Today, we get two scenes following Jesus’ third prediction, and they are tied closely together by one simple thing…

“What were you arguing about along the way?”

The Transfiguration shows us God’s glory, and because of God’s glory seen in Jesus the Messiah, everything changes.

When we look at our extensive Gospel lesson for today, there is a safe, easy way and a not-so-safe, harder way to go with the sermon.

…as I wrestled with the various approaches to writing a sermon, something struck me: I love the Jesus we get in today’s story.

Did the drowning of their pigs concern them more than the drowning of their demons?

“Which one are we?” occurs often as we read through the Bible. It especially gets brought up whenever Jesus’ parables roll around, too.

All the unexpected in these three scenes is meant to point us to the new things God has done in Jesus.

There is often this thing we do with the Christmas story where we try to picture ourselves as one of the characters. We try to connect with one of those aforementioned characters, see which one we feel like or which one fits our life, our calling, our situation.

Does Christmas matter?

It was witness to the God who stirs hearts, calls the scattered, and lays foundations in the midst of ruins.

It is comforting to hear that despite all that has gone on - all that is going on - God still identifies us as “my people.” God continues to be our God, and God has not abandoned us.

Everyone totally understands that story from 2 Kings, right?

Today, we hear of another horticultural project of God’s: a vineyard.

God, by being who God is, mends the brokenness and creates relationship and new life out of anything, even out of a cross.

Elijah is devoted to the one true God, Yahweh, and wants the Israelites to stay devoted, too. It seems, however, that the Israelites have gotten confused.

We are not the church we used to be.

In Second Samuel, we are thrust into a kingdom that stands on the cusp of a new era. However, the story starts with a big call-back to everything that has happened prior.

The problem with these “wow” moments, though, is that it’s easy to feel left out. It’s easy to just watch from the sidelines as all these great people - Abraham, Jacob, Moses - get to have unreal, intimate interactions with God.