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A spiritual comment and prayer to start the day with The Reverend Canon Grace Thomas.

Good morning.

On a blisteringly hot day, where the sun blazed unforgivingly onto the dusty ground, I made my way up a large hill called St Thomas’ Mount in Chennai, South India. At the top of the hill stood a beautiful white chapel, known as the shrine of St Thomas, the location of which Thomas, a follower of Jesus and an evangelist, is said to have been martyred.

Here, I felt a sense of deep connection, both to my Indian ancestry, and my Christian heritage. I was part of a story that spanned continents and across faiths.

Hilltops and mountaintops, are places of revelation and transformation throughout scripture. Today in the Christian calendar, we celebrate the transfiguration, where, on a mountaintop, Jesus is said to have changed into a glowing apparition, giving a sense of his heavenly glory. The two followers of Jesus who accompany him, see a vision of the ancient prophets, Elijah and Moses joining Jesus, and in this, their story is vividly connected, with the lives of faithful people who have gone before them.

Such moments of wonder are rare and precious. On that Chennai hilltop, I was taken beyond the here and now, into the bigger story. It was humbling to think of those, who had walked before me, and also to imagine who might come after.

And so today, I give thanks for mountaintop moments, that can bring awe and wonder. Knowing that I am part of a bigger story, that stretches into the past and extends into the future, I pray that what I do now, has meaning, and shapes a story of hope and promise for the days, months and years to come.

Amen.