"The Mountain of Transformation" - Luke 9:28-36 - 2/22/2004

I want to talk tonight about those moments in our lives when things are changed, transformed into something different. Those times when we have mountaintop experiences and things can never be the same again. Those moments when we touch the heart of God, when we look into the eyes of another person and see God. Those times in our lives when we look at something very ordinary, but in that seeing it becomes something extraordinary.

Last week as one of our home school projects Sarah and I got involved in the great bird count. It's a time once a year when people are asked to go to an area - their back yard or a park and simply count the birds. You count the number, you list the different kinds of birds you see and then you send the information to a central location. The information is tabulated from all across the country and the people who study this information can tell approximately how many birds and kinds of species are present in different areas, find out the numbers that are decreasing or increasing accordingly. Well we went off merrily in our neighborhood on a kind of chilly afternoon. We walked, we looked, we talked a lot, and when we arrived back home we had a grand total of 8 crows we have seen. It was sort of disappointing that our great bird count ended up being just 8 crows. But a couple of days later, the weather got warm, we went out a little earlier and what did we find. Bluejays, sparrows, robins, and of course some crows. We looked in the same places, we spend the same amount of time, but a transformation had occurred: the weather had gotten warmer and our view of the world was totally different.

We have those kind of experiences in our lives when what was old becomes new. When what was ugly becomes beautiful. When what was unhealthy becomes healthy. When something we looked at with so much fear, we now have the courage to face. When what was suppose to be an ordinary day becomes extraordinary. What makes the difference - how does this transformation happen?

In tonight's gospel reading we have a rather strange story about one of the mountaintop experiences in the Bible. The mountain in the Bible is one of those places where big time God events happen. Moses went up to a mountain and he ended up having the courage to lead the Israelites out of bondage and head them to the promise land. Abraham went up on a mountain thinking he would have to give up his only son, and returned to become the father of nations. Jesus went up on a mountain to talk with his disciples often when something important was about to happen. The sermon on the Mount, tonight's story about transformation -- the sending of the first disciple off to change the world -- all happened from the mountain. Martin Luther King talked in the last speech he would give about having gone to the mountain and seeing that everything would be okay no matter what happened. Exciting things happen on the mountain when we get in touch with the heart of God. When we can see with clarity God's face in our life; God's face in lives of one another. And yet even when those mountain top experiences happen we come back down to the real world.

Thursday, February 12, 2004 America Online: MCCI~3HRLC'V Page: I

The disciples wanted to hang out on the mountain. They wanted things to stay that way forever. But the work, the mission, the way to change the world happens in the midst of ordinary days, in ordinary times, because they've been to the mountain, because we've been to the mountain, because we've spent time with God. I can't tell you how many people say to me, "I need church on Sunday's to get me through the rest of the week. Sunday is my spiritual high, I get filled up so I can go to work the next day, I can face that difficult person, I can handle that problem, I can have the courage to keep on keeping on -- why because I've been to the mountain. I've been in the presence of God and that makes all the difference." When we come here on Sundays it's like going up to the mountain. We're on Holy Ground. We're in the presence of God. We see God in the face of one another. It's a safe place. It's a growing place. It's a time of community when we know we're not in this alone. It's time when we can lay down the heavy load that we sometimes carry and just rest. It's a time to experience God's love and peace, a time to be given hope for a new day. It's a time to be empowered by God's presence so that when we come down on Monday morning we can enter those ordinary days in an extraordinary way. We have been with God and that makes all the difference. God's face has shined upon us, so that we can shine, we can walk down a different street and see the most extraordinary of sights.

I invite you tonight to think about something in your life -- a situation, a person, a problem in your own life that needs a mountaintop experience. That needs you to make that journey to God in order for transformation to occur. Spend time in God's presence -- !et God see you and shine upon you. Let the warm healing light of God soak in (in doesn't have to be winter in our lives, just because it's winter outside.)

Maybe you just need to let it go -- whatever the situation -- and let God keep it for a while so you can rest. Maybe you need God's guiding light to see you through. Maybe you need an extra dose of strength; courage to get you moving. God knows what it is -- so go to mountain. Transformation will happen, things will change because we've looked at the face of God.