Home Worship for the week of February 15
Morning Prayer: Radiant God, we come to You on the mountaintop to experience Your glory. You come to us in the valleys. We meet You in gladness in a place where heaven and earth collide. May our worship of You encourage us on the journey and make us aspire to reflect Your kingdom in the world. Transform us and keep us near to You. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Opening Hymn: #103 Immortal, Invisible, God, Only Wise
- Immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
almighty, victorious, Thy great name we praise. - Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light, nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might;
Thy justice like mountains high soaring above
Thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love. - To all, life Thou givest, to both great and small; in all life Thou livest, the true life of all;
we blossom and flourish as leaves on the tree,
and wither and perish, but naught changeth Thee. - Thou reignest in glory; Thou dwellest in light;
Thine angels adore Thee, all veiling their sight;
all laud we would render: O help us to see 'tis only the splendor of light hideth Thee.
Old Testament Lesson: Exodus 24:12-18
12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and wait there. I’ll give you the stone tablets with the instructions and the commandments that I’ve written in order to teach them.”
13 So Moses and his assistant Joshua got up, and Moses went up God’s mountain. 14 Moses had said to the elders, “Wait for us here until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur will be here with you. Whoever has a legal dispute may go to them.”
15 Then Moses went up the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The Lord’s glorious presence settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from the cloud. 17 To the Israelites, the Lord’s glorious presence looked like a blazing fire on top of the mountain. 18 Moses entered the cloud and went up the mountain. Moses stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.
Prayers of Intercession: (CORE, adapted) Let us pray that the light of Christ may shine upon the Church, the world, and all people according to their need.
Holy Lord, In the transfiguration of Jesus, we see Your glory and we see what everyone joined to Jesus will be like. Thank You for this vision of our wholeness in Jesus. Thank You for showing us that Jesus truly is all in all. Thank You for His suffering and death, which transfigures our own. Thank You for the vision of His glory, which He lovingly pours upon all who cling to Him in faith.
Lift up Your Church. Make it a lamp, radiating Jesus’ light and life. Make it a place where sinners eat and drink in Your presence, and live. Make it a place where cleverly devised myths are confounded by the glorious truth of the Gospel. Make it a place where all are fashioned into the image and likeness of Jesus our Lord.
Encourage our congregation and make our every word and action like clear crystal, through which the radiance of Jesus’ love shines unimpeded upon everyone we meet.
Shine Your light on this death-shadowed world, its people, and its leaders. Enlighten minds to seek Your truth, and purify hearts to delight in doing Your will. Turn us from being enemies of You, of one another, and of our own eternal good. Make us into Your loyal subjects, sisters and brothers to one another, wise stewards of creation, and lovers of Your Beloved Son.
Bring comfort into the lives of all who sit in the shadows of suffering and sorrow. Let Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, rise upon them with healing in His wings. Let sorrow be turned to joy; fear into hope; and despair into faith in Your love.
All these things, and whatever else you see that we need, grant to us, dear Father, for the sake of Your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray together by saying …
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us, not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.
Offering spotlight: Next Sunday evening – Soup-er Bowl. Next Sunday evening, come to enjoy a bowl or two of homemade soup. The family from The Bridge will join us in a lighthearted competition to see which church can collect the most items or cash. Our donations will stock the Blessings Box. The Bridge will stock the student pantry at Vo Tech. Come. Eat. Enjoy the company and good food. Help us win the Golden Bowl to Tackle Hunger in the Soup-er bowl of Caring.
Offering prayer: Radiant God, You meet us in moments of mystery and transformation, calling us to listen, to follow, and to give ourselves in love. As we offer these gifts, we confess our impatience with waiting and our longing for clarity, even when You speak from the cloud. Let these offerings be more than habit; let them reflect the light of Christ we have glimpsed on the mountaintop and the hope we carry into the valleys below. Use them—and us—to shine Your love where shadows linger, until all Your beloved children know they are seen, named, and cherished. In the name of Your Beloved Son, we pray. Amen. (Discipleship Ministries)
Hymn of Preparation: #399 Take My Life and Let It Be Consecrated
- Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days; Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move at the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be swift and beautiful for Thee.
- Take my voice, and let me sing always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be filled with messages from Thee.
Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect, and use every power as Thou shalt choose.
- Take my will, and make it Thine; it shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own; it shall be Thy royal throne.
Take my love, my Lord, I pour at Thy feet its treasure-store.
Take myself and I will be ever, only, all for Thee.
Scripture: Matthew 17:1-9 NRSV
17 Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. 2 And He was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became dazzling white. 3 Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with Him. 4 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 5 While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved;[b] with Him I am well pleased; listen to Him!” 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. 7 But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” 8 And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Message: Pastor Becky
I have had the privilege of seeing a lot of photographs. You could say it's an occupational hazard. Folks show me wedding photos and old family photos. I get to go through the dusty boxes of collected congregational life photos. Each time it's an invitation into a deeper relationship. Our photographs help tell our stories. Some folks are quick to hand you their photo albums or quick to show you pictures of their children or grandchildren. Others bring them to me slowly, holding back a bit just to be certain I'm interested or invested.
Of all of the photographs, my favorites are those of grandparents or great grandparents looking into the face of their newborn grandchild. The photograph captures more than the subjects. It captures the moment of connection with the mystery of life. When they think about every decision that led to this moment – the decisions that they may have second guessed – the decisions that were made hastily – the decisions that were over thought … what I'm looking at is more than what I see. In those photographs, the whole universe is on display.
We preserve the moment, yet it plays out over and over throughout all of humanity. It shows coming face to face with the mystery of life. We have many face to face moments with mystery. If you're in the presence of a squealing, giggling child, you've beheld the mystery of deep joy.
When we recall a time of confession and experience true forgiveness from God or another person, when you are consumed by a complete feeling of redemption, it's the mystery of grace. God's love pouring out and filling your brokenness, and knowing that you have been made whole.
Then there are times that we sit with those dying, waiting for God to bring relief and new life. We come face to face with the mystery of death.
These moments are moments of transfiguration, when we see something revealed that has always been there, waiting for us to discover it. Sometimes we see it, sometimes we don't. Yet the mystery has always been there. Each moment is unique, distinct and unrepeatable, yet the same. They hold in common this glow of the light of God's presence. They are moments of pure grace. We cannot manufacture them. There isn't a formula to follow. We can't stage them. We can't fake them.
These moments come and it is as if no one else is there. The distractions are held at bay, and we can experience God's grace wash over us as we look deeply into all of the mysteries of God: mysteries of life, joy, forgiveness, and even death. All of them are unspeakable moments of beauty, illuminated by God's love.
They bond and bind us together as we come face to face with the fullness of God. Within these moments, there is nothing else. That moment holds the entire world in it. Nothing else matters because everything belongs – the baby, the child, the pardoner, the grief – all belong because it unites us with God, with another person, and sometimes beautifully reconnects us with ourselves.
Within those moments, heaven and earth, divinity and humanity, time and eternity come together to reveal what has always been in front of us. If only we would take the time to see and to be present for the moment.
Being present and taking the time is what led to the experience on the mountaintop for Peter, James and John with Jesus. Jesus transfigured before them. Scripture says He shone brightly and His clothes were dazzling white. Yet nothing about Jesus had changed. He was the same as He was at the bottom of the mountain. On the mountaintop, Jesus didn't become divine, He'd always been divine. Jesus was always the physical manifestation of the divine, containing the Law (Moses) and the Prophets (Elijah).
What changed was Peter, James and John's ability to see. It wasn't that Jesus changed. Jesus had always been filled with God's glory; divine light on that mountain. Their sight was healed, vision corrected, cured of the blindness hindering them from seeing the world transfigured. They now beheld the sight capable of God's holiness.
In that moment they saw heaven and earth as living holiness. The earth was able to hold heaven and heaven was able to be held on the earth. This revelation that where Jesus is can be both dirt and divinity. The earth isn't disqualified from seeing and holding the holy.
Each time we experience a transfiguring event, our vision is healed and we can see with God's eyes. Transfiguration isn't so much what we see, but how we see. There's a difference between seeing with physical eyes and seeing with transfigured eyes. These transfigured eyes are eyes of our heart, the heart that God speaks to, the heart we feed with prayer, scripture study, fellowship, and service.
If we see with only physical eyes, we will always be looking for love, bored with life, joyless, captive to guilt and in fear of death. We have to choose which eyes we will use to see. If we live with the mindset of what we see is what we get, we then have to decide what it is that we want. Our physical sight will reveal to us the world around us just giving us information. But transfigured eyes won't let us deny or ignore the mysteries of God surrounding us. They won't allow us to be observers. They call us to witness and act.
When the eyes of our hearts see joy, we speak it. When we see suffering, we move to relieve it. It is replacing helplessness with hopefulness because this world contains the holiness of Jesus. Because He is where His disciples are. Not just disciples of the past, but you, me, and with all who follow Jesus. We are called to give voice and service to the Kingdom brought near.
Closing Hymn: #400 Come, Thou Fount of every Blessing
- Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
streams of mercy, never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it, mount of Thy redeeming love. - Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by Thy help I'm come;
and I hope, by Thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger, interposed His precious blood. - O to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;
here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for Thy courts above.
The blessing: May the Lord bless you and keep you and make His face shine upon you this week.
Go Now in Peace: Go now in peace. Never be afraid. God will go with you each hour of ev’ry day. Go now in faith, steadfast strong and true. Know He will guide you in all you do. Go now in love and show you believe. Reach out to others, so all the world can see. God will be there, watching from above. Go now in peace, in faith, and in love.
