The Transfiguration Of The Lord
Worship
Lectionary Worship Workbook
Series II, Cycle C Gospel Texts
Liturgical Color: White
Gospel: Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)
Theme: The Transfiguration of Jesus; the Failure of the Disciples to Heal; Jesus' Healing of the Epileptic Boy. From the joy of the mountaintop to the reality of the daily walk. Life in Christ requires both.
The Gathering
Choral Invitation
"Holy, Holy, Holy," John Merbecke, 1550; arr. Healey Willan, 1930.
Pastoral Invitation
Welcome. Today, as always, we celebrate both the love and holiness of the living God. Remember that worship begins with God's action in history. God initiates our worship, by searching for us in our favorite bushes, by calling us from our trivial pursuits, by pursuing us as a relentless Bloodhound, by transforming us into new people. Therefore, worship is an affirmation of what we already know about God and ourselves (the already known), and a search party for what we do not know about God and ourselves (the not yet known). So, once again, welcome in the name of the God who is full of surprises! And, all the people said, "We're ready!"
Hymn of Praise
(Before singing this hymn identify today as Transfiguration Sunday; give only a couple of tidbits about what to expect.) "O Wondrous Sight, O Vision Fair," trans. John Mason Neale, 1851; alt. 1861; "The Agincourt Song," England, c. 1415.
Prayer of Praise
Include the idea of surprise, that God comes to us in ways that we least expect, including both the mountaintop experiences, and the pain of daily living.
The Introspection
Introduction to the Act of Recognizing Our Humanity
and the Act of Receiving New Life
Pastor and Ministers
Be aware that the Scriptures today take us from the height of joy in Christ to the depths of failure of the disciples to cure. Of course, we like mountaintop experiences; we wish that we could stay forever. The day after our retreats usually brings us back to reality. Today, in the Spirit of Christ, I invite us to redeem every moment of reality. The hymn, "This Is My Father's World," will guide us to do just that if we will allow it to happen:
Congregation Sings: "This is my Father's world ..."
Pastor or Reader: Yes, this is God's world, and sometimes I forget. I fail to notice the potential in every one of God's creations.
C Sings: "And to my listening ears, all nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres."
P: If only we will stop to see and listen, we will see each other's potentials, and we will hear the variety of sounds that speak and sing the praise of God: the birds, the animals, the whispering wind, the pattering rain -- sounds! sounds! sounds!
C Sings: "This is my Father's world. I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees, of skies and seas, God's hand the wonders wrought."
P: We can know that this God who created our world and life, our days and nights, our skies and seas, cares equally for each of us. Yes, God does! No matter how we screw up, God is ready to forgive us, to help us to begin again and again.
C Sings: "This is my Father's world, the birds their carols raise. The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker's praise. This is my Father's world. God shines in all that's fair. In the rustling grass, I hear God pass. God speaks to me everywhere."
(Silent meditation to renew our commitment.)
C Sings: "This is my Father's world, in city streets and marts ..."
P: Yes, God, it's still your world, on the mountaintop, in the valleys and pits. Thank you for your presence and power wherever we go.
C Sings: "All people there are in God's care; God lives within their hearts."
P: Yes, indeed! The same God who creates beauty, also helps us to see it in the people around us; in the people who love God as we love God and who accept the reality that we are brothers and sisters and friends to each other.
C Sings: "This is my Father's world, when people live as friends, and every one can share God's plan of love that never ends."
P: Love, not love as feeling, but love as commitment, that's what we're all about, each person loving each other person in the way that God loves each of us.
C Prays: God of Love and Holiness, no matter where you live, no matter how we have lived, by your Spirit, help us to share your love with others and to seek your justice for others. In the power of the living Christ. So be it!
The Teaching
Message with the Children of All Ages
Do any of you children enjoy summer vacation? If so, what do you enjoy about it? (Give opportunity to respond.) Now, after three or four days of vacation, have any of you ever said to your parents, "There's nothing to do ... I'm bored ..." or similar remarks? (Wait.) The Scripture tells us that when Peter, James, John, and Jesus went to the top of the mountain, and were visited by Moses and Elijah, Peter, who often had his foot in his mouth, said something similar to this: "Hey, this is great. Let's build a motel, restaurant, tennis and racketball courts, jacuzzi, theater; and let's stay here forever." Jesus, as always, had to bring him and the disciples back down to earth. Jesus keeps telling us that, even though vacations are necessary, we live our life where people live and rejoice and hurt. Jesus keeps telling us that our lives are to be lived with and for others; and that's where we best serve him. I invite each of you to find one way each day that you will be helpful to others, that you usually would not do. Any of you have an idea?
Dramatizing the Scripture
Act the last part of today's Scripture. Invite the people to respond with astonishment when "Jesus" heals the boy.
Proclamation of the Good News
Contrast the two scenes, the joy of the mountaintop and the failure of the disciples to cure the boy. In some sense, we want the ecstasy of the mountaintop, and have difficulty with the agony of everyday life.
Response
"Swiftly Pass the Clouds of Glory," Thomas H. Troeger, 1985; George Henry Day, 1940.
The Dedication
Stewardship Challenge
Though we may prefer to stay on the mountain, I invite us to come into the valley and respond to the following questions? (1) When did we last do anything for anyone else, for which we were not paid, either in money, prestige, or popularity? (2) When, outside of our own family circle or immediate friends, did we go out of our way to do anything for anybody else? (3) When did we last give up something on which our heart was set in order to help another? (4) Is there some cause in this community in which we are taking a vital part, to which we gladly, hilariously, cheerfully give time, money, energy? (Wait one minute.)
Prayer Response
God, these gifts represent what we think of you and your world. Take them. Amen.
Charge to the Congregation
As we leave the mountain and return to the valleys and pits, I invite you to search out a forgotten friend, to write a letter to someone who misses you, to encourage a young person who has lost faith, to keep a promise, to fight for a principle, to overcome an old fear, and (add your own list).
Hymn of Commitment
"Jesus on the Mountain Peak," Brian Wren, 1962, 1988; Cyril Vincent Taylor, b. 1907.
Meditation
(1) "What does it cost to be a Christian? The entrance fee is nothing, but the annual subscription is everything" (Henry Drummond). (2) "The symbol of the Christian life is not a couch but a cross; and a cross was not jewelry when Christ spoke of it, accepted it, died on it" (Author unknown). (3) Discipleship costs! And if it does not cost in time, money, and energy, it is not discipleship (WHK).
Music Possibilities In Addition To Those Already Suggested
Music for Preparation: Medley of Transfiguration hymns. (Invite the people to read the words of the hymns.)
Other Hymn Possibilities: (1) "Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise," Walter Chalmers Smith, 1867; alt. 1987; Welsh folk melody; adapted in Caniadau y Cyssegr, 1839. (2) "Be Thou My Vision," ancient Irish poem; trans. Mary E. Byrne, 1905; vers. Eleanor Hull, 1912; alt.; harm. David Evans, 1927. (3) "I Am the Light of the World," words and music by Jim Strathdee, from Discipleship Resources, P.O. Box 189, 1908 Grand Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee 37202, (615) 327-2700. (4) "There Is a Place of Quiet Rest," Cleland B. McAfee (1866-1944).
Response to the Proclamation: (Adult Choir) "We Thank Thee, Lord," Bortiansky.
Offertory: "Incline Thine Ear, O Lord," I. Drozdof; text adapted from The Psalms, edited and arranged by Ivan Trusler.
Response to the Benediction: "Go, Tell It On the Mountain," stanzas, John W. Work, Jr. (1871-1925); harm. and adapt. Melva Wilson Costen, 1987.
Gospel: Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)
Theme: The Transfiguration of Jesus; the Failure of the Disciples to Heal; Jesus' Healing of the Epileptic Boy. From the joy of the mountaintop to the reality of the daily walk. Life in Christ requires both.
The Gathering
Choral Invitation
"Holy, Holy, Holy," John Merbecke, 1550; arr. Healey Willan, 1930.
Pastoral Invitation
Welcome. Today, as always, we celebrate both the love and holiness of the living God. Remember that worship begins with God's action in history. God initiates our worship, by searching for us in our favorite bushes, by calling us from our trivial pursuits, by pursuing us as a relentless Bloodhound, by transforming us into new people. Therefore, worship is an affirmation of what we already know about God and ourselves (the already known), and a search party for what we do not know about God and ourselves (the not yet known). So, once again, welcome in the name of the God who is full of surprises! And, all the people said, "We're ready!"
Hymn of Praise
(Before singing this hymn identify today as Transfiguration Sunday; give only a couple of tidbits about what to expect.) "O Wondrous Sight, O Vision Fair," trans. John Mason Neale, 1851; alt. 1861; "The Agincourt Song," England, c. 1415.
Prayer of Praise
Include the idea of surprise, that God comes to us in ways that we least expect, including both the mountaintop experiences, and the pain of daily living.
The Introspection
Introduction to the Act of Recognizing Our Humanity
and the Act of Receiving New Life
Pastor and Ministers
Be aware that the Scriptures today take us from the height of joy in Christ to the depths of failure of the disciples to cure. Of course, we like mountaintop experiences; we wish that we could stay forever. The day after our retreats usually brings us back to reality. Today, in the Spirit of Christ, I invite us to redeem every moment of reality. The hymn, "This Is My Father's World," will guide us to do just that if we will allow it to happen:
Congregation Sings: "This is my Father's world ..."
Pastor or Reader: Yes, this is God's world, and sometimes I forget. I fail to notice the potential in every one of God's creations.
C Sings: "And to my listening ears, all nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres."
P: If only we will stop to see and listen, we will see each other's potentials, and we will hear the variety of sounds that speak and sing the praise of God: the birds, the animals, the whispering wind, the pattering rain -- sounds! sounds! sounds!
C Sings: "This is my Father's world. I rest me in the thought of rocks and trees, of skies and seas, God's hand the wonders wrought."
P: We can know that this God who created our world and life, our days and nights, our skies and seas, cares equally for each of us. Yes, God does! No matter how we screw up, God is ready to forgive us, to help us to begin again and again.
C Sings: "This is my Father's world, the birds their carols raise. The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker's praise. This is my Father's world. God shines in all that's fair. In the rustling grass, I hear God pass. God speaks to me everywhere."
(Silent meditation to renew our commitment.)
C Sings: "This is my Father's world, in city streets and marts ..."
P: Yes, God, it's still your world, on the mountaintop, in the valleys and pits. Thank you for your presence and power wherever we go.
C Sings: "All people there are in God's care; God lives within their hearts."
P: Yes, indeed! The same God who creates beauty, also helps us to see it in the people around us; in the people who love God as we love God and who accept the reality that we are brothers and sisters and friends to each other.
C Sings: "This is my Father's world, when people live as friends, and every one can share God's plan of love that never ends."
P: Love, not love as feeling, but love as commitment, that's what we're all about, each person loving each other person in the way that God loves each of us.
C Prays: God of Love and Holiness, no matter where you live, no matter how we have lived, by your Spirit, help us to share your love with others and to seek your justice for others. In the power of the living Christ. So be it!
The Teaching
Message with the Children of All Ages
Do any of you children enjoy summer vacation? If so, what do you enjoy about it? (Give opportunity to respond.) Now, after three or four days of vacation, have any of you ever said to your parents, "There's nothing to do ... I'm bored ..." or similar remarks? (Wait.) The Scripture tells us that when Peter, James, John, and Jesus went to the top of the mountain, and were visited by Moses and Elijah, Peter, who often had his foot in his mouth, said something similar to this: "Hey, this is great. Let's build a motel, restaurant, tennis and racketball courts, jacuzzi, theater; and let's stay here forever." Jesus, as always, had to bring him and the disciples back down to earth. Jesus keeps telling us that, even though vacations are necessary, we live our life where people live and rejoice and hurt. Jesus keeps telling us that our lives are to be lived with and for others; and that's where we best serve him. I invite each of you to find one way each day that you will be helpful to others, that you usually would not do. Any of you have an idea?
Dramatizing the Scripture
Act the last part of today's Scripture. Invite the people to respond with astonishment when "Jesus" heals the boy.
Proclamation of the Good News
Contrast the two scenes, the joy of the mountaintop and the failure of the disciples to cure the boy. In some sense, we want the ecstasy of the mountaintop, and have difficulty with the agony of everyday life.
Response
"Swiftly Pass the Clouds of Glory," Thomas H. Troeger, 1985; George Henry Day, 1940.
The Dedication
Stewardship Challenge
Though we may prefer to stay on the mountain, I invite us to come into the valley and respond to the following questions? (1) When did we last do anything for anyone else, for which we were not paid, either in money, prestige, or popularity? (2) When, outside of our own family circle or immediate friends, did we go out of our way to do anything for anybody else? (3) When did we last give up something on which our heart was set in order to help another? (4) Is there some cause in this community in which we are taking a vital part, to which we gladly, hilariously, cheerfully give time, money, energy? (Wait one minute.)
Prayer Response
God, these gifts represent what we think of you and your world. Take them. Amen.
Charge to the Congregation
As we leave the mountain and return to the valleys and pits, I invite you to search out a forgotten friend, to write a letter to someone who misses you, to encourage a young person who has lost faith, to keep a promise, to fight for a principle, to overcome an old fear, and (add your own list).
Hymn of Commitment
"Jesus on the Mountain Peak," Brian Wren, 1962, 1988; Cyril Vincent Taylor, b. 1907.
Meditation
(1) "What does it cost to be a Christian? The entrance fee is nothing, but the annual subscription is everything" (Henry Drummond). (2) "The symbol of the Christian life is not a couch but a cross; and a cross was not jewelry when Christ spoke of it, accepted it, died on it" (Author unknown). (3) Discipleship costs! And if it does not cost in time, money, and energy, it is not discipleship (WHK).
Music Possibilities In Addition To Those Already Suggested
Music for Preparation: Medley of Transfiguration hymns. (Invite the people to read the words of the hymns.)
Other Hymn Possibilities: (1) "Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise," Walter Chalmers Smith, 1867; alt. 1987; Welsh folk melody; adapted in Caniadau y Cyssegr, 1839. (2) "Be Thou My Vision," ancient Irish poem; trans. Mary E. Byrne, 1905; vers. Eleanor Hull, 1912; alt.; harm. David Evans, 1927. (3) "I Am the Light of the World," words and music by Jim Strathdee, from Discipleship Resources, P.O. Box 189, 1908 Grand Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee 37202, (615) 327-2700. (4) "There Is a Place of Quiet Rest," Cleland B. McAfee (1866-1944).
Response to the Proclamation: (Adult Choir) "We Thank Thee, Lord," Bortiansky.
Offertory: "Incline Thine Ear, O Lord," I. Drozdof; text adapted from The Psalms, edited and arranged by Ivan Trusler.
Response to the Benediction: "Go, Tell It On the Mountain," stanzas, John W. Work, Jr. (1871-1925); harm. and adapt. Melva Wilson Costen, 1987.
