Looking up...what do you see?

Transfiguration Sunday-The Last Sunday after the Epiphany February 18th 2007

February 18, 2007 Exodus 34:29-35 Psalm 99 II Corinthians 3:12-4:2 Luke 9:28-36, (37-43)

It is not always the case buty this week it is.

When you type in the word Transfiguration into Google you invariably get a religious style image.

With most words, like blessed, or happy (last week) you get a variety of ideas. But Transfiguration seems to engender the sort of narrowly religious idea.

Life would of course be quite boring without transfiguration, so we should not dismiss these experiences. I always point to the the birth of my first child as being such an experience, many men...even rough, shallow guys...attest to this.

There is a sense of the overwhelming awareness of "other", of change, of awe....all the things indeed we read about in this story...so we should be thankful for these events as well as trying to underestand them.

Theer is also a straight forward point made in this story, and in many of the hymns and songs about this event...while we are transformed ourselves by these powerful experience we have to move on from them.

"No," says Jesus to the apostles, "you may not build shrines here" His inference being that you must move back to ordinary life and allow this event to change that

'Tis good, Lord, to be here.
yet we may not remain;
but since thou bidst us leave the mount,
come with us to the plain.

It is good to know and expereince the supernatural presence of God. But this is not...in the end what life is about. At the best we are to ask ourselves how these powerful experiences inform and change our life.

It's all well and good to feel powerful change when your child is born, but how does this affect how you live your life.?
What is the point of continuing as is..after you ahve had a revelation?
If when our parent or spouse dies we experience the wonder of the grief process
and we find that our understanding of death, pain and resurrection is deepened
What difference does this make to the way we live our life?

You see we are tempted to allow Transfiguration to only be a religious experience
the invitationm that God is offering is for us to look through and beyond these experiences
and allow them to change how we live.
As we see God more clearly in glory
as we hear him speak
what is he inviting us to do with that.

THIS WEEK
Gather a sense of those powerful moments of your life when you have experienced Transfiguration
When things have shone in a new light and we have had new awareness.
When we do that the next question is to ask:
What is God trying to draw out of me through this experience?
And what will I do with that?