Dear Friends,

We know we have hills in Charlestown and the surrounding neighborhoods – Bunker Hill, Breed’s Hill, Beacon Hill, Winter Hill – you  can no doubt name more. We know we can also climb the 294 steps of the Bunker Hill Monument to see far beyond our immediate environs.

But there is another summit to which we can ascend this week. It stands before us tomorrow night, as Christians celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration. Jesus invited three of his disciples, Peter James and John, to ascend a mountain with him to pray. There, they saw him transfigured before them, radiating the light and glory of God. It is one of those moments in the Gospels where the full humanity and full divinity of Jesus Christ was manifest.

It was  a scene of wonder and mystery, and there is no way in which one worship service will help us to fully understand what occurred at the heart of that story. But we need not fully understand. What is important, is that we, like the disciples, are invited to behold the glory, to see Jesus as God’s beloved Son, and then to listen to him.

I hope you will join me on this summer hike. No experience is required.

Faithfully,

Tom