Listen to Him

Devotional

Day 1: The mountaintop experience of God's presence.

There are moments in life when God’s presence feels overwhelmingly near and real. These are our mountaintop experiences, where time seems to stand still and we are enveloped in a profound sense of awe and clarity. We long to remain in these sacred moments, to build a dwelling place and simply rest in the light of Christ. They are gifts of grace, glimpses of holiness meant to be treasured in our hearts. [27:29]

And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. (Matthew 17:2, NRSV)

Reflection: When have you most recently felt a profound sense of God's presence, a 'mountaintop moment' that you wished could last longer? What was it about that experience that made God feel so near to you?

Day 2: Hearing God's affirmation: "You are my beloved."

In the midst of our journey, God speaks words of profound love and affirmation. We are declared God’s beloved children, and God is well pleased with us. This identity is not based on our achievements or failures but is a gift of grace, given through Jesus Christ. To hear and receive this truth is to find our deepest sense of worth and belonging. [30:00]

And a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5, NRSV)

Reflection: What would it look like for you to begin this week truly believing and resting in the truth that you are God’s beloved child, with whom God is well pleased?

Day 3: The call to listen to Jesus in the wilderness.

Following a mountaintop experience often leads directly into a time of wilderness. God does not leave us unprepared for these challenging seasons. We are given a clear instruction: to listen to Jesus. His voice, heard in prayer, scripture, and community, is the guiding light that leads us through uncertainty and sustains us when we are afraid. [28:41]

While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5, NRSV)

Reflection: As you enter this Lenten season, what is one specific way you can create space in your daily routine to intentionally listen for the voice of Jesus?

Day 4: Christ's reassurance to get up and not be afraid.

Fear is a natural human response to the overwhelming and the holy. Yet, Christ meets us in our fear with a gentle touch and a word of peace. He invites us to get up and to not be afraid. His presence is the antidote to our anxiety, assuring us that we do not face the wilderness—or anything else—alone. He is with us always. [29:01]

But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” (Matthew 17:7, NRSV)

Reflection: What current fear or anxiety are you being invited to lay at the feet of Jesus, trusting in his command to "get up and do not be afraid"?

Day 5: Carrying the light of Christ into the world.

We are not meant to live forever on the mountain. The purpose of these profound experiences is to fuel and equip us for our journey back into the world. We are called to carry the light of Christ within us, allowing it to shine through our actions and words. This light, which we tend in community, is what we offer to a world that often feels like a wilderness. [35:09]

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16, NRSV)

Reflection: How is God inviting you to let your light shine this week through a simple, concrete act of love or kindness for a neighbor?

Sermon Summary

The congregation receives parish updates and invitations before shifting into the season of Transfiguration and the start of Lent. Announcements highlight community needs, a new administrative hire, and upcoming Ash Wednesday and midweek services, with multiple opportunities to participate across the week. The worship moves into confession, absolution, and a prayer that links the Transfiguration to adoption as God’s children, setting a tone of both awe and preparation.

The gospel reading from Matthew 17 recounts Jesus leading Peter, James, and John to a high mountain where Jesus transfigures: his face shines like the sun, his clothes become dazzling white, and Moses and Elijah appear. A bright cloud overshadows them and a voice declares Jesus the beloved, commanding the disciples to listen. The divine encounter both overwhelms the disciples with fear and steadies them with Jesus’ touch and the promise of presence.

A mountaintop memory at Holden Village provides a modern echo of that Transfiguration: remote wilderness, shared worship, and a child lighting candle after candle until his face glows in the dim room. That image becomes a hinge for reflection—mountaintop glimpses of holiness provide strength during inevitable descents into wilderness seasons. The narrative ties the 2020 return from a literal mountaintop to the sudden wilderness of the pandemic, arguing that such glimpses sustain endurance, reshape expectations, and foster communal resilience.

The text presses the congregation to carry that light into ordinary life. The church can be a place where the proclamation “You are a beloved child of God” meets people, and where silence, music, table, and community become formative practices. Lent functions as a disciplined descent: Ash Wednesday’s reminder of mortality, midweek gatherings, and Lenten study on the woman at the well invite intentional slowing, repentance, and renewed attention to the light that resists darkness.

Eucharist and blessing close the worship, framing the table as the place that both names belonging and equips people to live out the love of Christ. The service urges listening over permanence on the mountain: receive the affirmation, carry the light, descend with courage, and follow Jesus through both mountaintop wonder and wilderness struggle.

Key Takeaways

1. Mountaintop glimpses sustain wilderness faith Mountaintop experiences of holiness function as preparatory training for hardship, not permanent refuge. Those glimpses do not remove suffering but supply memory and strength that reappear when fear and uncertainty arrive. Holding those images and vows keeps endurance from collapsing into despair and helps shape faithful responses to change. [31:09]
2. God's voice affirms beloved identity The divine declaration, “This is my son, the beloved,” centers identity before action; listening follows belonging. When affirmation precedes instruction, courage grows and obedience finds grounded roots. Remembering beloved status reframes failure and fear into contexts of grace and purpose. [28:06]
3. Light as communal vocation and practice Candle-lighting and shared worship model how individual devotion becomes communal witness: one flame joins another until a room brightens. Community practices—song, table, and prayer—train people to carry that light into lonely or dark places. The work of ministry looks less like spectacle and more like steady acts that illuminate neighbor by neighbor. [35:09]
4. Enter the wilderness with endurance Lent names the descent as necessary spiritual work: silence, ashes, and discipline form resilience. Intentionally facing mortality and sin does not invite despair but equips faithful living rooted in God’s presence. The wilderness becomes a route for transformation when entered with community and the memory of mountaintop assurance. [34:37]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:24] - Announcements & Community Life
[01:17] - Transfiguration & Lenten Season
[13:29] - Gospel Reading: Matthew 17
[23:44] - Holden Village Mountaintop Story
[27:49] - The Transfiguration Moment
[31:09] - Wilderness and Pandemic Reflection
[32:49] - Carrying the Light into Community
[34:37] - Ash Wednesday & Lenten Invitation
[50:11] - Communion & Sending Blessing

Bible Study Guide

Bible reading
Matthew 17:1-9 (ESV)
And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.

Observation questions

What three physical changes happened to Jesus during the transfiguration?
Who appeared and began talking with Jesus?
What did the voice from the cloud say, and what command did it give?
How did the disciples react to this event, and what was Jesus's immediate response to them? [23:08]

Interpretation questions

Why do you think Peter's instinct was to build dwellings or tents on the mountain? What does this desire to stay in a moment of clarity and holiness reveal about human nature?
The voice from the cloud declares Jesus's identity as the beloved Son before giving the command to listen to him. Why is the order of "belonging" before "listening" so important?
Jesus tells the disciples not to be afraid after they were overcome with terror. What is the difference between a fear that paralyzes and a holy awe that transforms?
The story describes a literal descent from the mountain back into everyday life. What might this journey from the mountaintop to the valley represent in a spiritual sense? [30:22]

Application questions

Mountaintop glimpses of holiness function as preparatory training for hardship, not permanent refuge. [31:09] Can you recall a specific "mountaintop" moment in your own life—a time you felt God's presence particularly strongly? How has the memory of that experience helped you during a subsequent "wilderness" time of struggle or uncertainty?
The divine declaration, “This is my son, the beloved,” centers identity before action. [28:06] How might remembering that you are first and foremost a beloved child of God, with whom He is well pleased, change the way you approach a current challenge or a past failure?
Candle-lighting and shared worship model how individual devotion becomes communal witness: one flame joins another until a room brightens. [35:09] In what practical, steady ways can we, as a community, "light candles" for one another to illuminate dark or lonely places, making this church a light for the community?
Lent names the descent as necessary spiritual work. [34:37] As we enter this season, what is one intentional practice of "descending"—like silence, prayer, or study—that you could take on to create space to remember God's mountaintop assurance and build resilience?
The table reminds us of whose we are and to whom we belong. [34:00] How can regularly receiving communion equip you to carry the light of Christ into your ordinary, everyday life this week?

Sermon Clips

How can you remind one another of this light that shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome? Are you ready to come down off the mountain? This church can be a light in this community. And I pray that anyone that walks through those doors hears these words, You are a beloved child of God. God is well pleased with you. Do not be afraid because God is with you. And when you wanna see the light come, come here to this place and be renewed by the love of God and the love of others. Be transformed by the word, the music, the prayers, the love of one another, and by the bread and wine that you come to receive each time you come to this table.

God gives us these mountaintop experiences so that we can get through these wilderness times. Look, we're here. We're on the other side. Not everyone made it, but most of us are here. God gives us these moments, glimpses of holiness, so that those moments will sustain us in times of being unsure. Change, transformation. For over two years, we all experienced change that we had no idea was coming, and it changed us forever. We can never go back to the world as it was. We're now in this new world. What we must remember is that God is with us through all of it and sustains us as long as we have faith. Our faith is what makes us able to adapt to the changing world and to dream of what we would like the world to be, and how we would like to live in a world of peace and love and not war, and hate.

One evening, while sitting in the worship space, we were gathered around the cross in the center of the room. We were singing some sort of tzeday song, some quiet meditative song as people were able to place candles and pots of sand, much like what we do here when we do prayers around the cross. I can still see it, see this moment like it was yesterday. A young boy who lived there with his family, who was one of the staff people, sat near one of the pots where he placed the candles once they were lit. He would light a candle, put it in the pot, and then he light another one, and another one, and another one, and then light another one, and so on. With each candle, his face lit up and got brighter and brighter and brighter as I watched him. And that moment was one that I'll carry with me still today.

I can only imagine what that must have been like for them, witnessing such a miracle. And then, the clouds, a voice says, this is my son, the beloved. With him, I am well pleased. Listen to him. And when the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them saying, get up. Do not be afraid. Hear again what God says, this is my son, the beloved. With him, I am well pleased. Listen to him. That is all that God asks of them, to listen to him as they are about to enter the wilderness with him.

Come Wednesday night and sit or Wednesday. Wednesday night. Yes. This week it is Wednesday night. Come Wednesday night and sit in darkness and remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return, and be reminded of why you are here. Lay your sins at the foot of the cross, and be reminded of God's love for you and for this world. Every time I think of that young boy lighting one candle and the next and the next, I think about our community of faith, one light at a time. And on Christmas Eve, one candle at a time, we light up the room that comes from the light of Christ and filters throughout this community of faith.

After our week of being on that mountain that year, it was time to go back down the mountain and go back to our ordinary lives. And who knew that within a month or two, we would be quarantined in a pandemic? Talk about the wilderness. Right? Talk about change. This was the ultimate time of being in the wilderness for all of us. And God gives us these mountaintop experiences so that we can get through these wilderness times. Look, we're here. We're on the other side. Not everyone made it, but most of us are here.

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Listen to Him

Devotional

Day 1: The mountaintop experience of God's presence.

Day 2: Hearing God's affirmation: "You are my beloved."

Day 3: The call to listen to Jesus in the wilderness.

Day 4: Christ's reassurance to get up and not be afraid.

Day 5: Carrying the light of Christ into the world.

Sermon Summary

Key Takeaways

Youtube Chapters

Bible Study Guide

Sermon Clips

Chatbot

Listen to Him

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