I took this photo last night around 7:00. It’s a view of Georgetown, Colorado from my sister’s and brother-in-law’s home. The lights halfway down from the top on the left are cars on Route 70. The glow just below and in the center comes from lights in the park and the center of town. (Click on the image for a larger version!)
This Sunday we’ll hear the story of a mountain top experience that we encounter every year on the Second Sunday of Lent. This, however, will be the first time in my 50+ years of ministry to preach this gospel in the mountains! I’ve been pondering that the last few days every time I leave my family’s home here in Georgetown.
In the story, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up to a mountain top where he is brilliantly transfigured and the three have a glimpse of God’s glory in the flesh. I’ve been thinking about my own mountain top experiences – but not in a geographic or topological sense. Rather, I’ve been thinking about moments when I had an unusually keen experience of the presence of God in my life.
In this morning’s prayer, I’d like you to do the same and to help you I’m providing not a prayer text as I usually do but several questions which I hope will help you recall your mountain top experiences of faith. You might want to split up these questions and use them for prayer over
the course of this weekend or even into the week ahead.
• What’s my memory of my first experience, or an early experience
of sensing, knowing, feeling, believing that God was present,
in my life, by my side, guiding me, helping me, simply with me?
(You needn’t measure your experience against the story in the gospel!
A « mountain top experience » can be quiet, interior,
and appear quite ordinary to casual bystanders…)
• How have my experiences of God changed
as I moved from childhood to adolescence,
from adolescence to adulthood,
from adulthood into later life?
• Have my experiences of God been on a mountain top?
on the shore? at sea? on retreat? in a bustling city? in the woods?
in my own home? in the desert? in a church? in open fields?
Is there a place, a terrain, an environment I like to frequent
because I know I find God there?
• Have my mountain top experiences found me
in times of joy or times of sorrow?
in times of need or times of plenty?
in seasons of faith or times of confusion?
in times of fear or times of courage?
Have I welcomed peak experiences
as much when I’m down as when I’m up?
Have I seen, in good times and in bad,
how Jesus calls me the mountain top?
• Have any of my mountain top experiences changed me?
helped me grow in faith? helped me through a crisis?
brought me to a turning point? brought me peace?
caused me to live in a different way? led me to serve others?
• Was I alone for these experiences, or in the company of others?
Have I shared any of my mountain top experiences with others?
What was my experience of sharing such an experience?
Does anything keep me from sharing like this?
Has my sharing helped others grow in faith?
• If it’s been some time since my last mountain top experience,
what do I make of that?
Have I thought that maybe my time for such experiences is over?
Or have I prayed, asking Jesus to « lead me up the mountain » again
and refresh my experience of his presence and his peace,
his healing and his glory?
• It’s Lent!
Where’s the mountain where the Lord will meet me in this season?
or is it the shore, in my room, at church? on a walk in the woods?
It’s Lent!
I can be sure that Jesus is looking for times and places
to reveal himself to me in new ways:
will I pray to be open to how his Spirit is moving?
It’s Lent!
Regardless of my age or my circumstances,
my sorrows or my joys, my faith or my doubts,
my burden or my bounty, my weariness or energy
regardless of all these things and in fact through all these things,
Jesus is getting ready to take me for walk
and reveal anew, his love and care for me…
It’s Lent!
Let’s pray for one another and walk with one another
as Jesus leads us all up the mountain of his grace…
And here’s a beautiful song for today’s prayer. Composed by Brian Wren and Ricky Manalo, and performed by the Sunday 7PM Choir, the piece tells the story of the Transfiguration. A review of the gospel story will help you appreciate the song.
The video includes: the lyrics, art work depicting the Transfiguration and photos of Mount Tabor (where Jesus led Peter, James and John) and the Church of the Transfiguration in the Lower Galilee region of Northern Israel.
