses and Aaron depicted in a stained-glass window in Drumcliffe Church, Ennis, Co Clare (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Psalm 2:

Psalm 2 was probably written for the coronation of a king of Judah. The word anointed is messiah in the Hebrew. It was used as the title of an Israelite king, but after the end of the monarchy it became the title or name of the ideal future king who would restore Israel to glory. New Testament writers apply this title to Christ.

Subject kings are plotting a rebellion against the new king instead of accepting him as the Lord’s anointed representative, so their rebellious plots are like a revolt against God himself. God responds (verse 4-6), saying he has chosen ‘my king’ and established him in his dwelling place on earth at Zion or Jerusalem.

The new king then then speaks (verses 7-12), accepting his adoption as God’s son, and warns other kings to submit.

Or:

Psalm 99:

Psalm 99 is a hymn of praise to God as king, and a call to worship him ‘on his holy mountain.’ God is on his throne above the cherubim in the Temple, and is to be worshipped by all the peoples. God has helped people in need, promoted justice, has given them just laws, heard their prayers, and punished and forgiven them.

When the people cried out to God, he spoke to them in the pillar of cloud.

The threefold endings of verses 3, 5 and 9 – ‘Holy is he!’ … ‘Holy is he!’ … ‘for the Lord our God is holy’ – may be a refrain by worshippers as they extol and worship God (verse 9).

The Transfiguration in an icon in the parish church in the hill-side village of Piskopiano in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

II Peter 1: 16-21:

In this reading, the writer speaks of the Transfiguration. While other, false teachers have used cleverly devised myths to deceive members of the community (see II Peter 2: 1-3), the author recalls that he was an eyewitness (verse 16) to the Transfiguration, in which the power of God was shown, and which was a also a preview of Christ’s second coming.

At the Transfiguration, at time, Christ received honour and glory from God the Father, when the heavenly voice identified him as ‘my Son, my Beloved …’ (verse 17). The Prophets foretold the coming of the Messiah, and the Transfiguration confirms this (verse 19). We are called to be consistent in holding to this hope despite false teachers until the Second Coming.

The Transfiguration, an icon by Adrienne Lord in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Matthew 17: 1-9:

Introduction: The Biblical story

This is one of the three descriptions of the Transfiguration in the Synoptic Gospels (see Matthew 17: 1-9; Mark 9: 2-8; Luke 9: 28-36). In addition, there may be allusions to the Transfiguration in John 1: 14 and in II Peter 1: 1-18, where Peter says he has been an eyewitness ‘of his sovereign majesty.’

Of course, there is an obvious question: Why is there no Transfiguration narrative in Saint John’s Gospel? But then, there is no Eucharistic institution narrative in the Fourth Gospel either. Perhaps we could say that the Fourth Gospel is shot through with the Transfiguration and the light of the Transfiguration, from beginning to end, just as it is shot through with Eucharistic narratives from beginning to end.

But should we describe the Transfiguration as a miracle? If we do, then it is the only Gospel miracle that happens to Christ himself. On the other hand, Thomas Aquinas spoke of the Transfiguration as ‘the greatest miracle,’ because it complemented baptism and showed the perfection of life in Heaven.

None of the accounts identifies the ‘high mountain’ by name. The earliest identification of the mountain as Mount Tabor was by Jerome in the late fourth century.

But does it matter where the location is? Consider the place of Mountains in the salvation story and in revelation:

● Moses meets God in the cloud and the burning bush on Mount Sinai, and there receives the tablets of the Covenant (Exodus 25 to 31);
● Elijah confronts the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (I Kings 18);
● Elijah climbs Mount Sinai and finds God not in the wind, the earthquake or the fire, but in the still small voice in the cleft of the Mountain (I Kings 19: 12);
● The Sermon, which is the “manifesto” of the new covenant, is the Sermon on the Mount, which we have been reading for the past few weeks;
● The Mount of Olives is a key location in the Passion narrative;
● Christ is crucified on Mount Calvary;
● John receives his Revelation in the cave at the top of the mountain on Patmos.

As for the cloud, as three Synoptic Gospels describe the cloud’s descent in terms of overshadowing (episkiazein), which in the Greek is a pun on the word tent (skenas), but is also the same word used to describe the Holy Spirit overshadowing the Virgin Mary at the Annunciation (Luke 1: 35).

In the Old Testament, the pillar of cloud leads the people through the wilderness by day, just as the pillar of fire leads them by night. Moses entered the cloud on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24: 18), the Shekinah cloud is the localised manifestation of the presence of God (Exodus 19: 9; 33: 9; 34: 5; 40: 34; II Maccabees 2: 8).

The cloud takes Christ up into heaven at the Ascension (Acts 1: 9-10).

Saint Paul talks about the living and the dead being caught up in the cloud to meet the Lord (I Thessalonians 4: 17).

The Transfiguration (Kirillo-Belozersk), anonymous, ca 1497 … the Transfiguration is also considered the ‘Small Epiphany’

The principle characters:

Christ is the focus of the Transfiguration, but who are the other principle characters in this story?

1, The Trinity: In Orthodox theology, the Transfiguration is not only a feast in honour of Christ, but a feast of the Holy Trinity, for all three Persons of the Trinity are present at that moment:

● God the Father speaks from heaven: ‘This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him’ (Matthew 17: 5).
● God the Son is transfigured;
● God the Holy Spirit is present in the form of a cloud.

In this sense, the Transfiguration is also considered the ‘Small Epiphany’ – the ‘Great Epiphany’ being the Baptism of Christ, when the Holy Trinity appears in a similar pattern).

2, Moses and Elijah: At the Transfiguration, Christ appears with Moses and Elijah, the two pre-eminent figures of Judaism, standing alongside him. Saint John Chrysostom explains their presence in three ways:

● They represent the Law and the Prophets – Moses received the Law from God, and Elijah was a great prophet.
● They both experienced visions of God – Moses on Mount Sinai and Elijah on Mount Carmel.
● They represent the living and the dead – Elijah, the living, because he was taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire, and Moses, the dead, because he did experience death.

Moses and Elijah show that the Law and the Prophets point to the coming of Christ, and their recognition of and conversation with Christ symbolise how he fulfils ‘the law and the prophets’ (Matthew 5: 17-19). Moses and Elijah also stand for the living and dead, for Moses died and his burial place is known, while Elijah was taken alive into heaven in order to appear again to announce the time of God’s salvation.

It was commonly believed that Elijah would reappear before the coming of the Messiah (see Malachi 4), and the three interpret Christ’s response as a reference to John the Baptist (Matthew 17: 13).

3, The Disciples: Peter, James and John were with Christ on the mountain top.

Why these three disciples?

Do you remember how this might relate to Moses and Elijah? Moses ascended the mountain with three trusted companions, Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, to confirm the covenant (Exodus 24: 1), and God’s glory covered the mountain in a cloud for six days (Exodus 25 to 31).

In some ways, Peter, James and John serve as an inner circle or a ‘kitchen cabinet’ in the Gospels.

They are at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17: 1, Mark 9: 2; Luke 9: 28), but also at the raising of the daughter of Jairus (Mark 9: 2; Luke 6: 51), at the top of the Mount of Olives when Christ is about to enter Jerusalem (Mark 13: 3), they help to prepare for the Passover (Luke 22: 8), and they are in Gethsemane (Matthew 26: 37).

They are the only disciples to have been given nickname by Jesus: Simon became the Rock, James and John were the sons of thunder (Luke 5: 10). Jerome likes to refer to Peter as the rock on which the Church is built, James as the first of the apostles to die a martyr’s death, John as the beloved disciple.

They are a trusted group who also serve to represent us at each moment in the story of salvation.

The Transfiguration (Spaso Preobrazhensky Monastery, Yaroslavl, ca 1516) … The Transfiguration is the fulfilment of all the Theophanies, a fulfilment made perfect and complete in the person of Christ

The meaning of the Transfiguration:

The Transfiguration of Christ in itself is the fulfilment of all of the Theophanies and manifestations of God, a fulfilment made perfect and complete in the person of Christ. We could say the Transfiguration is the culmination of Christ’s public life, just as his Baptism is its starting point, and his Ascension its end. As Archbishop Michael Ramsey, in his small book, The Glory of God and the Transfiguration of Christ, wrote: ‘The Transfiguration stands as a gateway to the saving events of the Gospel.’

The Transfiguration reveals Christ’s identity as the Son of God. In the Gospel, after the voice speaks, Elijah and Moses have disappeared, and Christ and the three head down the mountain. The three ask themselves what he means by ‘risen from the dead’ (Mark 9: 9-10). When they ask Jesus about Elijah, he responds: ‘Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things; but I tell you that Elijah has already come …’ (Mark 9: 12-13). He tells them to keep these things a secret until the Son of Man has risen from the dead. Yet, in keeping with the Messianic secret, he tells the three not to tell others what they have seen until he has risen on the third day after his death.

Saint Paul uses the Greek word for Transfiguration, metamorphosis (μεταμόρφωσις), as found in the Synoptic Gospels when he describes how the Christian is to be transfigured, transformed, into the image of Christ (II Corinthians 3: 18). Transfiguration is a profound change, by God, in Christ, through the Spirit. And so, the Transfiguration reveals to us our ultimate destiny as Christians, the ultimate destiny of all people and all creation to be transformed and glorified by the majestic splendour of God himself.

A reflection on the Transfiguration:

In a lecture in Cambridge some years ago [2011], Metropolitan Kallistos [Ware], the pre-eminent Orthodox theologian in England, spoke of the Transfiguration as a disclosure not only of what God is but of what we are. The Transfiguration looks back to the beginning, but also looks forward to the end, to the final glory of Christ’s second coming, because through the incarnation Christ raises our human nature to a new level, opens new possibilities.

The Incarnation is a new beginning for the human race, and in the Transfiguration we see not only our human nature at the beginning, but as it can be in and through Christ at the end, he told us.

But with the Transfiguration comes the invitation to bear the cross with Christ. Peter, James and John are with Christ on Mount Tabor, and they are with him in Gethsemane. We must understand the Passion of Christ and the Transfiguration in the light of each other, not as two separate mysteries, but aspects of the one single mystery. Mount Tabor and Mount Calvary go together; and glory and suffering go together.

If we are to become part of the Transfiguration, we cannot leave our cross behind. If we are to bring the secular, fallen world into the glory of Christ, that has to be through self-emptying (κένωσις, kenosis), cross-bearing and suffering. There is no answer to secularism that does not take account of the Cross, as well as taking account of the Transfiguration and the Resurrection.

The Transfiguration provides a guideline for confronting the secular world, he said. And Metropolitan Kalistos reminded us of the story from Leo Tolstoy, Three Questions. The central figure is set a task of answering three questions:

What is the most important time?

The most important time is now, the past is gone, and the future does not exist yet.

Who is the most important person?

The person who is with you at this very instant.

What is the most important task?

‘This task is, to do him good, because for that purpose alone was man sent into this life!’

The light that shone from Christ on the mountaintop is not a physical and created light, but an eternal and uncreated light, a divine light, the light of the Godhead, the light of the Holy Trinity.

The experience on Mount Tabor confirms Saint Peter’s confession of faith which reveals Christ as the Son of the Living God. Yet Christ remains fully human as ever he was, as fully human as you or me, and his humanity is not abolished. But the Godhead shines through his body and from it.

In Christ dwells all the fullness of the Godhead. But at other points in his life, the glory is hidden beneath the veil of his flesh. What we see in Christ on Mount Tabor is human nature, our human nature, taken up into God and filled with the light of God. ‘So, this should be our attitude to the secular world,’ Metropolitan Kallistos said.

Or, as the Revd Dr Kenneth Leech (1939-2015) once said: ‘Transfiguration can and does occur ‘just around the corner,’ occurs in the midst of perplexity, imperfection, and disastrous misunderstanding.’

Metropolitan Kallistos spoke that day of the Transfiguration as a disclosure not only of what God is but of what we are. The Transfiguration looks back to the beginning, but also looks forward to the end, opening new possibilities.

The Transfiguration shows us what we can be in and through Christ, he told us.

In secular life, there is a temptation to accept our human nature as it is now. But the Transfiguration of Christ offers the opportunity to look at ourselves not only as we are now, but take stock of what happened in the past that made us so, and to grasp the promise of what we can be in the future.

The Transfiguration is not just an Epiphany or a Theophany moment for Christ, with Peter, James and John as onlookers. The Transfiguration reminds us of how God sees us in God’s own image and likeness, sees us for who we were, who we are and who we are going to be, no matter how others see us, no matter how others dismiss us.

The Transfiguration is a challenge to remember always that we are made in the image and likeness of God. And, no matter what others say about you, how others judge you, how others gossip or talk about you, how others treat you, God sees your potential, God sees in you God’s own image and likeness, God knows you are beautiful inside and loves you, loves you for ever, as though you are God’s only child. You are his beloved child in whom he is well pleased.

The Transfiguration depicted in a fresco in the Analipsi Church (Resurrection) in Georgioupoli, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Matthew 17: 1-9:

1 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2 And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. 3 Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. 4 Then Peter said to Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.’ 5 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!’ 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Get up and do not be afraid.’ 8 And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, ‘Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.’

Part 2: Option B (Proper 4):

‘Noah’s Ark’ (1846), Edward Hicks, Philadelphia Museum of Art

Introducing the readings:

Last Sunday [16 February 2020], we marked Creation Sunday in the ‘Option A’ readings for the Second Sunday before Lent.

Now, in the ‘Option B’ lectionary readings for the Sunday before Lent, we have a challenge in the readings to reflect on the consequences of human abuse of both creation and human life.

The first reading needs careful preparation because of its edited version of the story of the Flood. Too often, we make this a ‘pretty’ story, particularly in Sunday School settings, when we invited children to colour rainbows and count the animals going into the Ark, two-by-two. But, in reality, it is a chilling account of the consequences that befall humanity when we disregard or abuse creation and human life.

The psalm is a reminder of God’s promise to protect human life and to respond to human needs and please. The epistle reading includes a cautionary note against boasting about our own deeds and achievements.

The Gospel reading, which brings to an end a series of readings from the Sermon on the Mount, includes a parable reminder of the consequences of relying on our own foolish ideas and ignoring the consequences that eventually follow ignoring the laws of God and the laws of nature.

‘Noah and the Dove,’ a sculpture by Simon Manby in the courtyard of Saint John’s Hospital, Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Genesis 6: 9-22, 7: 24, 8: 14-19:

The story of the Flood tells us that, despite widespread evil in the world, God does care for, and preserves, those who are faithful to him. Although flood stories are found in many cultures, these flood stories show the gods to be capricious. Here God is just and merciful and fulfils his promises. This story is long, so only parts are read in the lectionary reading provided for this Sunday.

Following last Sunday’s readings and reflections on the theme of the Creation, this is the story of a new creation. As humans, we have destroyed the earth. The Flood cleanses the earth of spilt blood, so there can be a new start, a new age. But plant life, animal life and human life are saved and preserved for life on a new earth.

God promises never again to do such a horrible deed again, even though as humans we tend to unfaithfulness. Never again will God intercede so destructively in human affairs. He has saved a remnant (see Genesis 8: 21-22). However, because humans have an inclination to evil, to avoid the earth being so polluted again, laws are needed. Later (Genesis 9: 1-17), God gives laws to Noah, that includes prohibitions on murder, ‘for in his own image God made humankind’ (Genesis 9: 6).

‘Be still, and know that I am God! I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth’ (Psalm 46: 10) … flags of the nations outside an icon shop at Kalambaka, near the monasteries of Meteora in northern Greece (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Psalm 46:

Psalm 46 tells of God’s protection and defence of his people. The city of God is Jerusalem, God’s dwelling place on earth. Even in the face of natural disasters and political turmoil, even should the earth return to its primordial chaos, God will remain constant and faithful, answering heart-felt prayers.

The people have suffered desolations as a consequence of not following God’s ways, but are now invited to consider God’s promise of peace, to acknowledge that God reigns over all the earth, and that we are safe with him.

The Coliseum in Rome … Saint Paul is preaching the Gospel in the imperial capital, then seen as the centre of world power (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Romans 1: 16-17; 3: 22b-28 (29-31):

Saint Paul is preaching the Gospel in Rome, the imperial capital and then seen as the centre of world power. He brings this good news to people of all ethnic, linguistic and religious backgrounds, and we respond in faith to God’s trust in us.

God’s gift of grace to us is received through Christ’s death on the cross, which redeems us or buys us back, cancelling our sins. God has chosen not to punish us, showing his goodness and integrity. We are saved by God what God has done for us and not by what we have done for ourselves. So, boasting about our achievements is pointless, for God responds to faith, not deeds. We are all saved by the same means: faith.

The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat (Matthew 7: 25) … rushing in from a winter storm (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 7: 21-29:

In the previous verses, Christ warns against of false prophets (verse 15) and says that those who speak for him will be known by their fruits (verse 20). Those who acknowledge him, and even do miracles, but lack his love, can expect to be judged harshly.

As we continue to read from the Sermon on the Mount, Christ now uses a parable to illustrate an important point. The wise man prepares for what is to come by going to the effort of building on firm foundations, but the foolish man does not think ahead and so takes the easy way when it comes to building his house. The first man stands for those who live a life of Christ’s love and example. Perhaps Jesus is thinking of Noah and the Flood.

Verse 28 marks the end of one of the five teaching sections in Saint Matthew’s Gospel. People are astonished by his teaching because he teaches as someone with authority, and not like the teachers they have been used to hearing.

A house built on rock by the coast at Panormos, near Rethymnon in Crete … (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

… and a house built on sand at the sand-dunes in Portrane, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Matthew 7: 21-29:

[Jesus said:] 21 ‘Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord”, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only one who does the will of my Father in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?” 23 Then I will declare to them, “I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.”

24 ‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. 25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell — and great was its fall!’

28 Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, 29 for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

‘A wise man who built his house on rock’ (Matthew 7: 24) … houses built on the rockface climbing up to Saint Colman’s Cathedral, Cobh, Co Cork (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Liturgical Resources:

Liturgical Colour:

Option A (Transfiguration): White;

Option B (Ordinary Time): Green

The Collect of the Day (Option A):

Almighty Father,
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;
who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Collect of the Day (Option B):

O God, our teacher and judge:
Enrich our hearts with the goodness of your wisdom
and renew us from within:
that all our actions, all our thoughts and all our words
may bear the fruit of your transforming grace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Collect of the Word: (Option A):

O God,
in the transfiguration of your Son,
you confirmed the mysteries of the faith
by the witness of Moses and Elijah,
and in the voice from the cloud
you foreshadowed our adoption as your children:
make us, with Christ, heirs of your glory,
and bring us to enjoy its fullness,
through the same Jesus Christ our Lord who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit.

The Collect of the Word: (Option B):

God with us,
whose unfailing mercy is our refuge,
even when our broken choices corrupt your glorious creation,
lead us to the safe haven of righteousness
and uphold us on the rock of your presence so that in times of trial
we may stand firm, anchored in faith,
through Christ, our rock and our redeemer

The Post Communion Prayer:

Holy God
we see your glory in the face of Jesus Christ.
May we who are partakers at his table
reflect his life in word and deed,
that all the world may know
his power to change and save.
This we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord.

These variations may be used on the Sunday before Lent if the Transfiguration option is used:

Penitential Kyries:

Your unfailing kindness, O Lord, is in the heavens,
and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Your righteousness is like the strong mountains,
and your justice as the great deep.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.

For with you is the well of life:
and in your light shall we see light.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

Introduction to the Peace:

Christ will transfigure our human body
and give it a form like that of his own glorious body.
We are the Body of Christ. We share his peace.

(cf Philippians 3: 21, 1 Corinthians 11: 27, Romans 5: 1)

Preface:

Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
whose divine glory shone forth upon the holy mountain
before chosen witnesses of his majesty;
when your own voice from heaven
proclaimed him your beloved Son:

Blessing:

The God of all grace,
who called you to his eternal glory in Christ Jesus,
establish, strengthen and settle you in the faith:

The Transfiguration depicted in a fresco in the Church of the Four Martyrs in Rethymnon, Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2018)

Suggested Hymns (Option A):

Exodus 24: 12-18:

325, Be still, for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One is here
647, Guide me, O thou great Jehovah

Psalm 2:

646, Glorious things of thee are spoken
238, Ride on, ride on in majesty
509, Your kingdom come, O God

Psalm 99:

686, Bless the Lord, the God of our forebears
688, Come, bless the Lord, God of our forebears
431, Lord, enthroned in heavenly splendour
281, Rejoice, the Lord is King!
8, The Lord is King! lift up your voice

II Peter 1: 16-21:

501, Christ is the world’s true light
52, Christ, whose glory fills the skies
613, Eternal light, shine in my heart
381, God has spoken – by his prophets
654, Light of the lonely pilgrim’s heart
7, My God, how wonderful thou art
386, Spirit of God, unseen as the wind
388, Word of the living God

Matthew 17: 1-9:

325, Be still, for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One is here
643, Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
501, Christ is the world’s true light
205, Christ upon the mountain peak
52, Christ, whose glory fills the skies
331, God reveals his presence
209, Here in this holy time and place
101, Jesus, the very thought of thee
195, Lord, the light of your love is shining
102, Name of all majesty
60, O Jesus, Lord of heavenly race
449, Thee we adore, O hidden Saviour, thee
112, There is a Redeemer
374, When all thy mercies, O my God

A double rainbow on the beach at Portrane, Co Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Suggested Hymns (Option B):

Genesis 6: 9-22, 7: 24, 8: 14-19

567, Forth, in thy name, O Lord, I go
211, Immortal love for ever full
637, O for a closer walk with God
108, Praise to the Holiest in the height
186, What Adam’s disobedience cost

Psalm 46

608, Be still and know that I am God
325, Be still, for the presence of the Lord, the Holy One, is here
646, Glorious things of thee are spoken
668, God is our fortress and our rock
12, God is our strength and refuge
92, How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
211, Immortal love for ever full
95, Jesu, priceless treasure
659, Onward Christian soldiers

Romans 1: 16-17, 3: 22b-28 (29-31):

84, Alleluia! raise the anthem
218, And can it be that I should gain
358, King of glory, King of peace
244, There is a green hill far away
373, To God be the glory! Great things he has done!

Matthew 7: 21-29:

206, Come, let us to the Lord our God
92, How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
15, If thou but suffer God to guide thee
589, Lord, speak to me that I may speak
557, Rock of ages, cleft for me

The Transfiguration in a poster from the Institute for Orthodox Christian Studies, Cambridge

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.

The hymn suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000).

Rain and rainbows … advice in a café (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)