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Listen
In the Transfiguration, we get the big spectacle event, so consuming with visual, power, and misunderstanding, we might fail to hear the voice in the middle of it all saying “listen to him.” Are we listening to Jesus any better than the disciples? Epiphany Last B | Mark 9:2-9 The story doesn’t begin at the…
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They Entered the Cloud
Following Jesus can be really hard. But in the Transfiguration, we have a story about following the path, even when it forces us to face our fears. Transfiguration | Luke 9:28-36 Jesus chose three disciples to join him up a mountain, for prayer. It must be an honor to be chosen. How special they must…
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Becoming Holy
There’s a weirdness on that mountain. If we’ve learned anything from our scripture, it might be to not go up mountains. Don’t seek those mountaintop experiences. Don’t do it. Weird stuff happens there. There: anything. Bushes burn, laws given, messiah’s transfigured, and voices come from nowhere to tell you stuff. Bright lights change our appearances…
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The Beloved
Before diving into the Transfiguration, we have to back up just a little. The Transfiguration is part 2. First, we have to discuss part 1. The Beloved (Day 27 of A Simple Lent) | Friday The second half of chapter 8 is the most important part of the gospel we call Mark. It is the great…
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Looking In the Wrong Direction
I commend to you these three words or ideas to listen for in this summary of our story, for they are at the heart of our Gospel passage for today: identity, participation, greatness. The Transfiguration and revealing the glory of GOD Epiphany LastC | Luke 9:28-36, [37-43a] As he came down from the mountain with…
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In the Middle
The Transfiguration, Peter, and how it feels in the inbetween. The middle, the hinge point in Mark is the end of chapter 8, when Jesus tells the disciples what is about to happen to him and to the movement, and the beginning of chapter 9, when Jesus is transfigured on the mountain. This is the…
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After the Mountaintop: listening/following Jesus
a Sermon for Epiphany LastA Text: Matthew 17:1-9 On another mountain We skip ahead to another mountain; more climbing, more experience with Jesus. Not a place of preaching. No Sermon on the Mount. This time is supernatural. Three followers go; the inner circle. The executive committee. Jesus invites them to follow Him up the mountain.…
