Grits and the Gospel - February 15, 2026

Hello friends and welcome to this week's episode of grits in the gospel My name is Reverend Katie Griffiths and it is so good to be with you on this transfiguration Sunday when we are Celebrating the beautiful moment that Jesus revealed his divinity to two of his disciples Just as he reveals it to us. I will say that you'll have an extra Homily and service this week. I will post what I am Doing for Ash Wednesday, and I'm so excited about that it is the start of Lent and As I say it Advent or right before Advent I think we do it very well Easter and the United Methodist Church is That we are not afraid to sit with the hard things before we celebrate the beautiful things because both are necessary and both are true and so as we prepare our hearts for This Lenten season, I hope you will enjoy the extra service on Wednesday to kick off your Ash Wednesday and As we move through the time of Lent toward Easter I will say that today Maggie is very spry. I don't know what has gotten into her So I'm not sure what you're gonna hear as I try to do this service and get it recorded But you know what all God's creatures, especially the four-legged ones are loved and cared for and Wanted and so we are thrilled that she is with us. I am more thrilled than honey But I appreciate your patience and your understanding as we navigate this new world that we have together So let us now come together in a time of prayer and praise the Lord be with you and Also with you Today's epistle lesson comes from the second letter Simon Peter We are in the first chapter verses 16 through 21 here now the word of the Lord For we did not follow cleverly devised Myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ But we had been eyewitnesses to his majesty For he received honor and glory from God the Father When that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic glory saying this is my son my beloved with whom I am well pleased We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed You will do well to be attentive to this as the lamp shining in the dark place Until the day draws and the morning star rises in your hearts First of all you must understand this that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation Because no prophecy ever came by human will but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God The word of God for us the people of God. Thanks be to God Let us come together now and remind ourselves of the things of our faith that we believe Friends, what do we believe I believe in God the Father Almighty Maker of heaven and earth and in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit born of the Virgin Mary Suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified dead and buried the third day. He rose from the dead He ascended into heaven and sit at the right hand of God the Father Almighty From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead I believe in the Holy Catholic Church The communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. I'm in apologize, I think I'm messed that up, but It's very distracting here, so I appreciate your grace let us pray together Father God we are just so thankful For all the beautiful moments in life the moments of distraction the moments of love the moments of care the moments of unbelief in our believing Be with us now as we come together to worship you and hear the good news that you have proclaimed through your son Hear us now as we pray those words that he taught us to pray our father who art in heaven Hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever Amen Today's gospel lesson comes from the 17th chapter of Matthew We are going to hear verses 1 through 9 You're now the word of the Lord Six days later Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up to a high mountain by themselves and He was transfigured before them and his face shone like the Sun and his clothes became bright as light Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with them Then Peter said to Jesus Lord it is good for us to be here if you wish I will set up three tents here one for you one for Moses and one for Elijah Well, he was still speaking suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said This is my son the beloved with him. I am well pleased listen to him When the disciples heard this they fell on the ground and were overcome by fear But Jesus came and touched them saying get up and do not be afraid and when they raised their eyes They saw no one except Jesus himself alone as they were coming down the mountain. Jesus ordered them Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man Has been raised from the dead The Word of God for us the people of God. Thanks be to God Would you pray with me dear Lord as I received this message this unbelievable Message of hope and joy and love Make it believable To all of us and to all of those who hear it Let the words of my mouth and meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable in my sight Oh Lord our strength and our Redeemer. Amen Most of my year is planned around sports I have a competitive spree streak and sports is how I love to scratch that itch Sports is how I love to scratch that itch and don't get me wrong. I don't play sports The closest I've ever I ever got was a my championship flag football team that I was on in college We were really good We were scouted by other teams and it was the pinnacle of my athletic career This year is an Olympic year and I could not be happier. I do not do snow and ice But I come become a winter sports expert every four years I Think one of the things I love the most is the superhuman feats of athleticism and sports That these people compete complete during the games like the American ice skater, Ilya Malanin Who completes up to seven quad jumps in his artistic program? And then at the end has the energy to do a backflip and land on one foot I'm not sure I could jump up and down on one foot seven times But I think the most amazing sport of all is luge These men and women lay on a sled and hurl themselves down a track at up to 90 miles an hour With nothing but a helmet to protect them Summer britcher is one of our USA team members She competed in the last winter Olympics in China She hurled herself down the track and crashed in one of those turns breaking her back and neck She got up and walked off and then had to endure surgeries and months of recovery and rehab And when she was healed She got back on her sled and is now Once again hurling herself down the track at 90 miles an hour There is no way That any of us are regular humans would have the courage the gumption the talent and the skill to do that It is totally unbelievable what these athletes are accomplishing If I did not watch it with my own eyes, I'm not sure I would believe it But it is real They're all doing these amazing things right before our eyes As I watched this week, I couldn't help but think of the unbelievable things that the disciples saw up on that mountain Peter James and John got to witness these amazing feats of divinity The first is Jesus's transfiguration He goes from his regular all-human form to shining like the sun Shining like the sun pretty unbelievable thing to witness for these disciples If there was even a hint of a whiff of a doubt that Jesus was who he said he was Then all of that would have gone away in that moment I cannot even imagine the joy and awe and even a little terror that the transfiguration made them feel But Jesus was not done amazing them with this divine with his divine spirit Not only is he transfigured before them. He brings a crowd of witnesses back To further show them how powerful God is Talking to Jesus are Moses and Elijah These two humans that were respected and recognized people in the ancient text I imagine it was like that moment in field of dreams when shoeless joe jackson and his teammates Mysteriously appear out of that cornfield And the most believable part of the whole scripture is that these brothers were completely confused as to who they were Sure that if you ask them what they thought was going to happen that day when Jesus told them they were going To the top of the mountain with him Talking to two dead prophets was nowhere on their amazing and strange mingo card They were so confused that they offered to put up tents for them to use tents for ghosts You can't blame them All of it was totally unbelievable But it doesn't stop there While they're trying to sort through what exactly was happening right in front of their eyes the voice of God speaks A bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said this is my son The beloved with whom I am well, pleased listen to him When the disciples heard this they fell on the ground and were overcome by fear I bet they were At this point. I think I would have passed out This whole experience had to be overwhelming and unbelievable And while the voice of God shocked and amazed and overwhelmed them the gentle touch and the voice of Jesus Brought them back to reality I'm sure they looked at each other and said what Was That I'm sure that for weeks. They just found themselves standing there Thinking back and totally overwhelmed by the unbelievable thing that they witnessed Except it was real It was very Real Jesus God and the Holy Spirit the trinitarian God had shown these three mere mortals What exactly it meant? To be divine I think the text from second Peter where he recounts these events Helps us understand not just that moment but the unbelievable Life that Jesus led Life full of miraculous events Of moments that the voice of God was audible that love and justice were personified right before them He says in part For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our lord Jesus Christ But we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty First of all, you must understand this that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation Because no prophecy will ever Ever came by human will But men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God Peter is basically saying all of these things that we have told you Have to be from God. They have to be real. We couldn't make up this wild stuff if we tried There's not much I can think of in my own life that even Comes close to the feeling and the overwhelming moment that Peter James and John Got to witness It's all just too unbelievable It had to be an amazing feeling humbling to witness a magnified moment like the one I had when I was commissioned by the South Georgia conference I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of the moment overcome by the almost Tactile feeling of love and support in the room I was nervous and excited and overwhelmed all at once The transfiguration had to be exponentially more awe-inspiring than the absolutely Unbelievable feats of athletics in the olympics Those that fly through the air down the track and around an oval of ice Once where the louge women travel a mile course in less than 50 seconds For me the lesson this week has been that just because I can't do it doesn't mean that someone else can't Just because we cannot fathom the complexity and the full beauty of creation doesn't mean it is not real Just because I cannot perform the most complex of surgeries doesn't mean that they cannot be done Just because I do not have the talent to play beautiful music doesn't mean that others cannot make the music that moves us Just because I don't have the athletic ability or bravery to compete in this in any sporting competition Much less the olympics does not mean that others are not given that ability And just because none of us have the divine nature of jesus Doesn't mean that these miracles did not happen Believing the unbelievable is what our faith is about Believing that these things these moments of divine grace and love are absolutely real is the most beautiful part Of the thing that we hold dear It is Unbelievable That god loves us and gives us grace despite our shortcomings It is unbelievable that god sacrificed part of himself for each and every one of us It is unbelievable that miracles that he performed in his time on earth It is unbelievable that we get to continue to witness god's power and might and love All of those unbelievable things are very real Even if this scripture reads more like a movie script combination of ghost and field of dreams All narrated by james earl jones and morgan freeman Our faith tells us that it's real I know it's real Because of the amazing and unbelievable things that god is doing right here among us god found a way to bring us all together to show us love in a way that We then get to go out and show others We in our own way have become transfigured into a new and different thing We are communing with the saints of the church that have gone come before us We are hearing the voice of god in all kinds of new and different ways And as I look out each week at our beautiful at your beautiful faces You are all glowing with joy and love for god and for each other Jesus didn't want peter james and john to go out and tell everyone what they saw But we can go share the good news that jesus showed them He is divine He is part of the trinity And he does save us if we dare to believe the unbelievable Amen As you go throughout this week Look for the things that are unbelievably believable Those miracles that happen every day right before our eyes miracles of love and light and joy and excitement miracles of healing They're all around us You just have to look Because in life and death and life beyond death God is with us We are not alone Thanks be to god amen