Sermon illustrations for Transfiguration Sunday, Cycle A (2011)
Illustration
Object:
Exodus 24:12-18
"Let the record show..." Parliamentary procedure can be an arduous process. Student organizations at high schools and colleges are often taught "parley-pro," also known as "Robert's Rules of Order," as a system for self-government during meetings. Sometimes it's like pulling teeth to get students to follow the rules of order -- after all, they are used to talking to others in the group in casual situations, so all the formal requests and motions are cumbersome and seem to slow progress. But these rules are genuinely helpful in recording what goes on. The detailed minutes required of these meetings create a comprehensive record of what went on -- what plans were put in place, what objections or problems were discussed, who was put in charge of what. Today's Old Testament reading, in fact, seems to mimic these detailed parliamentary-procedure meeting minutes.
Leah T.
Exodus 24:12-18
In Tom Wilson's cartoon, Ziggy, who always seems to be struggling with his place in life, is standing in the doorway of his home. A gentleman has come to the door to greet him, carrying a salesman's case with OPPORTUNITY written on its side. But the salesman jovial says to Ziggy, "Don't get too excited, I only knocked to ask for directions!"
It seems when opportunity does knock on our door, we passively let it go to the neighbor's instead of seizing the opportunity for ourselves. Moses in our lesson could have stood back and passively watched the proceedings before him; but instead, as the scripture reads, "Moses entered the cloud."
In our call to Christian service, are we going to passively watch or aggressively step into the cloud, which is, entering into the presence of God?
Ron L.
2 Peter 1:16-21
No one can argue that technology is developing at an unbelievable rate. For instance, take voice recognition software. We now have computers that can recognize human speech and translate that speech into text or respond to that speech by performing a certain function. What was once limited to the realm of science fiction or perhaps major security systems is now present even in our cell phones! Does the phrase, "Please say a command" ring a bell?
Peter was an eyewitness to the Jesus' transfiguration. In that amazing, once-in-a-lifetime moment, he heard the voice of God through a cloud, a voice that no one on earth could have reproduced. If there was anything that would convince anyone of God's existence and supremacy, that would have been it. Yet amazingly, Peter points to something else as an even more convincing proof of God's glory -- the prophetic Word of God, "to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place" (v. 19).
Craig K.
Matthew 17:1-9
"So Jesus and his disciples go up a mountain, where they meet up with Moses and Elijah..." It almost sounds like the start of a joke. "Did you hear the one where three nuns and a penguin walk into a bar...?" It has all the elements of a joke. The normal setting -- a mountain, in place of today's obligatory "bar." At first, the usual people -- Jesus and his disciples -- but then the kicker: Moses and Elijah. It's gotta be a joke. Those things don't go together. Like three nuns and a penguin, you know something is up when you get that wacky combination of "dead and famous" with "alive and relatively unknown." So what's the punch line? The punch line is that there isn't a punch line. This isn't a joke. It is something else entirely.
Leah T.
Matthew 17:1-9
In 1898, Florence Nightingale wrote a book on nursing that was titled, Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It is Not. The book not only discussed the humanitarian aspects of nursing, but presented the argument that women are equal to men. She wrote, "You do not want the effect of your good things to be, 'How wonderful for a woman!' nor would you be deterred from good things by hearing it said, 'Yes, but she ought not to have done this, because it is not suitable for a woman.' But you want to do the thing that is good, whether it is 'suitable for a woman' or not.
It does not make a thing good, that it is remarkable that a woman should have been able to do it. Neither does it make a thing bad, which would have been good had a man done it, that it has been done by a woman. Oh, leave these jargons, and go your way straight to God's work, in simplicity and singleness of heart.' "
There are many forms of transfiguration that this Sunday should call to our attention. On the mountaintop the disciples saw Jesus transfigured into the Son of God and realized his deity. At first they were confused, but then they followed. Nightingale desired to have men to see women transfigured to individuals of equal status. This Sunday, let us reflect on our own prejudicial attitudes. In so doing there will be a transfiguration as we see the deity within the soul of every person.
Ron L.
Matthew 17:1-9
We all have those strange dreams. The dreams where your sibling or best friend shows up looking nothing like themselves. Instead of being a petite brunette, your friend enters the dream looking like a large Chinese woman. Or instead of having short, dark, curly hair, your brother has long blonde dreadlocks. But the strangest part is that you know who these people are, even if they don't match the descriptions of those you know and love. In the context of the dream, their looks always seem normal -- it's only later, when you are retelling it, that you wonder "How could I have possibly known who that was?" I wonder if some of the same thing happened to Jesus' disciples. How could they have known what Moses and Elijah looked like? Were they wearing nametags -- "Hello, my name is Moses, pleased to meet you"? Or is a heavenly vision more like a dream, where you accept all sorts of improbabilities without batting an eye?
Leah T.
"Let the record show..." Parliamentary procedure can be an arduous process. Student organizations at high schools and colleges are often taught "parley-pro," also known as "Robert's Rules of Order," as a system for self-government during meetings. Sometimes it's like pulling teeth to get students to follow the rules of order -- after all, they are used to talking to others in the group in casual situations, so all the formal requests and motions are cumbersome and seem to slow progress. But these rules are genuinely helpful in recording what goes on. The detailed minutes required of these meetings create a comprehensive record of what went on -- what plans were put in place, what objections or problems were discussed, who was put in charge of what. Today's Old Testament reading, in fact, seems to mimic these detailed parliamentary-procedure meeting minutes.
Leah T.
Exodus 24:12-18
In Tom Wilson's cartoon, Ziggy, who always seems to be struggling with his place in life, is standing in the doorway of his home. A gentleman has come to the door to greet him, carrying a salesman's case with OPPORTUNITY written on its side. But the salesman jovial says to Ziggy, "Don't get too excited, I only knocked to ask for directions!"
It seems when opportunity does knock on our door, we passively let it go to the neighbor's instead of seizing the opportunity for ourselves. Moses in our lesson could have stood back and passively watched the proceedings before him; but instead, as the scripture reads, "Moses entered the cloud."
In our call to Christian service, are we going to passively watch or aggressively step into the cloud, which is, entering into the presence of God?
Ron L.
2 Peter 1:16-21
No one can argue that technology is developing at an unbelievable rate. For instance, take voice recognition software. We now have computers that can recognize human speech and translate that speech into text or respond to that speech by performing a certain function. What was once limited to the realm of science fiction or perhaps major security systems is now present even in our cell phones! Does the phrase, "Please say a command" ring a bell?
Peter was an eyewitness to the Jesus' transfiguration. In that amazing, once-in-a-lifetime moment, he heard the voice of God through a cloud, a voice that no one on earth could have reproduced. If there was anything that would convince anyone of God's existence and supremacy, that would have been it. Yet amazingly, Peter points to something else as an even more convincing proof of God's glory -- the prophetic Word of God, "to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place" (v. 19).
Craig K.
Matthew 17:1-9
"So Jesus and his disciples go up a mountain, where they meet up with Moses and Elijah..." It almost sounds like the start of a joke. "Did you hear the one where three nuns and a penguin walk into a bar...?" It has all the elements of a joke. The normal setting -- a mountain, in place of today's obligatory "bar." At first, the usual people -- Jesus and his disciples -- but then the kicker: Moses and Elijah. It's gotta be a joke. Those things don't go together. Like three nuns and a penguin, you know something is up when you get that wacky combination of "dead and famous" with "alive and relatively unknown." So what's the punch line? The punch line is that there isn't a punch line. This isn't a joke. It is something else entirely.
Leah T.
Matthew 17:1-9
In 1898, Florence Nightingale wrote a book on nursing that was titled, Notes on Nursing: What It Is, and What It is Not. The book not only discussed the humanitarian aspects of nursing, but presented the argument that women are equal to men. She wrote, "You do not want the effect of your good things to be, 'How wonderful for a woman!' nor would you be deterred from good things by hearing it said, 'Yes, but she ought not to have done this, because it is not suitable for a woman.' But you want to do the thing that is good, whether it is 'suitable for a woman' or not.
It does not make a thing good, that it is remarkable that a woman should have been able to do it. Neither does it make a thing bad, which would have been good had a man done it, that it has been done by a woman. Oh, leave these jargons, and go your way straight to God's work, in simplicity and singleness of heart.' "
There are many forms of transfiguration that this Sunday should call to our attention. On the mountaintop the disciples saw Jesus transfigured into the Son of God and realized his deity. At first they were confused, but then they followed. Nightingale desired to have men to see women transfigured to individuals of equal status. This Sunday, let us reflect on our own prejudicial attitudes. In so doing there will be a transfiguration as we see the deity within the soul of every person.
Ron L.
Matthew 17:1-9
We all have those strange dreams. The dreams where your sibling or best friend shows up looking nothing like themselves. Instead of being a petite brunette, your friend enters the dream looking like a large Chinese woman. Or instead of having short, dark, curly hair, your brother has long blonde dreadlocks. But the strangest part is that you know who these people are, even if they don't match the descriptions of those you know and love. In the context of the dream, their looks always seem normal -- it's only later, when you are retelling it, that you wonder "How could I have possibly known who that was?" I wonder if some of the same thing happened to Jesus' disciples. How could they have known what Moses and Elijah looked like? Were they wearing nametags -- "Hello, my name is Moses, pleased to meet you"? Or is a heavenly vision more like a dream, where you accept all sorts of improbabilities without batting an eye?
Leah T.
