The Rector's Ramblings... August 6, 2009

When I was at Virginia Seminary I had the privilege of taking both a theology course and a liturgics course from the Rev. Dr. Charles Price, who at that time was one of the great teachers in the Episcopal Church.  Dr. Price also co-authored one of the books in the old "Church's Teaching Series" called Liturgy for Living.  In this book he discussed the importance of symbols for the Christian Faith.  One type of symbol he called a communicating symbol.  He described it by stating, "A communicating symbol not only stands for the reality it represents, but transmits that reality, and indeed is that reality." (p.36)  Today, August 6, 2009, we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration, one of the key communicating symbols of our faith.

St. Luke, in the ninth chapter of his Gospel account, tells us that Jesus took some of his closest disciples up to a mountain to pray.  And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.  Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him.  In this event the disciples experience the reality of who this Jesus of Nazareth was.  There stood before them their transfigured Lord talking with Moses and Elijah, the symbols of the Law and the prophets.  In Jesus of Nazareth, the Glory of God is revealed to the world.

In the Transfiguration, we who are members of the Church of the Good Shepherd encounter a communicating symbol by which we experience Jesus as the fulfillment of all that had been promised in the Law and the Prophets.  And through this experience and the acceptance of its reality, we come to know that we are not only to follow Jesus but to also listen to his words found in Holy Scripture and allow them to transform our hearts.

I pray that your hearts will be transformed this day and that all of our lives may be lived as a manifestation of the eternal love that has come into the world in Jesus.