3 February 2008 “Bedazzled by the Light”
Holy and loving God ~ Delight
us this day with the breath-taking glimpse of Your glory … a glimpse that
illumines our path and inspires our life’s journey. Amen.
How would you describe a PEAK
EXPERIENCE? Those special moments that
catch you off guard.
AWESOME! BREATH-TAKING!!
STUPENDOUS!!! INDESCRIBABLE!!!!
TOO INCREDIBLE FOR WORDS!
Today is Transfiguration Sunday … and both our OT and Gospel lesson
today tell of an incredible mountain-top … or PEAK … experience that forever changes the lives
of those involved.
Moses was no stranger to special
messages / communication with God. From
the moment when Moses encountered God in a bush that was NOT consumed by the
fire that surrounded it … to his confrontation with the Egyptian Pharaoh … to
the hardships of leading the Israelites through the wilderness … God maintained
a steady dialogue with Moses.
In our lesson today from Exodus, God calls Moses to
ascend the mountain of God ~ Mount
Sinai ~ where God will present Moses with the tablets of stone,
conveying both the LAW and the COMMANDMENT.
And in a spectacular display of nature, Moses again
encounters the GLORY OF THE LORD. Note: Moses did NOT see God
face-to-face … but, IN the cloud and in the blaze of a “devouring fire”, Moses
experiences the GLORY ~ the magnificence,
the awe, the majesty of the LORD. This was definitely a PEAK EXPERIENCE …
·
Shared through the
OUTCOME of the encounter
·
BUT too
UNBELIEVABLE to be described by MERE HUMAN WORDS.
Today’s GOSPEL lesson ~ story of another PEAK EXPERIENCE.
In
Chapter immediately preceding this story:
·
Peter declares that
Jesus IS the MESSIAH
·
Jesus makes FIRST
PREDICTION of His death and resurrection.
·
Peter’s reaction: REBUKES Jesus!!! Don’t say things like this … this CAN’T happen!
·
Jesus REBUKES Peter ~
You FOOL!
o
Weren’t you ever
listening to me?
o
You don’t have a clue!
o
Get your mind OFF human
things TO divine!
·
Jesus describes for them
the COST of discipleship
·
Jesus tells them they
will know better when Son of Man comes again IN the GLORY of the FATHER.
Again … the word GLORY … something that merits PRAISE … something of GREAT BEAUTY or SPLENDOR … the HEIGHT / EPITOME of something that is WONDERFUL beyond imagination!
Soon
after these conversations ~ Jesus takes Peter and James and John
… ascends a high mountain.
THERE: Jesus is TRANSFIGURED … Physical signs:
·
Face shines LIKE the SUN
/ burning bright as fire
·
Clothes become DAZZLING
WHITE
More
important: this is the moment when disciples catch a GLIMPSE of the FUTURE GLORY of the Son of God ~ shining
through Jesus’ HUMANITY.
And
in the midst of this GLORY:
·
MOSES … who brought the
law and the commandments to the people … and
the prophet ELIJAH are seen … conversing with Jesus.
Impetuous
Peter …
·
WE are witnesses
·
let’s PRESERVE this
moment …
·
let’s put up 3 booths /
permanent / unchanged
THEN:
another display of nature … presence of God
·
VOICE from very bright CLOUD: THIS
is my Son … the Beloved … with Him,
I am WELL PLEASED … LISTEN to Him!!
o
Pay attention to His
words
o
Focus on what He is
DOING / SAYING
IN
FEAR: disciples FALL TO THE GROUND
·
Jesus gentle words: DO NOT FEAR!
Then:
WORDS OF ADVICE:
·
DO NOT tell anyone about
this vision
·
WAIT until Son of Man
has been raised from the dead.
NOTE: Jesus is NOT saying: keep
this a SECRET.
RATHER:
advises:
·
YOU are not fully
prepared to speak about this experience
·
The PEOPLE are not fully
prepared to HEAR and UNDERSTAND and act on what your witness
·
WAIT FOR THE RIGHT
MOMENT!!!
Jesus’
words leave me feeling unsettled. After
all: WHEN you experience one of those
PEAK MOMENTS, don’t you want to rush out and TELL EVERYONE?!!
PEAK EXPERIENCES are TOO good NOT to
share!
Author
Patrick McManus lives in the Pacific
Northwest, writes extensively about his great … and not-so-great … experiences
in the great outdoors. His humorous
stories often tell of spectacular failures as well as successes.
STORY of PEAK fishing trip to catch steelheads
(rainbow trout) in WA. State … Snake River THROUGH the rapids (like amusement
ride) TO Hells Canyon.
·
Incredible casts gone
awry … snagging trees, losing bait, catching rocks, narrowly missing other
fishermen
·
FINALLY: “sets” hook in
large steelhead … incredible ride BACK through rapids … fish pulling 28 foot
boat & fishermen …
·
MOMENT OF TRIUMPH: fish brought up in net … photos taken before
releasing steelhead
·
Conclusion: other fishing trips MAY be GREAT ~ but, compared to this, will fall short of
the PEAK
FACT:
LIFE IS FULL OF PEAK EXPERIENCES!
AND: EACH of us can recount
momentous PEAK experiences in our lives ~ Birth
of a child ~ Weddings / Graduations ~
Death of a loved one ~ Vacations / moments in Nature ~ Worship ~ Moment of great Accomplishment
~ Overcoming difficulty / fear …
etc.
What
these moments ALL have in COMMON:
·
Surreal Experience: like
on top of a mountain ~
o
See for miles
o
Clouds and sky so close
you can touch it
·
Overwhelm us with AWE
o
Hard to comprehend fully
with our limited human knowledge
o
Impossible to photograph
·
Feelings of inadequacy
o
Of our own personal self
o
An ability to explain to
others … NOT enough words to do justice to moment
·
Deep desire to share
experience with others
o
Try to remember the
details / capture the essence of the moment
·
Tell and Re-tell our
story / each time:
o
Highlights another
aspect of event
o
Different parts of event
remembered take on a NEW MEANING
o
Memory warms / inspires
/ makes us happy
o
Memory turns us inward /
growth / mature
·
Ponder anew: WHAT does it all mean? WHY has this moment touched me so vividly /
deeply?
·
Telling our story UNITES
us with others whose lives have been touched in a very special way.
PEAK
EXPERIENCES also offer us a close encounter with God … AND a GLIMPSE ~ even for a moment of:
Majesty of God Awesome Power
Greatness Vastness
Enormity Wonder
Mystery … so many adjectives
Summed
up by word GLORY!
AND,
like those PEAK experiences that catch us off guard in our daily lives … each
close encounter with God:
·
Surreal experience
o
Sudden realization of
God’s presence
o
God so close you can
reach out & touch Him
·
Overwhelm us with AWE
o
Take our breath away
o
Impossible to comprehend
with our senses … can only be FELT
o
Humbled by closeness of
God
o
Inability to move …
stand in reverent silence
o
Silence broken by breath
prayer of praise AND thanksgiving
o
Hands AND hearts
uplifted / spirits soar
·
Deep desire to share
experience with others
o
Details forever etched
in your memory / body / soul
o
No words in our language
to adequately describe the moment … God CANNOT be defined by our human words /
intellect / other human experiences
·
Tell and Re-tell our
story
o
Witness to having been
AND being PRESENT in the DIVINE PRESENCE
o
Keeps the experience
alive and fresh / meaningful for US
o
INVITES others to COME!
EXPERIENCE! Join us / take their place in the story
o
UNITES us with sisters
& brothers in faith everywhere!
These
mountain-top ~ these very special PEAK EXPERIENCES
·
Offers us a glimpse that
we are part of a big world and the even bigger family of God
·
Offer us a glimpse of
the majesty and mystery of God
·
Reminds us that God
transcends the ORDINARY and
EXTRAORDINARY moments of life
·
Reminds us that we are
called to keep this experience alive and vibrant … for us and for future
generations … by what we do / what we say / how we live.
Today
we celebrate a PEAK experience that has inspired Chris Fosbenner to commit to a
week of work and mission in Honduras with Discovery Service Project. And we catch a glimpse of God in our midst
as we bless and commission Chris for his journey …