March 2, 2025 • 15 mins
Are there moments in your life where you felt a divine presence? Join us as we explore the power of recognition through personal stories and biblical narratives that resonate with our experiences today. From brushes with greatness involving celebrities to the profound moment of transfiguration, we delve into how these experiences shape not only our perspectives but our faith journeys. Discover why we need to engage with the extraordinary in our ordinary lives and how each encounter can be a stepping stone to deeper spiritual awakenings.
We reflect on the significance of transfiguration and how it relates to our journeys as people striving for a better life. The episode invites listeners to consider how seemingly mundane moments can awaken our spirits and connect us to something greater than ourselves. Special attention is given to the idea that we are all potential “transfiguration people,” transformed by encountering Christ's love. Through humor, personal anecdotes, and profound insights, the episode remains engaging and relatable.
Feel encouraged to bring these reflections into your own life and see how you, too, might be transfigured by love and faith. Click to listen and join the conversation! Don’t forget to subscribe, share, and leave us a review!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Pastor Darren (00:00):
So I have a confession to make.
I am 57 years old and I stillget giddy when I see famous
people.
Am I alone on that?
No, you know.
You see floating around.
You know my famous storyactually is I'm going to slide
(00:24):
this too, because I got elbows,that would be terrible.
My famous story is Brenda and Iwere walking down at Doheny
Beach in Dana Point.
Anybody know that area at all?
That's kind of my stompinggrounds, that's where I grew up
in Doheny Beach and we'rewalking along.
Just her and I, on some weekdaymorning Didn't have things to
(00:47):
do.
And who did we see?
But Karch Karai.
Anybody know Karch Karai?
Right?
Some of us know Karch Karai,all right.
Those of you who knowvolleyball know Karch Karai is
like the Babe Ruth of volleyball.
No, Karch Karai is like theBabe Ruth of volleyball, like he
(01:09):
is that conquered indoor,conquered outdoor, and I think
he's still the coach of thewomen's national volleyball team
.
Anyway, I played a lot ofvolleyball.
I lived near the beach.
That for me, was pretty cool.
It was like oh, you know, and Istill talk about the time that
I went to the beach with KarchKarai.
I did.
I also talk a lot about thetime I had lunch with Travis
(01:32):
Kelsey, the tight end of KansasCity.
Yeah, we had lunch togetherwhen we were in Pacific
Palisades, Brenda and I.
There's famous people who livein Pacific Palisades, brenda and
I.
There's famous people who livein Pacific Palisades prior to
the fire.
You'd see people all the timeso we'd always be bubbling up.
Oh, this is so exciting.
(01:53):
But I have had one experienceout here in Westlake Village.
We call them brushes withgreatness in our family, him
Brushes with Greatness in ourfamily.
Brushes with Greatness oh, Isaw a famous person.
I saw Jamie Foxx over atFinney's.
One day Am I the only oneseeing Jamie Foxx out here?
(02:15):
I don't know, maybe he livesout here and you see him.
Famous actor.
So it's kind of fun and youhave these moments and you get
all excited.
And so we've been walking thisjourney, talking about setting a
course, setting course aspeople, setting course as a
church.
And here we have thisexperience in this scripture in
(02:38):
which the disciples seesomething awesome.
And the question is, how doesthis relate to us?
How does this relate to ourjourney as people, setting a
course to a better life?
So it is an important scripture.
Like I said, it gets read everysingle year, one of the few
(03:00):
that actually is in every yearin the lectionary.
A quick summary again, Jesusheads up the mountain to pray.
He's taking Peter, James andJohn.
We tend to understand them asthe kind of closest to Jesus
kind of people and while there,his whole appearance.
Well, it changes.
(03:22):
Then Moses and Elijah appearand Jesus is together with them.
Now you need to know Moses andElijah.
That's like the Michael Jordanand the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of
the Hebrew faith and really, inour originations, the Christian
faith.
These are the big hitters.
(03:43):
They're hanging out with Jesus,the disciples who were sleeping
.
They awake to this and Peteroffers to build three tents for
them, one for each Jesus, mosesand Elijah.
Then a cloud comes over and itovershadows the whole event.
The voice of God sounds out.
This is my son, my chosen.
(04:05):
Listen to him.
As it all ends, they all keepquiet, seemingly tacitly
agreeing not to talk about it asthey head back down the
mountain.
Pretty powerful story, right?
An amazing story.
(04:27):
I brought some pictures becauseI think I invited Kallie to set
up some pictures for me.
Here's some ways that this hasbeen depicted.
You can see the disciples thereat the bottom, Jesus in the
middle, Moses and Elijah.
That's the aura, the energy,the feel that people are trying
(04:47):
to grab from this.
I think that Luke was trying toget us to feel I've got another
one here right.
And this one I kind of likedthe way it was a little bit hazy
like it was.
They were just adorned withthis cloud so much so they
almost couldn't see it was toopowerful.
(05:08):
I found a couple more artfullooking ones too.
Do you like that look?
I kind of like that.
You'll find as I'm pickingartwork.
I like the stuff that's just alittle bit abstract, isn't quite
so on the nose.
And I found one more that Ithink we went one more step.
(05:29):
I even like that a lot more, Iguess, because I feel like the
mystery of faith is alwaysenhancing to me.
It's exciting to me.
I know a lot of people don'tlike that mystery.
They want answers, they want itdecided.
I like this stuff because Ihaven't found that there's that
(05:50):
many absolutes in faith and sothat I walk in that complexity
and enjoy it.
Anyway, we're trying to capturethe moment just a little bit
here, get you to understand whatLuke wants us to understand how
important it was.
We are particularly fortunate,today we are blessed.
(06:11):
As we know, Peter, James andJohn were there, as was Moses
and Jesus.
So was Elijah and Elijah's herethis morning.
Elijah, can you stand and tellhow was it?
You know, was it big, was it?
You know, were you astounded?
I asked him coming in.
(06:35):
I said are you a good sport?
And he looked at me and he saidI guess I'm a good sport.
So now we know he is, anyway.
So, first of all, what'sinteresting is you got Peter
again trying to capture thismoment.
He recognizes this event forwhat it is, this holy moment.
(07:01):
Unfortunately for Peter, thatday he forgot to bring his cell
phone and so he's up there,right, and I mean I would have
told him just put on, Do NotDisturb.
That's just as good, I bet you.
I bet you they weren't gettingany bars up there anyway, right,
but he's stuck.
He can't take a picture tocapture the moment.
(07:24):
So what does he do?
He says we'll build three tents.
This is how we'll capture thismoment.
We're going to sit in thismoment, we're going to hold this
moment, we're going to livehere a bit.
You ever had that spiritualmoment where you wanted it to
(07:44):
just linger, you wanted to juststay there and maybe, maybe,
maybe it would just hold out,such an overwhelming experience.
You wanted to hold it in yourhand and have it never end.
We tend to have theseexperiences and when we read
(08:04):
into that event, we kind of wishwe were there.
You want to see it right, maybepartly to witness it.
It seems like this amazingevent.
I want to actually see it right, maybe partly to witness it.
It seems like this amazingevent.
I want to actually see it formyself.
Maybe another layer is I'dfinally get some proof about
this thing.
You know, Jesus really is theguy.
(08:26):
I saw it in front of me.
God was talking, I don't know.
For all different reasons, wekind of wish that we were there.
We want that assurance ofhaving seen this.
But here's the irony of thatdesire, of that wish.
Hasn't God already done thisfor us in some way?
(08:52):
Haven't we all been awakened insome way?
Haven't we all been awakened insome way to the divinity in
Christ?
I mean, why else are we here?
How did we get here, exceptthat we had some sort of
experience in which Jesus Christwas transfigured, the
(09:14):
commitment, the confirmationthat Jesus in some way connected
to the divine held the divineright in front of us and we came
here to learn more about that.
Maybe it was an experience ofhow a church can be that
(09:35):
extended family in a good way,taking care of each other,
having fellowship together,growing together.
Maybe that's something you grewup with and it became your time
.
You claimed it for yourself.
But you had that experience ofChrist.
Maybe it was some deep wisdom,some experience of understanding
(09:59):
of Christian love Made real,that brought you here To this
space.
Or maybe God just reached inand touched your heart in some
truly meaningful way and that'show you found your way here.
(10:20):
You've seen the glory of Christin some powerful way.
That's why you're here.
I think sometimes we fail torecognize God's presence because
it isn't as showy and as big asthis event, this
transfiguration event.
But let's think about it, let'sface it.
(10:44):
But let's think about it.
Let's face it.
It's not like the disciples gota lot of answers in being there
.
What does God say?
But this is my son, listen tohim.
We didn't walk away with a bookfull of rules to help us live
life the best way we could.
(11:05):
There was no manual for settinga course for a better life that
came.
It was just God saying listento him.
For those disciples, it wasstill going to be a journey of
wrestling of questions, ofdiscerning exactly what God
(11:28):
wants for them, pretty much likeit is today.
I think the goal of thispassage, or at least a goal of
this passage, might be to get usto start thinking differently
about how we see our lives andhow we see the faith we are
(11:51):
living out.
I think God and Luke, in thiscase Jesus, are trying to get us
to understand ourselves astransfiguration people.
We talk about setting course,we talk about going on a Lenten
journey, but isn't that mostlyabout being transfiguration
(12:15):
people, people who have seen thewisdom, experienced the wonder
of Christ and want to live intoit more of Christ, and want to
live into it more, maybe bysharing it, maybe by going
deeper into it themselves?
(12:39):
Do you guys remember that oldPacker coach, Vince Lombardi?
Remember Vince Lombardi?
I know folks in this room.
Do I know you do, VinceLombardi?
I know folks in this room.
Do I know you do Vince Lombardi?
Old school, old school coach.
One of his players goes into atouchdown dance.
Do you remember what VinceLombardi said to him Anyone?
(13:02):
He said act like you've beenthere and I heard it with an
even extended version.
Act like you've been there.
No, it's not dirty or anything.
Act like you've been there andyou expect to be back.
(13:22):
Have you heard that phrase?
Act like you've been therebefore and you expect to be back
.
Have you heard that phrase?
Act like you've been therebefore and you expect to be back
?
I think there's something for usthere.
We are a transfiguration people.
The face of Jesus has changedfor us in some remarkable way.
It's allowed us to feel humbled, maybe even amazed, in some
(13:46):
really, really meaningful way.
Maybe our United MethodistChurch of Westlake Village goal
and the journey that we takethis Lent ought to be to take us
to this place of the assuranceof God's presence, where we're
questioning less but insteadrecognizing God's presence when
(14:08):
it's there, God's presence whenwe've seen it and owning it in
really, really powerful ways.
Maybe for us, potentially andironically, we might even be
transformed as well.
(14:28):
Maybe we even get transfiguredin some amazing way that other
people can see it on us.
Can we even consider such anamazing thing happened that we
could be seen to be transfiguredwith the love of Christ that
(14:53):
God has for this world?
Wouldn't that be something?
Amen?
So I have a confession to make.
I am 57 years old and I stillget giddy when I see famous
people.
Am I alone on that?
No, you know.
You see floating around.
You know my famous storyactually is I'm going to slide
(00:24):
this too, because I got elbows,that would be terrible.
My famous story is Brenda and Iwere walking down at Doheny
Beach in Dana Point.
Anybody know that area at all?
That's kind of my stompinggrounds, that's where I grew up
in Doheny Beach and we'rewalking along.
Just her and I, on some weekdaymorning Didn't have things to
(00:47):
do.
And who did we see?
But Karch Karai.
Anybody know Karch Karai?
Right?
Some of us know Karch Karai,all right.
Those of you who knowvolleyball know Karch Karai is
like the Babe Ruth of volleyball.
No, Karch Karai is like theBabe Ruth of volleyball, like he
(01:09):
is that conquered indoor,conquered outdoor, and I think
he's still the coach of thewomen's national volleyball team
.
Anyway, I played a lot ofvolleyball.
I lived near the beach.
That for me, was pretty cool.
It was like oh, you know, and Istill talk about the time that
I went to the beach with KarchKarai.
I did.
I also talk a lot about thetime I had lunch with Travis
(01:32):
Kelsey, the tight end of KansasCity.
Yeah, we had lunch togetherwhen we were in Pacific
Palisades, Brenda and I.
There's famous people who livein Pacific Palisades, brenda and
I.
There's famous people who livein Pacific Palisades prior to
the fire.
You'd see people all the timeso we'd always be bubbling up.
Oh, this is so exciting.
(01:53):
But I have had one experienceout here in Westlake Village.
We call them brushes withgreatness in our family, him
Brushes with Greatness in ourfamily.
Brushes with Greatness oh, Isaw a famous person.
I saw Jamie Foxx over atFinney's.
One day Am I the only oneseeing Jamie Foxx out here?
(02:15):
I don't know, maybe he livesout here and you see him.
Famous actor.
So it's kind of fun and youhave these moments and you get
all excited.
And so we've been walking thisjourney, talking about setting a
course, setting course aspeople, setting course as a
church.
And here we have thisexperience in this scripture in
(02:38):
which the disciples seesomething awesome.
And the question is, how doesthis relate to us?
How does this relate to ourjourney as people, setting a
course to a better life?
So it is an important scripture.
Like I said, it gets read everysingle year, one of the few
(03:00):
that actually is in every yearin the lectionary.
A quick summary again, Jesusheads up the mountain to pray.
He's taking Peter, James andJohn.
We tend to understand them asthe kind of closest to Jesus
kind of people and while there,his whole appearance.
Well, it changes.
(03:22):
Then Moses and Elijah appearand Jesus is together with them.
Now you need to know Moses andElijah.
That's like the Michael Jordanand the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of
the Hebrew faith and really, inour originations, the Christian
faith.
These are the big hitters.
(03:43):
They're hanging out with Jesus,the disciples who were sleeping
.
They awake to this and Peteroffers to build three tents for
them, one for each Jesus, mosesand Elijah.
Then a cloud comes over and itovershadows the whole event.
The voice of God sounds out.
This is my son, my chosen.
(04:05):
Listen to him.
As it all ends, they all keepquiet, seemingly tacitly
agreeing not to talk about it asthey head back down the
mountain.
Pretty powerful story, right?
An amazing story.
(04:27):
I brought some pictures becauseI think I invited Kallie to set
up some pictures for me.
Here's some ways that this hasbeen depicted.
You can see the disciples thereat the bottom, Jesus in the
middle, Moses and Elijah.
That's the aura, the energy,the feel that people are trying
(04:47):
to grab from this.
I think that Luke was trying toget us to feel I've got another
one here right.
And this one I kind of likedthe way it was a little bit hazy
like it was.
They were just adorned withthis cloud so much so they
almost couldn't see it was toopowerful.
(05:08):
I found a couple more artfullooking ones too.
Do you like that look?
I kind of like that.
You'll find as I'm pickingartwork.
I like the stuff that's just alittle bit abstract, isn't quite
so on the nose.
And I found one more that Ithink we went one more step.
(05:29):
I even like that a lot more, Iguess, because I feel like the
mystery of faith is alwaysenhancing to me.
It's exciting to me.
I know a lot of people don'tlike that mystery.
They want answers, they want itdecided.
I like this stuff because Ihaven't found that there's that
(05:50):
many absolutes in faith and sothat I walk in that complexity
and enjoy it.
Anyway, we're trying to capturethe moment just a little bit
here, get you to understand whatLuke wants us to understand how
important it was.
We are particularly fortunate,today we are blessed.
(06:11):
As we know, Peter, James andJohn were there, as was Moses
and Jesus.
So was Elijah and Elijah's herethis morning.
Elijah, can you stand and tellhow was it?
You know, was it big, was it?
You know, were you astounded?
I asked him coming in.
(06:35):
I said are you a good sport?
And he looked at me and he saidI guess I'm a good sport.
So now we know he is, anyway.
So, first of all, what'sinteresting is you got Peter
again trying to capture thismoment.
He recognizes this event forwhat it is, this holy moment.
(07:01):
Unfortunately for Peter, thatday he forgot to bring his cell
phone and so he's up there,right, and I mean I would have
told him just put on, Do NotDisturb.
That's just as good, I bet you.
I bet you they weren't gettingany bars up there anyway, right,
but he's stuck.
He can't take a picture tocapture the moment.
(07:24):
So what does he do?
He says we'll build three tents.
This is how we'll capture thismoment.
We're going to sit in thismoment, we're going to hold this
moment, we're going to livehere a bit.
You ever had that spiritualmoment where you wanted it to
(07:44):
just linger, you wanted to juststay there and maybe, maybe,
maybe it would just hold out,such an overwhelming experience.
You wanted to hold it in yourhand and have it never end.
We tend to have theseexperiences and when we read
(08:04):
into that event, we kind of wishwe were there.
You want to see it right, maybepartly to witness it.
It seems like this amazingevent.
I want to actually see it right, maybe partly to witness it.
It seems like this amazingevent.
I want to actually see it formyself.
Maybe another layer is I'dfinally get some proof about
this thing.
You know, Jesus really is theguy.
(08:26):
I saw it in front of me.
God was talking, I don't know.
For all different reasons, wekind of wish that we were there.
We want that assurance ofhaving seen this.
But here's the irony of thatdesire, of that wish.
Hasn't God already done thisfor us in some way?
(08:52):
Haven't we all been awakened insome way?
Haven't we all been awakened insome way to the divinity in
Christ?
I mean, why else are we here?
How did we get here, exceptthat we had some sort of
experience in which Jesus Christwas transfigured, the
(09:14):
commitment, the confirmationthat Jesus in some way connected
to the divine held the divineright in front of us and we came
here to learn more about that.
Maybe it was an experience ofhow a church can be that
(09:35):
extended family in a good way,taking care of each other,
having fellowship together,growing together.
Maybe that's something you grewup with and it became your time
.
You claimed it for yourself.
But you had that experience ofChrist.
Maybe it was some deep wisdom,some experience of understanding
(09:59):
of Christian love Made real,that brought you here To this
space.
Or maybe God just reached inand touched your heart in some
truly meaningful way and that'show you found your way here.
(10:20):
You've seen the glory of Christin some powerful way.
That's why you're here.
I think sometimes we fail torecognize God's presence because
it isn't as showy and as big asthis event, this
transfiguration event.
But let's think about it, let'sface it.
(10:44):
But let's think about it.
Let's face it.
It's not like the disciples gota lot of answers in being there
.
What does God say?
But this is my son, listen tohim.
We didn't walk away with a bookfull of rules to help us live
life the best way we could.
(11:05):
There was no manual for settinga course for a better life that
came.
It was just God saying listento him.
For those disciples, it wasstill going to be a journey of
wrestling of questions, ofdiscerning exactly what God
(11:28):
wants for them, pretty much likeit is today.
I think the goal of thispassage, or at least a goal of
this passage, might be to get usto start thinking differently
about how we see our lives andhow we see the faith we are
(11:51):
living out.
I think God and Luke, in thiscase Jesus, are trying to get us
to understand ourselves astransfiguration people.
We talk about setting course,we talk about going on a Lenten
journey, but isn't that mostlyabout being transfiguration
(12:15):
people, people who have seen thewisdom, experienced the wonder
of Christ and want to live intoit more of Christ, and want to
live into it more, maybe bysharing it, maybe by going
deeper into it themselves?
(12:39):
Do you guys remember that oldPacker coach, Vince Lombardi?
Remember Vince Lombardi?
I know folks in this room.
Do I know you do, VinceLombardi?
I know folks in this room.
Do I know you do Vince Lombardi?
Old school, old school coach.
One of his players goes into atouchdown dance.
Do you remember what VinceLombardi said to him Anyone?
(13:02):
He said act like you've beenthere and I heard it with an
even extended version.
Act like you've been there.
No, it's not dirty or anything.
Act like you've been there andyou expect to be back.
(13:22):
Have you heard that phrase?
Act like you've been therebefore and you expect to be back
.
Have you heard that phrase?
Act like you've been therebefore and you expect to be back
?
I think there's something for usthere.
We are a transfiguration people.
The face of Jesus has changedfor us in some remarkable way.
It's allowed us to feel humbled, maybe even amazed, in some
(13:46):
really, really meaningful way.
Maybe our United MethodistChurch of Westlake Village goal
and the journey that we takethis Lent ought to be to take us
to this place of the assuranceof God's presence, where we're
questioning less but insteadrecognizing God's presence when
(14:08):
it's there, God's presence whenwe've seen it and owning it in
really, really powerful ways.
Maybe for us, potentially andironically, we might even be
transformed as well.
(14:28):
Maybe we even get transfiguredin some amazing way that other
people can see it on us.
Can we even consider such anamazing thing happened that we
could be seen to be transfiguredwith the love of Christ that
(14:53):
God has for this world?
Wouldn't that be something?
Amen?
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