Eugene Peterson has said of the Sabbath, “It means quit. Stop. Take a break.  The word itself has nothing devout or holy in it.  It is a word about time, denoting our nonuse of it, what we usually call wasting time.”

You can read about the day they climbed that mountain in Matthew 17:1-9. It is easy to imagine that the three disciples thought it a waste of time. There were so many that needed to be healed, to be fed, to hear the Good News. Just, as if we are honest, at times we think of worship and prayer as wasted time since we are not busy doing something or getting something off our “check list.”

But think of what happened on that mountain, Jesus was transfigured before their very eyes.  They saw something far greater than they ever imagined.  They stood at the very gateway to heaven.

When we come and worship, when we kneel in prayer, we are doing something far greater than our routines.   We too can experience something far greater than we ever imagined.  We too can stand at the gateway to heaven.  It gives a view of what really matters.  It redirects our lives to higher ground.  We need those times that are still, and let God fill our hearts with a peace that is beyond our understanding.  We need to “quit. Stop. Take a break”, so that our world can be transfigured from the ordinary to the extraordinary, from the trivial to the eternal.                                  

May God bless you and yours

January 30, 2008
© Dunwoody United Methodist Church