“Dear Lord, Help me to relax about insignificant details, beginning tomorrow at 7:41:23 a.m. EST. ... Help me to consider people's feelings, even if most of them are hypersensitive. ... Help me to take responsibility for the consequences of my actions, even though they're usually not my fault. ... Help me to not try to run everything - but, if you need some help, please feel free to ask me. ... Help me to be more laid back, and help me to do it exactly right. ... Help me to take things more seriously, especially laughter, parties, and dancing. ... Give me patience, and I mean right now! ... Help me not be a perfectionist. (Did I spell that correctly?) ... Help me to finish everything I sta ... Help me to keep my mind on one thing ... oh, look, a bird ... at a time. ... Help me to do only what I can, and trust you for the rest. And would you mind putting that in writing? ... Keep me open to others' ideas, misguided though they may be. ... Help me follow established procedures. Hey, wait ... this is wrong ... Help me slow down andnotrushthroughwhatido. ... Thank you, Lord. Amen.”
Admit it, your prayer life isn’t all that it ought to be, is it? Maybe it isn’t quite the farce outlined above, but it is haphazard, or dependent on mood or circumstance or time. It’s not so much that we behave as though prayer changes things, it is more that things change prayer. Right? Maybe it is because we don’t always know what is supposed to be happening when we pray. Maybe it is because we were taught the prayers about asking for something to happen and that’s all we know. I mean, we’ve heard about thanksgiving prayers, and prayers of praise, but maybe we don’t really know what those are.
It seems like the only measurable prayer is the petition. Ask for something and if we get it, then we know the prayer was answered. We know something happened because we prayed. And if we don’t get it then we can either keep praying, or accept it as a “no” or “not now” kind of response. And, frankly, there isn’t anything wrong with that. It is pretty clear, sometimes. But it seems kind of limiting. Like it short changes all that prayer can do for us and in us. The prayer of petition is really only entry level praying. And Jesus invites us to move deeper, move higher. At least it seems like Peter, John and James were getting a lesson in prayer on that mountain on the occasion of the Transfiguration.
Luke 9:28-43 Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. 30 Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. 31 They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah"-- not knowing what he said. 34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. 35 Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!" 36 When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
37 On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him. 38 Just then a man from the crowd shouted, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child. 39 Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him. 40 I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not." 41 Jesus answered, "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here." 42 While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. 43 And all were astounded at the greatness of God.
While he was praying. Something was going on for Jesus. Something more than simply give me this, or help me with that. There was something profound going on and most of the time we miss it. Even when it happens to us.
Wait. You aren’t suggesting that the goal of prayer is to glow, are you? A glow goal? That seems just a little bit ... odd. Not to mention kinda wasteful. I mean, what’s the point? Sorry, gotta glow! Doesn’t seem like a good reason to go to prayer. To go to church. To climb a mountain. What was this whole thing all about anyway?
Good question. One the church has been wrestling with for centuries. What does the Transfiguration mean? No one really has a satisfactory answer. They all seem to come down into two camps. Well, with the a third camp being the “mystery” camp, or the we don’t/can’t know camp. I kinda like that one, to be honest. There are things about Jesus, things about God that our brains are just too ... simple, human, earthly, supply your own word here, to comprehend. I’m ok with that. Some aren’t, I know, they want to have answers. I like knowing that God is bigger than my imagination.
The other two camps divide along the lines of who is this event for? For whom is this event - sorry grammarians. Some argue that it is for Jesus. Only Jesus gets what is going on, the disciples are clueless. So clueless that even we don’t know what is wrong with Peter’s response. But Luke tells us it is wrong. (He did didn’t know what he was saying, that goofy Peter). So, it has to be about Jesus. And the visitors came not to talk to the disciples, and how did they know who they were anyway? Name tags in heaven (Lord, help us)? They came to talk to Jesus. It was a private conversation in a private and very personal moment. They were there to shore up Jesus for the journey ahead. Peter butting in to share the moment was just rude.
Others say, no, this was not about Jesus. Or rather it was about Jesus, but it was for the disciples. That’s why they were dragged along on this wilderness hike. As usual they almost missed it, dozing off when it came to the prayer time. As usual they were scared to death by the message that came their way. But the words from the cloud indicate it was all about the disciples: “This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him!” And as usual they messed up by not talking about it when they were supposed to talk about it. Jesus expects them to be further along in their training, which is why he gets exasperated with them when they can’t perform a simple exorcism. “How much longer do I have to put up with you!” OMG.
Well, maybe. Actually, I think both of those things could be true. This event could be a moment for Jesus to receive a divine boost to the mission he was about to perform. And the disciples could have been given a boost that would come back to them later - as did most things that Jesus gave them. Jesus used the metaphor of planting seeds often, because he knew that the disciples weren’t going to get what he was doing at the time, but later, when it had time to grow in them, they’d remember these moments and these teachings.
But I also think there is something deeper going on here. Jesus is showing us what prayer is about. And what it about is being transformed. Notice Luke says while he was praying, not while they were praying. That’s why they didn’t get it, they weren’t where he was. And where he was was in the Presence of God. And in that Presence, amazing things can happen. You can become something more, something bright, something that speaks of God at work in you.
Back up a verse. The last thing Jesus says before this event was “But truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.” Lk. 9:27 Many folks say either we don’t understand this or Jesus got it wrong. He thought it was going to happen sooner than it did, this in-breaking of the Kingdom. Or maybe he was saying, the Kingdom is a lot more visible than we realize. It was there on the top of the mountain. It looked like a light show. But it was really someone in the Presence of God.
Prayer is less about what we can get from God and more how we move closer. Closer to God, closer to a constant awareness of that Presence, closer to a life of confidence that all things work together for good for those who love God, who live in that presence. Prayer is less about changing things or circumstances, and more about changing us. Are you ready for a change?
Shalom,
Derek
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