The only single event in Jesus' earthly life more shrouded in mystery and enigma than the mountain-top experience of the Transfiguration is the great mystery of the Incarnation itself. While the Transfiguration is described in each of the three synoptic Gospels, it has been only weakly celebrated in the traditions of the church. Like the disciples who first witnessed the Transfiguration, the church has also seemed unsure of what it meant, what its purpose was, and what it calls Christians to do today.

Illustrative of the church's nervousness about the Transfiguration is the fact that it has shifted the church calendar around like some poor relative in need of housing. The Transfiguration was not fixed into the liturgical calendar and lectionary readings at the same time as Jesus' baptism, …