Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Presbyterian Outlook's Page Turners - Tips for preaching Transfiguration Sunday

Lent, Transfiguration Sunday and Black History Month

Dear Outlook Readers,
 
Churches everywhere are pre-gaming Lent right about now, pinning down the sermon series details or selecting the book for Wednesday night’s small group. I comb through publishers’ newest offerings to help you choose the Lenten devotional that best suits your context; you’ll find those recommendations on our website. This year, the Outlook’s offering is particularly rich – my colleagues drew on the six stages of grief named by experts Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and David Kessler to create daily devotions that explore loss and grief, before moving toward the healing and hope of the resurrection. Digital daily devotions are available to download and share via e-mail or tuck into bulletins. Grieving Change and Loss speaks to our current climate and the experience of Lent, and it’s an excellent choice.  
 
Transfiguration Sunday occurs just before Ash Wednesday and often takes a backseat to Lent … but why? It’s a juicy story – Jesus, miraculously transformed, is joined by great prophets of the Hebrew Bible as disciples look on in awe, eager to prolong this holy moment. It is, however, a challenging text that pops up year after year, so we’re highlighting a practical and theologically sound resource on the Transfiguration – check it out below.
 
Happy Reading,
 
Amy Pagliarella
Book Review Editor

BOOKS OF THE MONTH

Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration
Sarah Hinlicky Wilson
Thornbush Press, 138 pages
August 6, 2024

Seated around my seminary president’s dinner table, a group of clergy and students debated our least favorite Sunday to preach. Hands down: Transfiguration Sunday. The Transfiguration defies explanation … it’s rich and mysterious … and yet it’s also the exact. same. story. every year, leaving preachers scrambling for a fresh take.  
 
After just three years of preaching, pastor and theologian Sarah Hinlicky Wilson was convinced she had run out of things to say. She dug deeper, translating for herself the accounts in the Synoptic Gospels and 2 Peter, and realized the story was deeper than she realized. “All I had to do was tug on one slender thread within the Transfiguration story to find that it was connected to an intricate, gorgeous web stretching across the whole of Scripture,” she writes. 
 
Hinlicky begins with the earliest Gospel, Mark, and then analyzes each addition or change in Matthew and Luke. For example, when Matthew says Jesus’ face “shone like the sun,” she mines each word for meaning, starting with the Greek and drawing connections with Matthew’s exhortation to “let your light shine” (from the Sermon on the Mount), as well as to the details of Jesus’ crucifixion, which Matthew describes as occurring when “the whole earth was dark.” With rich discussions like this, there’s more than enough to inspire a host of sermons. 
 
And it’s this framework that makes Seven Ways of Looking at the Transfiguration eminently useful. It combines theology and biblical exegesis, always with preaching in mind; Hinlicky strikes a friendly tone, like that of a trusted colleague rather than a know-it-all. The “seven ways” are neatly offered lenses such as “eschaton (Elijah)” or “tabernacles (Israel)” through which to peer at the story, but she’s equally clear that there are so many more.

QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Doesn’t the Bible teach us that God loves everyone the same no matter how they look?” Andy asked.
 
“Yes, it does!” Mom responded. “But not everyone agrees with what the Bible says.”
 
Book Giveaway! 
 
Congratulations to last month’s winner Teddie McConnell. Thanks to our friend(s) M.M. Lindvall, they received a copy of Dust to Dust 

This month, one fortunate reader will receive a copy of the recently released 
Andy Johnson and the March for Justice, written by Esau McCauley and illustrated by Emmanuel Boateng, generously donated by our friends at Convergent Books.

If you're reading this note, then you're all set! Know someone else who should be reading Page Turners? Send them this link and they'll get entered for a chance to win, too. The contest closes on February 19.

 

OTHER READS

Children’s books to celebrate Black History
For intentional caregivers who desire to instill values like diversity, courage, self-worth and compassion, books can open the door to important discussions and questions.

The Book of Belonging: Bible Stories for Kind and Contemplative Kids
"Each of the 42 stories references themes of belonging, being beloved and delight. Clark frames these stories through this lens, tying them together with the thread of God’s love and delight in humanity." — Jo Wiersema

Defiant Hope, Active Love: What Young Adults Are Seeking in Places of Work, Faith, and Community
Why are young adults leaving the church, and how do we compel them to return? Howard Cha-Young Kim reviews Jeffrey F. Keuss' "Defiant Hope, Active Love."

This Beautiful Day: Daily Wisdom from Mister Rogers
Who better to speak to this time and place than everyone’s favorite Presbyterian minister, Mr. Rogers? — Amy Pagliarella

Rooted in the wisdom of Elisabeth Kübler-Ross and David Kessler’s six stages of grief outlined in their seminal work On Grief and Grieving, this daily 2025 Lenten devotional offers a pathway through the heartache of life’s goodbyes, guiding you toward the promise of resurrection.

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