Feb 19

Written by: Reverend Dave Whetter
2/19/2012 9:00 AM 

It is good for us to be here, said Peter. Jesus took Peter, James and John for a walk up a mountain, and when they get to the top of that mountain something incredible happened. It was so incredible that our Gospel writer said that Jesus was transfigured, or more literally, he metamorphosed. Jesus physically changed before their eyes, and even his clothes changed, for they were whiter than even Clorox could make them. Now, as if that wasn’t freaky enough, we are told one more thing. Along with his metamorphosis, at that same moment, Moses and Elijah appeared, and they had a conversation with Jesus. These are the two great prophets of the Israelite faith tradition: Moses, the giver of the Law, and Elijah, the prophet that did not die but was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind.

You know, I know this is silly, but every time I read this story I wonder how they knew those two guys with Jesus were Elijah and Moses. It isn’t like they had trading cards they used to play with as kids so they knew what Elijah and Moses looked like. I know they didn’t have pictures hanging in the synagogues of the great prophets. Do you think they had nametags on, or did they perhaps come up and introduce themselves to the group?

Regardless of how they knew, these three men were terrified by what they saw. With no possible explanation of what had happened to Jesus or how Moses and Elijah appeared, these men were filled with terror. What was going to happen now? In the midst of his terror, Peter said, "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 is terrified; yet, somehow he knows in the core of his being that this is a good thing that is happening. Somehow he knows that he has just had a glimpse of the kingdom of God, as Jesus had promised them shortly before this.

What I find most interesting here, though, is not that they were terrified; heck, I would be terrified, too, if Moses, Elijah and Jesus were suddenly standing before me. No, what amazes me is the fact that even though he was filled with terror Peter had it within him to take action. He spoke and asked if he could make dwellings. Now, you may think that was an odd thing to say, but Peter wanted to stay in the moment. He wanted these great men to stick around, and he wanted to give thanks for this experience. It was good for them to be there. Usually, we humans are frozen by our terror, aren’t we? When we are scared or unsure of what is happening or what might ultimately happen, don’t we tend to do nothing? We tend to want to wait it out, to make sure we know what will happen. In the presence of a transfigured Jesus and the two greatest of prophets in Jewish history, Peter speaks. Filled with terror, he speaks, and he attempts to do something. Building three dwellings for Jesus, Moses and Elijah might not have been the right thing to do, but at least he was willing to do something.

All too often, the church remains silent on issues of the day because we are afraid. We fear we might do the wrong thing. We fear we might not know enough. We fear we do not have enough money to go forward. We fear we might upset someone. We fear we might make a mistake, and we are terrified that we might fail. So often our answer is, Let’s wait to out. Let’s do nothing for now.

Last Sunday in our adult Sunday school class we watched a video about two young children in Africa who had lost their mother to AIDS. These two young children were suddenly left on their own, but somehow, in their terror, they were able to travel a great distance to find their mother’s sister and her family. Now, there is much more to this true story, but the point of this story is that there is great need in this world, and children all over the world, even in our own backyard, go hungry every day. Some are literally starving to death. One woman told me afterward that the movie terrified her. She said, Pastor, what can I do to solve this enormous problem? I can’t do anything here to stop such a terrible thing. She is right, we cannot fix the problem in Africa by ourselves, but we also cannot ignore it.

This past Friday evening, 22 of our youth gathered here to spend about 30 hours together fasting as part of the World Vision Famine experience in an attempt to gain an understanding of what it means to go hungry every day. They learned about hunger in the world. While they fasted, they served others, and when it was over, we broke bread right here at this altar and partook in the incredible feast that our Lord gave us. This is something our youth do every year, and in addition to having this experience, they also raised money for World Vision that will go to feed children around the world for an entire year.

It is a terrifying thing to know how so many people in this world live. It is estimated that over nine million children will die this year before their fifth birthday because of preventable causes like poverty, disease and hunger. It is a terrifying situation and, because it is so terrifying, one might think there is no way to make a change. One might think, There is nothing I can do. But that is not true. It is good that we are here in this place at this time. That light that illuminated within Christ that day has been given to us. Like Christ, in the waters of our baptisms, we were transformed and granted the gift of faith and the Holy Spirit. We cannot let fear of the unknown stop us from making a difference here in Lenexa or anywhere in the world. We are first and foremost Christians, and by claiming that title we agree with Peter that it is good for us to be here and it is time to take action.

So what can you do? You could write a check to our youth for the 30-Hour Famine. You could go and buy a huge bag of groceries for our Pantry Pack program. You could go to www.childrensinterantional.org, which is a local organization, and sponsor a child. For $25 a month, you can provide food, clothing and an education to a child in need. You could sign up to work at our multi-congregation Big Serve event on April 14 that you will be hearing more about over the next couple of weeks. You could go out and get some children’s books this week for the Hooked on Books Challenge at Brinna Russell’s school. The list is endless of the small things we can do to make a big difference in this world.

As Christians, our Savior has placed his faith in us, and through his faith we can overcome our fears and take action to make this world a better place and offer a glimpse of the Kingdom of God to the world. It is good to be here at this time, in this place, in this world, because we can make a difference! Amen

Copyright ©2012 Reverend Dave Whetter