Transfiguration Sunday

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Godly Abiding Spiritually in Jesus Changes the Meaning of What we See Worldly When Not Abiding in Jesus.

Spirituality is our innate ability to feel the difference worldly or godly thinking makes to the way scripture translates to our daily life and relationships.

All Scripture is a testimony to Jesus Christ, who is the Word of God. He is the complete revelation of God’s will of grace for salvation. Grace is the only unfailing rule of faith and practice for the Christian life.

The Gospel of grace is: rather than trying to be more faithful to become faithful, we become faithful by feeling the Faith God already has for and in us.

The Strength of Christianity is Grace

John 1:14 “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

Another name for Jesus is "Grace". Another name for God is "Grace". We are saved by GRACE. "Love" is not Love if it is not grace. This is true for "Faith", "Hope", "Joy" and all other theological words of significance in the scripture.

Until someone experiences the grace gift in their lives, all other theological words have no real meaning. Why not begin to use the word "grace" in place of "Jesus", "God", "the Spirit", "Love" and so on? It might seem inappropriate to do so. However, until it is actually experienced it will make no sense at all.

That is what this year is all about. Grace, did you get it?

Finding Grace in Our Life

Prayers are from the Collects for the weekly Scriptures.

Pray this prayer:

“Most loving Father, no clouds of this mortal life may hide from us the light of that love which you have manifested to us in your Son Jesus Christ.”

Now quietly move into God's Presence and pray the prayer again:

“Most loving Father, no clouds of this mortal life may hide from us the light of that love which you have manifested to us in your Son Jesus Christ.”

What is the difference?

Find the difference between being transformed by His Grace to pray or praying to be transformed by His Grace.

Matthew 7:1-9 “They looked up and they saw no one except Jesus.”

Rational understanding tries to feel the joy about the event. Spiritual understanding feels Joy to be in the event.

This story of the Transfiguration is one of the most significant stories in the Scripture. There was Jesus, Elijah and Moses. What did they all have in common? Much! They were talking to Jesus about their Exodus. Each one was involved in a type of exodus experience. Elijah was caught up in whirlwind and the flaming chariot. Moses led the Exodus of the children of Israel out of the slavery in Egypt. Now Jesus was to have His Exodus being resurrected from the grave.

Peter displayed his legalism saying. “Rabbi it is good we are here. Let us make three booths one for you one for Elijah and one for Moses.” Mark adds almost in astonishment, “He did not know what he was saying.”

What is wrong with the three booths? We can always come back here to the Mount to pray and gain spiritual awakening. We can make pilgrimages to Nazareth, Mt Sinai, Jerusalem,  Bethlehem and then come here to stand where all three of you stood. This will be one more place we can use to feel good about what happened.

The story goes that an overly enthusiastic Christian told Mark Twain that He was going on a pilgrimage to Mr. Sinai where Moses received the Ten Commandments. Mark Twain’s response was, “Why don’t you stay here in Boston and keep the Ten Commandments?”

Grace understanding does not need sites, or exercises or pilgrimages to find the Joy of the Presence. Suddenly a cloud covered them all. When the cloud was gone there was only the Presence of Jesus. That is all we need. That is all we have. His Presence is the unconditional and inclusive grace of God.

According to John, the Law was given by Moses, who represented all the law. Elijah represented all the prophets. After the cloud was gone there was only Jesus. Jesus’ words are that on the two great Commandments to love God and love others as we love ourselves hang all the Law and the Prophets. This changes everything in the Law. Whatever is written in either the Old or the New Testaments, the answer is always to do the loving thing. This is not something we can do out of the Presence. To do this we need to be in the Presence of God’s Love.

When we are able to move from legalism out of the Presence to the grace experience in the Presence, we become transfigured. The Greek word is Metamorphosis. This is the same word for “transformed”. Paul proclaims, “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Romans 12:2 

We renew our mind when we open our heart to His Presence and grace within us. The renewal is the transformation of our life. When we are out of the Presence our thoughts create our feelings. We depend on how we think about what happens to us. Our attempt is to transform the events in our life. When we renew our mind we are transformed.  Our feeling of His Presence of Peace, Joy and Love creates our thoughts in the event. There is a Wisdom we only can receive when we are in His grace. 

The questions to wonder is, what needs to be changed in our life today or what in our life needs to be transformed? It is the difference between legalism and grace.

THE DISCIPLE-SHIFT: The Virtual Small Group: Members share once a week with their group through the internet when a shift from being out to being in the Presence made a difference.