<\/p>\n
\u00a028-31About eight days after saying this, he climbed the mountain to pray, taking Peter, John, and James along. While he was in prayer, the appearance of his face changed and his clothes became blinding white. At once two men were there talking with him. They turned out to be Moses and Elijah\u2014and what a glorious appearance they made! They talked over his exodus, the one Jesus was about to complete in Jerusalem. <\/font><\/p>\n \u00a032-33Meanwhile, Peter and those with him were slumped over in sleep. When they came to, rubbing their eyes, they saw Jesus in his glory and the two men standing with him. When Moses and Elijah had left, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, this is a great moment! Let’s build three memorials: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He blurted this out without thinking. <\/font><\/p>\n \u00a034-35While he was babbling on like this, a light-radiant cloud enveloped them. As they found themselves buried in the cloud, they became deeply aware of God. Then there was a voice out of the cloud: “This is my Son, the Chosen! Listen to him.” <\/font><\/p>\n \u00a036When the sound of the voice died away, they saw Jesus there alone. They were speechless. And they continued speechless, said not one thing to anyone during those days of what they had seen. <\/font><\/p>\n ***<\/font><\/p>\n Getting the outside to match the inside? – Transfiguration<\/font><\/strong><\/p>\n As you may have noticed, there is a stool on the stage.\u00a0 One of the ways that I have attempted to share with people is through stories. And I find stories are better told from somewhere other than a pulpit. <\/font><\/p>\n So I am going to move over the stool, and see how it goes. I am going to have a conversation with you but speak both parts. I hope you don\u2019t mind. This is an experiment for me, a risk. But considering the topic, I thought it might be appropriate.<\/font><\/p>\n Stop for moment. Take a deep breath. We are going to take a journey this morning and I want you to be ready. (breathe)<\/font><\/p>\n There, shall we?<\/font><\/p>\n It is going to be a climb. More than I am used to anyway. But this is where I was told to go. Yes, I know you didn\u2019t dress for it. I didn\u2019t either. It was all somewhat last minute.\u00a0 I definitely would have preferred to have boots on for this. <\/font><\/p>\n But, we make do with what we have right?<\/font><\/p>\n A flashlight? No, I am afraid I don\u2019t. That would have been a good idea too. One would think this trip would be better done during the day. But I just got the message this evening, and it said to leave now. <\/font><\/p>\n Again, sorry about the short notice. <\/font><\/p>\n Let\u2019s focus on the climb for a bit shall we? The rocks aren\u2019t too bad. Not a lot of shale so the ground doesn\u2019t move much. And there is vegetation, softer on the hands when you have to reach out to steady yourself. <\/font><\/p>\n It\u2019s not too bad once you get the hang of it. I hold my hands out a little bit in front of me, just in case I misstep. But the ground feels fairly solid, and the incline isn\u2019t bad. <\/font><\/p>\n Thankfully there isn\u2019t much of a wind so it isn\u2019t too cold. Yes, I am glad I have a jacket too. Cuz it will get colder near the top. <\/font><\/p>\n Are we going all the way up? I don\u2019t exactly know. I think so, but the directions were fairly vague. I am hoping we know where to stop when we get there. <\/font><\/p>\n Not your idea of planning? No, not mine either.\u00a0 I usually have checked both Google maps and MapQuest for directions. And then attempt to trust my GPS to get me where I am going. Just following someone else\u2019s directions. Not usually my style. <\/font><\/p>\n I like to know what is going on, what\u2019s next, what\u2019s supposed to happen. I don\u2019t really like getting surprised. I don\u2019t like this blundering around in the dark. It is a lot easier for me to feel comfortable when everything is laid out. Though, and I don\u2019t like to admit it, it might be precisely when I don\u2019t know what is going on is when God shows up. Maybe that will happen tonight. \u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n Oh, watch it there, that bush has some brambles. Try to stick to the left side of the path for a bit. What, you don\u2019t see a path? Fair enough, there isn\u2019t much to go on here.\u00a0 Especially at this time of night. <\/font><\/p>\n Feels like we are getting close. For you too? Good. I was hoping we would be able to figure it out together. Do you want to take a break? I did bring some water. No, you\u2019re fine? Good. <\/font><\/p>\n Let\u2019s keep moving. I want to get there as soon as I can. <\/font><\/p>\n (pause)<\/font><\/p>\n So this is it. The place. This is where we were supposed to get to. \u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n Now what? <\/font><\/p>\n I am really not to sure. I guess just look around. See what we can see. In the dark, I know, I know, not much to see. There are some stars out. Quite beautiful actually. Maybe we are supposed to admire those for a while? You don\u2019t think so? Ok. <\/font><\/p>\n But just sit here then, and remember. Because it wasn\u2019t too long ago was it? That Jesus was up here. Was it this spot? I don\u2019t know, I think so, maybe. The men were tired, half asleep, and really not sure what was happening. Sort of like us tonight. I wonder if they know exactly where it happened. They certainly seemed confused. <\/font><\/p>\n And wonder if that helped. If that made them a little more open to what Jesus wanted to show them. <\/font><\/p>\n I\u2019ll bet there were some cracks in their thinking that night. I mean, they knew who Jesus was, and followed him every where. They certainly thought Jesus was important, and led by God. But do you think they were expecting this? Some cr People call that the transfiguration. No, not transmogrification. That\u2019s more of a Calvin and Hobbe\u2019s thing, changing into some bizarre form. <\/font><\/p>\n This is transfiguration, yes, it is a change, but it is to something real, something already there, a way to show what is already present. <\/font><\/p>\n One of the more interesting definitions is \u201cto change the outside to match the inside. In the case of the transfiguration of Jesus it means to match the outside (the physical) with the reality of the presence of the divine, the inside.<\/font><\/p>\n What would that have been like? You spend every day for a couple of years with this man, following, listening, asking questions, and once in a while you start to get a sense of who he is but it\u2019s hard. There is so much of the everyday to get through. So much routine, and rational thought, that a sense of the mystery is hard to hold on to. <\/font><\/p>\n The writer of Hebrews talks about Jesus’ divine nature being “veiled” in human form and the transfiguration was a glimpse of that glory.\u00a0 Getting the outside to match the inside? <\/font><\/p>\n Do I expect that to happen tonight, just by us going up into a mountain at night? Maybe even at the same spot where it happened with Jesus? No, I don\u2019t. I\u2019m not really sure what I expected tonight.\u00a0 I was told recently that inbreakings of the Holy Spirit are accidents, but as we open ourselves, they seem to happen more, or at least we sense them more often. <\/font><\/p>\n Maybe that\u2019s what I was hoping for, another one of those accidents. Whenever something happens that can\u2019t really be explained, my mother-in-law uses the expression, \u2018coincidence or otherwise\u2019. I like that. It leaves it open for the mystery. <\/font><\/p>\n Well let\u2019s sit for a minute and wait. <\/font><\/p>\n We can go back down the hill now. It should be easier, there seems to be some light coming up. Maybe you can do more of the talking on the way down. <\/font><\/p>\n So where are the cracks for you? And where will the divine touch the physical? Will you see it? Feel it? <\/font><\/p>\n And if you do, if you are graced enough to experience that, don\u2019t be foolish enough to suggest building a temple there. Just listen, follow, and allow the Spirit to break into your well planned life.<\/font><\/p>\n And as Leonard Cohen says:<\/font><\/p>\n Ring the bells that still can ring <\/font><\/p>\n Forget your perfect offering <\/font><\/p>\n There is a crack in everything <\/font><\/p>\n That’s how the light gets in.<\/font><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Luke 9:28-36 \u00a028-31About eight days after saying this, he climbed the mountain to pray, taking Peter, John, and James along. While he was in prayer, the appearance of his face changed and his clothes became blinding white. At once two men were there talking with him. They turned out to be Moses and Elijah\u2014and what a glorious appearance they made! They talked over his exodus, the one Jesus was about to complete in Jerusalem. \u00a032-33Meanwhile, Peter and those with him…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons-a-worship-audio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1215\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tumc.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nazy while light, Jesus glowing, and then Moses and Elijah showing up, as real as anything. <\/font><\/p>\n