The bright cloud of unknowing

 

Luke 9: 28-36
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
February 27, 2022 – Transfiguration Sunday

Person with black skin and high-and-tight haircut with glitter body paint on their face, side of their head, neck, arms, and torso.  Their head is turned to their right, eyes closed, head angled slightly upward, with their hands behind their head.

Dr. Maya Angelou said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” When someone shows you a bunch of red flags—short temper, withholding affection, violating boundaries—it’s not that they don’t deserve a second chance, it’s a reminder that no matter how many second chances, they probably are not going to change. When someone shows kindness, thoughtfulness, empathy—flawed though it may be—this is someone whose heart is in the right place.



Time and again though, when someone shows us who they are, it’s not so simple as believe them the first time. Often it’s awkward and complicated. Jesus showed people who he was all the time, and it was usually, well, awkward and complicated. The event known as the transfiguration is one such example. Jesus is so much himself it’s as though light is pouring out of him, his clothes cannot contain such glory, his face changes, and he’s joined by Moses and Elijah, two other prophets who were rejected. Peter is beside himself not knowing what to do at such a moment. So he suggests that three dwellings or tents be made, as was done in the desert for the Ark of the Covenant.

Photo of Dr. Maya Angelou, with a pensive look on her face and her chin resting on her folded hands with the quote, "When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time."

Whenever the holy shows up, it seems the human response is to domesticate it somehow, build a house for it, a temple or tabernacle or cathedral, some way we can understand it, make it believable, something we can point to, get our hands around. God was here, this is where the inexplicable happened, where we came face to face with mystery.



However, most of the time, the divine is so much more mundane and so are our lives and so are we. Abraham Maslow said, “We place too much importance on the peak experiences of life and undervalue the plateau experiences.” Most of the time people show who they are in the everyday stuff of life: their identity, their loves and desires, their fears and anxieties, their hopes, their dreams, their struggles, what they need to feel safe, loved, and accepted.



Yet just because someone shows us who they are, when Jesus shows us who he is, it doesn’t mean it’s simple or easy to be close to them, support them, love them. Remember who this Jesus is: this Jesus is Black, brown, poor, queer, trans, non-binary, fat, neurodivergent, disabled, loud, extra, quiet, Indigenous, a young child, an elder, everything empire doesn’t value and tries to control. In our awkwardness, in our desire to be an ally, we often say and do things that show where we need to change, like we’re trying to fit someone in a box that’s familiar to us.

Painting of bell hooks with this quote, "When we choose to love, we choose to move against fear, against alienation and separation. The choice to love is a choice to connect,
to find ourselves in the other."

In the 14th century a Christian monk wrote a work of contemplative mysticism entitled “The Cloud of Unknowing”. We find God by letting go of everything we think we know about God, when we surrender to our ignorance, our uncertainty, our awkwardness, the utter complexity of what is good and holy and true. This anonymous monk wrote, “For silence is not God, nor speaking; fasting is not God, nor eating; loneliness is not God, nor company; nor yet any of all the other two such contraries. [God] is hid between them and may not be found by any work of the soul, but all only by love of the heart.” God is known in the unknowing.



And so, all that glory, all that light is then overshadowed by a cloud and Peter, James, and John are in that cloud, surrounded by it, terrified by it, overwhelmed by it. Everything we think we know about Jesus and who he is, we are to abandon it. Jesus is othered by empire: marginalized, criminalized, ignored, not listened to, devalued, rejected. Then from that cloud of unknowing comes a voice that gives the simplest of spiritual direction: “This is my Child, my Chosen; listen!”

Photo of darkening clouds with light above and this quote, "Love is the only way to reach God. Knowledge does not assist us." - Anonymous, The Cloud of Unknowing

Those who are othered by empire, those who are marginalized and criminalized, those who are ignored, not listened to, those who are devalued and rejected, these are God’s children, God’s chosen ones. It is through the lived experience of these ones that we hear God’s message of liberation and wholeness, not only for them but for everyone. When we surrender to what we do not know and we listen to this stillspeaking God, it is then we can perceive the light, the glory in the lives of those we encounter, those who require justice, who desire mercy, who need our humility more than anything else.



What is it that any of us wants but connection, belonging, community—not assimilation or expectations built for us but a holy temple made of compassion, acceptance, empathy, and love. Which means listening to the truth within our own lives, to the God still speaking through each of us and our life together, letting go of past judgments and what we think we know about each other and being vulnerable. Which means making Church a courageous space in which we surrender to our ignorance and learn what it means to live a life unlike our own, to feel a pain unlike our own, to know a joy unlike our own.

Quote: "Every time I judge someone else, I reveal an unhealed part of myself." (Joy Marino)

Presbyterian minister and author Frederick Buechner wrote, “What we hunger for perhaps more than anything else is to be known in our full humanness, and yet that is often just what we also fear more than anything else. It is important to tell at least from time to time the secret of who we truly and fully are . . . because otherwise we run the risk of losing track of who we truly and fully are and little by little come to accept instead the highly edited version which we put forth in hope that the world will find it more acceptable than the real thing. It is important to tell our secrets too because it makes it easier . . . for other people to tell us a secret or two of their own . . .”.



No one should have to hide who they are to be welcomed and celebrated and loved by God and by others. Each of us is a source of wisdom and vision but especially those whose lived experience is not reflected in our dominant culture. Are we willing to enter that bright cloud of unknowing and listen, especially when that voice makes demands of us? “Listen to me!” What would it take for us to be a Church, a community where all are in their glory, all of us shining in our divinity, in our humanity?

Photo of a wave washing up on a beach, light shining on the foam, with this quote, "Pay attention to the things that bring a tear to your eye or a lump in your throat because they are signs
that the holy is drawing near." - Frederick Buechner

Benediction


Go forth into the world in peace.
Be of good courage.
Hold fast to that which is good
and render to no one evil for evil.
Strengthen the faint-hearted;
support the weak; help the afflicted.
Honor all people.
Love and serve God,
rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The grace of our Savior Jesus Christ be with us all. Amen.