This coming Sunday, we’re going to be encountering the fantastic, the horrifying, the mysterium tremendum et fascinans in a huge way. First of all, we witness Moses’s encounter with the burning bush (“Fire on High”). I can only imagine how disoriented and fearful he felt during that encounter (“Am I Dreaming”), and what it may have been like for him to describe that experience to his camp (“Meet Me in the Woods”). In our New Testament reading, we hear some sage advice from Paul, exhorting us all to act as Christ would act (“Divisionary (Do the Right Thing)”). In our Gospel, we get another dramatic scene between Jesus and Peter, where Jesus reveals exactly what being the Messiah will mean personally (“Release”) and for the larger community (“A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”). Peter is notably disturbed by this revelation, and I imagine it’s two-fold: it’s both gruesome and bleak to begin with, and it’s also happening to his friend and teacher—someone he can’t imagine living without (“You Can’t Always Get What You Want”).

I’m struck this week by how grounding Paul’s instructions are—as much as I love the dramatic elements of the Hebrew Bible and the Gospel, it can be challenging to know exactly what to do with that, and how to apply it to our everyday lives. I’m also struck by how, in these stories, the events that transpire are pretty amazing and also pretty horrifying. I definitely identify with Peter and Moses in these stories: if I were them, I’d absolutely feel overwhelmed, unworthy, and very disturbed by what was coming to pass. And yet, all we can do is what we can do—we put one foot in front of the other, sometimes with trepidation and reluctance, and trusting that our fantastic and tremendous God will be walking alongside us.

Check out the lectionary readings here, and listen along to the playlist below!