Consider the Ravens: Creating Space for New Life

Matthew 17’s transfiguration frames a season of holy waiting that moves toward both vulnerability and renewal. Jesus’ luminous appearance on the mountain and the voice from heaven command attention and point toward a coming resurrection, calling for silence until the appointed time. The narrative creates a hinge between revelation and expectation, inviting reflection on how to live while anticipating God’s unfolding work. An extended personal parable about an old mattress at the landfill models spiritual housekeeping: recognizing when an object has outlived its purpose, making the effort to remove it, and confronting the awkward, sometimes risky work of letting go. Discarding the mattress becomes a concrete practice of creating space for what God might next provide.

Children’s questions about giving things up for Lent and the church’s communal rituals surface the discipline of intentional deprivation as a method for increased attentiveness to God. The liturgical calendar moves from Mardi Gras celebration into the restraint of Ash Wednesday and forty days of Lent, calling participants to examine attachments—material, emotional, and spiritual—that weigh down readiness for rebirth. Practical concerns and pastoral prayer weave through the community life: announcements, pastoral care for those harmed by accidents, transitions in living situations, prayers for leaders and for rain in a dry valley, and expressions of gratitude for musical ministry. These ordinary items of congregational life ground the larger theological themes in concrete care.

Luke’s image of ravens that neither sow nor reap centers trust: life’s needs fall under God’s providence even without human control over every outcome. The call is not to passivity but to faithful release—doing the work of uncluttering where responsible and then trusting provision for what follows. The season invites both active letting go and expectant hope, asking for honest assessment of burdens and for courage to remove them, so that life may breathe more fully toward resurrection.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Embrace seasons of sacred waiting Remain attentive during the time between revelation and fulfillment. Waiting functions as spiritual formation, sharpening perception and humility rather than merely testing endurance. Use the season to notice what stirs, what diminishes, and where openness to God’s next act grows. [36:30]
• 2. Let go to create space Releasing worn attachments clears room for emergent callings and grace. The work of discarding often involves messy, awkward, or risky labor that must be undertaken personally. Making space cultivates readiness for transformation rather than cluttered nostalgia. [42:38]
• 3. Trust God for daily provision Rely on God’s care amid uncertainty, as the image of ravens illustrates. Trust does not excuse responsibility but reorients anxious control toward faithful stewardship. Living lightly on outcomes frees attention for service and worship. [46:09]
• 4. Practice intentional Lenten sacrifice Small, chosen sacrifices tune the heart toward dependence and listening. Voluntary restraint refines desire and surfaces attachments that obscure God’s presence. Approach sacrifice as formation, not performative proving. [15:52]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [01:22] - Opening & Housekeeping
• [02:22] - Announcements and Ash Wednesday
• [05:42] - Lenten Materials & Hymn Correction
• [11:10] - Opening Hymn and Children’s Time
• [15:52] - Children Discuss Lent and Unbirthday
• [24:56] - Prayers and Bell Choir
• [36:30] - Transfiguration and Waiting
• [42:38] - Mattress at the Landfill: Letting Go
• [46:09] - Ravens, Trust, and Benediction

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. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

Observation questions

1. What did the disciples see and hear on the mountain that caused them to be terrified?
2. What specific instruction did Jesus give his disciples after the transfiguration was over? [36:46]
3. What object was used as a personal parable to model the process of letting go? [38:26]
4. According to the message, what does the season of Lent invite us to examine in our lives? [38:11]

Interpretation questions

1. Why do you think Jesus told the disciples to keep the vision a secret until after his resurrection? What purpose might that season of waiting have served for them?
2. The story of the mattress involved risk, effort, and personal responsibility. Why can't this type of "spiritual housekeeping" be done by someone else on our behalf? [42:38]
3. The image of ravens is used to illustrate trust in God's provision. How does this kind of trust differ from simply being passive or irresponsible in our daily lives? [46:09]
4. How does the practice of giving something up for Lent, as discussed with the children, function as a method to increase attentiveness rather than just as a test of willpower? [15:52]

Application questions

1. What is one thing—material, emotional, or spiritual—that has outlived its purpose in your life and is now weighing down your readiness for rebirth? What would it look like to start the "messy, awkward, or risky labor" of removing it? [42:38]
2. The season calls for both active letting go and expectant hope. What is one practical step you can take this week to create space, and what is one way you can practice trusting God to fill that space in his timing?
3. Intentional deprivation is a method for increased attentiveness to God. Is there a small, chosen sacrifice you could make during Lent that would specifically help tune your heart toward dependence and listening? [15:52]
4. The ravens neither sow nor reap, yet God feeds them. Where in your life are you currently trying to maintain anxious control over an outcome, and what would it look like to reorient that anxiety toward faithful stewardship and trust? [46:09]
5. The transfiguration story creates a hinge between revelation and expectation. How can you practice "sacred waiting" in your current circumstances, using the time to notice what stirs, what diminishes, and where your openness to God’s next act is growing? [36:30]
6. The work of discarding often involves personal effort. Who in your community could you share your struggle with, not to have them fix it for you, but to have them support you as you do the necessary work of letting go? [42:18]