The Last Sunday After the Epiphany (Year C)
February 14, 2010
The Reverend Monna Mayhall

Luke 9:28-36

A little over a year, our family went on a trip to Arizona. It was the first time that either my son Jackson or I had been there. We had a great time, and we did lots of sightseeing.   

Even though the landscape in that part of the country is very different from the landscape here, the desert in many ways is absolutely beautiful. We played tourist and took plenty of pictures, as people tend to do for vacations and special occasions.     

I think that in many ways, pictures can offer us comfort, because a photograph in some sense lets us “take it with us” when we go. A picture helps us capture an image we don’t want to lose and helps us preserve a memory we don’t want to forget. And even though when we returned from our trip and looked at the pictures we’d taken, and they didn’t do the scenery justice, pictures certainly helps us recall and share our stories long after the time has passed.        

Peter, in today’s gospel lesson we just heard, is trying to preserve the moment on the mountaintop for as long as he can – he’s trying to make time stand still. 

Too bad there wasn’t a camera back then that he could have used…Actually that would be even better for all of us if he would have had one, because this would be a sermon slide show on the big screen with visuals. And oh, don’t you know Peter would have just loved a video camera.

Here is Peter, up on a high mountain with Jesus and James and John, when all of a sudden Jesus changes before their very eyes – he’s transformed or transfigured before them. “Jesus’ face shone like the sun, and his clothes became a dazzling white.” 

I bet it was quite an amazing site…an image that anyone would want to always keep in their mind – and you know one of those times that you want to last forever. 

And Peter in the middle of it all, does want it to last forever. He doesn’t want this moment to ever end. He’s ready to gather up some wood, break out his tool belt and build something.   

We know that from his past experiences, Peter does have a tendency to act quickly, maybe sometimes overreact…maybe some of us can relate to him all too well. But I think that Peter’s reaction here in the gospel today about the Transfiguration is one that any of us would have…given a similar situation. 

I imagine that it’s safe to say that we’ve all had at least one experience where we felt drawn closer to God – an absolutely wonderful moment, unlike any other we’ve ever known – a mountain top moment that left us not wanting to leave that place…or return to wherever or whatever we were before. Those moments can give us glimpses of God and give us what we need to keep going.      

This past week, I had the opportunity to hear Sean Tuohy speak. For all his accomplishments and almost “overnight fame” Sean Tuohy seems like a very humble man with plenty of compassion for people, and a wonderful sense of humor.

If you’re not familiar with who Sean Tuohy is, he’s the Sports Broadcaster for the Memphis Grizzlies NBA Team and he’s also the owner of over 80 fast food restaurants. He played college basketball at the University of Mississippi back in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s when the Mississippi Rebels won their first and only SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament.   

But Sean Tuohy might currently be best known for being the adoptive father of Michael Oher – a highly recruited college football player who now plays for the Baltimore Ravens NFL team – but who as a child wandered the streets of Memphis looking for food and shelter. Michael Oher along with his adoptive parents, Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy are the subject of the popular book and blockbuster movie, The Blind Side.

As the story goes, several years ago, Sean Tuohy and his family, his wife and two children, are living in Memphis. He and his family are out driving around in the car on Thanksgiving morning trying to find a place to get some breakfast – they are having a tough time finding a place that’s open and the streets are fairly deserted. 

They’re driving down the road when Sean spots Michael getting off a bus. He’s all by himself. Sean mentions to his wife Leigh Anne, that Michael is the new student at their children’s school that he’s told her about. His wife looks at Michael, and then back at her husband, and she asks, “Why does he only have on a t-shirt and shorts when it’s the end of November?” Sean replies to his wife that he doesn’t know, as he drives slowly past Michael.   

And as Sean Tuohy tells the story…it took just TWO words to change his and his family’s life forever…Leigh Anne Tuohy (a woman who you didn’t want to question) said TWO Words to her husband, “TURN AROUND.” 

And the rest as they say, is history.   

Turn Around

There’s no indication in Luke’s Transfiguration account, or the account of others that Jesus said anything. But I like to imagine that Jesus might have said these two words to Peter, as Peter tried to take control of the situation that day on the mountain, and tried to keep everything the way it was at that moment. 

“Peter, TURN AROUND! We can’t just stay here forever…not right now. Being up here is all really wonderful and the scenery is magnificent. You have seen me in all my glory. And eventually one day you will be with me in glory. 

But for now there’s so much left to be done. My time here will end shortly, but you must keep going, and continue to have faith. I’m trusting that you will continue my work already begun. All you have to do is Turn Around.”

Maybe those are words that can make a difference in our lives and in the lives of others…We don’t have to go to Memphis or adopt a child. Maybe there are people in our families…in our schools…in our workplaces. 

…People who need help…who need love… 

People who need us to simply turn around and notice them…to reach out to them.

As Sean Tuohy finished speaking to the large group who had gathered to hear him, he ended by sharing that for a long time, the screenplay for the movie, The Blind Side, was basically sitting in the trash can at one particular movie studio. The movie rights ended up being sold to another studio that recognized its worth, and then produced this top rated movie. Mr. Tuohy went on to say that in the film industry, selling the movie rights as in this case, is known as a Turn Around.  

Today is Transfiguration Sunday – but maybe we could call it Turn Around Sunday, for as we leave the mountain top of this Epiphany season and prepare to enter the desert of the Lenten season, let us strive to be faithful people of God, who acknowledge and value all people, and let us take the time to simply Turn Around.