One day, Sir Isaac Newton was resting in the shade of an apple tree, when one of the most important aha! moments in history literally hit him over the head. As an apple fell out of the tree, his curiosity was peaked about the way that the apples fell. He observed that an apple will always fall perpendicularly from its tree. This realization led him to further investigate the forces that caused this to happen, which led him to eventually uncover the law of gravity. Of course, Newton didn’t discover this all in one day. There were many discoveries and studies that led to this day, and many more that came as a result of that day.

Our journey of epiphany has been one of discovery about Jesus’ identity and purpose in our lives and in our world. Over the course of these 6 weeks, we have understood Jesus to be a newborn king come to reign over the nations, God’s son with whom he is well pleased, one who knows us better than we know ourselves and calls us to disentangle ourselves from the world as we know it. We’ve learned that he speaks with the authority of God, and that he has the power to lift us up from all that holds us down and resurrect us to new life.

Like the newly called disciples, we have grown in our awareness of the spiritual nature of our Lord and Savior, but perhaps we haven’t been able to put it all together. This Sunday, the disciples will put the pieces together as they go on a mountain retreat with their teacher. Like Newton’s encounter with the apple, they will come to see Jesus in a whole new light as he is transfigured before them. Once this happens, they will never see things in the same way.

Join us for live worship online this Sunday at 10 a.m., or recorded and ready for you when it’s convenient, as Rev. Dr. Vicki Brendler leads us in the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration and the many ways that it opens our eyes to see Jesus in a whole new light.