Acknowledging the Holy
Acknowledging the Holy
To be clear, this last Sunday after Epiphany is not the Feast of The Transfiguration. That’s on August 6th. The Episcopal Church always appoints the Transfiguration on the Sunday before Lent because of what happened six days earlier. Jesus acknowledged for the first time that he was the Messiah, the Christ, the Chosen King of Israel. Then shockingly he also said for the first time that he would go to Jerusalem, be killed, then raised.
For Jesus’ first disciples, this combination of events was both incomprehensible and terrifying. Perhaps we the latest generation of disciples have heard this story enough times that we can hold on to the happy ending. But I suspect that knowledge doesn’t necessarily lessen our apprehension of the coming Lenten journey with Jesus to Jerusalem and the cross, as we prepare to examine ourselves and wonder what we might have to give up besides chocolate. So on this last Sunday before Ash Wednesday we are given a glimpse of the fullest reality of Him who is leading us to Jerusalem so that along this journey we will recognize him with us wherever we are, not just in this holy place of worship.
You might think that Moses was getting ready to go up the mountain and receive the Ten Commandments on those “tablets of stone.” Actually, God has already given Moses the Decalogue and the Law governing the people of Israel. Over the next forty days Moses will receive detailed instructions on the construction of the Ark of the Covenant, the tabernacle, or portable sanctuary carried under a tent that will go wherever the Israelites go until a temple is finally built hundreds of years later. The rest of the story is that after a while the Israelites got antsy waiting for Moses and decided to make their own holy object to assure themselves of God’s presence, the golden calf, really a bull.
As it did for the people of Israel, so it is for us, that right worship is as important as right conduct. You’ve heard me quote our Catechism on the mission of the Church, to reconcile all people to God and each other In Christ. The next question is, “How does the Church pursue its mission?” (not accomplish, only God accomplishes). The first thing the Church does as it pursues its mission is “it prays and worships,” and then “promotes justice, peace, and love.”
It is that prayer and worship that connects us to the Holy and makes us more than, not in contrast to, a charitable organization. But what is corporate worship? Our Catechism also has an answer for that: “In corporate worship, we unite ourselves with others to acknowledge the holiness of God…”
Note that we do not conjure God’s presence by our worship; we acknowledge that God is already present, although we can’t acknowledge what we don’t recognize. Therein is the tension and the anxiety, out of which the Israelites tried to conjure God. And Peter comes close when he suggests making three shelters to freeze this transfigured moment in place. But when the voice that might have sounded like thunder speaks, then we are told that Peter, our James, and John were “overcome with fear,” or it could be translated as “reverent awe.”
Perhaps it was a relief when the no longer transfigured Jesus “touched them” and said do not be afraid. But we should, as often as we possibly can, be in awe, reverent, toward the God who may be picky about when they manifest themself to our naked senses, but still desires that we acknowledge their singular holiness wherever we find ourselves.
May we recognize that divine holiness this coming Lent, and through the holy beauty of our corporate worship, may our acknowledgement of that divine holiness lead others to do the same.
February 15th, 2026
The Last Sunday after Epiphany Year A
The Rev. David Kendrick