Listening on the Mountain: Transfiguration, Power, and Liberation
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For February 15, 2026:
Listening on the Mountain: Transfiguration, Power, and Liberation
by Nazish Naseem
Matthew 17:1-9
The Transfiguration shows more than Jesus’ divine glory — it challenges the usual ideas of power and authority. By connecting Moses, liberation, and moments of social struggle today, it asks: How do we turn what we see and know about God into responsibility? Can moments of truth change us, our communities, and even nations?
Transfiguration, Power, and Liberation
In Matthew 17:1-9, Jesus is clearly transfigured, but the impact on his disciples is often overlooked. If we only see this story as a spiritual vision, we miss how it interacts with the real political and social world in which Jesus lived. Against the backdrop of Roman rule, the Transfiguration speaks of freedom, courage, and a different kind of power.
Jesus climbs a high mountain with Peter, James, and John. There, his face shines like the sun, and his clothes become dazzling white — signs of God’s authority and presence. This happens away from Rome’s centers of power, offering a quiet challenge to the empire’s use of force and intimidation. The Transfiguration shows a vision of leadership rooted in love, justice, and divine truth, not violence.
The appearance of Moses and Elijah is central to Matthew’s socio-political framing. Moses represents liberation from imperial oppression, while Elijah embodies prophetic confrontation with unjust authority. Their presence situates Jesus within Israel’s tradition of deliverance while simultaneously redefining it. Jesus is not a messiah who mirrors imperial violence; rather, he fulfills Israel’s hopes through obedience, suffering, and transformative love.
For the disciples, this moment is both amazing and unsettling. God’s voice declares: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him.” To listen is to follow Jesus faithfully, even when it puts them in conflict with the powers of the world. The Transfiguration teaches that following Jesus comes with cost, reshaping our understanding of glory, leadership, and freedom.
In the News: Transfiguring Moments in Public Life
The deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis mark a profound transformation in the national conversation about federal law enforcement and accountability. Video evidence and eyewitness accounts challenged official narratives, exposing the human cost of enforcement practices and sparking widespread scrutiny. (People, 2026) Politically, Sen. Rand Paul held hearings into ICE tactics, signaling that federal enforcement had become a matter of ethical and constitutional oversight. (Politico, Jan. 26, 2026).
Public discourse extended to media and cultural spheres, with Joe Rogan questioning the direction of aggressive federal tactics. (NBC News, Jan. 2026) The federal response — withdrawing approximately 700 agents from Minneapolis — demonstrates tangible accountability under public and political pressure. (Time, Feb. 2026)
While the deaths themselves cannot be undone, the events have irreversibly reshaped expectations of transparency, justice, and the ethical limits of state power, making Minnesota a pivotal moment in America’s ongoing reckoning with systemic inequities.
Ultimately, the transformation lies in the irreversibility of the shift. Minneapolis has redefined the moral and political landscape of federal enforcement, making it impossible to treat such deaths as routine or unremarkable. What was previously seen as a narrow operational matter has become a national reckoning with systemic inequities, the ethical limits of authority, and the demand for transparency and justice. In this sense, the events in Minnesota serve as a hinge moment, reshaping expectations, amplifying accountability, and recalibrating the boundaries of state power in American society.
Such moments are not redemptive in themselves, yet they reveal realities that cannot remain hidden. Like the disciples witnessing Jesus’ transformation on the mountain, the public is confronted with unsettling clarity about power, violence, and whose lives are most vulnerable under existing systems. The critical question that follows is whether this revelation will lead to sustained transformation or fade into familiar patterns of denial and inertia.
In the Sermon: From Revelation to Responsibility
In Matthew 17:1-9, Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain. There, he was transfigured — his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Moses and Elijah appeared with him, and a bright cloud covered them. From the cloud, a voice said, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” The disciples were afraid and fell to the ground. Peter, wanting to hold on to the moment, said, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. Let me build shelters.”
Peter’s words show something very human: a desire to stay in the moment of glory. But Jesus led them back down. God’s glory, as Patrick Schreiner notes in The Transfiguration of Christ, is not meant for isolation; it is meant to equip disciples for action in the world. Spiritual experiences are meant to move us, not just comfort us, preparing us to face life’s challenges with courage, clarity, and love (Schreiner, 2021).
This is clear today. In Minnesota, the deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti left families grieving and communities searching for justice. Like the disciples leaving the mountain, we are called to move from seeing God’s glory to living it through action.
As Jacob J. Scholtz observes in his analysis of Matthew, the gospel deliberately connects the Transfiguration with Jesus’ journey toward Jerusalem — a movement from mountaintop vision to engagement with suffering and mission. This reminds us that discipleship is never about staying on the mountain — it is about following Jesus into the places of real need and injustice (Scholtz, 2019).
The voice from the cloud says, “Listen to him.” Listening means more than hearing words. It means following Jesus into those places, standing with the marginalized, and acting for justice. Glory is not meant to be preserved; it is meant to guide, move, and send us into the work God calls us to do.
The Transfiguration shows us the path of discipleship: See God, be changed by God, and act for God’s kingdom. Whether in Minnesota or in our own communities, we are called to bring God’s justice, compassion, and love into every valley.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Eyewitness Testimony
by Dean Feldmeyer
2 Peter 1:16-21
Lawyers know that juries tend to rank eyewitness testimony above all others when weighing evidence. This is true even though psychologists and criminologists have known for years that eyewitness testimony is among the least reliable kinds of evidence and one toward which a wise person maintains a guarded skepticism.
So, how are we to respond when the author of 2 Peter offers his testimony to the troubled and confused Christian churches of the early 2nd century says it should be believed because it is an eyewitness account of Christ’s glory.
In the Scripture
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.1 Peter 1:16
2 Peter in Tradition
Tradition holds that 2 Peter was written by the Apostle from prison in Rome shortly before his martyrdom with Paul in about 62 CE. Its form and content are those of epistle and testament, a farewell letter of encouragement written to the churches and people he has known.
2 Peter in Contemporary Scholarship
Biblical scholars since the late 19th Century have, after examining the letter’s style, content, grammar, historical references, etc., have nearly unanimously concluded that 2 Peter was written by a disciple of the Apostle to a group of unidentified churches sometime in the early second century.
According to these latter exegetes, the epistle might be thought of as a well-intentioned but flawed pastiche, written in Peter’s name and communicating what the author believed the Apostle would have said were he still alive.
Apparently, the unknown churches to which the epistle is addressed were experiencing disappointment, confusion, and unrest.
The return of Jesus Christ, which had been promised by Peter, Paul, and probably other preachers in the early church, had not come to pass after nearly 100 years. The new age of light and joy seemed a long way off to those living under the oppressive thumb of the Roman Empire. It would be understandable if they entertained the idea that perhaps Peter and Paul were mistaken. Perhaps they miscalculated or misinterpreted the message of Jesus. Or maybe they didn’t really hear a message at all but are making the whole thing up. No doubt other, lesser preachers had made such a claim in an effort to discredit the apostles and their ministries.
The author of the letter, writing in the name of Peter, reminds the doubtful and worrisome Christians to whom he is writing that the messages upon which their church and community of faith was founded were not some “cleverly devised myths” but accounts reported by those who saw and heard them firsthand.
The message that Jesus really was the Christ, the anointed messiah, worthy to be heard and followed, came directly from the lips of God even as Jesus stood on Sinai with Moses and Elijah. It was a message not to be taken lightly or dismissed out of hand.
That the promise of Christ’s return has not been fulfilled does not mean it won’t be. The words of the apostles are to be taken seriously and believed for it is by their testimony that we come fully into God’s kingdom.
In the News
Are you going to believe me or are you going to believe your lying eyes? (punchline to an old joke)
One need not tell the old joke in its entirety. The punchline alone is enough. And it is funny only because we hear it so often in one form or another. And in those cases, it isn’t funny at all.
“I believe what I saw, and what I saw was wrong at every level.” So said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey upon looking at the video of George Floyd being strangled to death by a police officer in 2020. After the murder of George Floyd, the four Minneapolis officers involved — Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao — were fired, criminally charged, convicted, and sentenced. Apparently, the juries agreed with the mayor. They believed what they saw.
Many of us breathed a sigh of relief when we heard the verdicts in the George Floyed case. The video taken by high school junior Darnella Frazier was seen and believed. Like Mayor Frey, we all saw it and believed what we saw. And we were comforted by the fact that cell phone cameras are ubiquitous in our culture and misdeeds by those with power could never again be swept under the rug by the dominant elite.
But now, five years after the death of George Floyd, we are being told that in two other cases our eyes are not trustworthy, that what we have seen on the screen may not be what actually happened.
Scene: 37-year-old Renee Goode, a writer, poet, and mother is in her car, stopped sideways in the street when ICE agent Johnathan Ross walks around it and then walks back and around it. Other agents approach, and one orders her to get out of the car while reaching through her open window. Good briefly reverses, then begins moving forward and to the right, into the direction of traffic. At this point, Ross is standing at the front-left of the vehicle and fires three shots, killing her, as her vehicle passes him, turning away from him.
Scene: 37-year-old Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis veteran’s hospital, is participating in a demonstration against ICE tactics when he sees a woman being pushed to the ground by such an agent. He goes to assist her when he is pounced upon by several agents who wrestle him to the ground. While he is being held down two of them shoot and kill him.
We have seen the videos over and over again, scores of times on the television news. But government agencies say that we should not “believe our lying eyes.” They say that Renee Goode and Alex Pretti were “domestic terrorists” and we can’t really know what we saw until they tell us after they have done a long, thorough study of the videos. In the mean time, ICE agent Jonathan Ross has been returned to duty without so much as a reprimand and the two ICE officers who shot and killed Alex Pretti have been hurriedly sent back home to Texas.
In these cases, thanks to modern technology and cell phone cameras, we are the eyewitnesses, yet not all of us can agree on what we saw. Some saw ICE agents being attacked. Some saw innocent American citizens being murdered for exercising their constitutional rights. Some saw ICE brutality. Some saw agents defending themselves from “domestic terrorists” who got what they deserved.
In the Sermon
One would be wise to take the things one sees as a perspective rather than a truth. (Anonymous)
Rashōmon is a short story by Japanese writer Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, set in 12th-century Kyoto. They recount the story of a murdered samurai and the conflicting testimonies of the bandit who is accused of killing him as well as the samurai’s wife, who was raped by the bandit, the woodsman who found the body of the samurai, and the samurai who testifies via a medium who conjures his presence. Amazingly, no verdict can be reached as the testimonies of the four people are radically different with each blaming a different person for the murder.
The Outrage (1964) was the American film version of the same story but set in the Old West. Even with an all-star cast including Edward G. Robinson, Paul Newman, Laurence Harvey, Claire Bloom, Howard Da Silva, and William Shatner, however, the film was a box office flop. American audiences were dissatisfied with the vague and nebulous ending.
Americans want eyewitness accounts that are believable and preferably corroborated by at least one other source. This is true whether we’re talking about movies, or things legal and spiritual.
We are aware that eyewitness accounts can be contaminated by everything from poor memory to the weather, from personal prejudices to fear or trauma. So, when we evaluate an eyewitness account, whether it’s from St. Peter, a video in the news, or our own memory, we would do well to have a way of corroborating it.
In spiritual matters, the works of John Wesley, preacher, diarist, essayist, and the founder of Methodism, offer four filters through which claims of truth should be filtered: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience.
But the words of Peter still resonate with us. The events that he witnessed are still as true as they were when they were spoken on the top of Mt. Sinai. Jesus is God’s son, in him God is well pleased, and it is for this reason that his life, death, and resurrection are instructive and salvific for us.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Tom Willadsen:
Exodus 24:12-18
Hur is mentioned for the second time in today’s passage from Exodus. In Chapter 17 he joined Aaron, holding Moses’ arms aloft during the battle with the Amalekites. Whenever Moses held his hand up the Israelites prevailed, when Moses tired and his hands fell, the Amalekites advanced. Hur and Aaron stood at Moses’ side and kept his hands in the air and the Amalekites were defeated!
Seven chapters later, after Moses had received the Ten Commandments from the Lord, Moses was called up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone with the Law and Commandments. Joshua went with him. Moses put Aaron and Hur in charge of the people in his absence. Moses was up there on mountain, in the cloud, for 40 days and 40 nights.
Exodus 25-31 are all kinds of specs for the tabernacle, vestments, altars — it took the Lord a long time to spell out the kind of digs the Lord wanted. It took so long that the people got anxious and in Chapter 32 they pressed Aaron to make them a god to worship. “C’mon, Aaron, what has that Moses dude done for us lately?” Aaron makes the golden calf, and Moses is so steamed, he smashes the tablets God has just given him. Hur is completely out of the picture at this point. And can you blame him?
Do not confuse Hur with Academy-award winner, Charleton Heston, in the role of Ben-Hur.
* * *
Psalm 2
God laughs.
The Contemporary English Version renders Psalm 2:4 this way:
In heaven the Lord laughs:
as he sits on his throne,
making fun of the nations.
Years ago someone told me, “If you wanna make God laugh, tell him your plans.” At the time my friend was spinning it to indicate that my plans were too small, that God probably had something much bigger in mind — if I could just get over myself and let God lead me.
In the Bible — and in life generally — there are, broadly speaking, three reasons we laugh: derision, expression of emotion, and appreciation of humor.
In the Bible, by far, the most frequent cause of laughter is derision — something or someone is being laughed at. In Job the ostrich laughs at the horse and its rider, presumably because it can run faster. At the end of Proverbs, the worthy woman laughs at the troubles of the day, because she rises above them. The laughter in today’s psalm is in this group. Being laughed at is humbling, or humiliating, depending on how much it hurts.
* * *
2 Peter 1:16-21
This reading alludes to both Psalm 2:7 and today’s gospel lection. Scholars believe that Peter, the one whom Jesus named “Rocky,” is not the author of this letter. It may have been written as late and the last quarter of the second century CE. This is the only place in the Septuagint (Greek version of the Hebrew Bible) or the New Testament where the Greek term ἐπόπται, rendered as “eyewitnesses” in the NRSV, is used to describe a person. Elsewhere in Greek literature it is used to for initiates into mystery religions. There’s something eerie about the author’s use of this term.
* * *
Matthew 17:1-9
Every year on Transfiguration Sunday I ask myself, “How did Peter, James, and John know it was Moses and Elijah on the mountain with Jesus?” It makes a lot of sense that these two would join Jesus in this moment, but it’s not like they’d seen Tiktok videos of these jokers. Once I raised this question in Sunday school, and a student suggested they were all wearing name tags, as good Presbyterians are instructed to do. Maybe, but were Peter, James, and John literate?
The end of today’s reading is one of the verses that is the foundation for the Messianic secret, which is one of the great mysteries of Jesus’ teaching. Why would Jesus want his disciples to keep his identity on the down low? It’s not a rhetorical question: I really, really want to know why Jesus wanted to keep his identity as the Christ secret until after the resurrection. I’ve heard explanations, but I’ve never been satisfied by any of them.
* * * * * *
From team member Mary Austin:
Exodus 24:12-18
Time Hangs Heavy
There are two long pauses in this story. First, Moses has to wait for God. “The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day [God] called to Moses out of the cloud.” Then Moses is gone on the mountain for a long time, and nothing seems to be happening. “Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.”
We know that God and Moses are at work, and also, it’s no wonder the people on the ground grow anxious. “A pause is not a time where nothing happens,” says Stanford University neuroscientist Vinod Menon. Author Maggie Jackson writes, “In a pioneering experiment, Menon and his research team eavesdropped on the thought patterns of eighteen people as they listened to baroque symphonies. To the scientists’ astonishment, the participants’ brains were most active during the morsels of silence between movements. A pause in the music brought listeners to a cognitive cliff edge. By violating their expectations of continuity, the seeming “nothingness” of the moment became a space of further possibility in thought.” (from Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure by Maggie Jackson)
We all can be more skilled at living with pauses.
* * *
Matthew 17:1-9, Exodus 24:12-18
Necessary Pauses
In both stories from Matthew and Exodus, there’s a necessary pause for the action of God to sink in. There’s something holy in the pause.
Adriel Booker shares, “A few days ago I tried to order a coffee to go and the barista told me they don’t do take away coffees. “Do you think you could join us for a little bit?” His question was disarming. The invitation was given without judgement or expectation, but it gave me pause to ask myself why I was in such a hurry. I accepted his invitation. Even now, days later, I’m still thinking about it.”
Booker asks, “What would happen if we weren’t always on the go or if we didn’t cater to others who are? (Or if we didn’t live our lives according to social media algorithms?) It reminds me of being in Tuscany where one would never think of serving in a take away cup. To partake you must pause, linger, maybe even sit down. This isn’t told, it’s known. I have become so accustomed to the illusion of multitasking that I don’t think twice about ordering something to go, but maybe what my soul has been longing for is an invitation to sit down when I’m too distracted or too busy or in too much of a rut to issue the invitation to myself.”
Booker sums up the message that’s true for all of the people of God: “You have to pause to partake.”
* * *
Matthew 17:1-9
A New Aspect of God
The Transfiguration requires the disciples to see Jesus on a deeper level, and to shift their understanding of God. In her new memoir, Awake, Jen Hatmaker talks about arriving a similar place after her divorce and leaving the church she and her former husband started. God is different now.
She says:
The church that raised me bears almost no resemblance to the one dehumanizing refugees, defending white supremacy, and aligning with a morally bankrupt autocrat. To put it succinctly: Organized religion, once my happy place, truly confuses me. I am adrift inside it for the first time in my life. I remain stubbornly attached to Jesus, devil be damned. Something inside that connection stays tender. My therapist told me: “You are now able to be known in new ways. You have never experienced God’s love for you in these broken places, because they have never been broken before.”
So that is an unfamiliar side of God I am figuring out, the one who loves me decommissioned, the one who understands the sanctuary ghosts and lets me watch CBS Sunday Morning instead of church without shame. Church right now feels like my best friends, my porch swing, my children and parents and siblings. It feels like meditation and all these leaves on my twelve pecan trees. It feels like Ben Rector on repeat. It feels like my kitchen, and my table, and my cozy reading nook. It feels like Jesus who never asked me to meet him anywhere but in my heart. I guess God is near and good and dear wherever we are, however we are. Inside the sanctuary but also outside it too, because apparently the Spirit will be found by anyone looking. Wherever we meet the divine, and love, and healing, and beauty, it is good. It is truly good. This is all I know for now.
* * *
Matthew 17:1-9
Fear on the Mountaintop
In the glory of this story, we lose the disciples’ terror. After God speaks, the disciples fall down and “were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they raised their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.”
In a book about fear, author Taylor Clark says, “Fear isn’t something you avoid, fight, or figure out. It’s something you embrace and learn to work with. So, if you’ll permit me to swap one hackneyed cliché for another, a far better strategy is to open up to our fright and “go with the flow.” Fear and anxiety are a great, rushing river upon which we float in our bobbing little kayaks. We can paddle furiously against the stream in a futile struggle to get upriver and avoid the rapids, or we can work with the current and use our energy to navigate the challenges ahead. The choice is always ours." (from Nerve: Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress, and the Brave New Science of Fear and Cool)
Just by raising their eyes to Jesus, the disciples are boldly facing this moment of fear.
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:
Exodus 24:12-18
The mountains are calling
John Muir’s famous line that “the mountains are calling, and I must go,” may seem like the sort of pithy quote emblazoned across t-shirts for youth ski trips or inscribed on journals for a weekend retreat. Perhaps these were the sort of words that Moses offered to the crowds as he disappeared into the clouds. Yet as Moses will also learn, the journey to the mountain may end with feelings of disillusionment. This is the sort of lesson theologian Belden Lane believes that a journey into the mountains can offer for shaping a spiritual life.
In his book Backpacking with the Saints, Lane recounts an unsettling mountaintop experience from his early days of wilderness sojourns. Lane describes his ascent of Wyoming’s Laramie Peak as a somewhat unintentional mistake. “My error this time wasn’t intentional,” Lane writes. “I saw no signs at the trailhead and didn’t think to ask. I simply hauled my backpack up Laramie Peak in the Medicine Bow Wilderness of eastern Wyoming, planning to spend the night somewhere near the top. Only later did I learn that camping isn’t allowed anywhere on the mountain.”
Lane notes that these lessons can be formative for our inner lives. “Sometimes ignorance is bliss. More often it’s simply dangerous. Yet I had the mountain to myself that night, or I should say it had me…the apprehension I felt that night was something my body knew, but my mind couldn’t comprehend.” The experience helped Lane learn the value of spiritual disillusionment, which he describes as shedding our “thirst for grandiosity.”
When we discard our notions that “none of our efforts can satisfy the expectations” we carry, Lane says we may learn, like Moses, that “only love allows us to go on…” (Belden Lane, Backpacking with the Saints: Wilderness Hiking as Spiritual Practice, Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.)
* * *
Exodus 24:12-18
Going up the mountain
Exodus does not offer many details about Moses’ ascent, including whether he knew where he was going or the difficulty of the climb. He leans into the call of God in what becomes a transforming experience.
In the early years of our marriage, my wife and I lived in Colorado. The beauty of the Rockies were all around us, inspiring many day trips, including a memorable trek up an old logging road known as Phantom Canyon. A friend suggested the trip as a great experience for my wife’s visiting grandparents. She packed her grandma and grandpa into the car and headed out, confident that her years of driving through Pennsylvania’s mountains were good preparation. What she didn’t know was that Phantom Canyon is a slow, hardscrabble two-hour trek uphill across a narrow, one-lane road without guardrails. On the way home, she choose a nearby highway that proved less daring. Sometimes, it does pay to know where you are going — but in this case, the grandparents didn’t complain about her driving ever again!
* * *
Matthew 17:1-9
The difference between “transfigured” and “transformation”
While we often use the words “transfigure” and “transform” interchangeably, they have different meanings. Merriam Webster defines transfigure as a transitive verb meaning, “to give a new and typically exalted or spiritual appearance to.” The editors of the Cambridge dictionary take it a bit further, describing transfigure as having to do with changing the appearance of a person or thing very much, “usually in a very positive and often spiritual way.” “Transform,” the British dictionary says, is related to the complete change of appearance or character of someone or something. Transfigured carries notions of internal, and often spiritual change, while transform more aptly conveys an improvement for the better.
Shelby Van Pelt’s 2022 novel Remarkably Bright Creatures offers helpful examples. The book tells the story of Tova Sullivan, a widow working nights cleaning a local marine aquarium. She has a series of interesting and unexplainable encounters with Marcellus, a great Pacific octopus. Marcellus is a highly intelligent, sentient creature who has learned to escape his tank at night in pursuit of food. Tova forms a bond with Marcellus that is both transfiguring — his tentacles leave sucker-shaped bruises on her arm — and transforming. After the transfiguring mark fades, Tova goes back to Marcellus’ tank in search of something she can’t quite describe. It’s here that transfiguration and transformation morph. She slides off the rear cover of the tank to try and find Marcellus’ hiding spot. Marcellus “floats out and drifts upward, his eye trained on her. One of his arms wafts back and forth, and Tova imagines he is waving. She lets her hand drop in, and her breath catches, either from the cold water or the absurdity of what she is doing or perhaps both. Almost instantly, the octopus reciprocates, winding two of its tentacles around her wrist and forearm in his particular way that makes her hand feel heavy and peculiar. “Good evening, Marcellus,” she says formally. “How has your day been?”
* * *
Matthew 17:1-9
Listen to him
Superbowl halftime shows are no strangers to controversy, but this year’s performance by the rapper Bad Bunny seemed to generate more controversy ahead of the show than the show itself. Bad Bunny, the first artist to ever perform the halftime show entirely in Spanish, packed the show with vibrant colors, nods to his Puerto Rican culture, dancing, and what Rolling Stone described as a “strong reframing of what it means to be American.” The show featured guest artists like Lady Gaga, and stories of Puerto Rican culture and struggle. While President Trump panned the show, millions of fans watched — a reminder that Latinos are the fastest growing segment of the NFL’s fanbase.
Meanwhile, the conservative organization Turning Point USA live-streamed an alternative show aimed at a MAGA audience. Artist Kid Rock headlined that show, which included Rock’s 1999 hit, “Bawitdaba.” The message seemed to be you don’t have to listen to Bad Bunny’s woke-ness, but “Bawitdaba’s” extolling of illicit sex and drugs adds a curious twist to conservative “family values.”
To whom are we listening? Bad Bunny’s message of love triumphing over hatred, or an artist known for singing, “I like ’em young?”
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship
One: God is always wanting to be revealed to creation.
All: Thanks be to our God who does not hide from us.
One: God wants us to know that love alone is eternal.
All: Since God is love, we want to be love, too.
One: Open your eyes and your hearts and you will see God.
All: May we truly see the Christ and know God.
OR
One: The Lord is sovereign; let the peoples tremble!
All: God sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
One: The Lord is great in Zion and is exalted over all the peoples.
All: Let them praise God’s great and awesome name.
One: Holy is our Mighty Sovereign, lover of justice,
All: Holy is our Mighty Sovereign, lover of justice,
Hymns and Songs
How Great Thou Art
UMH: 77
PH: 467
GTG: 625
AAHH: 148
NNBH: 43
NCH: 35
CH: 33
LBW: 532
ELW: 856
W&P: 51
AMEC: 68
Renew: 250
The God of Abraham Praise
UMH: 116
H82: 401
GTG: 49
NCH: 24
CH: 24
LBW: 544
ELW: 831
W&P: 16
Renew: 51
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
UMH: 139
H82: 390
GTG: 35
AAHH: 117
NNBH: 2
NCH: 22
CH: 25
ELW: 858/859
AMEC: 3
STLT: 278
Renew: 57
Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies
UMH: 173
H82: 6/7
PH: 462/463
GTG: 662
LBW: 265
ELW: 553
W&P: 91
When Morning Gilds the Skies
UMH: 185
H82: 427
PH: 487
GTG: 667
AAHH: 186
NCH: 86
CH: 100
LBW: 545/546
ELW: 853
W&P: 111
AMEC: 29
O Wondrous Sight! O Vision Fair
UMH: 258
H82: 136/137
PH: 75
GTG: 189
NCH: 184
LBW: 80
ELW: 316
Have Thine Own Way, Lord
UMH: 382
AAHH: 449
NNBH: 206
CH: 588
W&P: 486
AMEC: 345
What Does the Lord Require?
UMH: 441
H82: 605
PH: 405
GTG: 70
CH: 659
W&P: 686
Open My Eyes, That I May See
UMH: 454
PH: 324
GTG: 451
NNBH: 218
CH: 586
W&P: 480
AMEC: 285
Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord
GTG: 452
Open My Eyes, Lord
CCB: 77
Renew: 91
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who wants your creatures to know you:
Grant us the courage to look for you in all creation
and especially in the faces of those in need;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are desiring us to know you. You are always inviting us into a relationship with yourself. Help us to be open to your invitation in all creation and especially in the faces of the needy. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we constantly fail to see you among us.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have failed to recognize you although you are constantly among us. Your glory fills creation and your Christ resides in everyone we meet. Yet we do not see or respond to your invitation to know you. Forgive us and open our eyes that we may truly see you and know you. Amen.
One: God is always seeking us and is always open to us when we seek God. Receive God’s forgiveness and love and look for God in those around you.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory be to you, O God who comes to greet your creatures! We rejoice in knowing you and knowing we are loved by you.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another, that we have sinned. We have failed to recognize you although you are constantly among us. Your glory fills creation and your Christ resides in everyone we meet. Yet we do not see or respond to your invitation to know you. Forgive us and open our eyes that we may truly see you and know you.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you make yourself known to us. We are blessed to be surrounded by a creation that reflects your majesty and love. We thank you for those who have responded to your presence and have taught us of your love. We thank you for Jesus who revealed himself and in so doing revealed you.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for those who find it hard to see you in creation or in the faces of others because they have suffered so much. We pray for those who are caught in war or violence. We pray for those who face hatred and bigotry because of the way the look or the way they talk. May we be part of your presence for those around us so that they may know you and your love.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Transfiguration
by Katy Stenta
Matthew 17:1-9
In this story Jesus changes from Jesus into Jesus. Its kind of a funny story, because in some ways Jesus is the same person, but in other ways, the disciples see Jesus fully as God.
It felt very overwhelming for the disciples to truly understand who Jesus was — to see Jesus as Jesus truly was.
But Jesus had help...
Here’s what happened: Jesus, Peter, James, and John all climbed a mountain together. (Mountains were holy places in Jesus’ time, kind of like churches, so the disciples probably knew something holy was about o happen.)
So they climb the mountain and then Jesus starts to shine — maybe even almost sparkle.
And then two great Hebrew leaders come from scripture, Moses and Elijah, so it becomes very clear how important Jesus is.
It’s almost like Jesus saying, “Surprise, I’m Jesus!” Or “Peekaboo, I’m Jesus!” (Feel free to mime a peekaboo here or play out peekaboo if it seems fun.)
When you are surprised or startled by someone you love, it doesn’t change who they are, but you can still be startled or surprised.
From then on the disciples understanding of Jesus changed.
So I guess the question is, who is transfigured — that is, transformed on the mountain? And I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer to this question
Who is transfigured and changed on the mountain? Jesus? The disciples? Or both?
Let’s pray (repeat after me)
Dear Jesus,
Thank you
For revealing
Yourself
To us
And the disciples.
Help us
To continue
To see
You clearly.
Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, February 15, 2026 issue.
Copyright 2026 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
- Listening on the Mountain: Transfiguration, Power, and Liberation by Nazish Naseem based on Matthew 17:1-9.
- Second Thoughts: Eyewitness Testimony by Dean Feldmeyer. “We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.” — Anaïs Nin
- Sermon illustrations by Tom Willadsen, Chris Keating, and Mary Austin.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Children’s sermon: Transfiguration by Katy Stenta based on Matthew 17:1-9.
Listening on the Mountain: Transfiguration, Power, and Liberationby Nazish Naseem
Matthew 17:1-9
The Transfiguration shows more than Jesus’ divine glory — it challenges the usual ideas of power and authority. By connecting Moses, liberation, and moments of social struggle today, it asks: How do we turn what we see and know about God into responsibility? Can moments of truth change us, our communities, and even nations?
Transfiguration, Power, and Liberation
In Matthew 17:1-9, Jesus is clearly transfigured, but the impact on his disciples is often overlooked. If we only see this story as a spiritual vision, we miss how it interacts with the real political and social world in which Jesus lived. Against the backdrop of Roman rule, the Transfiguration speaks of freedom, courage, and a different kind of power.
Jesus climbs a high mountain with Peter, James, and John. There, his face shines like the sun, and his clothes become dazzling white — signs of God’s authority and presence. This happens away from Rome’s centers of power, offering a quiet challenge to the empire’s use of force and intimidation. The Transfiguration shows a vision of leadership rooted in love, justice, and divine truth, not violence.
The appearance of Moses and Elijah is central to Matthew’s socio-political framing. Moses represents liberation from imperial oppression, while Elijah embodies prophetic confrontation with unjust authority. Their presence situates Jesus within Israel’s tradition of deliverance while simultaneously redefining it. Jesus is not a messiah who mirrors imperial violence; rather, he fulfills Israel’s hopes through obedience, suffering, and transformative love.
For the disciples, this moment is both amazing and unsettling. God’s voice declares: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him.” To listen is to follow Jesus faithfully, even when it puts them in conflict with the powers of the world. The Transfiguration teaches that following Jesus comes with cost, reshaping our understanding of glory, leadership, and freedom.
In the News: Transfiguring Moments in Public Life
The deaths of Alex Pretti and Renee Good in Minneapolis mark a profound transformation in the national conversation about federal law enforcement and accountability. Video evidence and eyewitness accounts challenged official narratives, exposing the human cost of enforcement practices and sparking widespread scrutiny. (People, 2026) Politically, Sen. Rand Paul held hearings into ICE tactics, signaling that federal enforcement had become a matter of ethical and constitutional oversight. (Politico, Jan. 26, 2026).
Public discourse extended to media and cultural spheres, with Joe Rogan questioning the direction of aggressive federal tactics. (NBC News, Jan. 2026) The federal response — withdrawing approximately 700 agents from Minneapolis — demonstrates tangible accountability under public and political pressure. (Time, Feb. 2026)
While the deaths themselves cannot be undone, the events have irreversibly reshaped expectations of transparency, justice, and the ethical limits of state power, making Minnesota a pivotal moment in America’s ongoing reckoning with systemic inequities.
Ultimately, the transformation lies in the irreversibility of the shift. Minneapolis has redefined the moral and political landscape of federal enforcement, making it impossible to treat such deaths as routine or unremarkable. What was previously seen as a narrow operational matter has become a national reckoning with systemic inequities, the ethical limits of authority, and the demand for transparency and justice. In this sense, the events in Minnesota serve as a hinge moment, reshaping expectations, amplifying accountability, and recalibrating the boundaries of state power in American society.
Such moments are not redemptive in themselves, yet they reveal realities that cannot remain hidden. Like the disciples witnessing Jesus’ transformation on the mountain, the public is confronted with unsettling clarity about power, violence, and whose lives are most vulnerable under existing systems. The critical question that follows is whether this revelation will lead to sustained transformation or fade into familiar patterns of denial and inertia.
In the Sermon: From Revelation to Responsibility
In Matthew 17:1-9, Jesus took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain. There, he was transfigured — his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Moses and Elijah appeared with him, and a bright cloud covered them. From the cloud, a voice said, “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” The disciples were afraid and fell to the ground. Peter, wanting to hold on to the moment, said, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. Let me build shelters.”
Peter’s words show something very human: a desire to stay in the moment of glory. But Jesus led them back down. God’s glory, as Patrick Schreiner notes in The Transfiguration of Christ, is not meant for isolation; it is meant to equip disciples for action in the world. Spiritual experiences are meant to move us, not just comfort us, preparing us to face life’s challenges with courage, clarity, and love (Schreiner, 2021).
This is clear today. In Minnesota, the deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti left families grieving and communities searching for justice. Like the disciples leaving the mountain, we are called to move from seeing God’s glory to living it through action.
As Jacob J. Scholtz observes in his analysis of Matthew, the gospel deliberately connects the Transfiguration with Jesus’ journey toward Jerusalem — a movement from mountaintop vision to engagement with suffering and mission. This reminds us that discipleship is never about staying on the mountain — it is about following Jesus into the places of real need and injustice (Scholtz, 2019).
The voice from the cloud says, “Listen to him.” Listening means more than hearing words. It means following Jesus into those places, standing with the marginalized, and acting for justice. Glory is not meant to be preserved; it is meant to guide, move, and send us into the work God calls us to do.
The Transfiguration shows us the path of discipleship: See God, be changed by God, and act for God’s kingdom. Whether in Minnesota or in our own communities, we are called to bring God’s justice, compassion, and love into every valley.
SECOND THOUGHTSEyewitness Testimony
by Dean Feldmeyer
2 Peter 1:16-21
Lawyers know that juries tend to rank eyewitness testimony above all others when weighing evidence. This is true even though psychologists and criminologists have known for years that eyewitness testimony is among the least reliable kinds of evidence and one toward which a wise person maintains a guarded skepticism.
So, how are we to respond when the author of 2 Peter offers his testimony to the troubled and confused Christian churches of the early 2nd century says it should be believed because it is an eyewitness account of Christ’s glory.
In the Scripture
For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.1 Peter 1:16
2 Peter in Tradition
Tradition holds that 2 Peter was written by the Apostle from prison in Rome shortly before his martyrdom with Paul in about 62 CE. Its form and content are those of epistle and testament, a farewell letter of encouragement written to the churches and people he has known.
2 Peter in Contemporary Scholarship
Biblical scholars since the late 19th Century have, after examining the letter’s style, content, grammar, historical references, etc., have nearly unanimously concluded that 2 Peter was written by a disciple of the Apostle to a group of unidentified churches sometime in the early second century.
According to these latter exegetes, the epistle might be thought of as a well-intentioned but flawed pastiche, written in Peter’s name and communicating what the author believed the Apostle would have said were he still alive.
Apparently, the unknown churches to which the epistle is addressed were experiencing disappointment, confusion, and unrest.
The return of Jesus Christ, which had been promised by Peter, Paul, and probably other preachers in the early church, had not come to pass after nearly 100 years. The new age of light and joy seemed a long way off to those living under the oppressive thumb of the Roman Empire. It would be understandable if they entertained the idea that perhaps Peter and Paul were mistaken. Perhaps they miscalculated or misinterpreted the message of Jesus. Or maybe they didn’t really hear a message at all but are making the whole thing up. No doubt other, lesser preachers had made such a claim in an effort to discredit the apostles and their ministries.
The author of the letter, writing in the name of Peter, reminds the doubtful and worrisome Christians to whom he is writing that the messages upon which their church and community of faith was founded were not some “cleverly devised myths” but accounts reported by those who saw and heard them firsthand.
The message that Jesus really was the Christ, the anointed messiah, worthy to be heard and followed, came directly from the lips of God even as Jesus stood on Sinai with Moses and Elijah. It was a message not to be taken lightly or dismissed out of hand.
That the promise of Christ’s return has not been fulfilled does not mean it won’t be. The words of the apostles are to be taken seriously and believed for it is by their testimony that we come fully into God’s kingdom.
In the News
Are you going to believe me or are you going to believe your lying eyes? (punchline to an old joke)
One need not tell the old joke in its entirety. The punchline alone is enough. And it is funny only because we hear it so often in one form or another. And in those cases, it isn’t funny at all.
“I believe what I saw, and what I saw was wrong at every level.” So said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey upon looking at the video of George Floyd being strangled to death by a police officer in 2020. After the murder of George Floyd, the four Minneapolis officers involved — Derek Chauvin, J. Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane, and Tou Thao — were fired, criminally charged, convicted, and sentenced. Apparently, the juries agreed with the mayor. They believed what they saw.
Many of us breathed a sigh of relief when we heard the verdicts in the George Floyed case. The video taken by high school junior Darnella Frazier was seen and believed. Like Mayor Frey, we all saw it and believed what we saw. And we were comforted by the fact that cell phone cameras are ubiquitous in our culture and misdeeds by those with power could never again be swept under the rug by the dominant elite.
But now, five years after the death of George Floyd, we are being told that in two other cases our eyes are not trustworthy, that what we have seen on the screen may not be what actually happened.
Scene: 37-year-old Renee Goode, a writer, poet, and mother is in her car, stopped sideways in the street when ICE agent Johnathan Ross walks around it and then walks back and around it. Other agents approach, and one orders her to get out of the car while reaching through her open window. Good briefly reverses, then begins moving forward and to the right, into the direction of traffic. At this point, Ross is standing at the front-left of the vehicle and fires three shots, killing her, as her vehicle passes him, turning away from him.
Scene: 37-year-old Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse at the Minneapolis veteran’s hospital, is participating in a demonstration against ICE tactics when he sees a woman being pushed to the ground by such an agent. He goes to assist her when he is pounced upon by several agents who wrestle him to the ground. While he is being held down two of them shoot and kill him.
We have seen the videos over and over again, scores of times on the television news. But government agencies say that we should not “believe our lying eyes.” They say that Renee Goode and Alex Pretti were “domestic terrorists” and we can’t really know what we saw until they tell us after they have done a long, thorough study of the videos. In the mean time, ICE agent Jonathan Ross has been returned to duty without so much as a reprimand and the two ICE officers who shot and killed Alex Pretti have been hurriedly sent back home to Texas.
In these cases, thanks to modern technology and cell phone cameras, we are the eyewitnesses, yet not all of us can agree on what we saw. Some saw ICE agents being attacked. Some saw innocent American citizens being murdered for exercising their constitutional rights. Some saw ICE brutality. Some saw agents defending themselves from “domestic terrorists” who got what they deserved.
In the Sermon
One would be wise to take the things one sees as a perspective rather than a truth. (Anonymous)
Rashōmon is a short story by Japanese writer Akutagawa Ryūnosuke, set in 12th-century Kyoto. They recount the story of a murdered samurai and the conflicting testimonies of the bandit who is accused of killing him as well as the samurai’s wife, who was raped by the bandit, the woodsman who found the body of the samurai, and the samurai who testifies via a medium who conjures his presence. Amazingly, no verdict can be reached as the testimonies of the four people are radically different with each blaming a different person for the murder.
The Outrage (1964) was the American film version of the same story but set in the Old West. Even with an all-star cast including Edward G. Robinson, Paul Newman, Laurence Harvey, Claire Bloom, Howard Da Silva, and William Shatner, however, the film was a box office flop. American audiences were dissatisfied with the vague and nebulous ending.
Americans want eyewitness accounts that are believable and preferably corroborated by at least one other source. This is true whether we’re talking about movies, or things legal and spiritual.
We are aware that eyewitness accounts can be contaminated by everything from poor memory to the weather, from personal prejudices to fear or trauma. So, when we evaluate an eyewitness account, whether it’s from St. Peter, a video in the news, or our own memory, we would do well to have a way of corroborating it.
In spiritual matters, the works of John Wesley, preacher, diarist, essayist, and the founder of Methodism, offer four filters through which claims of truth should be filtered: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience.
- What does scripture have to say about concerns such as this?
- What has been the historic wisdom of the world and of the Christian community, particularly in concerns such as this?
- Does this seem reasonable and produce logically valid arguments and true conclusions?
- Is it in keeping with my own experience of life and the world around me?
But the words of Peter still resonate with us. The events that he witnessed are still as true as they were when they were spoken on the top of Mt. Sinai. Jesus is God’s son, in him God is well pleased, and it is for this reason that his life, death, and resurrection are instructive and salvific for us.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Tom Willadsen:Exodus 24:12-18
Hur is mentioned for the second time in today’s passage from Exodus. In Chapter 17 he joined Aaron, holding Moses’ arms aloft during the battle with the Amalekites. Whenever Moses held his hand up the Israelites prevailed, when Moses tired and his hands fell, the Amalekites advanced. Hur and Aaron stood at Moses’ side and kept his hands in the air and the Amalekites were defeated!
Seven chapters later, after Moses had received the Ten Commandments from the Lord, Moses was called up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone with the Law and Commandments. Joshua went with him. Moses put Aaron and Hur in charge of the people in his absence. Moses was up there on mountain, in the cloud, for 40 days and 40 nights.
Exodus 25-31 are all kinds of specs for the tabernacle, vestments, altars — it took the Lord a long time to spell out the kind of digs the Lord wanted. It took so long that the people got anxious and in Chapter 32 they pressed Aaron to make them a god to worship. “C’mon, Aaron, what has that Moses dude done for us lately?” Aaron makes the golden calf, and Moses is so steamed, he smashes the tablets God has just given him. Hur is completely out of the picture at this point. And can you blame him?
Do not confuse Hur with Academy-award winner, Charleton Heston, in the role of Ben-Hur.
* * *
Psalm 2
God laughs.
The Contemporary English Version renders Psalm 2:4 this way:
In heaven the Lord laughs:
as he sits on his throne,
making fun of the nations.
Years ago someone told me, “If you wanna make God laugh, tell him your plans.” At the time my friend was spinning it to indicate that my plans were too small, that God probably had something much bigger in mind — if I could just get over myself and let God lead me.
In the Bible — and in life generally — there are, broadly speaking, three reasons we laugh: derision, expression of emotion, and appreciation of humor.
In the Bible, by far, the most frequent cause of laughter is derision — something or someone is being laughed at. In Job the ostrich laughs at the horse and its rider, presumably because it can run faster. At the end of Proverbs, the worthy woman laughs at the troubles of the day, because she rises above them. The laughter in today’s psalm is in this group. Being laughed at is humbling, or humiliating, depending on how much it hurts.
* * *
2 Peter 1:16-21
This reading alludes to both Psalm 2:7 and today’s gospel lection. Scholars believe that Peter, the one whom Jesus named “Rocky,” is not the author of this letter. It may have been written as late and the last quarter of the second century CE. This is the only place in the Septuagint (Greek version of the Hebrew Bible) or the New Testament where the Greek term ἐπόπται, rendered as “eyewitnesses” in the NRSV, is used to describe a person. Elsewhere in Greek literature it is used to for initiates into mystery religions. There’s something eerie about the author’s use of this term.
* * *
Matthew 17:1-9
Every year on Transfiguration Sunday I ask myself, “How did Peter, James, and John know it was Moses and Elijah on the mountain with Jesus?” It makes a lot of sense that these two would join Jesus in this moment, but it’s not like they’d seen Tiktok videos of these jokers. Once I raised this question in Sunday school, and a student suggested they were all wearing name tags, as good Presbyterians are instructed to do. Maybe, but were Peter, James, and John literate?
The end of today’s reading is one of the verses that is the foundation for the Messianic secret, which is one of the great mysteries of Jesus’ teaching. Why would Jesus want his disciples to keep his identity on the down low? It’s not a rhetorical question: I really, really want to know why Jesus wanted to keep his identity as the Christ secret until after the resurrection. I’ve heard explanations, but I’ve never been satisfied by any of them.
* * * * * *
From team member Mary Austin:Exodus 24:12-18
Time Hangs Heavy
There are two long pauses in this story. First, Moses has to wait for God. “The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day [God] called to Moses out of the cloud.” Then Moses is gone on the mountain for a long time, and nothing seems to be happening. “Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.”
We know that God and Moses are at work, and also, it’s no wonder the people on the ground grow anxious. “A pause is not a time where nothing happens,” says Stanford University neuroscientist Vinod Menon. Author Maggie Jackson writes, “In a pioneering experiment, Menon and his research team eavesdropped on the thought patterns of eighteen people as they listened to baroque symphonies. To the scientists’ astonishment, the participants’ brains were most active during the morsels of silence between movements. A pause in the music brought listeners to a cognitive cliff edge. By violating their expectations of continuity, the seeming “nothingness” of the moment became a space of further possibility in thought.” (from Uncertain: The Wisdom and Wonder of Being Unsure by Maggie Jackson)
We all can be more skilled at living with pauses.
* * *
Matthew 17:1-9, Exodus 24:12-18
Necessary Pauses
In both stories from Matthew and Exodus, there’s a necessary pause for the action of God to sink in. There’s something holy in the pause.
Adriel Booker shares, “A few days ago I tried to order a coffee to go and the barista told me they don’t do take away coffees. “Do you think you could join us for a little bit?” His question was disarming. The invitation was given without judgement or expectation, but it gave me pause to ask myself why I was in such a hurry. I accepted his invitation. Even now, days later, I’m still thinking about it.”
Booker asks, “What would happen if we weren’t always on the go or if we didn’t cater to others who are? (Or if we didn’t live our lives according to social media algorithms?) It reminds me of being in Tuscany where one would never think of serving in a take away cup. To partake you must pause, linger, maybe even sit down. This isn’t told, it’s known. I have become so accustomed to the illusion of multitasking that I don’t think twice about ordering something to go, but maybe what my soul has been longing for is an invitation to sit down when I’m too distracted or too busy or in too much of a rut to issue the invitation to myself.”
Booker sums up the message that’s true for all of the people of God: “You have to pause to partake.”
* * *
Matthew 17:1-9
A New Aspect of God
The Transfiguration requires the disciples to see Jesus on a deeper level, and to shift their understanding of God. In her new memoir, Awake, Jen Hatmaker talks about arriving a similar place after her divorce and leaving the church she and her former husband started. God is different now.
She says:
The church that raised me bears almost no resemblance to the one dehumanizing refugees, defending white supremacy, and aligning with a morally bankrupt autocrat. To put it succinctly: Organized religion, once my happy place, truly confuses me. I am adrift inside it for the first time in my life. I remain stubbornly attached to Jesus, devil be damned. Something inside that connection stays tender. My therapist told me: “You are now able to be known in new ways. You have never experienced God’s love for you in these broken places, because they have never been broken before.”
So that is an unfamiliar side of God I am figuring out, the one who loves me decommissioned, the one who understands the sanctuary ghosts and lets me watch CBS Sunday Morning instead of church without shame. Church right now feels like my best friends, my porch swing, my children and parents and siblings. It feels like meditation and all these leaves on my twelve pecan trees. It feels like Ben Rector on repeat. It feels like my kitchen, and my table, and my cozy reading nook. It feels like Jesus who never asked me to meet him anywhere but in my heart. I guess God is near and good and dear wherever we are, however we are. Inside the sanctuary but also outside it too, because apparently the Spirit will be found by anyone looking. Wherever we meet the divine, and love, and healing, and beauty, it is good. It is truly good. This is all I know for now.
* * *
Matthew 17:1-9
Fear on the Mountaintop
In the glory of this story, we lose the disciples’ terror. After God speaks, the disciples fall down and “were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they raised their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.”
In a book about fear, author Taylor Clark says, “Fear isn’t something you avoid, fight, or figure out. It’s something you embrace and learn to work with. So, if you’ll permit me to swap one hackneyed cliché for another, a far better strategy is to open up to our fright and “go with the flow.” Fear and anxiety are a great, rushing river upon which we float in our bobbing little kayaks. We can paddle furiously against the stream in a futile struggle to get upriver and avoid the rapids, or we can work with the current and use our energy to navigate the challenges ahead. The choice is always ours." (from Nerve: Poise Under Pressure, Serenity Under Stress, and the Brave New Science of Fear and Cool)
Just by raising their eyes to Jesus, the disciples are boldly facing this moment of fear.
* * * * * *
From team member Chris Keating:Exodus 24:12-18
The mountains are calling
John Muir’s famous line that “the mountains are calling, and I must go,” may seem like the sort of pithy quote emblazoned across t-shirts for youth ski trips or inscribed on journals for a weekend retreat. Perhaps these were the sort of words that Moses offered to the crowds as he disappeared into the clouds. Yet as Moses will also learn, the journey to the mountain may end with feelings of disillusionment. This is the sort of lesson theologian Belden Lane believes that a journey into the mountains can offer for shaping a spiritual life.
In his book Backpacking with the Saints, Lane recounts an unsettling mountaintop experience from his early days of wilderness sojourns. Lane describes his ascent of Wyoming’s Laramie Peak as a somewhat unintentional mistake. “My error this time wasn’t intentional,” Lane writes. “I saw no signs at the trailhead and didn’t think to ask. I simply hauled my backpack up Laramie Peak in the Medicine Bow Wilderness of eastern Wyoming, planning to spend the night somewhere near the top. Only later did I learn that camping isn’t allowed anywhere on the mountain.”
Lane notes that these lessons can be formative for our inner lives. “Sometimes ignorance is bliss. More often it’s simply dangerous. Yet I had the mountain to myself that night, or I should say it had me…the apprehension I felt that night was something my body knew, but my mind couldn’t comprehend.” The experience helped Lane learn the value of spiritual disillusionment, which he describes as shedding our “thirst for grandiosity.”
When we discard our notions that “none of our efforts can satisfy the expectations” we carry, Lane says we may learn, like Moses, that “only love allows us to go on…” (Belden Lane, Backpacking with the Saints: Wilderness Hiking as Spiritual Practice, Oxford University Press. Kindle Edition.)
* * *
Exodus 24:12-18
Going up the mountain
Exodus does not offer many details about Moses’ ascent, including whether he knew where he was going or the difficulty of the climb. He leans into the call of God in what becomes a transforming experience.
In the early years of our marriage, my wife and I lived in Colorado. The beauty of the Rockies were all around us, inspiring many day trips, including a memorable trek up an old logging road known as Phantom Canyon. A friend suggested the trip as a great experience for my wife’s visiting grandparents. She packed her grandma and grandpa into the car and headed out, confident that her years of driving through Pennsylvania’s mountains were good preparation. What she didn’t know was that Phantom Canyon is a slow, hardscrabble two-hour trek uphill across a narrow, one-lane road without guardrails. On the way home, she choose a nearby highway that proved less daring. Sometimes, it does pay to know where you are going — but in this case, the grandparents didn’t complain about her driving ever again!
* * *
Matthew 17:1-9
The difference between “transfigured” and “transformation”
While we often use the words “transfigure” and “transform” interchangeably, they have different meanings. Merriam Webster defines transfigure as a transitive verb meaning, “to give a new and typically exalted or spiritual appearance to.” The editors of the Cambridge dictionary take it a bit further, describing transfigure as having to do with changing the appearance of a person or thing very much, “usually in a very positive and often spiritual way.” “Transform,” the British dictionary says, is related to the complete change of appearance or character of someone or something. Transfigured carries notions of internal, and often spiritual change, while transform more aptly conveys an improvement for the better.
Shelby Van Pelt’s 2022 novel Remarkably Bright Creatures offers helpful examples. The book tells the story of Tova Sullivan, a widow working nights cleaning a local marine aquarium. She has a series of interesting and unexplainable encounters with Marcellus, a great Pacific octopus. Marcellus is a highly intelligent, sentient creature who has learned to escape his tank at night in pursuit of food. Tova forms a bond with Marcellus that is both transfiguring — his tentacles leave sucker-shaped bruises on her arm — and transforming. After the transfiguring mark fades, Tova goes back to Marcellus’ tank in search of something she can’t quite describe. It’s here that transfiguration and transformation morph. She slides off the rear cover of the tank to try and find Marcellus’ hiding spot. Marcellus “floats out and drifts upward, his eye trained on her. One of his arms wafts back and forth, and Tova imagines he is waving. She lets her hand drop in, and her breath catches, either from the cold water or the absurdity of what she is doing or perhaps both. Almost instantly, the octopus reciprocates, winding two of its tentacles around her wrist and forearm in his particular way that makes her hand feel heavy and peculiar. “Good evening, Marcellus,” she says formally. “How has your day been?”
* * *
Matthew 17:1-9
Listen to him
Superbowl halftime shows are no strangers to controversy, but this year’s performance by the rapper Bad Bunny seemed to generate more controversy ahead of the show than the show itself. Bad Bunny, the first artist to ever perform the halftime show entirely in Spanish, packed the show with vibrant colors, nods to his Puerto Rican culture, dancing, and what Rolling Stone described as a “strong reframing of what it means to be American.” The show featured guest artists like Lady Gaga, and stories of Puerto Rican culture and struggle. While President Trump panned the show, millions of fans watched — a reminder that Latinos are the fastest growing segment of the NFL’s fanbase.
Meanwhile, the conservative organization Turning Point USA live-streamed an alternative show aimed at a MAGA audience. Artist Kid Rock headlined that show, which included Rock’s 1999 hit, “Bawitdaba.” The message seemed to be you don’t have to listen to Bad Bunny’s woke-ness, but “Bawitdaba’s” extolling of illicit sex and drugs adds a curious twist to conservative “family values.”
To whom are we listening? Bad Bunny’s message of love triumphing over hatred, or an artist known for singing, “I like ’em young?”
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WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship
One: God is always wanting to be revealed to creation.
All: Thanks be to our God who does not hide from us.
One: God wants us to know that love alone is eternal.
All: Since God is love, we want to be love, too.
One: Open your eyes and your hearts and you will see God.
All: May we truly see the Christ and know God.
OR
One: The Lord is sovereign; let the peoples tremble!
All: God sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
One: The Lord is great in Zion and is exalted over all the peoples.
All: Let them praise God’s great and awesome name.
One: Holy is our Mighty Sovereign, lover of justice,
All: Holy is our Mighty Sovereign, lover of justice,
Hymns and Songs
How Great Thou Art
UMH: 77
PH: 467
GTG: 625
AAHH: 148
NNBH: 43
NCH: 35
CH: 33
LBW: 532
ELW: 856
W&P: 51
AMEC: 68
Renew: 250
The God of Abraham Praise
UMH: 116
H82: 401
GTG: 49
NCH: 24
CH: 24
LBW: 544
ELW: 831
W&P: 16
Renew: 51
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty
UMH: 139
H82: 390
GTG: 35
AAHH: 117
NNBH: 2
NCH: 22
CH: 25
ELW: 858/859
AMEC: 3
STLT: 278
Renew: 57
Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies
UMH: 173
H82: 6/7
PH: 462/463
GTG: 662
LBW: 265
ELW: 553
W&P: 91
When Morning Gilds the Skies
UMH: 185
H82: 427
PH: 487
GTG: 667
AAHH: 186
NCH: 86
CH: 100
LBW: 545/546
ELW: 853
W&P: 111
AMEC: 29
O Wondrous Sight! O Vision Fair
UMH: 258
H82: 136/137
PH: 75
GTG: 189
NCH: 184
LBW: 80
ELW: 316
Have Thine Own Way, Lord
UMH: 382
AAHH: 449
NNBH: 206
CH: 588
W&P: 486
AMEC: 345
What Does the Lord Require?
UMH: 441
H82: 605
PH: 405
GTG: 70
CH: 659
W&P: 686
Open My Eyes, That I May See
UMH: 454
PH: 324
GTG: 451
NNBH: 218
CH: 586
W&P: 480
AMEC: 285
Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord
GTG: 452
Open My Eyes, Lord
CCB: 77
Renew: 91
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who wants your creatures to know you:
Grant us the courage to look for you in all creation
and especially in the faces of those in need;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God, because you are desiring us to know you. You are always inviting us into a relationship with yourself. Help us to be open to your invitation in all creation and especially in the faces of the needy. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we constantly fail to see you among us.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have failed to recognize you although you are constantly among us. Your glory fills creation and your Christ resides in everyone we meet. Yet we do not see or respond to your invitation to know you. Forgive us and open our eyes that we may truly see you and know you. Amen.
One: God is always seeking us and is always open to us when we seek God. Receive God’s forgiveness and love and look for God in those around you.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory be to you, O God who comes to greet your creatures! We rejoice in knowing you and knowing we are loved by you.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another, that we have sinned. We have failed to recognize you although you are constantly among us. Your glory fills creation and your Christ resides in everyone we meet. Yet we do not see or respond to your invitation to know you. Forgive us and open our eyes that we may truly see you and know you.
We give you thanks for all the ways in which you make yourself known to us. We are blessed to be surrounded by a creation that reflects your majesty and love. We thank you for those who have responded to your presence and have taught us of your love. We thank you for Jesus who revealed himself and in so doing revealed you.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We pray for those who find it hard to see you in creation or in the faces of others because they have suffered so much. We pray for those who are caught in war or violence. We pray for those who face hatred and bigotry because of the way the look or the way they talk. May we be part of your presence for those around us so that they may know you and your love.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
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CHILDREN’S SERMONTransfiguration
by Katy Stenta
Matthew 17:1-9
In this story Jesus changes from Jesus into Jesus. Its kind of a funny story, because in some ways Jesus is the same person, but in other ways, the disciples see Jesus fully as God.
It felt very overwhelming for the disciples to truly understand who Jesus was — to see Jesus as Jesus truly was.
But Jesus had help...
Here’s what happened: Jesus, Peter, James, and John all climbed a mountain together. (Mountains were holy places in Jesus’ time, kind of like churches, so the disciples probably knew something holy was about o happen.)
So they climb the mountain and then Jesus starts to shine — maybe even almost sparkle.
And then two great Hebrew leaders come from scripture, Moses and Elijah, so it becomes very clear how important Jesus is.
It’s almost like Jesus saying, “Surprise, I’m Jesus!” Or “Peekaboo, I’m Jesus!” (Feel free to mime a peekaboo here or play out peekaboo if it seems fun.)
When you are surprised or startled by someone you love, it doesn’t change who they are, but you can still be startled or surprised.
From then on the disciples understanding of Jesus changed.
So I guess the question is, who is transfigured — that is, transformed on the mountain? And I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer to this question
Who is transfigured and changed on the mountain? Jesus? The disciples? Or both?
Let’s pray (repeat after me)
Dear Jesus,
Thank you
For revealing
Yourself
To us
And the disciples.
Help us
To continue
To see
You clearly.
Amen.
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The Immediate Word, February 15, 2026 issue.
Copyright 2026 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
