Life and Death in the Valley (Transfiguration Sunday, Luke 9:28-44

Sometimes, it seems, life sucks. Actually it's not life that sucks, but the pervading power of evil and death that sucks the joy and hope out of life. The Transfiguration was a mountaintop experience for Jesus and the three disciples. But most of the time, we live down in the valley, struggling with the pervading presence of evil.  Like the man who meets Jesus coming down the mountain - the man whose only son is enslaved by an unclean spirit - it seems that God has abandoned us. But Jesus does not stay up the mountain, basking in heavenly glory. He comes down into the valley, to confront and defeat the power of evil, by climbing another mountain - the mountain of Golgotha, the place of the skull, willingly giving himself to be crushed by evil so that we would be free. This sermon was preached at Sunday Night at St John's on Transfiguration Sunday, February 10th, 2013. It can be used with the Prezi zooming visuals found at this link. Enjoy!