When Peter, James, and John see Jesus transfigured and Moses and Elijah appear, they are frightened.  This experience is far beyond anything they have been through or that they could imagine.  Almost without thinking, Peter offers to build three shelters, perhaps seeking to make this experience last.

One cannot blame him.  In our own God moments – those special times when we experience His presence in our lives – it is a little frightening but it is also something that we want to make last.  We want that moment and that experience to continue.

To add to it all, a cloud descends and God actually speaks to them.  In a reaffirmation of Jesus’ baptism and as a sending forth proclamation, God again declares who Jesus is and what that entails for the disciples.

Just like Peter, James, and John, we too are to acknowledge Jesus’ divinity and we are to listen to Him.  As the transfiguration experience comes to an end, they head back down the mountain and back to real life.  We do the same when our God moments end.  We are thankful and blessed and forever changed, but the world is still there and it still awaits us.

Like the disciples, we too must deny ourselves and take up our cross, seeking to continue the work of Jesus in building the kingdom here.  Being changed ourselves, may we go forth seeking to bring change and hope to our very real worlds.

Scripture reference: Mark 9: 2-9