There is a hope in the cosmos. From the day that Abraham looked out to the stars to our own fascination with life on other planets, we have experienced the cosmos in hope. For both Abraham and ourselves it is the hope of relevance, the hope that we are not alone.
There is faith in community. From the invitation of St Paul to rally around his vision to the promises and slogans at elections, we have entrusted leadership with faith. For both Paul and ourselves it is a faith in ability, an affirmation of skills.
There is a lasting love in tedium. From the apostles’ eventual realisation of who Jesus was to the tired commuter travelling home, our daily lives have been driven by love. For the apostles and ourselves it was love that made majesty out of the ordinary, the adrenaline of the unappreciated.
Transfiguration
Faith, hope and love, let these remain among you. They do. Even though our busy lives distract us from considering how much these three elements play out in our lives, they transfigure us.
It is far too easy to avoid this consideration. To do so would compliment us excessively and might even lead us to having notions about ourselves. It seems that it is better to live with a sense of not being appreciated than to see the wonders of ourselves. Flick on some music, twiddle with a smartphone but do not think.
Christ’s transfiguration opened the minds of the apostles to the wonderful potential that each of them could have by seeking the bigger picture.
Instead of staring into the abyss and wondering whether there is life out there we would consider the life that is around us. Instead of believing that our kings can control the tides we might appreciate that it is wisdom, not promises nor slurs, that brings prosperity and peace.
Instead of becoming despondent about the daily grind we could be inspired by how selflessly we all act for love.
Celebrity gossip, omnipresent music and gadgets are the biggest barriers to transfiguration.
Sometimes we blame the people who gain from our apathy for having created it in the first place. In reality, it is something that happens because we do nothing to stop it happening.
Worse still, we distract ourselves at every opportunity from even thinking about it. Potential aliens are easier to think about than real refugees. At least a quarter of us won’t bother to vote in the forthcoming general election and we will continue to avoid exalting ourselves in case it damages the status quo.
Finding goodness
This weekend’s readings reveal how faith, hope and love apply to any situation.
Discovering a bigger picture, trusting others and finding goodness can transfigure any life. Dreams make great authors, rhetoric makes great politicians but when their hope and faith combine with love it makes great people.
This is not a dangerous idea. History would be a subversive subject if it was. The record shows that the human spirit rises most visibly when there are violent attempts to enslave or oppress it.
Left unchallenged, the human spirit falls into an easy antipathy and mopes along seeking somebody else to blame for its misery.
It took three years of confusion and drudge for the apostles to finally understand and choose Christ. Peter’s first response was to offer honour to the place where this happened.
That would have made it the place where Jesus glowed rather than the moment when the apostles chose light.
Knowing that, Jesus simply told him to say nothing; secure in the knowledge that those who see their own transfiguration can never lose sight of it again.