All are welcome to join us for Sunday Service at 10 am.  Sunday school is available for the children during the service and coffee is served afterwards.

Here are Rev. Marlene’s thoughts on this week’s message.

Marlene’s Rev. Notes:

“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 9:9 

With the Lenten journey beginning on Ash Wednesday, this Sunday’s passage in Mark 9:2-9, gives us a graphic taste of what is ahead. Here, we see Jesus taking Peter, James, and John up a high mountain alone, where Christ is gloriously transfigured; and where Elijah and Moses appear, talking with Jesus. Peter is so awed by what happens that he suggests setting up permanent dwellings for Jesus, Elijah, and Moses.  This idea may come from the tent or the Tabernacle in which God dwelt with God’s people from the revelation at Sinai until the completion of Solomon’s Temple.

Speaking from a cloud, God’s revelation in Jesus is fundamentally new and different from all prior revelation. Jesus is the Beloved Son to whom the disciples are to listen. The word “listen” (akouō in Greek) recalls God’s initial mandate to “hear” (shema in Hebrew). The Shema being the great commandment in Deuteronomy 6:4. So, atop this mountain, surrounded by a sacred cloud, the disciples are led to understand that Christ is the incarnate Law, not just another prophet.

Finally, Jesus’ instruction to keep the matter secret until the Resurrection, indicates that the Transfiguration is key to interpreting the revelation accomplished in Jesus’ death and Resurrection. The apostles are left to ponder the meaning of “rising from the dead” and its’ connection to the Transfiguration account. This mystery is the goal of our journey not only through Lent but through life.