Last Sunday there was a flier in the bulletin outlining a guide for reflecting and praying here at Transfiguration in the coming months. We want to reflect more deeply on the gifts that God has given us as a community of faith. The main gift God has given us, of course, is Jesus. As we hear in today’s Gospel, Jesus is the Son of God; he is filled with the Spirit and called by John the Baptist “the Lamb of God” who takes away our sins! What an incredible gift of freedom!
But who are we? We take our identity from Jesus. St. Paul says today that we are now “sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be holy.” As Isaiah puts it, we are God’s servants, and God shows his glory through us. God is our strength and has made us a light to the nations. How incredibly blessed we are as a community of faith! We are described in so many ways: servants, light, called to be holy, sons and daughters, disciples… But of course, we each have our own precious name.
Periodically in the coming months we will be inviting you to wear a name tag so that we can come to know one another and learn each other’s names. If you are like me, you recognize faces, but easily forget names, and can be embarrassed to keep asking! Today will be our first “Name Tag Sunday.” We are grateful for your cooperation. Perhaps each week we can learn another name. Perhaps we can all give each other the freedom to ask without being embarrassed.
Ponder our Parish Mission Statement:
We are a Franciscan Body of Christ embracing all people through liturgy and service.
Fr. Jeff