There are a couple of possible locations in Israel for the site of the transfiguration. One is Mount Hermon, a large, snow-covered peak that straddles the Israel-Syria border north of the Sea of Galilee.

The highest mountain in the area, rising to 7,000 feet on the Israeli side of the border and ultimately to 10,000 feet on the Syrian side, it is also considered a good candidate because Caesarea Philippi, where Mark suggests Peter proclaimed Jesus as Messiah, just six days before this event, is located very close by.

The other, more traditional location, is Mount Tabor, located about 10 miles southwest of the Sea of Galilee on the eastern edge of the Valley of Jezreel about 5 miles east of Nazareth. Mount Tabor reminded me of Stone Mountain in Georgia, rising like a giant lump above the surrounding countryside. Though called a Mount, it is probably no more than a thousand feet in elevation, but it does provide a wide, panoramic view of the surrounding area.

To reach the top of the Mount today, you must either walk, or take a special limousine/taxi ride up a steep, winding, serpentine road.

As the car groaned up the steep grade, I had my own sort of epiphany about the steep climb involved in this mountain trek by Jesus, Peter, James and John. To climb Mount Tabor was not a simple matter and I think the gospel writers got it wrong. It wasn= t that Jesus singled out these three for this special revelation. Rather, they were the only three willing to make the climb with him. Riding up in that car, I could just hear Thomas and the other disciples saying to Jesus: A Your going to climb up there and pray? And then your coming back down to here? Okay, you go ahead. We= ll just wait for you down here at the base of the hill, okay, Jesus?@

When you get to the top of Mount Tabor you encounter, as you do at so many of the sacred sites in Israel, a church.

Built to commemorate the event of the transfiguration there is a large central sanctuary with a beautiful tile mosaic above the altar. The back ground is in gold tile and there is Jesus flanked by Moses and Elijah, with Peter, James and John watching in wonder.

On either side of the main sanctuary, located by the front entrance, are two smaller chapels, each decorated with beautiful fresco paintings. One is dedicated to Moses and one is dedicated to Elijah.

So what you have, on the top of Mount Tabor, is the very thing Peter blurted out and wanted to do: A Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.@

While it wasn= t Peter who did it, we Christians have done the very thing he wanted to do: tried to preserve the moment with permanent structures and visual, artistic depictions of the glory of that moment.

Yet that doesn= t seem to be what God wanted.

For the story goes that when Peter blurted out that suggestion, at that moment a cloud descended upon the mountain and the disciples heard a voice saying, A This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!@

After they heard the voice, they looked around and no longer saw anything except for Jesus. Notice that Mark does not say that Moses and Elijah and the cloud and the voice have left, but rather that the disciples no longer saw anything, but only Jesus. The implication is that the glorious power of heaven remains all around them, but they can no longer discern it.

Yet what they do see is Jesus, who is himself the fullness of God present among human beings. And Jesus does not say anything to them right away about what just occurred. He does not rebuke Peter, nor does he say, A Great idea, lets get started on those dwellings right away.@ No, he just starts back down the mountain with them.

Then on the way down he suggests to them, A Let= s just keep this to ourselves, okay, at least until I= ve risen from the dead.@

What is going on here?

Peter expresses a natural human tendency. When we encounter God, when we experience the mysterious holiness that is so often hidden from us, we fall down in awe and wonder and we want to worship.

We want to praise, to give thanks, to glory in the moment. And our tendency when we have mystical experiences is to mark the spot and do everything we can to preserve the experience, in the hope that we can re-create or re-experience that mystery at that spot once again.

So, when you visit Israel, you discover that Christians down through the centuries have done just that.

Wherever they could, they have built a church to mark a sacred spot: over the house of Peter in Capernaum; at the location of the Sermon on the Mount; at the location of the feeding of the five thousand; on the spot where Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem; in the Garden of Gethsemene; on the stable in Bethlehem; over the home of Mary in Nazareth; over the home of Joseph; and on and on.

And in most cases, you cannot even begin to see the actual site of the event or experience, but you see the church that remembers the event.

As we do that, the question becomes, are we listening to Jesus?

And I= m not just talking about what Christians have done in Israel.

How many shrines and dwelling places have we constructed in our lives to mark sacred experiences?

When I began my ministry in Melbourne, Florida, the church was an historic structure that had occupied the same corner in downtown Melbourne since 1889. It had become landlocked and had no room to grow or expand and there had been talk for some time about whether the church should relocate outside of downtown. There was a young woman who was a leader in the church when I arrived. She and her husband had been married in that church a few years prior to my arrival. They became quite distraught because I encouraged the congregation to engage in a serious, open discussion about our future as a church, including whether we ought to relocate or not.

I did not advocate for any particular action, but I felt the church needed to make a decision and a commitment, either to go or stay, if it was going to move forward in faithfully serving God. The congregation decided to stay, but because I had encouraged that discussion, with the possibility of moving, that young woman and her husband left the church, upset with me, and did not return until I came to Miami.

We do that all the time. We invest locations and buildings with great meaning; where we were baptized, where we grew up, where we were married, where a funeral was held. And those are all sacred moments and they are very meaningful.

But the sacred moment, the mystical experience, the encounter with the holy mystery of life, is not what we should worship. God does not break through the veil of this existence so that we might become locked in place.

No, God draws back the curtain blinding us to the presence of glory from time to time to show us, remind us, that glory is all around us: the glory of God revealed in creation; the glory of the gospel revealed in Christ Jesus; the glory of Christ revealed in the people of Christ.

Our eyes are opened to this glory by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

As the Spirit parts the veil, we discover Christ-glory in each other. For example, we smile at the fiftieth wedding anniversary of some quaint couple we have known for years. But look closer and behold the dazzling glory in two people, standing hand in hand, while the tidal wave of time sweeps away youth, health, and dreams C sweeps away everything except the promises they made to each other and have held firm to, by the grace of God!

The sad truth is, we don= t expect transfigurations.

We walk into church on Sunday morning oblivious to old Mr. Jackson= s struggle, who started moving life into his arthritic knees at 7:00 a.m. to make it to church by 10:30; oblivious to Chloe= s self-loathing, feeling unworthy of grace, dreading the confession or unsure if she is really welcome at the Communion Table; oblivious to the courage of the first-time visitor who sits in the parking lot until 10:28, debating whether to come inside. In these commonplace lives, God= s glory is unfolding!

But once we begin to listen to Jesus; once we begin to look for the glory of God at work in you and me, maybe we can begin to learn to treat each other with more respect and appreciation, maybe even reverence.

We practice reverence when we come into church.

How much more reverent should we be when meeting someone in whom Christ actually lives? Which is each and every person we meet.

When it comes to seeing flaws and blemishes in others and ourselves, we all have 20/20 vision. No question, we are all earthen vessels, jars of clay, cracked pots. We can see that at a glance. But let= s pray for the vision that beholds the glory within the clay jar, the insight that allows for transfiguration. Let= s keep our eyes open to what God is doing in others and in ourselves. The grace of God is a glorious thing, and it would be a shame to miss the unveiling.

There= s an old saying: A What do you do after a mystical experience? You do the laundry!@ To this I would add, A but you do it differently!@

With your imagination, the finger of God= s spirit, you can create images of yourself as a kinder, friendlier, more prayerful, compassionate, and patient person. Dwell upon these images prayerfully, with a fervent desire that they be realized. Then, let God= s spirit prod you toward bringing those mental pictures into being in your daily life.

As we create these mental blueprints for personal reform C for becoming better and more lovable people C it is crucial to remember that it isn= t necessary to make ourselves more lovable in order to be acceptable to God. God loves us right now, as we are, and doesn= t require us to do a single thing. God will always love us. But, God= s love for us urges us and enables us to become more whole, more complete, more loving ourselves. Jesus didn= t require anyone to change. He simply said, A Come, follow me,@ knowing that in so doing they would be transfigured into beautiful, living images of the All Beautiful Loving One. That is the freedom that comes as we learn to listen to Jesus.