This description of Jesus' transfiguration is familiar to anyone who's had much exposure to church or to the Bible. Now, there are two sides to the story -- what happened to Jesus and how his three friends reacted to it and 99 times out of 100, any sermon or teaching about the story will focus on the second -- how Peter and the others reacted. That's because we can relate to it and because we find it hard to relate to what happened to Jesus. Maybe that's the point of the story, after all. Maybe it's the point of the Season of Epiphany as well -- not so much that Jesus was who He was, but how people have realized and been affected by it. Perhaps that's the point of the incarnation also -- not so much what happened to God -- that God became human, but what happens to us as a result of it -- to change how we see things and to change us in the process.

Jesus was transfigured, but the important thing is that -- as a result of it -- Peter and his buddies, James and John saw Jesus in a completely different light. There was an evolution to their realization of who Jesus was. At first, because of His teachings they saw Him as a rabbi for the common man -- down to earth and powerfully compelling. Then, because of the miracles He did, they saw him as some kind of prophet from God. As today's story reminds us, Peter, for one, had even come to see Him as the Messiah -- sent by God to free the people. But this new experience on that hilltop made them realize something else. In the figure of Moses -- representing God's Law -- and Elijah -- representing God's prophets, those Apostles saw Jesus as the one who brought together and embodied everything that God had ever said. They saw Jesus in an entirely new light -- God's beloved son. It was the peak of their unfolding understanding of who Jesus was and it touched them deeply. That's why they wanted to stay there on that mountaintop. Their experience of this new revelation was riveting and exhilarating.

God shows us things -- not all at once, mind you, but gradually and in evolving ways -- and sometimes also through powerful spiritual experiences. They're meant to revolutionize our lives. That's the point of spiritual experiences and the feelings that we sometimes have in our spiritual experiences -- to revolutionize who we are and what we do, not to give us new and powerful feelings that we cling to and spend our time trying to recapture or recreate.

I wonder what experiences of God -- what experiences of Christ and of His Spirit -- you may have had, if any that you've noticed. I'd like to share with you a few that I've had over the years -- to illustrate that personal experiences of God -- of the risen Christ and His Spirit -- are nothing to fear as the apostles often did. And to illustrate that the passing of them are nothing to fear, either, as the apostles also did.

When I was a child I prayed most every night -- whether, at first, my mother was with me or not, later on. I used to light a candle and kneel down and talk with God. The prayers I said were ones I learned by rote and also ones I made up in the moment -- just talking to God. As I prayed I felt the cozy presence of God and those experiences made me feel God's company and His support when I would otherwise have felt alone and frightened. On one occasion, when everyone else was asleep, one night, I left my room and saw a vision of an angel -- glowing radiantly at the foot of the staircase. I was frightened, but it also strangely caused me to feel close to God and peaceful at the same time. Over and over again, the apostles had experiences of Jesus -- as the Old Testament characters had -- of fear in the presence of God and also of assurance and peace afterward.

In my late teens -- after no small amount of time and energy devoted to resisting them -- I was invited by a girlfriend's parents to pray with them to entrust myself to Christ. When, eventually, I acquiesced, I experienced what Charles Wesley used to refer to as "a strange inner warmth" of God's presence. That experience changed my mind about the meaning of life, but following that new Christian way of life seemed awfully hard work -- a matter of fits and starts and drudgery -- hardly enjoyable to a boy in his teens. The experiences that the biblical characters had of God -- of Jesus -- may have gradually changed their minds, but it took time to change their hearts and their behaviors and it often wasn't fun, but involved hardship along the way.

Later -- in response to my honest complaints to other Christians with whom I then found myself about how tedious the life of Christian discipleship seemed -- they prayed with me to be empowered by the Spirit. That's when I underwent a long series of powerful spiritual experiences. The effect of those experiences was to leave me feeling God's tangible presence, joy, the craving to do nothing but pray and read the Bible, and an audible call to ministry. Those experiences left me with an ongoing and sometimes conflicting feeling of wanting to do nothing but be close to God or to be involved with other people for God's sake. Sometimes the two have flowed together most easily and I've felt God's Spirit most close when I've been with others in prayer or ministry and often times the two seem far apart. I've sometimes felt drawn to recapture or recreate those sensations of intimacy with God only to be interrupted by other opportunities. When caught up in the opportunities to serve I've felt the craving to be intimate with God again only, at times to be preoccupied with the demands of service. This two-fold temptation -- on the one hand, to be solely preoccupied with God and so heavenly minded as to be no earthly good, or, on the other hand, to be consumed with life's opportunities so as to be unmindful of God's presence -- have torn Christian folks all along. God calls His people to both and yet each one can distract Christ's followers from the other. Jesus embodied both ways and He's the one who makes able to do both. This story of Jesus' transfiguration is really about our transformation more fully into what He wants for us. Don't be afraid of experiencing God or of those experiences passing. God is quite able to bring balance to our lives. All we need is to trust Him in the process.