Opening Our Eyes in Prayer Luke 9: 28 36; 2 Cor. 3: 12 13, 16 18; 4:1,2 I don t know how they did it? When something exciting happens to me I have to tell someone. That s part of what I enjoy about being a preacher. When I encounter God s glory in a mission trip to Malawi or Hungary Or a miracle of healing I witness at the hospital, Or an inspirational testimony that our youth or children Share In drama or song or service projects, I have an opportunity to tell people about it. When we have mountain top experiences we want to share the story We want to post it on Facebook, we want to call people up, It has already been a joy to hear from David and Kyle and Jeff Returning from their mountaintop experience in Nepal As they share the places and faces in which they have seen God s glory in Katmandu, Nepal and their faces Will shine as they continue to tell us the stories. And yet today s text says They kept silent in those days And told no one any of the things they had seen.
Paul in the Corinthians letter is fairly critical of Moses for putting a veil over his face after he went up Mount Sinai and spoke face to face with God. But at least Moses told the people what he had seen. He shared the words of God with the people of God who were at the base of the mountain even though they were already wandering away from God, even though they had build the Golden Calf and were dangerously close to idol worship. I think Paul s critique of Moses is appropriate to the disciples as well And I think his critique is valuable for us to think about, As disciples who know the truth of God s glory in Christ And have heard God s words: This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him. The story of the Transfiguration of Christ is nestled in Scripture between Jesus first prediction of his death and the disciples failed attempt To heal the epileptic boy while Jesus was on the mountaintop. When the Renaissance painter Raphael was commissioned by the Pope to paint the Transfiguration of Christ in 1516, he could not resist painting the Transfigured Christ in the upper portion and the confused disciples trying to heal the epileptic boy in the lower portion.
I was tempted to just choose the upper portion for our bulletin cover today Because it gives a nice, holy, shiny portrait of Jesus, Moses, and Elijah With Peter, James and John shading their eyes from the light. It is more churchy and what we expect to see. But Paul s letter to the Corinthians and his critique of Moses For trying to hide the glory of God in real life, is a challenge For us all of us who are at the base of the mountain, Trying to do the healing work Christ calls us to. It is a challenge to let the light of Christ, the truth of who Christ is, Shine into the healing work Christ dares to do through us, And to let the light of Christ shine into even those Dark times where we come face to face with death. That is the context for the Transfiguration, And that s the power of prayer. If you notice, Luke makes sure to let us know that Jesus is praying When he is transfigured in Luke: And while he was praying, the appearance of his face was changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Sometimes we think we have to go far away to have a mountain experience With Jesus Christ, but Luke reminds us that prayer is the starting point.
And in the version of the Transfiguration in the Gospel of Mark When Jesus comes down from the mountaintop and heals the Epileptic boy that the disciples could not heal, he says This kind can only come out through prayer. In other words, we don t have to travel to a far away country To have a mountaintop experience we can experience The transfigured Christ in prayer. That s why the text says Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep, but since they stayed awake, the saw his glory. Prayer is often the window in which we open our eyes to the glory of God. When we pray we are accepting Christ s invitation to the mountaintop. When we pray we are staying awake to seek what God might do. When we pray we are participating in the healing work of God. We don t ever do the healing work of God and we cannot Dictate what God will do but we can participate by prayer. Last week we shared a prayer with David all the way from Katmandu, And we had the opportunity to share in that mountaintop experience. The weeks before we pray for healing for Denny and we had the Opportunity to participate in the healing work of God.
Prayer opens our eyes and our hearts and our lives to the glory of God. And we re in luck this Lent for we have many opportunities for prayer. Each morning during Lent starting this Ash Wednesday A group of us will meet in the parlor for Morning Prayer From 7:30 to 8 am. We will use the Book of Common Worship and our devotion guide Light in Darkness and we will start each day in prayer. If the AM side of the clock doesn t work for you we will have A Lenten Communion Service each Wednesday in Lent Starting this Wednesday at 6:30 PM in Knox Hall. We will share a wonderful liturgy that connects us which the Ancient church and communion to connect us with God And with each other. It is a wonderful way to pause In the midst of the week for prayer. And of course there is always the opportunity for private prayer And you have our church devotion guide Light in Darkness Written by your brothers and sisters in Christ at First Presbyterian, Sharing both the mountaintop and valley times that we have seen God s light in the darkness. Let us open our eyes to God s glory in prayer