[Propertalk] Sermon tidbits for Mt. 17:1-9, Part 1

[Joe Parrish]

...it is not the dazzling moments of transfiguration that connect us to God. It is the slow plodding - through the daily trenches of faithfulness that truly connect us to God.

http://www.sermonsuite.com/content.php?i=26119&key=rgFsdaack4sBde2o

Susan R. Andrews
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[Henri] Nouwen goes on:
In solitude we can grow old freely without being preoccupied with our usefulness and we can offer a service which we had not planned on. To the degree that we have lost our dependencies on this world, whatever world means--father, mother, children, career, success or rewards--we can form a community of faith in which there is little to defend but much to share. Because as a community of faith, we take the world seriously but never too seriously. 

http://day1.org/2693-dont_just_do_somethingsit_there

Timothy Smith, 2011
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In a gospel apparently about the mystical dimension of religion, there is a troubling, teeming undercurrent of turmoil, a struggle between piety and real Christianity, a struggle between religion for real and religion for show. The gospel shows us that Peter, in your name and mine, opted for piety. "Let's settle down here, Jesus, and build three booths." 
I'm not really sure, but I think what he had in mind was a chancery, a seminary and a college. Peter, in other words, was opting for a religion of temples, institutions and shrines.

http://www.csec.org/csec/sermon/chittister_3508.htm

Joan Chittister
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We are, however, assured that the same God who entrusted our spiritual ancestors with countless insights and who invited Jesus to share intimacy, emboldens us now to seek his guidance in all the upsetting or opportune moments in life. His grace provides our strongest credentials and we don't want to make a move without remembering whose we are because of Jesus' death and resurrection for us. His love holds us firm as we wonder how best to proceed and encourages us to seek his will and way in the words of the Scripture. At times, our daily routines may seem to make life perfunctory and plebian, but when we step back from them to reflect and consider in prayer, we too may be overwhelmed by the glory which can be seen as new perspectives or greater vision transfigure even us.

http://www.predigten.uni-goettingen.de/archiv-7/050206-5-e.html

David Zersen, 2005
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 The name of the mountaintop is not given but most scholars think that it was Mount Tabor which is 1800 feet tall which is a tall mountain not far from Nazareth. While on that mountain, the eyes of the disciples were dazzled with visionary ecstasy. Jesus was transfigured before them. He was utterly changed before their eyes. Transfigured. Transformed. The Greek word is "metamorphosis." "Meta" means change;  "morphis" means form. Jesus' form was totally changed. . Like a cocoon is transfigured into a butterfly. Like a flower bulb is transfigured into a lovely spring daffodil. Where the human Jesus of Nazareth was transfigured into this divine Christ of glory.

http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_a_vision_on_a_mountaintop.htm

Edward F. Markquart
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I like the quotation by Henry Drummond, the Scottish theologian when he said, "God does not make the mountains in order to be inhabited. God does not make the mountaintops for us to live on the mountaintops. It is not God's desire that we live on the mountaintops. We only ascend to the heights to catch a broader vision of the earthly surroundings below. But we don't live there. We don't tarry there. The streams begin in the uplands, but these streams descend quickly to gladden the valleys below." The streams start in the mountaintops, but they come down to gladden the valleys below

http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_a_mountains_valleys_and_plains.htm

Edward F. Markquart
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C.S. Lewis, the famous British author, says it happened to him this way. One day he was driving from his house out into the country. When he arrived at his destination, he got out, and he believed. He didn't know why. 

http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_c_jcsuperman.htm

Edward F. Markquart
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