John and Elijah

This coming Sunday is the 2nd Sunday in Lent. In yesterday’s post we considered Peter’s response of offering to make three tents – one for Jesus as well as Moses and Elijah. Today, we listen to Jesus’ instructions to the disciples as well as his probing for their understanding of what they have just seen: “As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, “Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” Then the disciples asked him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”  Continue reading

Peter’s Response

This coming Sunday is the 2nd Sunday in Lent. In yesterday’s post we looked at the theological elements of what Matthew likely intended in recounting the event. Today, we consider Peter’s response: Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Continue reading

Keeping Time

Back in the day – which in this case means last century – while serving aboard nuclear submarines, I first encountered life in two different chronological constructs. While the world continued to operate on a 24-hours cycle, life aboard the submarine was constructed around an 18-hour day based on standing “watch” on the rotation of three shifts of 6 hours each. “What time is it?” was no longer a question of UTC London, Washington DC, Honolulu,or the timezone we happened to be operating in, it was “how much time” was left in the current watch cycle or until you had to report for the next. Continue reading