Orthodox Christian Sermons

Sermon #22 - After-Feast of the Transfiguration

Yesterday we were at the annual balloon festival. In the morning we got up early to see the mass ascension at 5:30, but were disappointed when we got there and they called it off due to the brisk winds. By evening the conditions had improved so we headed on down, but missed the actual launch because it wasn't announced until the last minute. But it was a spectacular sight to behold as we drove along, the sky dotted with colorful balloons. We went on down to the fairgrounds where they were giving tethered balloon rides. Then after dark some dozen balloons fired up for the "moonglow".

There are some lessons we can learn from these hot air balloons. There are times in life when the winds are blowing hard and the storms are raging. That is not the time for celebration, but for humiliation. We must seek refuge and lay low, humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God, until the storm passes.

At the fairgrounds we saw several balloons being inflated. They lay limp on their sides until the pilots would blow air into them with a fan to make them expand enough so that the burner could be ignited. Then as the hot air filled them, they would stand upright. Perhaps this is an image of we who lay dead in sins until Jesus breathed upon us with his Spirit and ignited the flame of prayer in our hearts. It's also a picture of the Divine Liturgy. We come to church deflated because of our sins. So we confess them and receive absolution and the Spirit breathes new life into us. And as we pray and chant the praises of the Holy Trinity we are set upright again. Then we are exhorted to "lay aside all earthly care" and "lift up our hearts" to ascend above earthly things and participate in the worship of heaven where our lips are touched with the burning coal from the altar which is the very Body and Blood of Christ.

Another lesson. Also at the fairgrounds there was a big green frog balloon that stayed securely tethered to the ground. Every couple minutes the burner would fire so that it would stay inflated, but it never ascended into the sky. Perhaps that is an image of a carnal Christian. They are bound to earth with many strong cords. They love the world and the things that are in the world and only pray when they absolutely have to. The lesson: don't be like this frog!

Then there was the red, white, and blue balloon that was giving tethered rides. It would ascend as high as the ropes would allow, and then come back down to the ground. Perhaps that is a figure of Christians who want to be in control of their lives. They will give God so much, but they set the limits. They pray a little, fast a little, read their Bibles a little and go to Church on Sundays. But they never go beyond the limits they have set for themselves.

Both of these are unnatural states. A balloon was designed to soar into the sky. Likewise, Christians were made to soar heavenward, filled with the Spirit and fired by the love of God and unceasing prayer, having laid aside every weight and the sin that so easily besets us. as St Gregory of Nyssa tells us:

"For virtue is a light and buoyant thing, and all who live in her way "fly like clouds" as Isaiah says, "and as doves with their young ones"; but sin is a heavy affair, as another of the prophets says, "sitting upon a talent of lead."

So, we must let go, and let God. We must become detached from all the things of earth, so that we might ascend to him.

During this season of the Dormition Fast we are called to ascend in our minds to the contemplation of the two great lights which God has established in the spiritual heavens. The Lord himself is the spiritual Sun, emanating the Divine energies as the apostles beheld on Mt Tabor and fell upon their faces, unable to look upon the brightness of his glory. And the Theotokos is like the moon which receives the Sun's light and tempers it so that that we might gaze upon it and and not be blinded. For through her, and in her, the Word became flesh, and the Son of God became the Son of Man, so that we might look upon him and handle him with our hands as did the Apostles. Having now been translated into heaven, Mary ever beholds the face of Christ and gleams like the most beautiful pearl in the spiritual heavens, illuminating our souls with the Light of Christ throughout the dark night of our sojourn on earth.

Great are your mysteries pure Lady! St Gregory Palamas says that it is impossible for words to describe the glories of the Theotokos. But day after day the heavens utter speech, and night after night they shew forth the knowledge. For Mary is the dawn that gave birth to the Light of the World, and she is also the twilight--the glow that lingered for awhile after the Light was taken from us. As we read in today's Gospel, The Apostles had no sooner come down from the Mount of Transfiguration, than the Lord forewarned him of his Passion, which made them "exceeding sorry". In the same way, after having contemplated the glory of the Transfiguration, we, too, are made sorry by its apodosis or leavetaking, which is immediately succeeded by the mournful occasion of the falling asleep of the Theotokos. However, no sooner does the darkness descend as a pall, than we behold the arising of the moon in its fullness. And so we shall see Our Lady exalted to heaven:

"Who is she that looketh as the morning,
Clearer than the moon's celestial light,
Brighter than the sun's effulgent glory,
Banishing the darkness of night?"

And so she ever serves as an example for us of what a shining light we may become by continually gazing upon the Light of Christ which shines in our hearts.

Glory to Jesus Christ!