August 9, 2026 Transfiguration Sunday
August 9, 2026
Transfiguration Sunday
In his book about biking across America with his brother, Stan Purdum
remembers being in Oregon early in the journey and discovering that, even
though it was summertime, they should have packed some cold-weather
clothing. After camping for the night in Prairie City, they set out heading
east. The days so far had been quite hot, though chilly in the mornings.
Here’s how Purdum described what happened next:
“Although we were soon wet with sweat under our tights and jackets as we
ascended the first of the three mountains, the rapid glide down the
mountain proved so chilling that we had to stop and pile on additional
clothing. The wind striking my chest proved so cold that I removed the map
from the handlebar bag and slid it up under my jacket for additional
insulation. Our frigid hands made us wish that we had brought full gloves in
addition to the fingerless riding gloves we wore in summer.
“Eventually we came to a café and store. Thoroughly chilled, we decided to
eat lunch even though it was still early. The café had not yet opened, so we
hurried into the store, where we were able to buy hot drinks, microwave
food and gloves from a disgruntled man who obviously considered
customers an inconvenience. When we lingered over our sandwiches, he
said, pointedly, ‘Will there be anything else?’ We got the message and
moved to the bench outside.”
What happened inside the store was a transaction. The Purdum brothers
handed the storekeeper some cash, and he provided them with food, drink
and gloves. It wasn’t a very pleasant experience, but it met the immediate
need of the cyclists and added to the store’s income for the day. It was a
transaction, but only minimally so.
A transaction is commonly defined as an agreement between two parties: a
buyer and a seller. In a transaction, the seller supplies either goods or
services in exchange for a payment from the buyer. We likely participate in
transactions frequently, perhaps even daily, but unless you are a business
owner or banker, you probably don’t think about the word “transaction” very
often. It was a word often used by me when in the building materials retail
industry for some 34 years. However, “transaction,” is not an exclusive
word to the world of purchasing material goods.
Transaction almost seems like a dirty word in the Oregon store example,
but it’s really a neutral term. We could hardly get by in life without engaging
in transactions. They not only help us meet basic needs for food and
shelter, but they also assist us in obtaining all sorts of things from
entertainment to healthcare to new shoes. A transaction is even taking
place when we vote for a candidate. We’re saying, “I’ll vote for you if you
promise to fix the economy, support my social values, protect us from
enemies, lower my taxes, handle immigration differently, etc. The fact that
some candidates break their campaign promises after being elected or
fulfill them in a way that benefits only a chosen group does seem to soil the
whole idea of transactions. Within this disappointment we rarely see that
with as many constituents as the average politician has, it is not likely they
will always make good on their promises – for a good number of reasons,
yet not just for seemingly narcissistic reasons.
There is one place where the word transaction is implied but misinterprets
the spirit of what actually happens. It’s in the realm of what the church calls
“works righteousness.” This is the belief that we can achieve a right
standing with God primarily through our good deeds, obedience to divine
laws, and our practice of religious rituals, rather than solely through God’s
grace. Or we may believe that our participation in enough sit-ins, protests,
boycotts and speaking truth to power can move up God’s schedule for
when the kingdom of God is to arrive.
Clearly, the New Testament calls us who seek to follow Jesus to do good
deeds and behave like citizens of God’s kingdom, but Scripture does not tie
such works to our salvation. And most of us who have spent time reading
the Bible know that — even though we sometimes fall back into
transactional thinking regarding the Christian life.
Even Christ’s death on the cross has been thought of as a transaction, with
some Christians arguing that Jesus had to die to pay for the sins of the
world — his death serving as one side of some kind of deal.
In some places, works of righteousness has been stretched to cover our
decision to follow Jesus, which, starkly put, can be stated as, “I’ll repent of
my sins and follow Jesus; in return, God will give me eternal life.” Sounds a
lot like an expected transaction.
This brings us to the words of the apostle Paul in Romans 10. Paul
contrasts “the righteousness that comes from the law” (v. 5, his term for
works righteousness, drawn from Leviticus 18:5) with “the righteousness
that comes from faith” (v. 6, alluding to Deuteronomy 30:11-14 and applying
it to faith in Christ).
Paul goes on to say that righteousness by faith only comes by the work of
God, given to humans by God’s grace. But Paul’s reasoning, as worded in
many Bible versions is dense and not easy to follow. But hear verses 8-10
from The Message Bible translation:
“It’s the word of faith that welcomes God to go to work and set things right
for us. This is the core of our preaching. Say the welcoming word to God —
‘Jesus is my Master’ — embracing, body and soul, God’s work of doing in
us what he did in raising Jesus from the dead. That’s it. You’re not ‘doing’
anything; you’re simply calling out to God, trusting him to do it for you.
That’s salvation. With your whole being you embrace God setting things
right, and then you say it, right out loud: ‘God has set everything right
between him and me!’”
Thus, in the way of righteousness by faith, people are not accounted by
God as righteous because they have succeeded in a scrupulous keeping of
the laws or because they’ve entered into a bargain with God to follow Jesus
in exchange for eternal life, but because salvation is a gift of God, freely
given.
The understanding of salvation being a gracious gift of God rather than a
deal with God goes back to at least the fourth century, when a 34-year-old
teacher of rhetoric named Augustine began struggling against the idea of
becoming a Christian. He found Christianity attractive and admired the lives
of Christian martyrs and monks. But he had an active sex life that he didn’t
want to curtail. One afternoon in a garden in Milan, he heard a voice like
that of a child saying, “Take it and read.” So, he picked up a Bible and read
the first passage he saw. It was from Romans 13, which said, “… put on the
Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its
desires.” Writing later about this experience, he said that as soon as he
reached the end of that sentence, “it was as though my heart was filled with
a light of confidence, and all shadows of my doubt was [sic] swept away.”
Augustine went on to say that while he had been busy resisting God with all
his might, God saved him anyway — by divine grace. He eventually
became a strong leader of the church.
However, one of Augustine’s contemporaries, a British monk named
Pelagius, considered Augustine’s conclusion a big mistake. He said
Augustine’s position would encourage people to just relax about eternal
salvation and instead wait for God’s grace. Yes, Pelagius said, we need
grace, but God will give grace only to those who have been working hard
for it on their own. Augustine argued that sinners are so trapped by their sin
that they cannot break away from it on their own without God’s grace. And
grace that we earn — or, as we might say today, is simply part of a
transaction — is not really grace at all.
The argument between Augustine and Pelagius has continued right down
to today, but the Liberal Catholic position is that Augustine got it right.
One problem with focusing on salvation as an undeserved grant from God
is the idea that redemption not requiring a transaction would give the most
villainous and predatory people a free pass. That’s a mistaken assumption,
however, and Jesus told a parable that helps us understand that.
It’s found in Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 and is usually called the parable of the
sower. Jesus invited his hearers to picture a farmer with a bag of seed,
striding across his land. Using the planting procedure of the day, he slung
handfuls of seed to his right and left as he walked. The problem was that
not all the ground around him was suitable for growing plants. Some seeds
fell on the hard-packed path, where birds could eat them up. Other seeds
landed on rocky ground, where the soil was too shallow to support their
growth once they germinated. Some seeds fell where thorns choked them
out. But some seeds landed on good soil, where they grew well and yielded
a healthy harvest.
This method of sowing seed is remarkably inefficient, and we might want to
tell the farmer to be more selective about where he drops his seeds. But as
Jesus explains the parable, it becomes clear that the sower is a stand-in for
God himself, who has no shortage of “seed,” which is a metaphor for God’s
grace — and God has an inexhaustible supply of that. It is good seed, but
whether it takes root and grows depends on the “soil,” the human heart.
At that level, some people allow no room for God’s grace to implant itself.
God’s grace is freely given, but not everyone is willing to receive it. Those
who accept it, however, have new incentive to walk in the way of the Lord.
So, no, not everyone theoretically will make it into heaven, but those who
accepts his grace will. The transaction is complete when someone accepts
the grace offered. Good works are not required to get into heaven, but if we
accept God’s grace, good works are a natural result.
Another way to view God’s grace comes from a 5-year-old girl. At ages 3-4,
she attended a preschool for children with intellectual disabilities. She is not
a special-needs child, but her mother was unhappy with some
programming at the regular preschool she first attended. The little girl’s
mom learned that the special-needs school welcomed a few kids each year
who had no intellectual disability. The school’s experience was that kids
with higher skill and learning abilities — identified in preschool jargon as
TDPs (typically developing peers) — help the special-needs kids achieve
more. So, for two years, the little girl went to classes with the special-needs
children. One benefit to her is that she now sees such individuals as “just
kids” and potential friends. She is not standoffish with them or with other
kids — or even differently abled adults — she meets for the first time.
She has now graduated from that school. She is naturally outgoing and a
ready hugger, and it’s not uncommon for her to welcome new kids —
including those with intellectual disabilities — in church or around town with
a big hug. One could turn down such hugs, but it’s unlikely that it would
deter her from offering them.
No human example can convey all that God is, but have no doubt that
there is grace in the little girl’s hugs.
Sin is a pretty big disability for all of us, but it doesn’t stop God from
hugging us and offering us redemption. And for those who accept it, the
imbalance created by that gift is motivation to live faithfully, loving God and
neighbor.
Let us pray.
In today’s Gospel we read that Jesus transfigures while Peter, James, and
John look on. May we too see the light of Jesus and follow him and his
teachings in our everyday life. We pray to the Lord.
That our hearts and daily actions may be transfigured by God's grace to
value and welcome our neighbors. We pray to the Lord.
That our faith community may listen to Christ and become a home for those
seeking truth, hope, and love. We pray to the Lord.
That violent conflicts and weapons of war may be transformed into peace,
justice, and bountifulness for all nations. We pray to the Lord.
For those suffering from food insecurity, poverty, or hardship, especially
where growing food is difficult. We pray to the Lord.
In thanksgiving for first responders, medical professionals, veterans, and
military personnel who serve our communities and especially those who
respond to the wild fires now plaquing our plant. We pray to the Lord.
We pray to God for an increase of priests, deacons, and religious for our
denomination to bring the Good News to all peoples without prejudice. We
pray to the Lord.
We pray that those with generous means may be led to our small church
and give generously to our mission so that we may continue to be a church
open to all peoples. We pray to the Lord.
For those on our parish prayer list, that they may receive swift answers to
their needs and that they may find consolation through Christ’s healing
presence. We pray to the Lord.
We bow our heads and remember in silence our own personal intentions
and the intentions of those who have asked for our prayers (pause). We
pray to the Lord.
God, you bring us together in this place. We come to be fed, to be
renewed, to seek understanding. God, you challenge us in this place. We
embrace the challenge, trusting that through challenge we grow in faith.
God, you are revealed in this place — sometimes in shining glory,
sometimes in tears and struggle. God as we worship in this place, refresh,
renew and challenge us so that we would see your awesomeness. God,
you bring Moses and Elijah in the transfiguration of Jesus so that Peter,
James, and John may see Our Lord Christ in his brilliant glory as he
normally is in heaven.
In so doing, you help us to reflect on the many graces that you give to all
those who accept them. Your grace, through your Son is freely given, but
this does not mean we get to sit back and wait to be accepted into your
kingdom merely doing nothing. Good acts on their own merit also will not
work. As followers of your Son, we must accept your grace. And when we
do this, we then are meant to follow in your Son’s steps. To live in his light
means that we have accepted your grace through him and do the works
that he did – good works – good works not as a transaction, but good
works that come through a natural acceptance in Your grace; not as an
action as if a transaction to purchase our way to your kingdom were
necessary, because the ONLY transaction is that of accepting your grace.
One this day we ask you to transfigure all of us who have freely accepted
the gift of your grace. May this transfiguration make us Christians of the
Transfiguration. May this transfiguration be reflected in all we do, each and
every day. We ask all these things, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
God Love You +++
The Most Rev. Robert Winzens
Pastor – St. Francis Chapel
San Diego, CA.
Donations … As a small parish, we come to you all as beggars! Share with
us this Christmas, a little sacrifice for the Christ Child. Your generous
support also allows us to continue these important projects that fuel the
movement of progressive Christianity. Thank you and God bless you! +++
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