Lent 2 C

 

 

Luke 9:28b-36

February 24, 2013

 

 

There was a lot of bad winter weather in the Midwest right now.

The heavy snow coupled with it's intensity, frightened those who were out on the roads.

Just as Luke writes about the disciples in today's Gospel, "they became frightened when they entered the cloud," so too, did drivers become fearful when confronting the cloud of snow.

What is it that frightens us?

What leads us to be afraid?

And on the other side of the equation, what is it that brings us hope?

In the Gospel, Peter, James and John were frightened when they entered the cloud.

Imagine driving down the road and encountering a wall of fog or the white-out of a blizzard.

Most of us have had that experience, where we grip tightly to the steering wheel as we feel the adrenalin rush, preparing us for what lies ahead.

When we get through the fog bank, or pull into our driveway, we feel that sudden release that tells us that everything will be all right.

Everything is suddenly clear.

Lent may just be the time for us to ask ourselves, "What frightens me about what God asks of me? What is it that God wants, that I'm not sure I want to do?

Is there something that resists what God desires for me and of me?"

Hard questions, and ones that we don't always ask.

This season may be the time for us to take a few moments for some clear-headed thinking about our relationship with God.

Some quiet time away from the distractions of the day ( when we get up in the morning, before going to bed and the kids already tucked away.)

may be just what we need to help us consider where we are at with God, before we are caught unawares in the cloud of unknowing .

If transfiguration is ever going to be more than a Gospel story for each of us, then we must keep asking these questions of ourselves.

God wants to transfigure us.

Are we willing to let God do it?