If you have ever planted a garden, you know what it is like to pull weeds. Weeds are relentless, and there are always more of them. Imagine, however, if someone intentionally sprinkled weed seeds into your garden! What would you do? How would you respond?

It can be hard to truly rest. There are so many things in life that we feel we need to strive for. Many even strive to be righteous before God, but all who try have failed. Jesus promises another way, a way of rest.

Epiphany “a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something” or “an appearance or manifestation especially of a divine being.” The Transfiguration reveals, yet again the fullness of who Jesus really is, and it points the way towards what he came to do. The readings this morning show us two very different but connected encounters with God on mountain tops and they show us what these two things mean for our lives.

God is a missionary God. All mission is first and foremost God’s mission (or Missio Dei in Latin). We see this in Matthew 9:35 where Jesus, God himself, goes on mission. God invites us to participate in his mission reconcile the world to himself through prayer, sending, and going.

In the fifth chapter of Matthew, Jesus explains to his followers how he wants them (and now us) to behave in the world by using two metaphors: salt and light. He is indicating that we should be people who do good in the world. Many of us have taken this to heart and try to do good things as we are able to, but have you ever considered why we do good things? The whys (motives) behind our good deeds are just as important as the whats (our actual good actions). I can think of four basic motives, some good, some not.