The Transfiguration of Our Lord (Year A)
Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017
"Sometimes you have to go up
really high to understand how small you are."
– Felix Baumgartner, standing outside his capsule
at an altitude of 24 miles (39 km) on October 14, 2012.
Theme: Called to the Mountain
Reflection: Moses
left Joshua and went further up the mountain, where clouds covered the peak,
and the churning sky looked like a devouring fire. Earlier, when the pair set
out for Mount Sinai, Moses chose stand-ins who would double as successors, in
case he didn’t return. No one had ever been summoned up the mountain to meet
God. So Moses left Aaron and Hur in charge.
Jesus took
Peter, James and John up the mountain. Perhaps they left alone at sunup,
without telling the other nine where they were going. In this case, Jesus left
no successors – he knew he was returning from this trip, and when he did,
Jerusalem lay ahead – no turning back.
Mountaintop
experiences. Most of us have had a few. Literally or figuratively, they raise
us up to new peaks of joy, adventure, wisdom or relationship. They are
experiences we will never repeat, but will remember for the rest of our lives.
They change us. They give us the energy to go on.
Today, maybe
Moses would have set out to Mount Everest, spent six days ascending from base
camp with Joshua, to be called to the summit on the seventh day. Or ascended to
the outer reaches of earth’s atmosphere like Felix Baumgartner, in the rarefied
air between earth and space. Meeting God 24 miles above the surface, then free
falling for miles before opening his parachute.
Awe-inspiring.
Fear-provoking. No matter if our mountaintop experience takes us to a new
state, across the ocean, or six days into the wilderness, we break the
boundaries of our everyday life to go somewhere God calls us.
For an hour,
a weekend, 40 days, we remove ourselves so God can speak to us, humble us, open
us to glory, and transform us. All of us have moments like Peter did – “Can’t
we just put up our tent and stay here forever, Lord?”
 |
| Twilight on Gunflint Lake, July 5, 2016 |
In our final
days, we hiked up to waterfalls, tasted wild berries and paddled through
narrows filled with reeds and water lilies. We glided, transfixed, as a bald
eagle soared overhead. Unspoken until much later, both of us considered what it
would be like to stay in that remote wilderness forever.
But
eventually, people climb down the mountain. Their eyes still full of spots, Peter,
James and John must have turned to the peak for one last glance at glory. But it
wasn’t over. Mountaintop experiences change us. Perhaps we become advocates,
protecting those wilderness spaces for future generations. Peter, James and
John would spread the Gospel throughout their lives. Changed in the glow of
God’s glory, we set out on a new road, finding our callings.
“The story of the Transfiguration is
about opening our eyes to glory, allowing that glory to alter us, and becoming
willing to walk where it leads us. The story urges us to trust that what we
have seen, what we have known, will go with us. It assures us that the gifts
received on the mountaintop will continue to illuminate us not only on level
ground but even when we walk in the valley of the shadow.”
– Jan Richardson, The Painted Prayerbook
Faith App: Pay attention! Find the lamps shining
in the dark places this week, and give them support and encouragement, filling
them with precious fuel. And let your light shine where God’s glory hasn’t
reached yet, for situations and people who are overwhelmed by darkness.
HYMN/SONG SUGGESTIONS
How Good, Lord, To Be Here, ELW 315
Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies,
ELW
553
Jesus on the Mountain Peak, ELW 317
Come, Beloved of the Maker, ELW 306
Oh, Wondrous Image, Vision Fair, ELW 316
O Splendor of God’s Glory Bright, ELW 559
Love Divine All Loves Excelling, ELW 631
Joyous Light of Heavenly Glory, ELW 561 (evening worship)
O Light Whose Splendor Thrills, ELW 563
Here Is Bread, ELW 483
Show Me Your Glory, Third
Day
Everything Glorious, David Crowder Band
Beautiful One, By the Tree
How Great Is Our God, Chris Tomlin
Cry Holy, Sonicflood
LESSONS
Exodus 24:12-18 Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the
mountain.
Psalm 99 Extol the LORD our God, and worship at his
holy mountain.
(OR
Psalm 2 I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill.)
2 Peter 1:16-21 We had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.
Matthew 17:1-9 And he was transfigured before them, and his
face shone like the sun.
Summary of
the Lessons: They
were summoned. Moses called by God, and Peter, James and John by Jesus. Called
to the thin space beyond the everyday, called beyond their fears. Not
brilliant, powerful humans, but people willing to be humbled, exposed to
radiance, transformed and equipped to go back down the mountain and reveal the
Almighty to others.
OPENING LITANY based on Psalm 99
L: Tremble at the
Sovereign’s power, all you people;
C: Shake in awe, Creation
– God is on the throne.
L: Zion is the sacred
mountain, this thin space so near
C: Our Lord’s heaven,
where people’s praises ring.
L: Justice is the way God
keeps nudging us –
C: The kingdom of heaven
arrives in fairness;
L: God led the people,
Israel, on equity’s path,
C: Worship the One who seeks
the same for us.
L: In days’ past, Moses,
Aaron and Samuel cried out,
C: They asked for help, O
Lord, and you rescued them,
L: Answer us, we pray,
when we plead for your help,
C: Call us from on high,
and hear us as we praise you.
CONFESSION
L: Lord, how we shuffle
along in life, hardly present,
C: Even an earthquake
couldn’t shake us from our routines,
L: Waking, working,
sleeping – we don’t see our lives as holy.
C: Help us, Lord, to open
our eyes to see your glory.
L: And, Lord, how seriously
we take our need for security,
C: Building up our
earthly treasures and the walls around us,
L: Until we’re shut off
from sharing or serving your people.
C: Help us, Lord, to
reach out to those in need in your world.
L: Finally, Lord, how apt
we are to brush off today’s Gospel,
C: Jesus is transfigured
– transformed and called by God,
L: Why should we care: we
are already where God wants us.
C: Help us, Lord, to
change and inspire change for others.
(Silent
reflection)
L: In our confession, we
pray together,
C: Most Merciful God …
Move us, we pray, by the work of your Holy Spirit, to see your glory in the
world around us, and more importantly, to recognize the people and places that
need the infusion of your glory. We are not attentive. We are too complacent
and stuck in our routines to hear you calling us out to transform ourselves and
this world. Help us, Lord, to become the loving change you want for this world.
Hear this
Good News: God is still speaking in this
place, saying Jesus is God’s Son, the Beloved – listen to him. And in the echo,
we hear that we are God’s beloved children, and we need to speak so people will
listen. We are the light, the love and the agents for change in this world.
Your sin is removed through the grace of our Lord Jesus the Christ. Do NOT be
afraid to go and spread this life-giving word.
In the name
of…
Amen.
PRAYER OF THE DAY
L: We pray together,
C: Glorious God … Call us out today from our
wilderness spaces, into your radiant light. Change us, even when that transformation
isn’t comfortable for us. Raise us up and give us a taste of your glory,
humbling us and preparing us to live your love into this world, among the
people you love so much. Amen.
COMMUNION BLESSING
L: We pray together,
C: We give you thanks, most gracious God, for
the transforming power in this bread, the covenant promises in this cup. Send us out as people who are changed by our
mountaintop experiences with God and each other, humbled by God’s glory, and
equipped by this worship to serve as God’s change agents in the world. Amen.
SENDING
L: We’ve come to the end of Epiphany,
C: Attentive to the light all around us,
L: Sharing what it means to be God’s Beloved,
C: Spreading glory wherever we are called to go.
L:
Go now, as God’s change agents, to love and to serve the Lord.
C:
Thanks be to God!
First Reading Exodus
24:12-18 (NRSV)
Setting
the Scene: Earlier
in this chapter, Israel’s leaders and elders made sacrifices and had a meal,
sealing the covenant between God and the people. In today’s verses, God calls
Moses alone to come up the mountain.
The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait
there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the
commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” So Moses set out with
his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. To the elders
he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur
are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.”
Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the
mountain. The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered
it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. Now
the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire on the top of
the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud, and
went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty
nights.
Second
Reading 2
Peter 1:16-21 (NRSV)
Setting
the Scene: The
second book of Peter was probably written by someone who knew and followed
Peter, a generation removed from Jesus’ death. False teachers were trying to
sway the new Christians from their belief in the divinity and return of Christ.
This passage speaks to Peter, James and John and their actual experience on the
mountain – God named Jesus as his beloved Son.
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known
to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses
of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that
voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my
Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice come from
heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.
So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will
do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the
day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. First of all you must
understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own
interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women
moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.
Gospel Matthew 17:1-9 (NRSV)
Setting
the Scene: Six
days after Peter calls Jesus the Messiah, then is rebuked after telling Jesus
not to talk about his death, comes this turning point episode in Matthew’s
gospel. Often, Matthew makes Jesus out to be the new Moses, and the comparison
to today’s reading from Exodus is clear.
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his
brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was
transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes
became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking
with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you
wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for
Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed
them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I
am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to
the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying,
“Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except
Jesus himself alone.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell
no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the
dead.”
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