Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The Word of the Lord which engages us this morning comes from our Epistle and Gospel lessons (2 Corinthians 3: 12 � 4: 2 and Mark 9: 2-9).

Beautiful stain glass windows here aren't they? For those of you who do not know their history, let me share it with you briefly. The inner, darker blue portions are from the previous church building, the Stone Church over on 7th and Madison, the physical home of this congregation for some 45 years until 1987. These smaller deeper blue portions were added to the surrounding blue and brought here and installed, I'm told, just a few hours before the church's dedication in November 1987. The same is true for the inner portions of the side windows. The symbolism of these altar windows is subtle, but important. At the top we see the crown, the symbol of Christ victorious over death and Satan and sin. Just below we see a cup and wafer, along with the grapes and wheat in the side windows. These symbolize the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper, the Blessed Sacrament from which many of us will partake in a few minutes. These are constant reminders of the most precious Body and Blood of our Lord, from which we receive forgiveness of sins and, as Luther says in the Small Catechism, "where there is forgiveness of sins there is also life and salvation." It is a beautiful window, with symbolism that reminds of our Lord Jesus Christ and enhances our worship of Him.

But as nearly all of you know, it is not lit naturally. It is backlit with fluorescent bulbs. Watch what happens (lights are turned off). When the lights are turned off, these beautiful windows become, well, drab. The bright blues and greens become muted and the center portions become, well, what color? Simply dark. Without the lighting in the back, this window looks, pretty colorless, pretty dull, pretty ordinary. They are still the same windows, the glass panes don't change, but without the light with which they were designed to show, they are unimpressive, commonplace.

From our Gospel: "Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; 3 and His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. 4 Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus." Peter, James and John were going up on a high mountain with a pretty normal looking Jesus man. He had spurts of impressiveness, whenever he did a miracle. Think of this window as representing Jesus. Most of the time he is with them He looks ordinary, common, very human, like the dark window. But when he performed miracles or spoke the marvelous words of authority that impressed so many, the apostles saw glimpses of his heavenly light (turn the windows off and one quickly). You kids don't do this. These windows aren't toys.

But these 3 disciples go up the mountain and see a larger glimpse of Jesus' divinity, his "Godhood". � He is transformed, transfigured before them. He begins to glow (turn on the light) in a radiant, supernatural way. Elijah and Moses appear and begin talking with Jesus. Peter and the others are scared witless. So Peter does what comes naturally, he blurts out something. Then a cloud envelopes them. Wouldn't you love it right now if I could start up some special effects fog machine just for the effect?

But then a voice calls from the cloud "This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!" Then suddenly, looking around they see no one with them, but Jesus only. (Turn the lights back down). They start back down the mountain, told not to tell anyone what they had seen until after Jesus' resurrection. They begin a time period of Jesus' ministry in which Mark reports very few miracles until Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection.

We stand here on Transfiguration Sunday, the last Sunday of Epiphany, being reminded by the Word of God of Jesus' transcendence, his glory. We have spent eight weeks hearing of the various ways Jesus was shown to the world by the Magi, the Star, His Baptism, His miracles, His teaching about the Kingdom of God which had come near. Now we stand here on Transfiguration Sunday, getting ready to enter Lent, getting ready to put away our Alleluias for 7 weeks. You might think of Transfiguration and Easter as two foundation points of swinging rope bridge, a swinging rope bridge that represents Lent. During Lent we will emphasize not the glory of Jesus, but his sacrifice for us on the cross. That sacrifice is a wonder, is a glory for us, but not one that the world would look at with brilliance. During Lent we will not emphasize his miracles and glimpses of the heavenly, we will hear his call to repent and turn Him alone for salvation. We'll leave the altar lights on during Lent, but in a sense, after today, Christ's brilliance will be muted, He will look rather ordinary, even be punished for us, until we see the repeated wonder of his resurrection at Easter.

But we're not in Lent yet. We'll still sing a few more Alleluias this morning. And while we do, we can "Listen to Him" another time, considering what Jesus' transfiguration means to our normal human lives here and now.

Which window best describes your life right now? Bright, transformed, enlightened? (Turn window on). Or does your life seem dull, muted, common? (Turn window off). Which best describes you? How do you know? From your own feelings? From whatever events have happened to you in the past week or month or year? God the Father told James, Peter and John to "Listen to Him (Jesus)." Listen to the Word of the Lord again from Paul "But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away� where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed (transfigured, the same word "metamorphed") into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord."

In the eyes of the world, we may look common, ordinary, bland, like darkened windows. But in the eyes of our Lord, we are being transformed, (lights up) transfigured. You kids who have ever had these toys that morph, that change, that metamorph from one form to another, that is the Greek word used here both to describe Jesus' transformation on the mountain top and our transformation when we become His. We are transformed with Him, "metamorphed" into His likeness.

We are joined with him in Baptism, into his death and resurrection (Romans 6). We are joined with Him, filled with Him when we hear His Words. We are joined with him, transformed into his likeness through receiving His Body and Blood in the Lord's Supper.

Do you feel transformed, enlightened? Regardless of whether you feel it right now or later, trust His Word, listen to Him when He tells you "we are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory." This Son of God came to live for you, to die a ransom death for you, and to live again for you, so that you can be his and live under him in his kingdom forever. Just as these windows light up not with their own natural light, but from lights placed within them, so you too are filled with the transfiguring light of Jesus. With that light we can be lights, not just for ourselves, but for Him. With his transforming light we can shine to others. Paul again: "since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart." We have this ministry to unveil God's mercy to others, to help them to "listen to Jesus" with us. We do not "distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God."

He makes us His. Before His eyes we are transformed, transfigured into His likeness. Through us His message, His words continue to change other people's minds and heart, even if we can't always see it. Every time we gently and respectfully share God's Word about Jesus with another, the Holy Spirit uses that to remove the veil from someone's face, to give them the opportunity to share with us in the freedom we have in Christ. Others can see the beauty of our stain glass windows only when the lights inside are turned on, only then can they see the message of Christ and Sacrament hidden within. In the same way, our Lord has called us, by his message and sacraments, to shine forth to the world. Lord, grant us the will and the means by which to shine forth for you. Amen. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4: 7)