Green Blades Preaching Roundtable

Prayer of the Day

O God, in the transfiguration of your Son you confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the witness of Moses and Elijah, and in the voice from the bright cloud declaring Jesus your beloved Son, you foreshadowed our adoption as your children.  Make us heirs with Christ of your glory, and bring us to enjoy its fullness, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

Hymn Suggestions

Gathering:                               “Come, Beloved of the Maker”  (ELW 306)

                                                “Can You See the Seasons Turning”  (ACS #1065)

“God Bestows on Every Sense”  (ACS 1069)

Hymn of the Day:       “Jesus on the Mountain Peak”  (ELW #317, WOV #653)

                                                “Look Who Gathers at Christ’s Table”  (ACS 977)                                                                                             “Dazzling Presence on the Mountain”  (ACS #917)

Offertory Response:      “For the Wholeness of the Earth”  (ACS 1067)

Sending:                                   “Shine, Jesus, Shine” (ELW 671)(change “the nations” with “creation”)

                                                “When Morning Guilds the Skies”  (ELW 853)

“Earth is Full of Wit and Wisdom”  (ACS 1064)

“Christ the Lord Was There”  (lyrics below to “Go Tell It on the Mt.”)

Overview

Last year, I reflected on The Transfiguration of Our Lord from a Lukan perspective, focusing on the mountaintop experience the three disciples were privileged to have “above the ordinary plain of existence” witnessing the glory of God, and yet in the midst of such glory, suddenly noticing Jesus “standing alone” as plain and ordinary as themselves.  While Luke’s account shares many of the same features as Matthew’s, it seems to me that the Jesus of Matthew’s gospel desires to “lift up” what seems just ordinary to heavenly glory rather than “bring down” glory to the lowly.  In other words, while Luke emphasizes Jesus with us on the plain, Matthew emphasizes Jesus escorting us up the mountain.  (Consider Jesus’ end-times parable of Matthew 25 where the dismay among the sheep/goats is “when did we see you…?” to which the glorious king responds in effect, “Don’t you see?  I am ‘the least’ among you…” Earlier (in Matthew 18), Jesus teaches his disciples about humility, to be mindful not to despise “little ones” for they are “greatest in the kingdom of heaven,” and Jesus gives them the keys of the kingdom to ensure that heavenly glory abounds.)  Neither evangelist’s thinking is necessarily better than another nor contradictory; they both seek to convey a transfiguration in their readers’ perceptions of the kingdom’s nearness.  It’s perhaps just a question of strategy/effectiveness—sometimes the situation or personality will find Luke more compelling, sometimes Matthew.  And the same will be true with broadening peoples’ faith perspective in caring for Creation. As I mentioned last year, “What’s called for is a transfiguration of human character that welcomes a co-creator’s role in preserving ecological vitality throughout the biosphere, that accepts a co-redeemer’s role in restoring what sin has polluted and degraded, that fully embraces a co-ordinator’s role in preserving creation’s wellbeing and guiding creation to peace. For while anthropocentrism has impaired a certain creation-centered conscientiousness toward becoming authentically human, anthropo-marginalism, also, has denied a certain creation-centered responsibility toward becoming co-creators/co-redeemers/co-ordinators divinely equipped and called to carry out its trinitarian project. Perhaps in this expansive respect, a preacher could occasion an epiphany, awaken a benighted psyche to its original sin of earthkeeping neglect, and elicit a metanoia.”

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Commentary

Therefore, when it comes to our texts for the A-cycle of The Transfiguration, I’d seek to invite folks “up the mountain” so to speak, so that they might perceive with all their senses the glory of heaven in all the places they might dwell or go, and to aspire to their upward call in Christ to show forth God’s glory.  Matthew’s account is very intentional about associating the disciples’ experience to Moses’ experience on Mt. Sinai (the mountain, after 6 days, the shining faces, Moses’ presence, the bright cloud, being overcome with fear).   The first lesson from Exodus 24 draws attention to this foundational moment in the wandering life of the Israelites receiving the law. The forbidding clouds and 40 days/nights are reminiscent of the dreadful rains of Genesis 7, and the pillar of cloud that would descend to guard the entrance of the tent of meeting in Numbers 12 and Deuteronomy 31.  I prefer Psalm 99 (over Psalm 2) as it makes these connections to the Exodus more explicit.

Here's what I wrote last year regarding the psalm response.  “Because we esteem God the Creator as holy (set apart, distinguished) from all that God has made, we find it necessary to set apart or distinguish time and space to worship this God.  This is a cultic practice that we sapient creatures need to focus our fleeting attention, though we need not impose this setting-apart-of-God to all of reality (as if God could somehow exist outside of existence).  Yes, we do experience holy moments, we visit holy places, we cherish our holy objects, we celebrate our holy sacraments, but we also have an assurance (by grace through faith) that God is always close, we are never alone, and that nothing is beyond God’s holy love (a love, that is, we distinguish as holy only because it sets nothing apart, because such love defines who God is). Whenever we come to worship, we come to God’s “holy mountain” to rehearse psalms, hymns and spiritual songs to God, to remark on God’s word, to recall the promises, to repent, to rededicate, to rejuvenate and to reimagine.  Throughout scripture, mountains represent close proximity to God, a place of wilderness retreat, of refuge, of prayer, of worship.  The psalmist calls out Moses, Aaron and Samuel by name, but we could name so many more (Abraham, Elijah, Isaiah, Peter, James, John and Jesus) who encountered God on mountains and came away from the experience changed to face a new day.  Most often, references to the “holy mountain” refer to the holy city Jerusalem (also called Mount Zion) that was the center of commercial, rabbinical, and worship life for the Jewish people.  Many other psalms show how all of creation is continually engaged in worship (Pss. 19, 69, 96, and 148); so it is that we rejoin the rest of creation in offering our praises and thanksgivings to God.”

The epistle reading draws particularly from Matthew’s account of the Transfiguration to validate its prophetic message of hope and to make its appeal to listen (“be attentive”) to what God desires for a world darkened by fear and dissipation.  Indeed, it is evident throughout this pseudonymous letter a particular burden of the writer to reinforce apostolic authority and teaching for a community beset by purveyors of falsehood and competing allegiances.  But with “Majestic Glory” behind you, what’s the point of hiding under a bushel? Let the morning star rise and shine!

Moving on to the gospel lesson, what I find interesting is how the voice from the cloud makes explicit a connection to baptism (verbatim from the voice at Jesus’ baptism in Matthew 3) as if to reiterate for folks first and foremost that they are beloved children of God.  Baptism imparts (or reveals?) the glory of God’s love for all people and all Creation—a majestic glory that Jesus reveals to the disciples on the mountain.  Notice how Jesus’ face shines like the sun, his clothes dazzling white as snow (Cf., Mt. 28:3 and Rev. 1:14), and his Father’s voice emanates from a bright cloud.  This is more than the employment of metaphor to describe the ineffable—this is Matthew using the common experiences of nature to convey a beauty and glory manifest in all Creation for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.  As the text of a new hymn puts it, “God bestows on every sense beauty as hope’s evidence:  signs of what the earth will be just beyond what we can see.”  (in All Creation Sings, #1069).  There is a veritable rainbow of experiences available to the senses to live out God’s everlasting covenant of love for all people and all Creation, as that universal principle was established by God in Genesis 8-9.  (Don’t get me started talking about that biblical mountaintop experience!). New Creation is our vocation!

The emphatic add-on “listen to him!” underscores that what Jesus reveals by his identity and mission is the too-oft-ignored imperative to convey God’s steadfast love for the world, which is how Jesus lived his life and taught his disciples to obey (“to go and do likewise” would be more Luke’s way of describing discipleship, which I think I like better, but that’s just me  ).   

The last thought I’ll leave hearkens back to my comments above regarding worship.  Just as we might think of worship on Sunday morning as the highpoint of the week, so within the context of worship, we might think of Communion as the highpoint of the service—that is, the place/time where/when our closeness to God is most fully disclosed.  (Not to preclude this intimacy possible in other spaces/times in worship or otherwise (thus affirming the panentheist principle of God’s sacramental presence throughout all Creation!), but only here as a focal point in our worship experience).  Insight here comes from another new hymn “Look Who Gathers at Christ’s Table” (in All Creation Sings, #977):  “Clouds of light surround the table; ancient followers appear, saints confessing how they wrestled with their guilt, their doubt and fear.  Peter tells of his denying Christ was ever in his sight; Paul relates his fruitless efforts to obliterate the light.” (st. 2) So, in having confessed earlier in worship, “We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves, nor cherished the earth as a sacred trust and home to share with our kin,” we go up the mountain to experience the nearness of God, to taste the goodness of grain and grape, to hear assurance of God’s steadfast love and forgiveness, and be accompanied as beloved children to share Christ’s redeeming love with all the world.  Perhaps this pinnacle of worship can serve to transfigure us into Jesus’ image, who is “the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains all tings by his powerful word.” (Hebrews 1:3a). Which reminds me of that favorite hymn of many, ELW 671—consider changing the refrain slightly as follows:  “Shine, Jesus, shine, fill this land with the Father’s glory; blaze, Spirit, blaze, set our hearts on fire.  Flow, river, flow, flood creation with grace and mercy; send forth your Word, Lord, and let there be light!”  Like sun, snow and cloud on the mountain, consider how beauty and glory might radiate from land, fire, hearts, and river, bespeaking God’s steadfast love for all people and all Creation!  Wouldn’t that be a great way to come down the mountain?

Addendum

Consider adapting various liturgical elements to be more inclusive of all creation, and to help broaden minds to the true scope of salvation (the Christ event) beyond mere human wellbeing. Some examples:

For the Confession and Forgiveness, “Most merciful God, we confess that we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves. [God, who satisfies the desire of every living thing, have mercy on us. We confess that we have turned from you and given ourselves into the power of sin.] We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves [, nor cherished the earth as a sacred trust and home to share with our kin]. We are truly sorry and humbly repent. In your compassion forgive our sins, know and unknown, things we have done and things we have failed to do. Turn us again to you, and uphold us by your Spirit, so that we may live and serve you in newness of life through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

Or in place of Confession and Forgiveness, consider using this Assurance of God’s Mercy. 

We are a pilgrim people accompanied by God, who journeys beside us, accepting who we are, yet also going before us, beckoning us toward who we might become. 

But as we move through our days, other gods call to us, questions confound us, worry distracts, bitterness blinds, indifference lulls, we lose our way.

Sisters and brothers, we can trust God at all times, for the Holy One is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  With confidence, let us pour out a shared confession of our hearts:

We confess, steadfast God, that we wander from the path of love upon which we are meant to walk.  Fear divides us, prejudice hardens us, greed consumes us, loneliness discourages us.  Because of our neglect, the wellbeing of creation has suffered.

But God is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  By God’s mercy in + Christ Jesus, and by guidance of the Holy Spirit, our wayward hearts are set again upon the path of faithfulness and love, reoriented to our sacred purpose making all things new. We cherish this assurance of God’s mercy among ourselves, and are bold to proclaim it to the world in Jesus’ name.  Amen.

For the Eucharistic Prayer, consider using ELW Prayer Form VIII (pp. 67-68), “God of our weary years, God of our silent tears…” (for themes of light, exodus and liberation, especially with respect to affirming those of non-European descent),  or Prayer Forms IX (p. 68), “Holy God, you alone are holy, you alone are God…,” or X (p. 69), “O God most mighty, O God most merciful…” (for themes of the universe declaring God’s praise, and God’s creation of all things).

Finally, here’s a familiar hymn with new lyrics that can be used for various occasions.

Christ the Lord was There! (©2021 Krehl D. Stringer) to the tune “Go Tell It on the Mountain.”

Refrain   Go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and ev'rywhere;   go tell it on the mountain that Christ the Lord was there!

1 Before the void and silence, the Wisdom of the Word,

   Gave voice to good creation, its harmony and verve.  Refrain

2 Whence Sinai’s Mount was given, a law to order good,

   That Christ fulfilled at Calv’ry, no single earthling could.  Refrain

3 Upon Mount Tabor lonely, Christ shone as sun on earth,

    For prophets and disciples, a ray of promised mirth.  Refrain

4 Amid upheaving pressures, and mounting range of need,

    Christ sought a prayerful refuge, creation’s cry to plead.  Refrain

5 God calls us to Mount Zion, to worship, pray and feast,

    And thence to serve and welcome, the garden and the least.  Refrain

6 On all God’s holy mountain, with steadfast love and grace,

Shall Christ and by his Spirit, a new creation lace.  Refrain