Fields United Methodist Church

Celebrate Jesus!

Pastor Tom Joyce

February 13, 2023

“Then from a cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Beloved; listen to him.’”   

Luke 9:35

The big things in life usually grab our attention quickly; major announcements, stunning sunsets, star-lit nights, and waves crashing upon the shore. These events are often not unusual but at the same time cause us to pause our life momentarily to soak in the revelation, no matter how big.  There are times when Jesus catches our attention as well; mountain-top experiences, a favorite song or hymn, Scripture reading, or at holiday celebrations like Easter and Christmas; we take notice and listen to God certainly at those times, if not only for a moment. Yet our lives are composed not of a series of major events and celebrations, but a series of small experiences that often go unnoticed, if not ignored entirely.  When Jesus led Peter and John to the mountaintop, they experienced the reality of the Lordship of Jesus. But it wasn’t in the grandeur of the moment that God reminded them to listen, but rather after the experience, when they found themselves ready to venture back down the hill to the normalcy of life. In order to listen to Jesus in the day to day, we need to open our ears to the revelation of God’s presence in every moment of life; the momentous, and the mundane; the exciting and the challenging; the joyous and in the disheartened. God’s glory surrounds you in all your times and it is by faith that God speaks even in the sound of “shear silence.” (I Kings 19:12) In the midst of the moments of life whether big or small, listen and you will hear and know Jesus fulfilling his promise to you to be with you “always, even to the end of the age.”