Worship Notes March 2, 2014

Worship Notes

The Transfiguration of Our Lord, Year A

March 2, 2014

The Season

It seems a long time since we, along with the Magi, followed the star to Bethlehem.  Our season of the Sundays after Epiphany comes to an appropriate conclusion with the Transfiguration of Our Lord. The first part of the season took us to John the Baptizer and his declaration, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” We were there when Jesus called his first disciples. Then, for four consecutive Sundays, we were on the “mountain” with Jesus and his disciples, overhearing Jesus preach his beloved and, at the same time, very challenging Sermon on the Mount. Today we are on another mountain, and we, along with the disciple Peter, exclaim, “Lord, it is good for us to be here!”

In Word

“This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”

The Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain is recorded in all three synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), as well as in 2 Peter, our Second Lesson for today. The event crosses barriers of time, as both Moses and Elijah are present (both having been dead for many centuries), and we hear the voice of God, who speaks creation into existence (Genesis 1).

“This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased . . .” We heard these very words from God at Jesus’ baptism, the only other instance of God’s voice recorded in the synoptic gospels. In the Transfiguration, however, God adds these words, “Listen to him.” From this point in the narrative, Moses and Elijah are gone from sight—only Jesus remains on the mountain, with the three awe-struck disciples, Peter, James, and John as witnesses.  Could it be that God is inviting—instructing—us to interpret all of Scripture through the lens of Jesus himself, through his life, death, and resurrection, through his love for the world?

Our lectionary pairs our Gospel with Moses receiving the Ten Commandments on cloud-covered Mount Sinai. It seems important revelations of God occur on mountains (thus we say, “mountain-top experience”)! Our Second Lesson is the Apostle Peter’s eye-witness account of that amazing event.

We are offered a choice of two psalms for today. Psalm 2:7 sings: “Let me announce the decree of the Lord, who said to me, ‘You are my son; this day have I begotten you.’” Psalm 99 sings of God speaking to the people of the Exodus “out of the pillar of cloud” (v. 7) and concludes, “Proclaim the greatness of the Lord and worship upon God’s holy hill; for the Lord our God is the Holy One.”

In Song

Our Song of the Day, “Drawn to the Light,” by contemporary lyricist and composer John Ylvisaker, takes imagery for its three stanzas from Isaiah 9:1-4 (“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light”), our Second Lesson from 2 Peter (“until the day dawns”), and Revelation 21:22-26 (“its lamp is the Lamb”), respectively. The tune name, La Crosse, comes from the Wisconsin city on the Mississippi, as the song was first sung there in 1987 at a conference of the three predecessor bodies of the Women of the ELCA.