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JOE MILLER JR.

Joe Miller Jr. is pastor of First United Methodist Church in Newton.

Exodus 24:12-18

"To be, or not to be: that is the question." (William Shakespeare: Hamlet) A slight adjustment to Mr. Shakespeare: "To be present, or not to be present: that is the decision to be made." This is Transfiguration Sunday (Matthew 17:1-9) when Jesus is transfigured, along with Elijah and Moses, before the eyes of Peter, James, and John.

The transfiguration of Jesus was preceded by somewhat similar mountaintop experiences of both Moses and Elijah. The Moses experience actually covers many chapters in the book of Exodus, and this text is just a small portion of the entire event.

Artists over the years have tried to depict this event, and the most famous in our era is the Cecile B. DeMille movie, The Ten Commandments, staring Charlton Heston as Moses. If you have seen this movie your memory and imagination can capture the drama and epic proportions of the event.

Your mind's eye can see Heston, the fiery finger of God "writing" on the rock that will become the tablets, and so forth. Maybe you can even "hear" God's omnipotent voice. However, how about the ordinary people at the base of the mountain waiting to hear from Moses when he comes down? Can you "see" them? Probably not.

In our "hero worship" culture, we tend to idolize the heroes of our own era, and we mistakenly tend to minimize the roles of the real or ordinary people. I am writing this prior to the Super Bowl, but most of the pregame "stuff" tends to be about Eli Manning and Tom Brady. What about the rest of two teams?

We know that Moses and God had to both be present for this historic event to occur, but what if the Israelites had decided to stay in their tents and let Moses and Joshua do it alone? We can almost hear the excuses being made: This is my only day to sleep in late; I am too busy to stand around waiting; Moses should have chosen me instead of Joshua; my role is not important, and they will not miss me; no one will even know that I am not there.

If they had taken this tact, there would be no chosen people to receive the law, and the eye-witnessed story would not have been passed down from generation to generation; it would have been lost to us.

This flip side scenario seems silly, but these are the same arguments we often use on Sunday morning when it is time to go to church. Without the congregation there is no Christcentered gathering to worship together, the Word of God is lost, and there is nothing to pass down from generation to generation.

Each and every person is important. There is no order of personal importance on Sunday morning. All God's people are important and need to be there. To be present, or not to be present: that is YOUR decision to be made. By the way: God will be there to welcome you. You can count on Him. May the peace of Christ be with you.