WEBVTT 00:00:00.300 --> 00:00:02.428 So I have a confession to make. 00:00:02.428 --> 00:00:13.173 I am 57 years old and I still get giddy when I see famous people. 00:00:13.173 --> 00:00:16.187 Am I alone on that? 00:00:16.187 --> 00:00:18.263 No, you know. 00:00:18.263 --> 00:00:19.728 You see floating around. 00:00:19.728 --> 00:00:29.646 You know my famous story actually is I'm going to slide this too, because I got elbows, that would be terrible. 00:00:30.179 --> 00:00:35.813 My famous story is Brenda and I were walking down at Doheny Beach in Dana Point. 00:00:35.813 --> 00:00:37.587 Anybody know that area at all? 00:00:37.587 --> 00:00:43.883 That's kind of my stomping grounds, that's where I grew up in Doheny Beach and we're walking along. 00:00:43.883 --> 00:00:47.164 Just her and I, on some weekday morning Didn't have things to do. 00:00:47.164 --> 00:00:48.463 And who did we see? 00:00:48.463 --> 00:00:50.570 But Karch Karai. 00:00:50.570 --> 00:00:53.744 Anybody know Karch Karai? 00:00:53.744 --> 00:00:55.551 Right? 00:00:55.551 --> 00:00:57.607 Some of us know Karch Karai, all right. 00:00:57.607 --> 00:01:04.813 Those of you who know volleyball know Karch Karai is like the Babe Ruth of volleyball. 00:01:04.813 --> 00:01:13.311 No, Karch Karai is like the Babe Ruth of volleyball, like he is that conquered indoor, conquered outdoor, and I think he's still the coach of the women's national volleyball team. 00:01:13.941 --> 00:01:15.808 Anyway, I played a lot of volleyball. 00:01:15.808 --> 00:01:17.266 I lived near the beach. 00:01:17.266 --> 00:01:19.587 That for me, was pretty cool. 00:01:19.587 --> 00:01:25.787 It was like oh, you know, and I still talk about the time that I went to the beach with Karch Karai. 00:01:25.787 --> 00:01:26.590 I did. 00:01:26.590 --> 00:01:34.885 I also talk a lot about the time I had lunch with Travis Kelsey, the tight end of Kansas City. 00:01:34.885 --> 00:01:43.010 Yeah, we had lunch together when we were in Pacific Palisades, Brenda and I. 00:01:44.581 --> 00:01:46.932 There's famous people who live in Pacific Palisades, brenda and I. 00:01:46.932 --> 00:01:48.700 There's famous people who live in Pacific Palisades prior to the fire. 00:01:48.700 --> 00:01:52.186 You'd see people all the time so we'd always be bubbling up. 00:01:52.186 --> 00:01:53.569 Oh, this is so exciting. 00:01:53.569 --> 00:02:02.073 But I have had one experience out here in Westlake Village. 00:02:02.073 --> 00:02:05.859 We call them brushes with greatness in our family, him Brushes with Greatness in our family. 00:02:05.859 --> 00:02:09.127 Brushes with Greatness oh, I saw a famous person. 00:02:09.127 --> 00:02:11.586 I saw Jamie Foxx over at Finney's. 00:02:11.586 --> 00:02:15.168 One day Am I the only one seeing Jamie Foxx out here? 00:02:15.168 --> 00:02:17.183 I don't know, maybe he lives out here and you see him. 00:02:17.183 --> 00:02:19.912 Famous actor. 00:02:19.912 --> 00:02:25.007 So it's kind of fun and you have these moments and you get all excited. 00:02:25.400 --> 00:02:34.170 And so we've been walking this journey, talking about setting a course, setting course as people, setting course as a church. 00:02:34.170 --> 00:02:42.572 And here we have this experience in this scripture in which the disciples see something awesome. 00:02:42.572 --> 00:02:46.490 And the question is, how does this relate to us? 00:02:46.490 --> 00:02:52.332 How does this relate to our journey as people, setting a course to a better life? 00:02:52.332 --> 00:02:55.360 So it is an important scripture. 00:02:55.360 --> 00:03:03.431 Like I said, it gets read every single year, one of the few that actually is in every year in the lectionary. 00:03:03.939 --> 00:03:07.247 A quick summary again, Jesus heads up the mountain to pray. 00:03:07.247 --> 00:03:09.527 He's taking Peter, James and John. 00:03:09.527 --> 00:03:20.046 We tend to understand them as the kind of closest to Jesus kind of people and while there, his whole appearance. 00:03:20.046 --> 00:03:22.331 Well, it changes. 00:03:22.331 --> 00:03:28.731 Then Moses and Elijah appear and Jesus is together with them. 00:03:28.731 --> 00:03:30.927 Now you need to know Moses and Elijah. 00:03:30.927 --> 00:03:42.192 That's like the Michael Jordan and the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the Hebrew faith and really, in our originations, the Christian faith. 00:03:42.192 --> 00:03:43.586 These are the big hitters. 00:03:43.586 --> 00:03:47.483 They're hanging out with Jesus, the disciples who were sleeping. 00:03:47.483 --> 00:03:55.925 They awake to this and Peter offers to build three tents for them, one for each Jesus, moses and Elijah. 00:03:55.925 --> 00:04:00.640 Then a cloud comes over and it overshadows the whole event. 00:04:00.640 --> 00:04:02.603 The voice of God sounds out. 00:04:02.603 --> 00:04:05.665 This is my son, my chosen. 00:04:05.665 --> 00:04:07.867 Listen to him. 00:04:07.867 --> 00:04:20.480 As it all ends, they all keep quiet, seemingly tacitly agreeing not to talk about it as they head back down the mountain. 00:04:20.480 --> 00:04:24.860 Pretty powerful story, right? 00:04:24.860 --> 00:04:27.415 An amazing story. 00:04:27.509 --> 00:04:32.141 I brought some pictures because I think I invited Kallie to set up some pictures for me. 00:04:32.141 --> 00:04:35.439 Here's some ways that this has been depicted. 00:04:35.439 --> 00:04:40.798 You can see the disciples there at the bottom, Jesus in the middle, Moses and Elijah. 00:04:40.798 --> 00:04:49.901 That's the aura, the energy, the feel that people are trying to grab from this. 00:04:49.901 --> 00:04:57.252 I think that Luke was trying to get us to feel I've got another one here right. 00:04:57.252 --> 00:05:01.081 And this one I kind of liked the way it was a little bit hazy like it was. 00:05:01.081 --> 00:05:08.081 They were just adorned with this cloud so much so they almost couldn't see it was too powerful. 00:05:08.523 --> 00:05:10.954 I found a couple more artful looking ones too. 00:05:10.954 --> 00:05:12.838 Do you like that look? 00:05:12.838 --> 00:05:14.702 I kind of like that. 00:05:14.702 --> 00:05:19.079 You'll find as I'm picking artwork. 00:05:19.079 --> 00:05:25.776 I like the stuff that's just a little bit abstract, isn't quite so on the nose. 00:05:25.776 --> 00:05:29.218 And I found one more that I think we went one more step. 00:05:29.218 --> 00:05:40.783 I even like that a lot more, I guess, because I feel like the mystery of faith is always enhancing to me. 00:05:40.783 --> 00:05:41.845 It's exciting to me. 00:05:41.845 --> 00:05:43.995 I know a lot of people don't like that mystery. 00:05:43.995 --> 00:05:46.122 They want answers, they want it decided. 00:05:46.122 --> 00:05:55.838 I like this stuff because I haven't found that there's that many absolutes in faith and so that I walk in that complexity and enjoy it. 00:05:56.560 --> 00:06:06.896 Anyway, we're trying to capture the moment just a little bit here, get you to understand what Luke wants us to understand how important it was. 00:06:06.896 --> 00:06:11.324 We are particularly fortunate, today we are blessed. 00:06:11.324 --> 00:06:16.182 As we know, Peter, James and John were there, as was Moses and Jesus. 00:06:16.182 --> 00:06:20.115 So was Elijah and Elijah's here this morning. 00:06:20.115 --> 00:06:25.464 Elijah, can you stand and tell how was it? 00:06:25.464 --> 00:06:28.096 You know, was it big, was it? 00:06:28.096 --> 00:06:29.379 You know, were you astounded? 00:06:29.379 --> 00:06:35.540 I asked him coming in. 00:06:35.540 --> 00:06:36.742 I said are you a good sport? 00:06:36.742 --> 00:06:41.862 And he looked at me and he said I guess I'm a good sport. 00:06:41.862 --> 00:06:46.831 So now we know he is, anyway. 00:06:48.495 --> 00:06:54.269 So, first of all, what's interesting is you got Peter again trying to capture this moment. 00:06:54.269 --> 00:07:01.358 He recognizes this event for what it is, this holy moment. 00:07:01.358 --> 00:07:13.773 Unfortunately for Peter, that day he forgot to bring his cell phone and so he's up there, right, and I mean I would have told him just put on, Do Not Disturb. 00:07:13.773 --> 00:07:15.680 That's just as good, I bet you. 00:07:15.680 --> 00:07:21.322 I bet you they weren't getting any bars up there anyway, right, but he's stuck. 00:07:21.322 --> 00:07:24.196 He can't take a picture to capture the moment. 00:07:24.196 --> 00:07:25.117 So what does he do? 00:07:25.117 --> 00:07:27.725 He says we'll build three tents. 00:07:27.725 --> 00:07:30.211 This is how we'll capture this moment. 00:07:30.211 --> 00:07:38.514 We're going to sit in this moment, we're going to hold this moment, we're going to live here a bit. 00:07:40.737 --> 00:07:56.206 You ever had that spiritual moment where you wanted it to just linger, you wanted to just stay there and maybe, maybe, maybe it would just hold out, such an overwhelming experience. 00:07:56.206 --> 00:07:59.240 You wanted to hold it in your hand and have it never end. 00:07:59.240 --> 00:08:08.399 We tend to have these experiences and when we read into that event, we kind of wish we were there. 00:08:08.399 --> 00:08:13.096 You want to see it right, maybe partly to witness it. 00:08:13.096 --> 00:08:14.567 It seems like this amazing event. 00:08:14.567 --> 00:08:15.154 I want to actually see it right, maybe partly to witness it. 00:08:15.154 --> 00:08:15.478 It seems like this amazing event. 00:08:15.478 --> 00:08:17.764 I want to actually see it for myself. 00:08:17.764 --> 00:08:24.141 Maybe another layer is I'd finally get some proof about this thing. 00:08:24.141 --> 00:08:26.036 You know, Jesus really is the guy. 00:08:26.036 --> 00:08:27.192 I saw it in front of me. 00:08:27.494 --> 00:08:29.019 God was talking, I don't know. 00:08:29.019 --> 00:08:35.519 For all different reasons, we kind of wish that we were there. 00:08:35.519 --> 00:08:40.385 We want that assurance of having seen this. 00:08:40.385 --> 00:08:45.794 But here's the irony of that desire, of that wish. 00:08:45.794 --> 00:08:52.943 Hasn't God already done this for us in some way? 00:08:52.943 --> 00:08:57.068 Haven't we all been awakened in some way? 00:08:57.068 --> 00:09:00.629 Haven't we all been awakened in some way to the divinity in Christ? 00:09:00.629 --> 00:09:03.038 I mean, why else are we here? 00:09:03.038 --> 00:09:28.659 How did we get here, except that we had some sort of experience in which Jesus Christ was transfigured, the commitment, the confirmation that Jesus in some way connected to the divine held the divine right in front of us and we came here to learn more about that. 00:09:28.659 --> 00:09:43.702 Maybe it was an experience of how a church can be that extended family in a good way, taking care of each other, having fellowship together, growing together. 00:09:43.702 --> 00:09:49.515 Maybe that's something you grew up with and it became your time. 00:09:49.515 --> 00:09:50.936 You claimed it for yourself. 00:09:50.936 --> 00:09:53.499 But you had that experience of Christ. 00:09:53.499 --> 00:10:05.754 Maybe it was some deep wisdom, some experience of understanding of Christian love Made real, that brought you here To this space. 00:10:05.754 --> 00:10:20.638 Or maybe God just reached in and touched your heart in some truly meaningful way and that's how you found your way here. 00:10:20.638 --> 00:10:25.201 You've seen the glory of Christ in some powerful way. 00:10:25.201 --> 00:10:26.716 That's why you're here. 00:10:28.431 --> 00:10:39.658 I think sometimes we fail to recognize God's presence because it isn't as showy and as big as this event, this transfiguration event. 00:10:39.658 --> 00:10:44.154 But let's think about it, let's face it. 00:10:44.154 --> 00:10:46.004 But let's think about it. 00:10:46.004 --> 00:10:46.567 Let's face it. 00:10:46.567 --> 00:10:51.022 It's not like the disciples got a lot of answers in being there. 00:10:51.022 --> 00:10:53.657 What does God say? 00:10:53.657 --> 00:10:58.575 But this is my son, listen to him. 00:10:58.575 --> 00:11:05.278 We didn't walk away with a book full of rules to help us live life the best way we could. 00:11:05.278 --> 00:11:11.582 There was no manual for setting a course for a better life that came. 00:11:11.582 --> 00:11:16.761 It was just God saying listen to him. 00:11:16.761 --> 00:11:34.142 For those disciples, it was still going to be a journey of wrestling of questions, of discerning exactly what God wants for them, pretty much like it is today. 00:11:34.142 --> 00:11:51.879 I think the goal of this passage, or at least a goal of this passage, might be to get us to start thinking differently about how we see our lives and how we see the faith we are living out. 00:11:51.879 --> 00:12:02.379 I think God and Luke, in this case Jesus, are trying to get us to understand ourselves as transfiguration people. 00:12:02.379 --> 00:12:36.046 We talk about setting course, we talk about going on a Lenten journey, but isn't that mostly about being transfiguration people, people who have seen the wisdom, experienced the wonder of Christ and want to live into it more of Christ, and want to live into it more, maybe by sharing it, maybe by going deeper into it themselves? 00:12:39.029 --> 00:12:40.714 Do you guys remember that old Packer coach, Vince Lombardi? 00:12:40.714 --> 00:12:41.736 Remember Vince Lombardi? 00:12:41.736 --> 00:12:43.159 I know folks in this room. 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:49.077 Do I know you do, Vince Lombardi? 00:12:49.077 --> 00:12:49.658 I know folks in this room. 00:12:49.658 --> 00:12:50.802 Do I know you do Vince Lombardi? 00:12:50.802 --> 00:12:53.510 Old school, old school coach. 00:12:53.510 --> 00:12:56.379 One of his players goes into a touchdown dance. 00:12:56.379 --> 00:13:02.822 Do you remember what Vince Lombardi said to him Anyone? 00:13:02.822 --> 00:13:13.879 He said act like you've been there and I heard it with an even extended version. 00:13:13.879 --> 00:13:16.535 Act like you've been there. 00:13:16.535 --> 00:13:17.755 No, it's not dirty or anything. 00:13:17.755 --> 00:13:22.840 Act like you've been there and you expect to be back. 00:13:22.840 --> 00:13:25.374 Have you heard that phrase? 00:13:25.374 --> 00:13:26.701 Act like you've been there before and you expect to be back. 00:13:26.701 --> 00:13:27.244 Have you heard that phrase? 00:13:27.244 --> 00:13:29.914 Act like you've been there before and you expect to be back? 00:13:29.975 --> 00:13:31.741 I think there's something for us there. 00:13:31.741 --> 00:13:34.650 We are a transfiguration people. 00:13:34.650 --> 00:13:40.360 The face of Jesus has changed for us in some remarkable way. 00:13:40.360 --> 00:13:47.822 It's allowed us to feel humbled, maybe even amazed, in some really, really meaningful way. 00:13:47.822 --> 00:14:15.480 Maybe our United Methodist Church of Westlake Village goal and the journey that we take this Lent ought to be to take us to this place of the assurance of God's presence, where we're questioning less but instead recognizing God's presence when it's there, God's presence when we've seen it and owning it in really, really powerful ways. 00:14:15.480 --> 00:14:28.942 Maybe for us, potentially and ironically, we might even be transformed as well. 00:14:28.942 --> 00:14:38.980 Maybe we even get transfigured in some amazing way that other people can see it on us. 00:14:38.980 --> 00:14:55.740 Can we even consider such an amazing thing happened that we could be seen to be transfigured with the love of Christ that God has for this world? 00:14:55.740 --> 00:14:59.330 Wouldn't that be something? 00:14:59.330 --> 00:15:02.898 Amen?