Transformation
"Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white." Luke 9: 28-29
Moments of tranformation happen when and where we least expect them. I love the great hymn, "Dear Lord and Father of Mankind" because it is a plea for transformation, for a change of face, a change of clothing, for refreshment deeper than any makeover could ever produce. It is more like a makeunder than a makeover, asking for a drop rather than an accrual. "Drop thy still dews of quietness, till all our strivings cease, Take from our souls the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess the beauty of they peace."
The BBC declared this old hymn number 2 in popularity; it has also appeared in more than one movie and in at least one musical. It turned up in the Congressional hymnbook, rewritten by Garrett Holder in 1884. Charles Ives also borrowed it for work of his own. The hymn has many parents and many children, What intrigues me is that it was originally written by John Greenleaf Whittier, a Quaker poet, as part of a longer poem, "The Brewing of Soma." That poem was about intoxication, with an ancient drink known as Soma. The hymn has echoes of cocktail hour, of changing the chemistry, of a transformation that is more like intoxication with peace than wine or beer.
Transformation is a non-chemical, fully approved by AA, change in our chemistry. Before we turned white with bedazzlement, we were sober. Now we are high. Before the apartment looked like something that would only embarrass a designer, we were dowdy. Now we are transformed. We are ready for the photo shoot.
The disciples over and over expressed this kind of sea change in themselves after they met Jesus. Today, we seem to need comedy, booze, and decorators, designers--especially interior designers--to boost our understanding of what it might mean to be different. For starters, though, we can just hum that old hymn.
Dear God of humankind, forgive our foolish ways. And clothe us in our rightful minds. Amen.
Donna Schaper osw Senior Minister, Judson Memorial Church, New York, New York.
To say that "God exists" is the greatest understatement ever made across space and time.
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