Sunday 6 August 2023 (’02): THE TRANSFIGURATION OF THE LORD : A
1. DAN7:9-10, 13-14
* Read 7:1-28! TwoVisions! TheTwoBeasts&TheSon-of-Man! intertwined&linked!
* ‘Daniel’sDreamsVisions!’: Simultaneously religious&political! Look at 7:18, 27!
* What do I know about the struggles to unite (or to separate) ‘church’ & ‘state’?
* ‘One-of-GreatAge!’: Who&what does this description remind me of?
* ‘One-like-a-Son-of-Man!’: Like a human being! unlike the BeastVisions!
* What is the relevance of this ‘night vision’ to my local church?
* ‘Empire!’: How different this one, from the others that arose, peaked, &foundered?
* ‘ThroneWheelsFire!’: Read EZEK1:1-28, his ‘Vision-of-TheChariot’!
2. THE PSALM : 96:1-2, 5-6, 9
* Read 96(97):1-12! Hymn of ‘wishful thinking’ for the cosmic éclat of KingYahweh!
* In calling Yahweh ‘king’ (or ‘reigning’), what role-models did TheHebrews have?
* How ‘user-friendly’ is this imagery in my local church?
* Are there similar images of ‘TheStormGod’ in Celtic&Norse mythology?
* If ‘cloud&darkness’ are His’Raiment’, will this make them more ‘acceptable’?
* &If ‘justice&right’ are His’Throne’, will this ensure that they’re actually achieved?
* In my local church, is ‘justice’ more a question of ‘deed’ or ‘word’ or ‘aspiration’?
* &It must be asked whether this ‘gothic’ imagery isn’t being done better in the videos?
3. 2PET1:16-19
* Read 1:1 – 2:22! This writer, not ‘Peter’, in very colourful language, is writing to
a community whose ‘faith’ is at risk from ‘false prophets’, around the end of the 1stC!
* ‘Myths!’: Here, the word refers to the stories&images, that others (‘pagans’& the-like)
fraudulently&meretriciously ‘varnished their faith’ with! But ‘our faith is truth…’
* But this writer knew he himself wasn’t present on Thabor (tho’ he held it as ‘factual’)!
* ‘Prophet!: One who speaks&acts in an ‘inspired’ fashion on behalf of a divinity!
* Who are the outstanding ‘prophets’ in my local church? &Whom do they ‘speak-for’?
* What criteria have I, for discerning whether someone is a ‘true’ or ‘false’ prophet?
4. MT17:1-9
* Read 16:13 – 17:22! The ‘Son-of-Man-Setting’ for the ‘ThaborNarrative’!
* This very male-specific story! but perhaps the feminine, even TheShekinah, lurks…
* What interpretations have I been given for ‘TheTransfiguration of TheLord’?
* ‘HisFace!’: Read EX34:1-35! The intimacy of Yahweh&Moses, reflected in the ‘Face’!
* ‘Moses&Elijah!’: Intimates of Yahweh! Pious&violent! But, ‘absorbed’ by-Jesus?
* ‘BrightCloud/Shadow/Voice!’: Ambiguous trinity of the representation of ‘presence’!
* ‘StandUp!’: Seeing, hearing, tasting ‘God’, they’d ‘died’, &needed to be ‘raised-again’!
* How&for-whom&with-what-fruit is He being ‘transfigured’ in my local church?
* ‘OnlyJesus!’: But how adequately, relevantly, or deeply-seen is He being offered-out?
5. The presence&action of the BlessedOne, is it like this?
It was just like He was, all times&places, but more squeezed-together! the way with a fine net you’d get lots of very small fishes & put a heavy weight on them in a weelmade basket to push all the water out, leaving a solid shining glory in the basket, like a talent of silver! That day on the mountain, with James&John, burning silver He seemed, not gold or bronze, silver! The summit was totally of white flame, I found myself within the silver bush, &accompanied, how could I an untaught fisherman have recognised them, with TheMaster in the white silver furnace, all of us being purified in the fire, Moses &Elijah, peace-be-upon-them! Always about Him there was a glimmer & a whisper & a flower-unfolding! But that day on the mountain it was all soaring &reaching-to-the-horizon&squeezed-together, a burning talent of silver that engulfed us all! &glimmer became light-of-the-sun, &whisper became Heaven’s voice-from-the-cloud, &the flower unfolded such that no one remained there but TheMaster alone! Or was it all nothing but a dream?
6. RIDDLE Which Son-of-Man?
One with universal indestructible empire?
One who enshadows women’s special genius?
One who enthuses all adult disciples?
Reflections and comments can be emailed to adbi@chokmah.ie