This Sunday in worship we will explore the Transfiguration and there are so many directions to take. We could explore how it connects Jesus to the experiences of the law and prophets, how it changes the lives of the disciples forever, the ramifications to our own lives when we choose faith or proof.
But my mind is weighted in loss at the moment. The heart-breaking deaths in Tumbler Ridge have a ripple effect of grief and sadness, fear and bewilderment that travel through many hearts from within the town to across the country and beyond.
I don’t know about you, but for me, all the deaths and tragedies I’ve witnessed, heard of or experienced in my life get tethered together in my heart with some communal emotions. I suppose it’s a way for grief to work its way through in good company. There is the shock of what happened this week; the anger, sadness, confusion. There is the numbness; the tuning out. And then there is the company – the company of all our other griefs and pains and losses that bubble to the surface and, in some inexplicable way, lend a helping hand to journey through this most recent experience.
When Jesus is up the mountain with Peter, James and John, they are joined by Moses and Elijah. They are not there alone. They are not there in only the present time. For a brief moment they are there with all who have come before them, and all that will transpire ahead of them – they are tethered.
And so are we: to a God who promises us a life greater than we can see; who will be with us at the top and bottom of the mountain; and whose love is stronger than pain and sorrow and death.
Blessings, Julie