At our church I'll be building our worship gathering upon the two foundational stories of God's Theophany to Moses on the Mountain in Exodus 24 and the Transfiguration of Jesus with his closest friends on the Mountain in Matthew 17.
Interesting stories that raise up the notions of experience, participation and connection (my recent must-blog-ons).
Exodus 24 tells the story of Moses leaving the elders and general population of the Israelites to climb the mountain to encounter God and receive the commandments. The story isn't told to express a primitive belief in magic, but to depict the consequences of encountering the living God, how God's experiencing God's presence alters and transforms us.
Matthew 17 is another mountain top experience of God's purpose, passion and presence. Jesus takes his best friends (Peter, James and John) to the mountain - most likely to pray as mountain tops were commonly considered to be holy grounds and places. While there the cloud of God's presence envelops them (as it did Moses in Exodus 24). But this time instead of receiving God's commandments written on stone, they are told that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, the living Word of God in the world.
The stories talk about foundations, that faith is more about experience than dogma, more about participation than spectatorship, more about connection then rugged individualism. The power of faith isn't that it legitmizes political platforms, or justifies hierarchical governments, or even that it dupes the proletariat. The power of faith is that it lifts up up and out of our exclusive or entho-centric cultural/political contexts to give us a more expansive and enduring grasp of reality or world view. Faith transforms us. An experiential encounter with God (while it might not often happen) changes us, invites us to become participants, to connect with the passion and purpose of God. It pushes us to testimony, to share about our experiences, not with a desire to dogmatically convert people, but to point to what we believe, to hint at what we suspect, to invite others to a dialogue. If we're transformed we can't be quiet about it. It's not about information as much as it is about formation.
Reminds me of the Tazo Tea bags I blogged about last week.
The packaging seeks to sell the teas by depicting what drinking the tea is like experientially. Faith in Christ is similar. Though it can't be packaged in a small bag, or a three-point-sermon, it can be experienced through our testimonies of who God is and what God has done with us, discussion which invites us to walk on the holy ground of dialogue and community.
Where, when and how have you experienced God in your life?
How has that experience pushed you to testify in your life?
How is Christ transforming you from a spectator to a participant?
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