Everybody wants to see change - in their families or with their friends, with school or politics or work or what have you.
But the teaching of Scripture is pretty plain: change starts inside each one of us, deep within.
What might God have in store for you now? Where might change begin in your heart?
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.
As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
Mark 9:2-9
Mountaintop experiences are those times when we see something more clearly, feel God in our midst, and/or have an experience that changes how we see the world. The transfiguration was just that for the disciples. Like the disciples, when we are a part of something profound, we want to stay there; we don’t want to leave. We want to hold onto it with every fiber of our being so we don’t forget what was. Jesus calls us to move forward and not to stay in that place. Jesus calls us to let that experience change us and let it inform how we live our lives as new persons.
As we are about to begin our journey this holy Lent, that time set apart to find God in a new way, we are called to carry our experience with us and to engage in the world in a new way. How can we embrace the changes and live the life God is calling us to live?
Shannon Kelly
Everlasting God, I am transfigured in those moments when I feel your presence and can see you at work in the world. Help me to become a changed person and carry your love, mercy, and grace into a world that needs it. Lead me and guide me to be the person you are calling me to be. Amen.
Hey! Good News!
The same God who introduced Christ to the world in Jesus is still at work - in you and all around you - to change the world.
You are part of the change. Claim it. Live it. Love the change that is coming.