Transfiguring power

During Lent we will be following a local series of lections.If you are looking for the Common Lectionary References try here Revised Common Lectionary

For this Sunday, 22nd March, in the Diocese of Adelaide the focus readings will be Ephesians 2:1-10, Mark 9:2-13 (and Numbers 21:4-9)

[We have already reflected once on the Transfiguration story this year which marks the Sunday before Lent, this week we take opportunity to reflect as we look at it in the context of the flow of Mark's Goispel story]

Our experience of God is both natural and supernatural.
If we were to describe what our experience of God is like
we would no doubt find that we described some pretty mundane stuff.
How at meal times if we stop to give thanks
we can just be profoundly aware of the abundance that God provides for us each day.
How when we spend very precious time with people we care for
that often we are left with a sense of wonder at God's presence
Funerals, weddings, christenings... special but quite normal events
often leave us gob-smacked at their sense of power and God's given presence
in the very ordinariness but nevertheless authentic presence of God.
I am often struck at the Eucharist, which lies deep within our Anglican hearts;
the very Real Presence of the Lord God
as we gather together...two or three meeting in his name..

Equally well, I imagine if we were to have this discussion 
about how we encounter God
many would attest to experiences great and small
of the supernatural
These are important, but we make the mistake of thinking
that it is this supernatural experiences
which are what it is all about
and the natural encounters are secondary.
I rather suspect it is the other way around.
Jesus does not allow his disciples to enshrine the Transfiguration
and thus strip of its meaning.
Rather, Peter and James and John are reminded to keep quiet about it.
What is the purpose of it?
It is perhaps to reinforce and strengthen
what we discern through other spiritual means.
And what is reinforced

It is this....This is my Son the beloved
Listen to him
It is not that Jesus does not speak to us as we go through grief

or that when we talk carefully about forgiveness

and deal with issues of reconciliation, love and acceptance

it is that we are reminded that we need to Listen to him.

In particular Mark reminds us

that we are to listen to Jesus saying:

"If you are to follow, then you must take responsibility for your cross"

There is no cheap grace,

no good news without responsibility.

This is the Natural and the Supernatural teaching

Listen to Jesus

This week

• As you reflect on the week gone by, what has God been saying to you? How has Jesus spoken with and to you?
• This is a transfiguring voice. Our world will be different. What needs to change in my life if I am to respond in obedience?