Opening music – the ash grove arranged and played by Anne Crosby Gaudet
Introduction
Today we start by marking St David’s day (which was yesterday March 1st) before moving to think about the transfiguration of Christ).
Call to worship
St David said
“Brothers and sisters, be joyful and keep your faith and your creed and do the little things that you heard and seen of me. As for me, I shall walk the way which our forebears went.”
Collect
God our Father,
you gave Saint David to the people of Wales
to uphold the faith:
encouraged by his example,
may we joyfully hold fast to the things
which lead to eternal life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
to whom with you and the Holy Spirit
be all honour and glory,
now and for ever. Amen.
HYMN Calon Lân translation by Arthur Bellis
1 I’d not ask a life that’s easy,
Gold and pearls so little mean,
Rather seek a heart that’s joyful,
Heart that’s honest, heart that’s clean
Heart that’s clean and filled with virtue
Fairer far than lilies white
Only pure hearts praise God truly
Praise him all the day and night
2 Why should I seek earthly treasures,
On swift wings thy fly away,
Pure clean hearts bring greater riches
That for life eternal stay.
3 Dawn and sunset still I’m searching’
Reaching on a wing of song,
Give me Lord, through Christ my Saviour,
That clean heart for which I long.
Prayer of Adoration and Confession – (Presbyterian Church of Canada – adapted)
God of grace and God of glory,
you reveal your presence to the world
in radiant glory and gentle whispers,
on mountain tops and lowly plains,
in classrooms and hospital beds,
in homes and churches,
in the silence of nature and the sounds of cities.
Yours is the presence that pushes past our fears,
yours is the touch that transforms our doubts.
We come before you to celebrate your goodness,
to focus on your light,
and offer you all praise, honour and thanksgiving,
for you are our God and we are your people,
now and always.
In your mercy, hear us as we confess our sins:
Silence
God of mercy and forgiveness,
facing the light of your goodness,
we confess all that keeps us from sharing that goodness.
We are distracted by the desire to have more than we need.
We focus on our own disappointments
rather than trust the future you create.
We feel discouraged by world events,
and fail to claim the hope you hold out to us in Christ.
Transfigure us by your grace,
and shape us into disciples who follow Christ’s leading each day. Amen.
Silence
Assurance of Pardon
Do not be afraid. God’s forgiveness shines into the world.
The morning star rises in our hearts and we are made new.
Know that you are forgiven and forgive one another in Christ’s name.
Reading exodus 34: 29-35 (NRSV)
Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. Afterwards all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; but whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him
Psalm 99 (StF 821)
The Lord is king;
let the peoples tremble!
He sits enthroned upon the cherubim;
let the earth quake!
The Lord is great in Zion;
he is exalted over all the peoples.
Let them praise your great and awesome name.
Holy is he!
Mighty King, lover of justice, you have established equity;
you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
Extol the Lord our God; worship at his footstool.
Holy is he!
Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
Samuel also was among those who called on his name.
They cried to the Lord, and he answered them.
He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud;
they kept his decrees, and the statutes that he gave them.
O Lord our God, you answered them; you were a forgiving God to them,
but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
Extol the Lord our God,
and worship at his holy mountain;
for the Lord our God is holy.
From The New Revised Standard Version
Reproduced from Singing the Faith Electronic Words Edition, number 821
Words: © 1989, 1995 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America www.ncccusa.org/newbtu/btuhome.html Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Reading 2 Corinthians 3: 12 – 4:2 (NRSV)
Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside. But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart. We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practise cunning or to falsify God’s word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.
HYMN StF 157 God has spoken – by his prophets
1 God has spoken — by his prophets,
spoken his unchanging word;
each from age to age proclaiming
God, the one, the righteous Lord.
’Mid the world’s despair and turmoil
one firm anchor holding fast:
God eternal reigns forever,
God the first, and God the last.
2 God has spoken — by Christ Jesus,
Christ, the everlasting Son,
brightness of the Father’s glory,
with the Father ever one;
spoken by the Word incarnate,
God from God, ere time was born;
Light from Light, to earth descending,
Christ, revealing God to all.
3 God is speaking — by the Spirit,
speaking to our hearts again,
in the age-long word expounding
God’s own message, now as then.
Through the rise and fall of nations
one sure faith is standing fast;
God still speaks, the Word unchanging,
God the first, and God the last.
George Wallace Briggs (1875–1959)
Reproduced from Singing the Faith Electronic Words Edition, number 157
Words: © 1953, renewed 1981 The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. Administered by Hope Publishing Company, Carol Stream, IL 60188, USA. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Gospel Luke 9: 28 – 36 (NRSV)
Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray. And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah’—not knowing what he said. While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud. Then from the cloud came a voice that said, ‘This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!’ When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.
Reflection
Introduction
In many ways it is easier to say what the Transfiguration is not. It is not a Clark Kent/Superman moment where the mild mannered reporter is revealed as the other worldly hero, a slipping of a disguise to reveal the real person underneath all the time. It is not that Jesus has been playing at being human and now the disciples see the real him – divine as God is. For that would undermine, deny even, what lies at the heart of the mystery of the incarnation that God became man.
A truth that lies at the centre of our understanding of the revelation of the God in Jesus, and one that we can struggle to get our minds round – fully human and fully divine. And we are in good company. Wesley wrote that superb summary:
“Our God contacted to a span, incomprehensibly made man”
Or a longer mediation on the mystery of the incarnation in the hymn “Glory be to God on high”.
Mystery
I think we need to be careful how we approach this story. There is a tendency for modern minds to take it all too literally. In placing the reading at this point in the lectionary cycle we have divorced it from its context. During Lent we will read about Jesus asking the disciples “Who do you say that I am?” and Peter’s great confession that Jesus is the Christ, the promised one.
The transfiguration follows that confession, in Luke’s account eight days later Jesus takes Peter, James and John up the mountain. There would appear to have been a period of preparation, indeed the disciples are heavy with sleep – Are they exhausted from the intense time of making ready for a mystical experience?
To say the Transfiguration is a mystical experience is not to make it any less real, but recognise its profound importance. These three disciples are taken into the heart of the wonder of the revelation of God in Jesus, and we are invited to share with them in awe and wonder.
I started to look online to see what painters had made of this story as it is often through art that we are taken into places of wonder and mystery. I was a little disappointed -many seemed either too literal or romanticised with Jesus floating in mid-air looking somewhat fey.
But refining the online search you begin to find images like these:
The Transfiguration by Emily McGowin
and below:
“Transfiguration of Jesus” (Oil on Linen) by Armando Alemdar Ara. Wikimedia Commons.
Which invite you into a world of light and wonder. As you look at the images you begin to see the possibility of a person or people.
There are a number of poets that have taken their inspiration from the Transfiguration, such as Malcolm Guite.
Transfiguration
For that one moment, ‘in and out of time’,
On that one mountain where all moments meet,
The daily veil that covers the sublime
In darkling glass fell dazzled at his feet.
There were no angels full of eyes and wings
Just living glory full of truth and grace.
The Love that dances at the heart of things
Shone out upon us from a human face
And to that light the light in us leaped up,
We felt it quicken somewhere deep within,
A sudden blaze of long-extinguished hope
Trembled and tingled through the tender skin.
Nor can this blackened sky, this darkened scar
Eclipse that glimpse of how things really are.
Light to light
I was struck by the lines:
“The Love that dances at the heart of things
Shone out upon us from a human face
And to that light the light in us leaped up,”
The light in us reminds us that we are made in the image and likeness of God. Avoiding the old trap of making a god in our own image we find instead that God has made us in God’s own image.
If we believe that God is love, then to be made in the image if God is to be made for love and for loving.
Which means that we are not merely to reflect that love back to God but to share it with others – back to the two great commandments on which hang all the law and the prophets – love of God and love of our neighbours (neighbours including not only those we find hard to like, but our enemies as well).
And there seems to be something of an offer of a step change. Moses reflected the glory of God but it faded over time. The Epistle though reminds us that we, having received the gift of God’s grace, are open to the ongoing transformation of the Spirit.
“And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.”
But our progress is faltering and we will make mistakes and find ourselves asking for forgiveness. But then we are realists – we know that we are far from perfect.
The disguise
We talk about shining light in dark corners, are shining a light on it (some issue or other). There are those who seek to create a façade behind which they hide. Sometimes this can be for very good reasons, they are frightened of persecution and discrimination. For example it wasn’t unusual at one time in the UK for gay men to marry in order to convince others that they were straight, and the woman would sometimes be referred as a beard, i.e. there as a disguise.
But as I have been writing this I have been reflecting on the news, and goodness knows where we will be by Sunday. It’s really quite exhausting.
Here on the political stage we have entered a realm where there are leaders who are far from seeking the common good. Who can we trust, whose motives are true? How do we see beyond the image that leaders, billionaires etc project? How do we see the real person?
Cartoon mysteries often end with the mask being pulled off the villain to reveal their true identity. There are those for whom Trump or Putin can do no wrong – even unmasking them does not shake their belief that these are great men who have no ulterior motives. Yet in the portrayal of Gaza as a real estate opportunity and a grab for mineral rights in Ukraine and in the casual use of Nazi salutes and support of the far right surely it is self evident what the true nature or Trumps and his supporters is?
Looking at some of these leaders and business men, I am reminded of another poem by Malcom Guite which includes the lines:
“But every Herod dies, and comes alone
To stand before the Lamb upon the throne.”
Which contain an ultimate hope, but I think we should be working for justice for people in the here and now, the Kingdom of God as present reality as well as future hope.
“We felt it quicken somewhere deep within,
A sudden blaze of long-extinguished hope”
The last Sunday before Lent
I don’t know why the compliers of the lectionary decided to place the story of the Transfiguration here – the lectionary always defaults to this reading on the Sunday before Lent, irrespective of the number of Sundays in this season of ordinary time since Epiphany.
Perhaps it is to remind us of what lies beyond Lent, beyond Good Friday and the horror of the crucifixion. To the glory of Easter Sunday and the resurrection of Christ, when all, not just the select few present on at the Transfiguration, can see the fulness of the glory of God revealed in Jesus.
In Luke’s Gospel shortly after the Transfiguration the focus of the action changes. Luke tells us that Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem. A journey that would take him into the heart of the political and religious scene – onto an even more public stage where he could not hide and which, given his teaching and actions, would invertible lead to conflict with authority.
Perhaps the mystical experience of the Transfiguration sustained both Jesus and that inner circle of disciples in the weeks and days that lay ahead.
Perhaps the knowledge of the transformation and revaluation of God’s glory in Christ and the work of the Spirit in us as children of God will sustain us not just through Lent but through the months and years ahead as we seek to live authentic lives as Christ’s disciples. Amen.
HYMN StF 261 Transfigured Christ
1 Transfigured Christ, none comprehends
your majesty, whose splendour stuns
all waking souls; whose light transcends
the brightness of a thousand suns!
2 You stand with Moses on the hill,
you speak of your new exodus:
the way through death, you will fulfil
by dying helpless on the cross.
3 You stand here with Elijah too,
by whom the still small voice was heard:
and you, yourself, will prove God true,
made mute in death, Incarnate Word.
4 If we could bear your brightness here
and stay for ever in your light,
then we would conquer grief and fear,
and scorn the terrors of the night.
5 But, from the heights, you bring us down,
to share earth’s agonies with you,
where piercing thorns are made your crown
and death, accepted, proves love true.
6 Majestic Christ, God’s well-loved Son,
if we must share your grief and loss,
transfigure us, when all is done,
with glory shining from your cross.
Alan Gaunt (b. 1935) Reproduced from Singing the Faith Electronic Words Edition, number 261
Words: © 1991, Stainer & Bell Ltd, 23 Gruneisen Road, London N3 1DZ www.stainer.co.uk
Prayers of intercession (Peter Smith)
Take time to call to mind the people and places that need our prayers. Think about the situations in the news.
Silence
For all in authority that their actions will be free from evil;
That they will seek justice and rescue the oppressed.
For refugees and asylum seekers
That they may find welcome and hospitality
For the isolated and marginalised
That they may find welcome and hospitality
For all in whatever need
That they may find welcome and hospitality
For the church and ourselves
That we may be places and people of welcome and hospitality.
For the church and for ourselves that our actions will be free from evil
that we may do good, as we seek justice for all God’s people. Amen
The Lord’s prayer
Our Father in heaven hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever.
Prayer of dedication (Ken Stokes)
Loving God, by the power of your Spirit bless all that has been given in your service, money and standing orders, and time, effort, and prayer. May each sacrifice we make serve to proclaim your Kingdom of love made known to us by your Son Jesus Christ our Lord who gave everything for us. Amen.
HYMN 465 Guide me O thou great Jehovah
1 Guide me, O thou great Jehovah,
pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but thou art mighty;
hold me with thy powerful hand:
Bread of heaven, Bread of heaven,
feed me now and evermore;
feed me now and evermore.
2 Open thou the crystal fountain
whence the healing stream shall flow;
let the fiery, cloudy pillar
lead me all my journey through:
strong Deliverer, strong Deliverer,
be thou still my strength and shield;
be thou still my strength and shield.
3 When I tread the verge of Jordan
bid my anxious fears subside;
death of death, and hell’s destruction,
land me safe on Canaan’s side:
songs of praises, songs of praises,
I will ever give to thee;
I will ever give to thee.
William Williams (1717–1791)
translated by Peter Williams (1727–1796)
Reproduced from Singing the Faith Electronic Words Edition, number 465 .
Blessing (©Nathan Nettleton)
Go now, and speak of what you have seen of God’s glory.
Do not cling to the holy moments
when heaven overshadows you,
but as the Lord lives, listen to Christ and follow him
from the places of revelation
to the places of mission.
And may God shine the light of glory into your hearts.
May Christ be with you and never leave you.
And may the Spirit renew the image of God within you. Amen.
Closing music – John Weaver: Prayer for Transfiguration Day
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