Dear Friends in Christ -
Eventually, I'm going to figure out how to post copies of my sermons online (print and/or audio). Until then, I'm going to post the high points / hot spots here on the blog on Monday mornings, so that you can carry it into the week with you. Also, feel free to share it with your friends; studies show that you learn even more about something as you share it!
Blessings,
Janet+
WHAT TO DO IN THE WAITING PLACE
Now is the time when we cross over from the season of Epiphany to the season of Lent. God knows that these transition spaces, these waiting places are especially difficult for us, so the story we have from the Gospel today is a big, flashy important one. It's a story of a time when the disciples were crossing over, too.
The disciples had been following Jesus for quite a while, and they had figured out that he was, for sure, the Messiah. Peter even got up the gumption to say it out loud to Jesus: "You are the Christ." But then, what next? After six days of letting the truth of that statement set in, Jesus took a few of his disciples up onto a hill and was transfigured before them in dazzling light.
What happened next between Jesus and his disciples shows us clearly how we should NOT - and how we should - live in an in-between time, in a waiting place:
Not speaking, but listening
Not staying down, but rising up
Not fearing, but living in faith
NOT SPEAKING, BUT LISTENING
Of course, as soon as the light around Jesus dims, the first thing Peter does is start talking. It takes a voice from heaven to shut him up. And what does the voice say? "This is my beloved Son; LISTEN to him." In times when we're not sure what to do, the most important thing to do is to . . . LISTEN . . . to God.
NOT STAYING DOWN, BUT RISING UP
When the voice from heaven booms out, the disciples are terrified and drop to the ground, cowering. But Jesus doesn't want them to stay there. He comes to them and touches them, gently encouraging them, in the face of all distress and fear, not to stay down, but to RISE UP, with his strength to guide them.
NOT FEARING, BUT LIVING IN FAITH
And what does Jesus say to his disciples? The same thing that people always hear from God when they've seen a mind-boggling, heart-stopping flash of glory . . . like when the shepherds saw the bright angels in the field, or when the angel came to talk to Mary . . . "DO NOT BE AFRAID," that's what Jesus says to his disciples. Whenever Jesus tells his disciples NOT to do something, though, he also gives them something TO DO. In this case, he tells them NOT to speak about what they've seen. So what are they supposed to do? Share what they've experienced by LIVING the truth of it . . . by healing and encouraging and showing God's goodness through the way they live.
LISTENING, RISING UP, LIVING IN FAITH . . . that's what we're to do in our waiting place . . .
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