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This past week, we wrapped up another round of RELATA. It was my second time moving through the series of themes in the RELATA arc. This time, I was even more struck by week 6 and its theme of the soul. This is known affectionately by table hosts as the “woo-woo” week. It is when we talk about the unknown or mysterious experiences of our lives.
It was interesting doing this in a group of people with many who are not parishioners, people who are spiritual, but not religious. Some groups jumped right in with stories of dreams or mystical encounters while others hung back, more reserved in their ability to articulate the divine.
If Jesus was attending RELATA, I think he might share this story of the Transfiguration from today’s gospel reading as his personal story of an encounter that he can’t explain. The stories about the soul, or the woo-woo encounters, are the things just below the surface that deeply connect us as spiritual beings in this world.
Think about experiences you’ve had that you can’t explain – encounters that have had a significant impact upon your life. It might not be the voice of God speaking to you like it is for Jesus in the Transfiguration, but it might be. Maybe it’s a dream or a story someone told you, a near death encounter or a run-in with beauty that was overwhelming.
I had a moment like that last week when I was snowshoeing on Mt. Rainier with my kids. We had been climbing up and up towards the glaciers, following the tracks of people before. As we came up and over a ridge, I looked out and all I could see was sky, an approaching storm in the distance, mountains, the tops of trees sticking out from the 8 feet of accumulated snow, and so much snow. It felt like we were alone on the mountain, and it was transcendent.
I often feel God’s presence, especially in worship, but this was different. I felt God’s presence in a way that was palpable. In the enormity of God’s creation on the side of that mountain, I felt simultaneously small and insignificant and completely held in the presence of God.
As Doyt says at RELATA, “In the memory of these experiences, there is a drawing, a magnetic pull into the moment, into somewhere or something deeper, just beyond our senses.” That is how I imagine Jesus to have felt about this woo-woo moment on the mountain with Peter, John, and James.
They had climbed the mountain together to pray. Jesus was often leading his disciples to places they didn’t want to go, but at this point in the story they were tired. They had been traveling all over the region around the Sea of Galilee, healing people, feeding people, performing miracles, and they were weary.
The disciples and Jesus needed to rest, and so Jesus took them where people have always gone to retreat. They went to the mountain. They climbed the mountain to pray and rest, but as you may or may not know, on the mountain everything changes.
Mountains are thin places where the Kingdom of God seems even a little more near than usual. Mountains are where God often shows up and talks to us or reveals things to us. If you visit Mt. Tabor in the Jezreel Valley today, it is still a quiet place. It is still a thin place, a holy place, and it feels like God is right there, so near.
But for Jesus, Peter, John, and James, their prayer and silence was broken when Moses and Elijah showed up and Jesus was transfigured. Can you even imagine?! They were calmly praying and relaxing. The text says Jesus was praying, when “The appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly, they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him.”
“Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep, but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory!” They were weighed down with sleep, with fatigue and exhaustion, and still, they noticed. They noticed God!
Do you ever worry that you might be too weary or exhausted to notice God? I know I do. I worry that sometimes I am too consumed with the trials and tribulations of life, the insecurities and fears of being human, the things that get in the way and prevent me from recognizing God when God is right there in front of me. Maybe you feel that way too.\
Sometimes it feels like you have to work at it, to see and hear and know God. And I think that’s okay. In Lex’s forum a couple weeks ago, he talked about our relationship with God and its reciprocal nature. He used an example like this one. If our relationship with God is always one-sided, always us asking, “God, would you/could you, please?” then we miss out on something.
Imagine if the only time you ever spoke to your best friend was to ask them for a favor. That wouldn’t go very well. That is why we have to be intentional about creating habits of prayer – same time, same place with space for listening.
Another thing we have to be intentional about in our life of prayer is noticing God, that space for quiet and reflection in which we prepare our souls to notice the woo-woo moments. I have found that this gets easier the older I get. As we move through the stages of life, we often find more stability with the passing years.
When you think about it, there are really four stages of being human: learning it -building it – sharing it – leaving it. The “it” is everything, our experience of life, relationships, careers, caregiving, and tending our souls. Another way of breaking down these four phases of life is this: learning, establishing, wisdom, spirituality.
I know many of you are thinking about these things because it’s the way of humans. Our modern culture doesn’t value old age, wisdom, and spirituality in the same way as some other cultures or historical communities.
Think about the story from Luke’s gospel that heard a month ago on the Feast of the Presentation. Mary and Joseph took the infant Jesus to the temple to offer thanksgiving, and who did they encounter? Simeon and Anna. Both Simeon and Anna were old and wise. They were revered for their abiding faith and devotion to the Lord. They were grounded in the mature practice of their faith; devoted to fasting and prayer. And when they saw the Messiah, in the form of a little baby, they knew it was Jesus! They were able to notice God because their souls were ready. That was a woo-woo moment for sure.
Peter, James, and John had a similar experience on that mountain with Jesus. They too were able to notice God because their souls were ready. Seeing Jesus transfigured before them was definitely a mysterious experience, a spiritual experience, a woo-woo moment.
I have been reflecting a lot lately on these stages of life. In my mid-40s, with nearly 20 years of parish ministry behind me, I am thinking about the next 20 years and how God is calling me into a new phase of ministry. Your 40s are a time of transition from establishing into wisdom, from building it to sharing it.
For those of you who are younger, you are in a time of learning and I imagine many of us hold onto a piece of that forever, always yearning to learn and grow. This is the most foundational stage as it sets us up for a trajectory in life.
And, many of you are in the stage of leaving it, dwelling in your own spirituality, your relationship with God, and reflecting back on a long and full life. Our culture doesn’t like to talk about this stage, preferring to deny or ignore it. But I would argue that this final phase of life contains the most depth and richness. In this stage, you get to focus on your soul and dwell in the woo-woo moments like Simeon and Anna.
In a few days, we move into the Season of Lent, the 40 days leading up to the Mystery of Easter. This season is 40 days, longer even than Advent leading up to Christmas, and that is intentional because it takes longer to ready our souls for the Paschal mystery, the dying and rising of Christ.
In the coming days, I invite you consider your rhythms of prayer in the context of your phase of life. In what ways are you organizing your life to experience the woo-woo moments and reflect on them? How are you preparing your soul to notice God?