The Transfiguration According to St. Luke by Kelly Latimore

Kindred in Christ,

This Sunday, we reflect on the story of Jesus’ Transfiguration in Luke 9:28-36. On the mountaintop, Peter, James, and John witness a dazzling vision of Jesus, standing in the company of their ancestors Moses and Elijah. It’s a breathtaking moment, filled with divine awe. Peter wants to stay, to build dwellings and remain in the brilliance of that holy space. But Jesus doesn’t let them linger—because transformation isn’t meant to stay on the mountaintop. It’s meant to move us into the world.

On April 3, 1968, in Memphis, Tennessee, the night before he was assassinated, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his final speech. In it, he spoke words that turned out to be more prophetic than anyone could have imagined in that room that day. The Rev. Dr. King said:

“I’ve been to the mountaintop. I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we as a people will get to the Promised Land!”

Like Moses, who stood on Mount Nebo to see the Promised Land without entering it, like Jesus, who was transfigured on the mountain but would soon walk the road to the cross, The Rev. Dr. King saw the vision of God’s justice, the promise of an end to segregation and Jim Crow, but would physically not get there himself. And yet, like Jesus, The Rev. Dr. King knew that the vision calls all of us down into the valleys, where the work of liberation and love happens.

As a church committed to God’s kin-dom of justice and peace, we are called to be both witnesses to God’s vision and workers in the world. We are called to see clearly—to be transformed by the light of Christ—and also to act boldly, walking in his way of compassion, courage, and justice.

I hope you will plan to stick around directly after service this Sunday, for an Advocacy Sunday event led by Church and Society. Also, you are invited to attend an Ash Wednesday protest at a local Chevron Station, calling people to divest and repent from supporting companies that support genocide in Palestine. I will be distributing ashes at the protest, as well as attending the related service of lament and repentance in the evening at the Wesley Club. These events are organized by Christians for a Free Palestine.

May we be a people who do not accept the disfiguration of injustice, but rather carry the light of Christ’s transfiguration into our world.

Alongside you,

Rev. Paul Ortiz