• Transfigured and Transformed, Luke 9:28-36   (see below)
  Rev. Karen Goltz                
   

• A MOUNTAIN-TOP EXPERIENCE, Luke 9:28-36,( 37-43), Rev. Dr. David Rogne             
   
• Invitation to Prayer , Luke 9:28-36, by Rev. Randy Quinn           
   
• Take Time, Make Time to Pray, Luke 9:28-36. by Dr. Cynthia Huling Hummel   
   
• Acting With Boldness, 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2, Randy Quinn
    
• Prayer Mountain, Luke 9:28-36, (37-43), Rev. Tom Hall  
   

• Moses or Jesus, Luke 9:28-36, Hugh R. Stone  
    

• Transfiguration Drama, 2Corinthians 3:12-4:2, Luke 9:28-36 by DSS  

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Transfigured and Transformed
based on Luke 9:28-36
Rev. Karen Goltz

One of the more difficult things I had to learn in seminary was vocabulary.  Not Greek or Hebrew vocabulary (although that was difficult, too), but church vocabulary.  Have you ever noticed that we have a different ‘churchy’ name for things that could probably just as easily be called by a more familiar, non-churchy word?  For example, I am speaking from a pulpit, not a podium.  Actually, I’m not even speaking, or lecturing.  I’m preaching.  The book holder is a lectern.  The table is an altar.

Even the simplest things have fancy names – some churches have a flagon as part of their communionware, not a pitcher; the bread sits on a paten not a plate; the cup is called a chalice, and the baptismal water bowl is called a font.  Pastors and assisting ministers often wear albs—not robes—to signify the fact that we are engaged in God’s work in God’s house.

When I’m teaching someone new to the faith about the basics of Lutheran worship, I’m torn between using the special vocabulary and using ordinary words for everything.  On one hand I feel that I should teach this special vocabulary because it does make things here in the spiritual world of the Church seem just a little more special and a little more holy.  This special vocabulary has been passed down from one generation to another for ages, and it does help to designate this space as a place away from the world and the ordinariness of our normal day to day work.  This special status is also a reminder that we are in this world but not of this world.  That we are God’s people, not the people of the world.

But on the other hand, this special status and the special vocabulary can separate us from people who are not part of this particular church culture.  It can be a barrier and make us seem like we’re a closed club with a secret handshake or a whispered password.  I know from personal experience how uncomfortable it is to walk into a Lutheran church for the first time and find out the hard way that I’m going to have to somehow navigate through the service flipping all through a hymnal or two plus juggle a bulletin and maybe some inserts.  And yet we want people to know that this is a special place.  It’s a place that we have set aside to do the most important thing in our week.  It’s a place to come together and pray and worship and seek fellowship with other Christians.

Do these special words hurt us or help us?  I don’t know.  Sometimes they’re a stumbling block, even to those already fairly well-acquainted with church life, and so require a bit more explanation.

The word that we use for this last Sunday of Epiphany (otherwise known as the season of Jesus’ revelation as the light of the world) is transfiguration.  That one is one of those special words in our vocabulary that hurts us.  It hurts us not only in our outreach to those who are here as our guests and visitors, but it also hurts us—the gathered believers—since we have made that word so big and powerful.  Jesus went up on the mountain top and he was TRANSFIGURED—can’t you just hear the capital letters there?—the appearance of his face changed, his clothes began to shine, the revelation of God descended upon the cloud, and the three disciples who saw it all understood that Jesus’ life and ministry were taking a huge turn.  In the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke, this section of the story of Jesus is a turning point—it’s where Jesus ‘set his face toward Jerusalem’ (Luke 9:51-52) and journey there to die and then rise again.  [continue]