Worship - 15 February 2026

Summary of this week's theme

‘There once was an ugly duckling…’ — the familiar tale by Hans Christian Andersen of the creature dismissed and mistreated before being revealed as a swan. At first glance it seems far from the Transfiguration, yet there is a connection.

Jesus was no fairy-tale outcast, yet many saw him as ordinary at best, suspect at worst: an itinerant rabbi from Galilee, not the Messiah of expectation. Prejudice obscured vision. Some could not see beyond what they thought they knew.

Then comes the mountain.  In the Gospels — most vividly in Matthew 17 — Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to pray.  For Jesus, prayer is not a list of requests but resting in the Creator’s presence, listening with the heart.  The Transfiguration is the fruit of that communion: a moment when the veil thins and divine glory shines through ordinary flesh.  The disciples glimpse the swan — the radiance always present, though rarely perceived.

Moses and Elijah appear, embodying Law and Prophets, showing Christ in continuity with all Scripture.  The whole gospel is distilled there: Jesus touches the terrified disciples, tells them not to fear, and raises them up — incarnation, resurrection, and promise woven together.  Peter, overwhelmed, longs to preserve the moment.  Who would not wish such unveiled glory to last?

Yet the vision is given not to escape the world but to return to it transformed.

What of the Church, the body of Christ? At times it resembles an ungainly duckling — divided, legalistic, caught in bitter argument.  Even gatherings like the recent General Synod of the Church of England can seem disheartening.  It is easy to see only the awkward feathers.

And yet, within this flawed body lies the call to reflect the swan-like beauty of the risen Christ. On the ground — in quiet acts of compassion, in patient listening, in faithful service — the Church often shines more brightly than headlines suggest.  As Archbishop William Temple observed, the Church exists for those who are not its members.  Its task is to nurture the hidden glory in others, gently and without coercion, until the world glimpses grace.

Transfiguration invites us to renewed sight.  Life is full of ugly-duckling moments, in ourselves and others.  Yet God’s presence transfigures the ordinary.  Here, wherever we stand, is holy ground.  It is good for us to be here — attentive, patient, expectant — awaiting the revelation of light within the commonplace, where, by grace, ugly ducklings can be revealed as swans.