Sunday, March 2, 2025
Transfiguration Sunday Year C
Luke 9:28-36, (37-43a)  | "On the Mountain to Pray"

Call to Worship 
L: The call of the Holy One has brought us together.
P: We have been called to pray and to praise.
L: We are called to worship and to holy wonder.
P: May the light of Love burn brightly in us.
L: May it transfigure and transform our hearts and minds.
P: May it become a beacon of hope for others.

Invocation (Unison)
God of mountaintops and valleys and everywhere in between, we thank you for meeting us where we are.  We thank you also for leading us to this place of prayer and renewal.  Enlighten our minds, radiate our hearts, and ready us for Your alive Word of Love.  Let it shine in and through us, lighting a path of grace, hope, and joy.  May the same transfiguring power, shown forth in Jesus Christ, also shine in us for the good of the world.  Amen.

Prayer for Transformation and New Life
Holy God, it has been easy to live with our eyes veiled.  Too often, we have hidden from the hard realities within us and around us. We have shielded Your light of Love, instead of sharing it.  Something deep within has often hardened our hearts, leading to inertia and unfreedom. But there is a deeper longing within.  We hunger for the forgiveness and renewal You revealed in Jesus Christ. Forgive us, Holy One, and unveil our eyes and our hearts.  With Your shining love, light a path of forgiveness for us that we may share it with others.  By this, we may know the freedom of new life you revealed in Jesus Christ.  Amen and amen.

Words of Grace 
Hear the good news!  Do not lose heart!  God is merciful.  Bit by bit, we are being transformed into the image of God’s glory made known in Jesus Christ.  In our turning, God has forgiven us and unveiled our lives.  God has also called us to listen to Jesus Christ, the Beloved, who calls us by the same name.  Beloved, may the forgiving light of God’s love shine through us, and bear the hope of a new beginning to others.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Communion Prayer 
Light of the world, in Jesus, You revealed Your will and way.  Through his broken body, You broke open our sense of what is possible even in death.  Through his lifeblood poured out, You showed that nothing can interrupt Your life-giving pulse at work in all creation.  In Christ, You joined all things seen and unseen, kissing the earth with heavenly grace and peace.  By this, You revealed resurrection’s resistance to death’s claim as the final word.  Instead, Your Word of Love bears an ever-new beginning.  Now, pour out Your Spirit anew on these elements and on us that we all may be blessed with Your shining grace, joined with one another, and held in Your holy embrace.  In the name of the Christ, we pray.  Amen.

Invitation to Generosity
On the Mount of Transfiguration, the law of love and the prophecy of holy peace joined each other in Jesus as he prayed.  God’s generous love bore a radiant flash, kissing earth with heavenly light.  So, the heart of God was revealed in Jesus, and a call was extended. It was the call to listen to Jesus and love generously like him.  So we are invited to taste heavenly joy as we generously share the gifts we have received from the One who has born us into life.  In this spirit, may we bring our gifts to the one who transfigures everything with love.

Prayer of Thanksgiving and Dedication
O Spirit of Life, shine on us again and again that we may become the blessing you intend.  Keep awakening us to Your holy mystery and Your sacred call.  Bless these gifts we bring so that Your energy of love may be shared with others and offer the light of a new beginning.  By this, and more than we can name, continue to transfigure us and the world.  Amen. 

Benediction
May the Holy radiance of transfiguration continually light the wick of your life.
May it be a light that bears joy and hope and love.
May the voice of Jesus enter not only your ears but also your heart.
And may that voice shape your voice for the good of the world.
Blessings on you all!  Amen and Amen.

Prompts for a Pastoral Prayer 
Transfiguring and transforming God, in Jesus You spoke.  Open our ears and our hearts to listen to your beloved.
Help  us listen to Jesus…love your enemies
Help us listen to Jesus…forgive seventy times seven
Help us listen to Jesus…go the second mile
Help us listen to Jesus…you are the light of the world
Help us listen to Jesus…you cannot serve God and wealth
Help us to listen to Jesus…do not worry about your life
Help us to listen to Jesus…do not judge
Help us to listen to Jesus…search and you will find
Yes, Holy One who Shined on Jesus, shine on us.  And may the words of Jesus become the meditation of our hearts and the light of our lives.

On the Mountain to Pray: Service Prayers for Transfiguration  Sunday Year C was written by the Rev. Dr. David Long-Higgins, Conference Minister of the Heartland Conference of the United Church of Christ.