The Transfiguration of our Lord is a movable feast day that falls on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany. Today was the Feast of the Transfiguration in churches that use the three-year lectionary; churches that use the one-year lectionary celebrated the Transfiguration a few weeks ago, and are wrapping up their “Pre-Lent” season today. The Feast of the Transfiguration is also the Sunday that marks the “farewell to alleluias” before Lent begins.

The Transfiguration is found in all three synoptic Gospels (Matthew 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-12; and Luke 9:28-36).  It is in these readings that Jesus’s disciples see Him in His glory on the mountaintop, accompanied by Moses and Elijah. The disciples are so excited about the wonder that they are seeing that Peter even offers to construct three tents, that they might stay on the mountain. Like the day of Jesus’s baptism, God the Father speaks out from Heaven, and recognizes Who Jesus is, and tells the disciples to listen to Him.

As we prepare for Lent, we share the feelings of the disciples, as expressed in the words of the hymn, “‘Tis Good. Lord, To Be Here:”

Tis good, Lord, to be here!
Yet we may not remain;
But since Thou bidst us leave the mount,
Come with us to the plain. Lutheran Service Book #414, verse four