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<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Sermons for Transfiguration</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Luke 9:28-36 </span><span>- <strong>"</strong></span><strong>Experience the Mountaintop But Don't Forget the Valley Below" </strong></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2</span><span>- <strong>"Face to Face"</strong> by Leonard Sweet</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Luke 9<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">,</font></font> the sermon title "</span><span>Experience the Mountaintop But Don't Forget the Valley Below</span><span>"<font size="4"><font face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"> </font></font> <br>
</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Many of us have had
them, those times when we felt like we were on top of the world, really
happy, confident that we knew all the answers, could solve any problem
that came up. Or we felt that we were really close to God, really in
tune with God's plan for us. In those moments we were excited and alive,
and everything seemed new.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The moment might
have come at some exciting event in your life: graduation, baptism, your
first kiss, your first day on your first job, your wedding, the birth
of a child, even catching your very first fish. It might have been
something really spiritual, like a week at church camp or a church
retreat. Or it might have been something of a smaller, quieter nature,
like a very intimate conversation with your father or mother when you
felt that they honestly understood what you were saying and why you felt
the way you did.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>We call these
"mountaintop experiences," and oh how we hate to come down off that
mountain! We want to hang on to that moment for as long as we can.
"Let's just stay right here and let the rest of the world go by for a
while." But to freeze that one moment in time shuts off the possibility
of the next moment.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>In the Gospel
reading for today we hear the writer of Matthew give his version of the
event which we call "The Transfiguration of Jesus"...</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining <a shape="rect" target="_blank" __removedlink__97471166__href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001MVbkup1F9Q9myAVaYEsNhu4GvhNo0aAf2_t8dsiLSriUh95WYihXMtXHevSyacoEZ_t3GAqkQYZ9OSzqmt3ghp_lhm9PwdasAa7Ucrmn7igAg8cB0CUYHmtr9R3NZeCX"><span>http://www.sermons.com/signup</span></a></span><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>_______________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The full text of the following sermon is available at <a __removedlink__97471166__href="http://www.Sermons.com" target="_blank">www.Sermons.com</a>.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Sign up today at: <a shape="rect" target="_blank" __removedlink__97471166__href="http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001MVbkup1F9Q9myAVaYEsNhu4GvhNo0aAf2_t8dsiLSriUh95WYihXMtXHevSyacoEZ_t3GAqkQYZ9OSzqmt3ghp_lhm9PwdasAa7Ucrmn7igAg8cB0CUYHmtr9R3NZeCX"><span>http://www.sermons.com/signup</span></a></span><span> Or call: 1-800-777-7731.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>[Members: 2 Corinthians 3 the sermon titled "Face to Face" by Leonard Sweet] </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The 2010 drama film
"The Social Network" portrayed many interesting features of Mark
Zuckerberg's development of his online creation. But they missed a big
one: the name he chose for his baby --"Facebook." </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Let's face it:
humans are obsessed with the unique, defining nature of our faces. The
arrangement of our eyes, nose, mouth, chin, cheeks, forehead, never
ceases to amaze and fascinate us.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>More than 5000
distinguishable facial expressions have been identified, and that is
probably just a start on the human face. The 18th century German
satirist Georg Lichtenberg called the human face "the most entertaining
surface on earth." </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>How could we possibly resist pursuing and endlessly perusing an online site called "Facebook?" </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>We recognize
friends - and enemies - by their face. Bank robbers wear masks to hide
their faces, knowing full well that, no matter how clear the pictures of
their bodies might be, without a full view of their face, they cannot
be accurately identified. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>When the Protestant
Reformers came across images of the saints and the Virgin Mary, they
defaced them on paintings and had their faces gouged out of carvings and
sculptures. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Babies look at
faces - learning how to put the pieces together and how to recognize and
trust the familiar, and reject and be fearful of the unfamiliar. It is
in our human DNA to look into the face of others for critical,
life-preserving, information. "We find ourselves in the faces of others"
says Siri Hustvedt in her novel The Summer Without Men (2011). We
become human through our relationships with others. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>In short, long before "virtual life," human beings were walking, talking "Facebooks."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Our language
reflects this fixation. We speak of taking things at "face value," or of
doing an "about face," or of "facing off" against opponents. We "face
the music," make "face time," and when dishonored we "lose face." "Face
cards" carry the most value and to stand "face-to-face" with another
signifies being in the most valued of positions. One of the most
advanced new computer identification techniques is the science of
"facial recognition" - computer programs that can scan and identify
individual faces without any other physical information.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>In the "transfiguration" scene described in this week's gospel text (Luke 9:28ff), Jesus' face shines...</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>The rest of this sermon can be obtained by joining <a shape="rect"><span>http://www.sermons.com/signup</span></a> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>______________________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Even the Darkness Can Dazzle </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>To lead our exodus,
Jesus had to die like we do: alone, with no particular glory. Otherwise
he would have been an anomaly instead of a messiah, and it would have
been hard for us to see what he had in common with the rest of us.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>As it was, he died
very much like those who died on either side of him, one of them begging
to be saved from what was coming, the other asking to be remembered
when Jesus got where he was going. Jesus could not do anything for the
one who wanted to be spared, but he did a great favor for the other. He
told him that the darkness was a dazzling one, with paradise in it for
both of them.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>I think it was
something he learned on the mountain, when light burst through all his
seams and showed him what he was made of. It was something he never
forgot. If we have been allowed to intrude on that moment, it is because
someone thought we might need a dose of glory too, to get us through
the night. Some people are lucky enough to witness it for themselves,
although like Peter, James and John, very few of them will talk about it
later.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>What the rest of us
have are stories like this one, and the chance to decide for ourselves
whether we will believe what they tell us. It is a lot to believe: that
God's lit-up life includes death, that there is no way around it but
only through, that even the darkness can dazzle.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>Barbara Brown Taylor, "Dazzling Darkness," article in the Christian Century, February 4-11, 1998, page 1-5</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>___________________________________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>You Can't Stay on the Mountain Top</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>A little boy was
out in his front yard, throwing a ball up in the air. An elderly
passerby asked the boy what he was doing. He replied, "I am playing a
game of catch with God. I throw the ball up in the air and he throws it
back."</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>I am in no position
to comment on God's ability to play ball, but I do know that whatever
goes up must come down. There may be exceptions, such as Charlie Brown's
kite! But as a rule, whatever goes up must come down. The process is so
predictable that you could refer to it as a scientific law. The same
process applies to our religious lives. It is a good thing to "go up" to
a great experience with God, but we will become greatly disillusioned
if we do not remember that eventually we have to "come down" again.</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>John Thomas Randolph, The Best Gift, CSS Publishing Company, Inc. </span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span>___________________</span></div>
<div style="MARGIN-TOP: 0px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0px"><span> </span></div>
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