Last Sunday after the Epiphany: March 2, 2025
Jessica Thompson
Transforming Moments
“From this moment on, my life will never be the same again.”
Those moments. Those mountaintop moments where the world pauses—all the ordinary things drift away and no longer matter. We find ourselves knowing, deep within our soul that things have changed and we will never be the same again.
What are your moments? The moments you realize the world has changed, your priorities have shifted, and you will never be able to go back to who you once were? Graduation? Marriage? A birth of a child? Sometimes it’s a loss. A participant in my bereavement group this week described his loss journey as lifting a veil, a peak behind the curtain where a whole other dimension of human existence lies.
Today in our Lectionary Calendar we celebrate Transfiguration Sunday. This Sunday is meant to be a lifting of the veil, an invitation to peak behind the curtain as we encounter Christ’s Transfiguration—a full revealing of God’s glory in Christ Jesus. This glimpse of God’s fullness in Christ is always set as the last Sunday after Epiphany—a mountaintop experience just before we descend into the desert of Lent. This week Ash Wednesday begins a time of solemn reflection as we mark Christ’s temptation in the wilderness, following his steps to Jerusalem and ultimately the cross. The transfiguration is a special moment between Father God and Son, supported by the two prophets who came before and witnessed by Peter, John, and James who were struggling to come to terms with the reality Jesus had already tried to explain to them— that he would suffer and die… but that would not be the end of the story.
God revealing Godself in all glory is awe inspiring— freedom, joy, and some safety away from the chaotic world. But up on the mountaintop is not where Jesus can live out the mission he was sent here to earth to accomplish. Staying up there, staying on the mountaintop—that’s safe. And yet that is not where we are meant to remain. Moses came down the mountain to deliver God’s law to God’s People. Elijah came down to serve his role as God’s prophet. And Jesus, Word-Made-Flesh Incarnate came down to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, showing a way for all of us to be wrapped up in God’s transforming grace.
Mountaintop experiences are important. They remind us of who God is, who we are, and our purpose in this world. Moses’ mountaintop encounter with God transformed him in a way that frightened the Israelites, so Moses began to wear a veil except when speaking with God. Not just that but the tabernacle, a portable house for God had layers of protection—a curtain, veil, and inner sanctuary that only a priest could access and only once a year.
However, today God’s transformative grace is accessible for all—on the highest mountain tops and the most desolate deserts as much as in our mundane normal existence. When we leave the mountaintop, God doesn’t just stay up on the mountain waiting for another visit—Spirit goes with us and continues to transform us so our life and being align more and more with God’s plan so in all our interactions in this world, God’s face is seen through us.
Those mountaintop experiences are precious because they give us glimpses, revealing a little bit more about God and God’s plan. These moments can be used as touchstones to remind us who we are, whose we are and how we are called to live in this world.
I still remember the first time I was handed my guide dog’s harness. The trainer had perfectly set us up for success—a gentle park loop, just to begin to feel how working together could be. And boy, it was exhilarating-- not having to carefully probe with a cane or other people’s slow pace—it felt right. I knew this would change everything. Nothing would be the same again.
At the end of the loop I was ecstatic, on top of the world. I felt free and joy. I felt like I could do anything. My trainer told me to take all those feelings—the exhilaration, freedom and joy—take it all and bottle this moment up. Bottle it all up and hold it close to my heart, don’t let it go. Because things were going to get very hard. The next two weeks there will be challenges and it will be stressful and I will want to give up. Hold on to those feelings of goodness and take them out, remember them when things get hard so I will remember that there is a point—a hope of goodness in all the hard parts of this process.
My trainer was right. Things did get really hard and if I hadn’t bottled up those magical feelings of freedom and joy and if she hadn’t reminded me to think back and remember it would have been much worse. That bottle of freedom, joy, and hope has gotten me through some really hard times. Since then, I’ve used that technique in other parts of life. When there is a transformative ‘ah ha’ moment in my life, when God reveals a new grace I bottle those moments up and take them out when I’m lost in the desolate desert of life.
Soon it will be time to ascend to the altar and together share in the transformative body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ for the last time before season of Lent is upon us. However, I think its important to point something out. Our Lent marks the 40 days Jesus spent in the desert, then it is time for easter, right? Not quite because if you count on the calendar, there are 46 days in lent. The Sunday’s don’t count—we consider them “A Little Easter” a celebration of the resurrection that we don’t put on hold even through our Lenten times. Especially in our Lenten times we need those touchstones—the chance to unbottle some of God’s promise. Lent isn’t meant to be a just time of self-denial when we give something up, but an opportunity for transformation. Here at St. Peter’s we have formation plans to assist with this transformation, going deeper into our call to live in this world God’s people, God’s light to this world. I invite you to join us, seek out those moments for transformation, incorporating them into your daily life.
So, soon you will ascend to the altar and partake in the precious sacraments. Take it in as a reminder of the full promise God reveals to us, but don’t leave that promise at the altar. Take, eat, and let your mind, body, and will be transformed and renewed… bottle it up within your soul and come down from that mountaintop knowing who who you are and whose you are ready to share God’s transforming love to the world.