0206_05
February 6, 2005 – Transfiguration Sunday/
Last Sunday after Epiphany
RC: 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Revised Common Lectionary Readings
Exodus 24:12-18
Psalm 2 or Psalm 99
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9
Up the High Mountain
*Call to Worship
There is a holy space,
high in the mountains of our soul,
swept clear by the winds of God’s breath,
light-filled with the sun of divine love,
so that we may see the Christ
and know ourselves.
Thanks be to God.
There is a place where wonder breaks through,
moving past the barriers of our theories,
standing free of our blurred views
to claim its ground
in the beauty of the holy mystery.
Thanks be to God,
transfigured in our sight.
*Prayer of Invocation
May we come to you, this day, O Christ,
climbing the mountains of our resistance,
hanging onto the rocks of your love for us.
Carry us into the miracle of your being
on the plains of our life
and call us further toward you
than we have ever been before, we pray.
Amen.
*Prayer of Confession
As we invite your gracious presence
among us, Jesus Christ,
we know full well how often we flee from you.
We have so many ways of avoiding
the encounter with you
by excuses and delays.
Sometimes we even use prayers
to blot out your voice,
sounding the words in our heads and hearts
while pushing you away
in case you tell us the truth
or ask more of us than we feel able to do.
Silent reflection.
Forgive us, loving Jesus.
Take our hands and lead us
toward your grace.
If we refuse to come away with you,
we stay among the crowds of life
so that your voice is dimmed
and our lives are clouded
with a fog of activity.
Forgive us, loving Jesus.
Take our hands and lead us
toward your grace.
We rush on ahead of you,
refusing to wait to listen to your word for us,
making our own plans with little reflection,
using the good we are doing
to justify our relentless activity.
Silent reflection.
Forgive us, loving Jesus.
Take our hands and lead us
toward your grace.
Remind us of your radiant life,
we pray. Amen.
*Words of Assurance
Stay, stay alone in this moment
and encounter our God.
Remember the kindness that lies there.
Hold on to the mercy that waits for us.
We are forgiven.
Thanks be to God.
*Prayer of Thanksgiving
We thank you, O God,
that there is always more to you
than we have yet seen,
always a new divine color to your life
that will show forth in its vividness
if we will pause to see it.
A silence is kept.
In the deeps of our bodies,
hearts, souls, and minds
there is a thankfulness for who you are, O God.
Our words can never describe you
and our thoughts can never hold you,
for you are beyond that.
Thanks be to you, O God. Amen.
*Stewardship Thought
This story is about some of the disciples of Jesus being led up the high mountain by themselves. Although we usually focus on the transfiguration of Jesus in this passage, it may be important to recognize that sometimes God invites us “up a high mountain” by ourselves. This journey away from the distractions and busyness, away from excuses about things we need to do and into the quiet depths of the encounter with God alone can be life-changing for many of us. The strange thing is that often when we have had a profound experience of God and who we are in relation to God, when we stop and stay in the silences, we still resist intentionally doing it again. Some people do, of course, but probably most of us keep putting it off. The high mountains of our coming into the presence of God by ourselves is always life-changing.
*Offertory Sentence
Let us walk toward the mountain tops of life
as we bring our grateful thanks to God in our offering.
*Offertory Prayer
O God, the mystery of your being
is never separated from the earthly obligations that you give to us
to share what we have with others.
Receive our offerings this day. Amen.
*Prayer of Intercession
Call our lives into the heights and depths
of your life, O God.
Dazzle our souls with your dreaming
and enlarge our view
of your dream for humankind
as we see it through your eyes
from the mountaintop.
Silent reflection.
Separate our quick reactions
as we try to please you
from the wider wisdom
of your insights into our life.
Give us the courage
to pray our humble human prayers
as we realize a little
of the measure of your holiness.
The people pray.
Hold us into your divine silences, O God,
as we listen to your responses to our prayers.
Stay with us on the mountain
as we grapple with our fears and doubts.
Reach out and wait with us
when we grow impatient,
and show us the way
of justice for all.
Above all, give us faith,
that we may more truly follow you
wherever you call us to go.
For you are our God
and we would be your people. Amen.
*Commissioning
Stay on the sacred ground of God
wherever it is found;
then go in faith to follow Christ.
*Benediction
May the Christ
be glimpsed clothed in light on the way;
God, our loving parent
show us a face of gentleness;
and the Holy Spirit enrich our life with wisdom.
Amen.