Transfiguration of the Lord (Year 1, NL)

What Peter, James, and John see on the mountain cannot be neatly packaged for resale.

Vida Dutton Scudder, an early 20th-century radical, points Christians to solidarity and martyrdom.

It’s hard to let go of what we once had.

Following Jesus means the human things and the divine things will overlap.

God’s presence transfigures here, now, in the familiar.

Craig Detweiler draws on art history, psychology, and religion to argue that staring at ourselves can be an act of faith.

In Matthew 16, I see a particular classical ballet step.

In the eastern tradition, theosis—union with God—is the goal of the Christian life.

Through Christ, God dances.

There is no "on the mountain" and "off the mountain."

Matthew 17:1–9

Let’s build shrines, Peter says. He doesn’t know how to respond to a mystical mountaintop experience, and he’s afraid.

The Transfiguration has a hundred sermons in it. But to me the most touching element is the subplot.

Jesus’ transfiguration is a mystery that defies a straightforward explanation. I find that instead of clarifying anything about his unique nature, it only adds more confusion.

I grew up in Southern Baptist congregations. By the time I left high school I knew the four steps to salvation and the meaning of Jesus’ sacrificial death as a substitutionary atonement for my sins. I could articulate this understanding of salvation in clear and simple terms. Within the metanarrative of evangelical Christianity it made perfect sense and was logically coherent.

Then my fundamentalism began to unravel. 

As I read the headline yesterday, my heart began to pound and my throat closed up: “School Clerk In Georgia Persuaded Gunman To Lay Down Weapons.” This was a good story—ultimately a hopeful one—but all I could see was “school” and “gunman."

The pastor was prepared for questions about the Transfiguration. Instead, one first grader asked, "what does 'obviously' mean?"