Rooted in Prayer

Beloved in Christ,

One of the things I love about the Gospel of Luke in particular is that just about every major event or decision in Jesus’ life is preceded by or rooted in prayer. That’s true for the story of the Transfiguration we will hear this Sunday. Jesus and his disciples go up on the mountain specifically to pray, and they are given a mystical vision of God’s power breaking into the present moment. Jesus is set within the full story of God’s project to heal the world with love.  It’s a moment of clarity, where the whole arc and picture of what God is doing can be seen in a little, particular moment. 

Right after this, things get hard fast. Jesus sets his face toward Jerusalem, where he will meet the full power of an empire flexing its power. For the disciples, it will look and feel like chaos, fear, and catastrophe. And, it establishes finally and forever that there is no power greater than the God who gives himself away in love. 

Right before the hardest times, the disciples are given a preview of the end of the story. The mystical vision they encounter in prayer is meant to sustain them through the struggle to come. 

So make no mistake, beloved, when we give ourselves to prayer we are not simply engaging a rote ritual or hollow sentiment. When we pray alone in our room and when we celebrate the sacraments together, we are doing a real thing. We are harnessing the most powerful force in the universe. We cannot face the hard things in front of us by simply trying harder or being better. We can only face it by hitching ourselves every day to the real power of the living God. 

When the world is hard, we know, we know, that God’s story always ends with the triumph of love. Our job is to keep returning to the preview of love’s victory on the mountain over and over and over, so that our little life together shines that preview and that victory into the present darkness. 

Grace and Peace,

The Right Rev. Craig Loya