Since the advent of the Stephen Ministry in our church, I have been so greatly encouraged to hear back from many of those who have invited a Stephen Minister to come alongside them and share a part of their life-journey. Some care receivers have needed a Stephen Minister to walk with them through times of loss and grief; others have faced end-of-life issues; many need a distinctively Christian caregiver just to be a friend during a time of illness, or loneliness, or depression; and still others simply need someone they can talk with, a friend who'll visit with them, or go for walks with them.

And over and over again, I hear care receivers report wonderful news about the power of this ministry. To quote one care receiver, "My Stephen Minister literally changed my life."

Now this fascinates me because it bears out one of the underlying premises of Stephen Ministry. One of our core beliefs is that we ourselves are not healers, counselors, problem-solvers, or fixers. Rather, we believe that God is the cure-giver. And that our distinctively loving and Christian caregiving simply provides the kind of setting within which God's healing power can be released to touch the lives of those for whom we care.

Using St. Francis' term, we try to be instruments of peace through whom God can work in peoples' lives. And in case after case, I hear wonderful stories of God-at-work among us.

Now, today, as we continue to discuss the issue of Christian spirituality, I want to invite you to explore the deeper meaning of these things we see happening in our Stephen Ministry and elsewhere. And the word I want you to think about is transcendence. I stated a few weeks ago that human beings need two essentials in order to be whole and well. One is intimacy, the experience of human love, trust and joy. The other is transcendence. Transcendence is the experience of divine love, trust and joy.

And this human need for transcendence is why Jesus led Peter and James and John up the mountain that night.

Now I'll be completely up-front with you by saying that Christianity would be a lot easier if it wasn't for that mountaintop experience reported in the 9th chapter of Mark. In a sense, what happened that night was the culmination of a number of different disturbing experiences the disciples had as they followed Jesus.

You see, in many ways, Jesus was easy to follow. When he called them to love one another, to take care of the poor, to support justice, to be morally upright, and all the other principles Jesus taught, the disciples readily agreed. I mean, who could argue with that? After all, they WERE the poor Jesus spoke about! They WERE the prisoners held captive in their own country. They WERE the people always shoved to the end of the line - the last while others went first. Oh, it was easy to get behind the principles of justice Jesus taught.

But then there were the other things. Disturbing things. Frightening things. Moments with Jesus that defied explanation, and that brought them into experiences of life that made them very uncomfortable.

There they are, on the fishing boat in the middle of the night. Someone comes walking to them...on the water. They think its a ghost! It turns out to be...Jesus! There they are, in the Gerasene cemetery where Jesus meets a creature howling in the night. He's been chained to the tombstones for years. Jesus speaks to this tortured soul, and suddenly, a legion of demonic forces comes rushing out of him. And the man regains his senses. And his wife gets her husband back. And his children get back their daddy. There they are, at the tomb of their friend Lazarus. Mary and Martha are weeping inconsolable tears as Jesus comes to them and declares, "I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live; and whosoever lives believing in me shall never die." And then he goes to the tomb and shouts into its opening, "Lazarus, come forth!" And the dead man arises!

And the disciples are stunned. They can easily accept most of the teachings of Jesus, but these experiences are not like anything they've ever seen before! So on page after page of Mark, we hear people collectively ask, "Who IS this? What does this MEAN? How can this BE?"

After all, don't you find it easier to accept the teaching of Jesus than the miracles of Jesus? Isn't it easier to embrace the call to love one another than it is to respond to the invitation to come and join Jesus walking on the water?

Well, you're in good company. The disciples felt the same way. You see, many of us feel more comfortable with the teachings of Jesus than the life and experiences of Jesus. Many of us want only to deal with a faith we can get our hands and our minds around. In fact, I think most of us want a faith that requires nothing more of us than what we already agree with. And for those of us who've grown up in the age of scientific rationalism on the one hand and secular humanism on the other, it is extremely difficult to examine the idea that there is a divine dimension of life that defies both our rationality and our humanity.

So what does Jesus do with people like us...people like Peter and James and John?

Why, he leads us up to that mountaintop described in Mark 9.

Eugene Peterson tells the story of walking one day with his dog along the North Fork of the Flathead River in Montana. Suddenly, the dog plunged his head into fourteen inches of snow and came up with a field mouse in his teeth. Peterson says, "Similar things, not always dramatic, happen all the time. I am always impressed with how much more the dog sees and hears and smells than I do. The dog's senses are fine-tuned, constantly picking up signals to which I am oblivious."

And in this story from Mark, Jesus teaches us something important. The difficulty we and the disciples have with direct experiences with the divine dimension of life, is not because the divine is not there! Rather, the difficulty we have is that our senses have become dulled to the divine. We have become anesthetized to the transcendent, and are no longer able to discern it.

So one of the central stories in the Gospel of Mark is about how Jesus helps his followers recover their ability to engage and experience the realm of the spiritual. It is about Jesus leading us to transcendence - the experience of divine love, trust and joy.

Mark says Jesus was transfigured before them. A kind of brilliant light emanates from him, making his clothing dazzling white. And the light reveals that there are others present, too. Moses! And Elijah! And they are talking with Jesus about the futuere!

Now Peter, who is very much like those of us who are quick to reduce the supernatural to the ordinary, gets a great idea. In fact, its an idea that Christians have been emulating ever since, whenever something miraculous has occurred. Peter decides this experience has market potential!

Have you ever noticed how many important historical events took place right next door to a gift shop? And, for that matter, how many miracles took place right next to a shrine?

But Peter's idea is short-lived. Suddenly, a cloud envelopes the mountaintop and they are swallowed up in it, and a voice comes from the cloud. "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him."

Now, according to this wonderful account, the first step in regaining your sensitivity to the divine is learning to become attentive to Jesus. You see, the light that illumines the mountaintop is not from above or from below, but from within Jesus himself.

The invitation of Jesus is to let him illumine for you things you can't see by yourself! For instance, what do you see when you look into the face of an old lady pushing a shopping cart through the gutter of a city street? What do you see when you look into the face of person dying from AIDS? What do you see when you look into the face of a person who's hurt you terribly? What do you see when you look into the face of a spouse you no longer love?

And what does Jesus see? And what might you see if Jesus transfigured that person and illumined him or her in heaven's light?

What do you see when you look at yourself? As you wrestle with life's difficulties, what do you see are your capabilities and potentialities? What do you see when you gaze out to the end of your life?

And what does Jesus see? What does his light reveal about you? What are the things about you that he sees that you've never imagined? What might you see if Jesus illumined for you the truth about death? Do you think you'd live differently if you knew death is nothing to fear, and that beyond death waits a world more alive than anything you've ever known?

A first step in regaining your ability to experience the love, trust and joy of the divine is to become attentive to Jesus. Learn about him. Think about him. Pray to him. Worship him. Follow his teachings and test them out.

A second step in rediscovering your ability to experience transcendence is to learn from the past. Learn from Moses. Learn from Elijah. One of the wonderful things about the Bible is that it records the transcendent experiences of people who lived over the course of thousands of years of history. There's a story about a righteous family living in a time of great evil and how their partnership with God gave them an incredible idea that sailed them to safety through the flood of danger in their times. I know some families today that could use that kind of divine involvement in their lives. Do you? Then there's a story about an old man and woman who have no hope for a future until God illumines a fantastic possibility that causes them to laugh, but that begins their family legacy. I'll bet you know some folks who have no hope for the future, and who could really use a transcendent touch in their lives. And then there's a story about how a young boy steps forward to defend his nation from a gigantic enemy, and prevails by the power of God. My goodness, there are so many young people today who need the presence of God to help them engage the immense challenges young people have to deal with today.

Oh, there's much to learn from the past about how to become more spiritually aware and alive!

And finally, a third step is simply to bring into your daily living a posture of listening. "This is my son whom I love. Listen to him."

One of the disciplines our Stephen Ministers use when they go out to meet with a care receiver is to pray that the Lord will give them ears to hear what the person is saying, and also the right words to say when its time to speak. My experience is that when you approach the Lord with a listening posture, amazing things happen that bring aid and comfort to others, and that convince you all the more that the presence of God is very near.

Don't be afraid to ask God questions, and to ask for guidance as you make your way through the course of the day. And be listening for answers that are sometimes more readily heard in the heart than with the ears.

Be attentive to Jesus. Learn from the past. Listen to the still, small voice. These are three disciplines of the transcendent life. And they will make a difference in your life.

Many years ago, a young man named George played the sweetest sounding trumpet you can imagine. He was such a wonderful musician that he was hired by one of America's great big bands, and he provided some of the beautiful music some of you listened to as you'd swing and sway with Sammy Kaye.

George loved his music, but night after night on the road began to wear him down, and George began to wonder if there was more to life - more to his own life - than what he had. Early one morning, just as the sun was coming up, George pulled his car into the driveway of his home. He pulled out his trumpet case and his music, and started for the door. But all at once, George was stopped in his tracks by a wondrous sight.

The morning seemed transfigured! The way the light touched the leaves of the trees, and the dew on the grass, brought the world to life in a way he'd never seen before. And something inside George began to stir. It was as if he had looked over into heaven.

Some time later, George packed his trumpet and his other belongings, and went off to finish college. Then he went off to Garrett Theological Seminary where he was trained for the ministry. Some years later, after serving several churches, George came to Massachusetts and stepped into our lives. Once in awhile, he would take out that old trumpet of his and play with a sweetness that would take your breath away. But what I remember most about George is not what he sounded like, but what he showed us.

Sandy's mother had suffered a serious stroke years earlier. It had left her paralyzed on her left side, although she adjusted to it, and lived a pretty full life. But then, some years later, another stroke occurred. In the hospital, she lingered between life and death, and we waited there, full of worry and hurt and fear.

And then there were footsteps coming down the corridor, and around the corner stepped George. I don't think he said anything, just gazed at us with loving eyes. And he opened up his arms, and we were all swallowed in his hug. And there in his embrace, something divine passed into our lives, and we knew we were in the presence of the living God.

The transcendent touch.

Are you ready to go to the top of the mountain? God invites you to come and see and experience things you can't even imagine, but that will change your life. And God sends you to others as instruments through whom he can bring divine love, and trust and joy.

The kingdom of God is closer than you think! Let yourself become alive to heaven!