In the words of poet Evelyn Atwater Cummins:

I know not where the road will lead I follow day by day,
or where it ends: I only know I walk the King=s highway.
I know not if the way is long, and no one else can say;
but rough or smooth, up hill or down, I walk the King=s highway.

   AChange@ seems to be the Aword of the day.@  We hear it everywhere.  Everyone seems to be talking about Achange.@  What do we mean when we talk about change?

     We walk into a deli, hand the clerk a dollar bill and ask for Achange.@  What do we get?  Three quarters, two dimes and a nickle.  We count it to be sure we have received a fair and correct ex-change; the value is exactly the same, but the form is different.  We step up to a vending machine, insert some form of a dollar, press a button, and out comes a bottle of spring water.  If this is in fact what we wanted, we may think we have gotten a fair ex-change.  However, the bottle of water, which has replaced the dollar, is objectively quite different from the dollar we ex-changed for it.  Subjectively this bottle of water may be supremely more valuable to us than the dollar, particularly if we are thirsty.  Thus we have two kinds of change... for a dollar.

     Change, says my Standard College Dictionary, is Ato make different; alter; transmute.@

   Some refer to change as if the very concept of change B of making different B has some particular moral character; as if those who favor change are good and those who don=t are bad.  This is the way I usually hear it, although in some circumstances those who don=t favor change claim to be the virtuous ones, and those who champion it are considered suspect.  Sometimes we attach labels, complimentary or disparaging according to our point of view, to groups of persons associated respectively with making changes or maintaining the status quo.  Changes can be for the good, changes can be bad, changes can be experienced as a combination of positive and negative effects.  But, while change as a concept may be morally neutral, change is nonetheless a fact of life; it is inevitable.  Wherever there is life, change occurs.  It happens whether politicians promise it or not.  It happens whether elected officials engineer it or not.  Nothing living stays the same.

     Many of you may have watched the History Channel=s recent presentation ALife After People.@  The program imagines the sudden disappearance of humans from the earth, and charts what would happen to our planet in the absence of human manipulation....  and how quickly.  While it is hard to imagine that any event which would occasion the sudden disappearance of humankind would not also have dramatic impact on other systems of the ecology not accounted for in the program, the strong point is made nonetheless that the forces of nature B which humans have striven to control, subdue, and redirect for so many centuries B would, inexorably, reverse if not eradicate all signs of human civilization in a comparatively short time after humans ceased to be.  The thought is a bit deflating to the human ego, but it does put things in perspective.  Change is a fact, a fact of life.

     Change B again says my Standard College Dictionary B  is Ato enter upon a new phase.@

   We have barely emerged from the festivities of Christmas and have had only the briefest taste of the season of Epiphany.  Liturgical ordering of events sometimes defies the natural chronological sequence, but, in our liturgy, Jesus has been born in Bethlehem, visited by the Magi, presented in the temple before Simeon and Anna, and Baptized by John in the Jordan.  The synoptic gospels, especially Luke, have well described these events to us over the past five weeks.  In each case Jesus has been recognized in some way; his identity has been glimpsed and God=s promise of salvation made more real to those who have believed.  All along there have been repeated references to light.  The image of light piercing the figurative darkness of ignorance and sin C of light vanquishing fear, revealing truth and showing us the way C is a frequent metaphor in scripture.  Light is such a powerful image because we know so well in our own limited natural world how blind we are without it.  Certainly blindness C the absence of light/sight C is another rich figure throughout scripture.  Less than two weeks ago the church commemorated the Conversion of St. Paul.  Paul, Saul at the time, was knocked to the ground by a light from heaven.  In his journey to conversion he was rendered sightless until, by the laying on of hands by Ananias, he regained his sight, rose and was baptized.  Truly he was changed more than in name; he entered upon a new phase.

     Light, quite naturally, is also a figure for the glory of God.

     This morning=s scripture readings include two mountain-top light events.  Both events also signal change: the entering of a new phase.

     In Exodus, Moses is invited to join the Lord on a cloud-shrouded Mount Sinai to receive the law inscribed on stone tablets.  He remains for six days.  On the seventh day the Lord calls to Moses out of the cloud.  As we heard, Athe appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel.@  Moses remained on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.  With Ash Wednesday just three days away, signaling the beginning of Lent, this reference to forty days and nights has an added ring for us this morning. 

     As the story continues beyond what was read a moment ago, you may remember that when Moses finally descended the mountain with the tablets in hand, he discovered that the people had run amuck in his absence, reveling, crafting a golden calf, and worshiping it.  In his anger he threw down and shattered the tablets which the finger of God had inscribed.  Later, after much making of amends, Moses asked to see the glory of the Lord and, when the Lord answers that no mortal gets to do that and live, he settled for a back-view after the Lord=s glory passes by.  Then, following a forty-day fast on the mountain with the Lord, Moses emerged again with the ten commandments written on tablets, not realizing that talking with God had caused the skin on his face to shine; a sign of glory which initially struck fear in the people of Israel.  Something had changed.

     Our Gospel lesson from Matthew this morning is the other mountain-top light event which we know as the Transfiguration.  There are interesting parallels with the Exodus reading.  Again we have a six day interval. This time the six days is the time since Peter had acknowledged Jesus as the Christ.  This time the exact location of the mountain is uncertain.  Perhaps it is the same Mount Sinai where Moses received the law and Elijah later visited, although many scholars think it is more likely Mount Tabor, just six miles from Nazareth.  This time it is Jesus who invites Peter, James and John to accompany him to this high mountain.  Here he was transfigured; he was changed in their sight.  His face shone like the sun and his clothes became dazzling white.  Then Moses and Elijah appeared and were in conversation with Jesus.  What an amazing mystery!  How were Peter, James and John able to recognize Moses and Elijah?  Certainly they had never actually seen these legendary men of the Hebrew faith.  Yet Peter was certain enough of their presence that he offered to make dwellings for these three great ones.  Something had changed his perception.

     Then a cloud, this time a bright cloud, intervened; we are told that it overshadowed them.  A voice came from the cloud: AThis is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!@  Overcome by fear they fell to the ground.  Jesus invites them to get up and not to be afraid.  When they look up, only Jesus was with them.  This was not your everyday mountain hike.

     Coming down from the mountain, Jesus ordered Peter, James and John ATell no one about this vision until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.@  What they witnessed, it seems, was for their eyes only.  Had Jesus really changed in his transfiguration B did he become other than what he had always been B or did the disciples see in that moment what had always been but they had never recognized before?  Had their perception of him entered a new phase?  I=m prepared to believe it was a bit of both.