NOTES: 1] Read the preceding verses for context. 2) Moses represents the Law, & Elijah the Prophets. 3) Note the extra information LK gives (9:31) 4) The cloud & the voice are a 'Theophany', i.e. a revelation of Godself. 5) Peter's 'tents' is the word JN uses (1:14) for 'lived among us'.

WARMING UP: If we could choose to meet some great person from another age, who would it be?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything that's happened this week?

EXPLORING GOSPEL:

1           On what basis does Jesus appear to choose his leadership team; the Twelve, or, in this case, a sub-group? Why might he choose / not choose us? Do we ever feel God is closer when we are high up? Or is this just ancient thinking conditioning us?

2 -3       Is the kind of light they experience simply the light we 'imagine' when we think of God as 'Light'? How light is God? What are the qualities of God's Light? Does the light up there reveal anything special about Jesus? Is it fair to summarise the Transfiguration as showing Jesus has moved on past, is greater than, both Law & Prophets & calls us to move on with him?

4           Can we see why Peter would want to prolong the mysterious experience up there? How do we cope with 'mystical' religious experiences, or don't we ever have any? What makes a religious experience mysterious, mystical, that kind of thing?

5-8        Why might cloud stand for God's presence so often in the Hebrew Bible & our New Testament? What would cloud signify when it appears in theophanies (see N.3 above)? Does flying high in an aircraft ever make us wonder about God?
              Does there come a time to move on from being in awe of God & be scared out of our wits instead? Or isn't God in the scaring business? If that was a way people thought of God in the past, have we moved on to over-familiarity now?

9             Why was it so important to Jesus that the apostles keep quiet about what they'd seen & experienced? Is Jesus giving them more credit for understanding what's happened up there than they deserve, or less? Do we understand any better than they did what this episode was all about? If it's not 'understandable', why is it part of the stories passed down to us? Could we explain the essence of the Transfiguration story to someone in language that's not 'in house'? Or isn't that possible?
 
 

NOTES: 1] Stephen's story continues. His defence begins with a summary of Hebrew history from Abraham to Moses. We could do worse than take this on board! 2] The High Priest's question (v.1) refers to what Stephen's accusers have alleged.

WARMING UP: If we were asked to summarise the last decade of world history, could we do it?

TREASURES OLD & NEW: Identify God at work in anything that's happened this week week?

EXPLORING ACTS:

1-8        Do we ever have to defend ourselves against 'religious' enemies out to get us because we understand God or church differently from them? If the part Abraham plays in God's purpose is as seminal as Stephen says, which 'Abraham factors' are still seminal for our relationship with God? Do the 'Patriarchs' count, seeing 'patriarchy' is out of favour in enlightened circles?

9-19      Have we ever had some change for ill inflicted on us by another person? If so, has that eventually worked not just to our advantage, but to achieve God's purpose? What's the difference between 'our advantage' & 'God's purpose'? Have we ever reached a point where we've believed we've been 'rescued from all our afflictions' If so, how does that feel?
             Are we tuned in enough to God to discern his foresight & provision when we see it? If the Joseph story is one of the more familiar ones from the time of the patriarchs, what is its essential message for us today? Do we ever find ourselves cast sometimes as a 'Joseph', & sometimes as someone else in his family? Or don't any of them really matter to us anymore? Do we feel enough connectedness to one particular place to want to be interred there? Do we feel any special tie between God & us & one special place?
             How are we able to handle changes in church or community leadership that leave us less 'connected' than we were with previous leadership, or even completely dis-connected? Is God's hand ever discernible in relational changes like that?

20-34   How large does Moses loom in our understanding of the Hebrew chapters of our Christian story? Would anyone be inclined to speak of us as Stephen speaks of Moses as 'beautiful before God'? Or is that just a baby thing? Are we at all well 'instructed in the wisdom of' our own particular people? How well are we instructed in the wisdom of God? What is that? Are we at all 'powerful in our words & deeds' or don't we play in that league?
             Do members of our 'clan' always act the way we expect them to? Do they always understand what we're doing? To the point of recognizing God working through us? Does anyone ever accuse us, 'Who made you a ruler & a judge over us'? Do we / would we feel threatened by such a challenge? Have we ever fled from some consequence of what we thought was a right act? Are we still fleeing, living in some 'wilderness' of heart or mind?
             Have we ever met God in some version of our own 'burning bush'? Was it life changing? Can we still hear God speaking to us? How do we know it is / was God? Do we ever tremble before God? Take our shoes off, at least meta- phorically when we know we're on 'holy ground'? What makes holy ground holy? Has God ever 'hot-seated' us as he does to Moses here? When did God last say, "Come now........." to us? Did we go with him? Doesn't "Come...." always imply the other's (Other's) presence with us wherever it is we're called to? Isn't that a key component of faith?