Message: Transformation
Today’s gospel reading from Luke chapter 9 extends beyond the verses just about Jesus up the mountain with a few disciples where Jesus is transformed (transfigured) and they hear the words for the cloud, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him.” I’ve included verses preceding to give a shape to what the disciples were experiencing with their teacher in the week or so before. Jesus was praying, Jesus asked a question, Jesus taught them about following him, Jesus reminded them of the consequences of his mission in the world, and Jesus was with them as they journeyed.
On Wednesday this week, many Christians begin the journey through the season of Lent (40 days, not counting Sundays) to Easter (which is 20th April this year). We recall Jesus in the desert for 40 days, fasting and praying, and then being challenged by Satan (the accuser), so for many people the season of Lent leading to Easter is a period of transformation and reflection. While traditionally, many have fasted and given up sweets, chocolate, coffee, or even meat for Lent, the fasting and prayer at the heart of who God is calling us to be connects to what we do, what we consume, and what we give our attention to: all of which affects who we are becoming. We are being transformed more and more day by day by what we see, say, taste, touch, smell, and think about. Our actions and reactions, our interactions in the world change us and affect us and who we are becoming.
Our experiences, our life, our friends, our family, our culture, our work, our leisure, our hurts, our triumphs impact our lives and our outlooks. The children who have grown up during the last 5 years will be affected in their adulthood by Covid, just as those children who lived through world wars and times of rationing. The reality of growing up in South Dakota during the farming crisis of the 1980s and then studying in NYC before marrying and moving to Scotland in the early 2000s affect who I have become and am becoming. Being your minister, influences who I am as a follower of Jesus, as I hope my ministry among you influences your journey of faith and discipleship.
The years of Jesus’s life before his years of ministry affected and influenced those latter years but so too did those moments and times of prayer, teaching, reflection and transfiguration (transformation) which refined and renewed him for the work and journey he was upon. The disciples called from their fishing nets to become fishers of people, were being taught and transformed from their everyday into who God was calling them to be so the good news of Jesus’s resurrection would be shared and affect the entire world.
Jesus praying and asking his disciples who people said he was, who they believed him to be, then showing them in word and through the wonders of God’s presence, transformed them into those who would remember the mountain top experiences, the betrayals, the foolish statements and the wondering questions so we have the accounts of those who walked and talked with Jesus. We can ‘listen to Jesus’ because others heard and were transformed by God at work in the world and in their lives.
We see on the news and know in our lives how actions and words, choices and experiences transform us and affect us. We know that power struggles and economic situations affect not just the initial players but in some ways the world. A war in one place affects energy, security, safety and politics elsewhere. Our viewpoints and interactions with others in our communities influence how they experience what we represent. For those who are Christians or seek to follow Jesus this fact should cause you to self-reflect and seek God’s wisdom and guidance. And this is what seasons of reflection and considered contemplation afford us as people who seek to have our stories intersect with Jesus’s narrative of transformation, redemption and eventual resurrection.
We are invited to ponder, discern, wonder about who God is calling us to become in light of who Jesus was, and is and is to come for us. Jesus called his disciples to be a light to the world carrying the transforming light and life of God to where it was needed most. Jesus’s words to the disciples are not about us ‘getting our way’ or ‘being right’ but being transformed, guided, and aligned with God’s way.
Throughout Jesus’s teachings and example, the disciples (whether first century or 21st century or anywhere between) learn of who we are becoming through walking in The Way of proclaiming Jesus as Saviour. Before the transfiguration and his dazzling transformation, Jesus reminded the disciples (and us readers) of the challenges and conflicts that would come. The daily occurrences of life affect who we become, but more so who we are following for guidance and assistance change us. Mountains and valleys of life are but momentary destinations along the journey of faith that includes the daily steps and pauses, the wandering where we seek to align ourselves with God.
May God guide us all together and as individuals to seek Jesus’s way and learn day-by-day of God’s transforming love that we may shine brightly in the world where there is much that seeks to diminish and destroy. We cannot control the whole world, however, may we be transformed by the love of God at work in the world and through those who stand up to evil. May we be transformed by Jesus in our lives as we seek to follow him and be changed to be more Christlike.
May God bless you and keep you and make his face to shine upon you and give you peace as you seek to walk in the way of the Chosen One, Jesus the Christ.
As we approach this season of Lent, may you grow and flourish as you are nourished by God’s teaching and guided through the valleys and mountains being changed and renewed as God’s beloved child and called disciple.
A prayer for all ages together
O Lord, teach us how to think:
may we love you with all our minds. (point to head)
O Lord, may we not be afraid of questions:
may we love you with all our minds. (point to head)
O Lord, show us when we should change our minds:
may we love you with all our minds. (point to head)
O Lord, may our actions match our words:
may we love you with all that we are. (hand over heart)
© Roots for Churches Ltd (www.rootsforchurches.com) 2002-2025. Reproduced with permission.
Prayers from Church of Scotland Weekly Worship:
Call to worship /Gathering prayer
Holy, yes holy is our God.
We gather in God's presence to bring our worship and praise
for God is merciful and slow to anger.
God loves justice and righteousness.
God is with us in this moment and in each moment,
so, may we take these moments to listen, to worship, to be present, to be transformed by God's grace and the power of God's spirit.
Holy, yes holy is our God so let us worship together.
Holy God, You come amongst us.
You are present here and we worship You.
You are present in the beauty of the world in which we live in all its intricacy and diversity.
You are present in the relationships we have with family, friends and neighbours,
in the laughter and tears we share together.
You are present when justice prevails and mercy is shown,
when we dare to hope of a world which mirrors Your shalom.
Holy God, You come amongst us.
Your promise is that You will never leave us.
We trust in Your promise and Your presence with us as we worship, and so, we bring our thanks and praise. Amen.
Confession / Repentance
Holy God,
You come amongst us and yet we know that there are occasions when we place limits on our receptiveness to Your presence.
We limit the time when we consciously come into Your presence as we are busy with other activities, worries or concerns.
We restrict the opportunities we take to listen for Your voice, hear Your Word,
experience Your presence with us and live in Your love.
We fail to remember that in reaching out to friend or stranger we are showing our love for You,
who loves us without condition and with a magnitude beyond our comprehension.
We recognise the ways in which we place limits and boundaries on our discipleship
and we ask for Your forgiveness.
Free us through Your grace and mercy
to live as people who are being transformed into Your image from one degree of glory to another through the power of Your Spirit.
Let us hear and take to heart these words of promise:
"So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation:
everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being!" Thanks be to God. Amen.
Thanksgiving / Gratitude
Holy God,
Loving Spirit, You make our faces shine. Help us to light up the faces of others.
Today You meet us on mountains and motorways,
in the home and at work,
in places of great joy or despair.
We too have been changed by our encounter and our lives will never be the same.
Loving Spirit, You make our faces shine. Help us to light up the faces of others.
Holy God,
when Moses returned from the mountain he wore a veil as the people were frightened of his shining face.
Moses revealed You to his community
and from that day on they were never the same.
Loving Spirit, You make our faces shine. Help us to light up the faces of others.
Today each one of us reveals who You are in our words and actions, in our prayers and attitudes,
in our loving and hopefulness and expectation of what is to come.
May our communities recognise You and never be the same.
Loving Spirit, You make our faces shine. Help us to light up the faces of others.
Prayer for others / Intercession
Holy God, Three-in-One, perfect community of love,
we bring our prayers for the world and her people,
not because we think You are absent from people and places for whom we have concern, but that by giving voice to them we may be reminded of Your love for each person and the earth itself, and we may be encouraged in our commitment to live as citizens of Your kingdom and work for its flourishing in our midst.
And so, we pray for all who are seeking a place of welcome and safety this day.
For those who are willing to risk everything, even their lives, to cross seas in small boats, paying extortionate fees to people traffickers as they search for a better life.
For those who are fleeing their country because of violence meted out against them because of their religion, sexual orientation, ethnic origin or political viewpoint which means they are no longer safe and are in danger of imprisonment or even death.
For those who feel trapped in their homes, due to the intimidation, bullying or violence of another, and find that home is a place of fear and not safety.
May they experience Your presence
and may we be welcoming people and communities of safety.
We pray for all who are seeking peace this day.
For those who are caught in the terror of war
in Ukraine,
and in Russia.
In Gaza,
the West Bank
and in Israel.
In Myanmar,
Sudan,
and Yemen.
Wherever there is conflict.
For those who are caught in the humanitarian crises that accompany or are the aftermath of conflict,
those who face starvation, those who had had to flee as refugees, separated from families for many months now, those who have no home to return to.
For those who continue to work for reconciliation and justice, continuing to find ways of bringing communities and nations together, who provide humanitarian aid and support to help people articulate the trauma they have experienced,
who offer opportunities for swords to be turned into ploughshares.
May they experience Your presence and may we be peace-filled people and communities of justice.
We pray for all who need to feel the gentle touch of your compassion this day.
For those are worn down by illness or infirmity, anxiety, or with caring for a loved one.
For those who are struggling with the pressures of the cost of living crisis, the demands of work, school or family life.
For those who mourn the loss of loved ones.
May they experience Your presence
and may we be people of compassion and communities of hope. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Blessing / Closing prayer
Holy is our God, who is with us wherever we worship.
Holy is our God who is with us as we now leave this place.
Holy is our God who we know as Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
Nurturer, Reconciler and Re-newer of Strength and who blesses us this and every day. Amen.