Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) Mark 9: 5,6

Way back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth and I was doing my undergrad at Queen’s I signed up for a course through the English Department with the really exciting title of “Selected Women Writers”.  My reasoning for taking this course was:  I needed a credit that was relatively easy.  I liked to read.  I am a woman AND I’d read some authors that also are women.  To be fair I was thinking Laura Ingalls Wilder of the “Little House on the Prairies” fame.

I got the syllabus for the class ahead of time, and launched into reading the first book on the list.  It was “To the Lighthouse” by Virginia Woolf.  I read the book.  I didn’t like the book.  I lost the plot in the first couple of pages.  But I was a diligent student so I pushed my way through and took my copy to class on the first day thinking “I have questions”.

So, the prof started a discussion on the book.  And after the first couple of students speaking on the book I seriously looked down and pondered if I had read the same thing that everyone else had.  Was this a different book called “To the Lighthouse”? Nope.  Did I have some weird translation from English to Swahili and then back again?  Nope.  Had I somehow read the wrong book?  Nope.  Was I in the right class? Oh yes, I totally was.

I was baffled by the conversation.  They understood literary devices that I had never even heard about.  They all, apparently, really liked the book.  I was just confused by the book.  And then I got scared.  I had never been so out of my depth before academically.

I kept the class in my timetable mostly because I wasn’t sure how to drop it and add another class in its stead, and somehow managed to pull off a B in the class.  But it certainly wasn’t one of my shining student moments.

I remembered this whole story when I was approaching the Gospel Story this week on the Transfiguration.  This story on Transfiguration comes up every year, and every year leaves me confused and baffled and slightly resentful that I’m confused and baffled.  So, this year, when I read verses 5 and 6, and saw that Peter didn’t have a clue either, I was kinda heartened.  Peter – one of Jesus’ besties, just didn’t get what was happening in front of him, and so he just started babbling about tents and this being “good” when, in fact, he was scared out of his mind.  I like Peter.  I related to Peter.

There’s an ad campaign out by an organization called ‘Come Near’ that places YouTube videos about Jesus called “He Gets Us”.  They’re pretty slick videos, and much of what I could glean from the website by the same name, they’re an ecumenical (well – maybe a better word is “unaffiliated”) Christian organization trying to connect people to Jesus.  They also seem to have buckets of money, because they can place ads during the Superbowl, and its no mystery how expensive that runs.  I was listening to one of my favourite podcasts (Working Preacher, if you’re wondering) where one of the hosts, Matt Skinner, off-handedly commented on this ad campaign and said, “Well maybe He gets us, but we certainly don’t get Him.”

I chuckled out loud in my office.  The mice must think I’ve lost it.

Nope.  I don’t think we really do get this Jesus stuff, do we.  But if we’re going to learn anything from this Sunday’s Transfiguration story, that’s o.k. because even Peter never really ‘got’ Jesus.

And maybe that’s o.k.  Maybe the point is that we just sit in our confusion and fear and recognize that

its o.k.

Its o.k. because God gets us.  Its o.k. because we’re going to keep taking this class because there are no other real options.  Its ok because even though we may feel like we’re out of our depth, if we keep trying we’ll manage not only to finish the class, but the whole journey.

And maybe even with a ‘B’.

Blessings today my dear Bethel Friends.  Remember you are loved.  Even if you don’t ‘get’ it.

~ Rev. Lynne

(PS:  Today’s Picture taken by the very talented photographer, Rev. Takouhi)