Did you ever have a Magic 8 Ball? A Magic 8 Ball is a big plastic sphere that looks like an 8 ball from a pool table. The bottom of the ball is flat and when flipped upside down, a little die floats to the top and reveals an answer to a yes and no question. The answers range from "yes" and "no" to "reply hazy", to "try again", to "don't count on it". When I was a kid, my sister had a Magic 8 Ball. We would sit with that stupid ball for hours asking it questions. And when we didn't get an answer we liked (which was most of the time), we would ask the same question over and over again, until the appropriate answer appeared in the little window. Wouldn't it be great to have a real Magic 8 Ball for our lives? Wouldn't it be great to have a way to predict the future, to know the future? Life would be so much more efficient and our anxieties would be so much reduced. Sometimes, I not only want a Magic 8 Ball for my life, but I want one for the church as well. No contingencies, no guessing, just answers, pure and honest.

Today we conclude our series on equipping ministry. This doesn't mean that we have finished our work on equipping-far from it. In reality, we are only getting started. The Equipping Ministry Team meets this week to plan new ways to keep this important conversation going and to formalize our process for finding a Director of Equipping Ministry. So we still have lots of work to do, and we will not only keep you all apprised of our progress, but continue to plan ways for your input to shape that progress. But today is our last sermon in this series that focuses on equipping. So where are we headed with this whole equipping emphasis? What does the future have in store for us? Wouldn't it be great to have a Magic 8 Ball to answer these questions?

As it turns out, we don't need any device to help us see the future, because today is a great day to ask these future oriented questions; today in the church year is one of those mountaintop days when questions about the future are in the air. If you look at the bulletin cover, you will see that today is the Transfiguration of the Lord. Now I realize that this isn't one of those church days that we plan our lives around. No signs in the stores assaulting us with those dire countdowns: Only 12 days shopping left until the Transfiguration of the Lord. No Transfiguration jingles stuck in our heads after elevator rides. Our kids aren't scheming about what they are going to get on Transfiguration Day. And none of those family arguments about is it best to open your presents on Transfiguration Day or Transfiguration Eve. In fact, Transfiguration is such a minor holiday in the church that it is eclipsed by the Tuesday that follows it; Mardi Gras gets far more press than it. But Transfiguration is an important day for us this year because it is a time that invites us to ask questions about future.

Throughout scripture, mountaintops are important places where God's people meet God and get a glimpse of the future. Moses saw God on Sinai and received the law which would shape the future of the Hebrew children. Moses met God on Mt. Nebo and from that vantage point could get a preview of the Promised Land that the people were about to enter. Elijah heard the still, small voice of God on Mt. Horeb and there was given a new commission that carried him into the future. And Jesus, on a high mountain, met God in a powerful way-he was transfigured by God. But not only that, this moment was a time when his future path became clear-from that high mountaintop, Jesus was sent on his way to Jerusalem, to his confrontation with the religious and civil authorities, on his way to the crucifixion and the resurrection.

So today, as we stand with Jesus, we have the opportunity not only to meet God, but to catch a glimpse of what our future has in store for us. So what do we see from this vantage point? What will unfold for us in the days, weeks, months, and years to come? From this mountaintop, I see all sorts of things. Here are just a few examples of what I see. I see this church more and more becoming a gathering place for our community, a place where people not only meet, but discover ways to express their gifts and grow in hope. This is already happening here. In addition to our own ministries, like our choirs, handbell choir, Sunday School and youth group, community groups are using our facility. Four days a week, music ensembles connected with OASIS, an older adult ministry, gather here for rehearsals and music making. Daily, this building resounds with marches, jazz, and classical music. And the older adults who are making that music are growing and giving, learning and sharing. It's a remarkable thing. And from this vantage point today, I can see that that is only the beginning. More and more groups are finding their way to this building. Even yesterday, because of a scheduling problem, the University City Council met here to discuss the future of this community. Black and white, Christian and Jew, atheist and agnostic are all finding their way to this place, are being welcomed and are growing together. I see that happening more and more in our future. But I not only see our ministry as a place where people gather, but a place from which disciples are sent. This year, in addition to our 39^th Annual Senior High Mission Trip, we will send our 2^nd Annual Adult Mission Trip-this time to Louisiana to help with Katrina clean-up. Our involvement with Metropolitan Congregations United is helping not only to forge new alliances in our community, but to bring greater wholeness, justice and peace to our community and our world. As I look into the future, as I see what God is doing here, I see that these are just initial steps. God calls each of us in our families, in our neighborhoods and communities, to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to all the world. In the future that God has allowed me to glimpse, Trinity is not only a destination, but a launching pad.

But I have not come up to this mountaintop alone, just as Jesus didn't. He came as part of a community, and we together stand at this summit and together look into the future. What do you see? What visions has God placed in your heart? What dreams of the future are calling you forth? Perhaps you don't know, perhaps you are not sure how to look into the future, you are not sure what to look for. If that describes you, I would like you to join me for a brief exercise and maybe this will help you begin to catch a vision for what is possible, and what God is leading us to here. First, I want you to meditate on a word or phrase that describes what you desire to feel when you come here and are a part of this community. What does your soul long for as a part of this congregation? Take a moment.... Is it healing? Is it connection? Is it meaning and purpose? Is it inspiration? Is it forgiveness? Or is it something totally different? Our visions grow, in part, out of what we desire. That may sound selfish, but it is my experience that these deep desires are placed in our hearts by God-and that others also long for the same thing. When I preached about the body of Christ, I said that the body looks like you. This is also true for the future in the church. The future looks like us and like those God is drawing to us. The ministry of this church has been and will be shaped by the passions and gifts that God has given us. It is extremely gratifying to me that so many people who join this church say upon joining that it was the welcome extended by you that moved them to come back after a first visit and moved them to joining this church. I believe that we welcome people because it is so important to us to be welcomed. So acknowledging our own needs and hopes is a starting place for seeing the future.

But our faith is not only about us, it is about the other. Jesus not only calls us to himself, but sends us to share that love with others. So our future, therefore, is also about others. I want you to take moment now and think about a person whom you would love to have a vital connection with God through this place. Don't limit yourself to someone who could actually attend here-it could be someone who lives far away but you know would really benefit from being a part of this congregation and our ministry. This could be a family member, a friend, a co-worker, a neighbor. Can you see the person? Now, what would it take for this person to find a place here-I don't mean that they would need lots of frequent flyer miles to get here on a weekly basis, but what would need to change, in them and in this congregation, for them to find a place here. Again, you are beginning to see the future because the people we know and love and care about also call us and shape our vision. But the Christian church isn't just about the people we know but the people we haven't gotten to know yet. In the Great Commission, the passage that started out this series of sermons on equipping, Jesus sends us to make disciples of all nations. I love the ministry of this church-I think that God has given us something really wonderful here; but when I walk out these doors, I see so many people who haven't found a place here. The young people who hang out in the Loop. Young families who are moving into the area. What groups do you see? What populations would you love to see this church reaching out to? What would it take for us to connect with them?

In your own mind on this Transfiguration Sunday, you are beginning to catch a vision for the future. It is not the complete future, for God doesn't reveal everything and we need to share our visions with each other for a fuller picture to emerge. But the future, our future, begins with the longings, and passions and gifts that God has placed in each of our hearts. And church is the place (or at least an important place) where those longings, and passions and gifts find voice and expression. This is why equipping can have such profound impact on a church. It keeps seeking ways for every member, for every person connected with the church to share their vision and then find ways to work to make that happen. When we read passages like the one that we did from Revelation today, we often think of those visions as being far in the future. But God's future is never far in the future-it is always close at hand-and it is in our hearts and God has given us the gifts to work to make it a reality. An equip ministry equips us here and now, to live faithfully and meaningfully into the future

Sometimes the future is unclear or hazy. Sometimes it feels like the answers we get about the future are as vague as a Magic 8 Ball. Sometimes the future feels downright scary-we think we see what is coming and it frightens us-it calls forth change that we would rather not go through. Sometimes it means holding onto things that we would just as soon jettison. But the Mount of Transfiguration reminds us that we do not envision the future and move toward it alone, but in community. Jesus did not go to the top of that mountain alone, but with this friends. He did not have to face his future by himself, but in the company of brothers and sisters. God has given us each other, so we do not have to figure out the future by ourselves, nor do we go there alone. The mission trip team that will go to Louisiana next month will be just that-a team. And they will not only have each other's presence for comfort, but our prayers and good wishes. In that sense, all of us together will journey in mission to Louisiana. For the church, the future is not a lonely place. And not only do we move forward with the embrace of each other, we move forward embraced by God. On the top of the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus faced a hard and scary future. There would be no easy resolution for his ministry in Jerusalem. But Jesus did not walk that path alone, and we do not walk into the future by ourselves. On the top of that mountain, God claimed Jesus as the Beloved-a promise that God would be with him and give him faith and strength. And on this mountain today, God claims each of us-we are God's Beloved and God will be with us always. In the company of each other and with God's abiding love, there is nothing that we cannot accomplish together. We can grow closer together as a congregation, we can reach out to our community, we can literally change the world. There is much about our future that is hazy that isn't clear. But what is clear is that God has put in each one of us powerful visions of the future and the ability to move forward with faith, hope and love.