Epiphany 9 March 5, 2000
Sermon by Rev. Laurel Bobb
"Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."
That's what Peter said when he was on the mount of transfiguration with Jesus. It's pretty typical of human nature, isn't it? We want to hold on to those things that are special experiences and not have to go back down into reality. That's why we take so many pictures of weddings and vacations, and other special events in our lives. We want to remember. But Peter wanted even more. He wanted to get a handle on God. He wanted to have a place he could go to know for certain he was in God's presence, much as the Israelites saw God as living in the tabernacle in the early days of their peoplehood or the temple in later times. He wanted to have some control over his experience with God, and thought that communing with God was the be-all and end-all of life.
We may judge Peter, but how many of us see God as being present at church, but having little to do with the rest of our lives? We, too, like to section off our lives and say, "You can be Lord of this, but I want to keep this piece for myself," whether it be a pet sin we commit, or not wanting to give God a full portion of our income or time or talents. I know there are times when I would wish I could put God in a box and not have to deal with God's sovereign will. But God is God after all and I am not, and neither are you.
We are left to live life in that uneasy balance of meeting God on his own terms and trying to figure out what God wants us to do. Fortunately for us, God allows us to have mountaintop experiences as Peter and the disciples did.
Because God loves us, God knows we need opportunities to experience the same kind of joyful abandon and awe in God 's presence that the disciples found on the mountain. There are many ways to do this and they vary depending on your personality. Some people have this kind of experience at a church camp, some can get it walking in nature, others can get it by listening to a beautiful musical piece or seeing some exquisite art work. Still others experience it at the birth of a child or at a funeral. Many of us have also experienced the mountaintop ecstasy that comes with communing with God on our Via de Cristo weekends. I hope that many more of you will make the commitment now to get away for some time with Jesus to nurture your relationship with him in this way.
But it can't end there. We don't live on a mountain top, nor is that God 's plan for the world; we live life in the nitty gritty day to day struggles that are common to humanity. Mountaintop experiences are but the means to be strengthened for doing his work. Brooke Foss Wescott once wrote,
The vision of God is indeed the transfiguration of the world; communion with God is the inspiration of life.
[Mainstay Publishers, 50-Day Spiritual Adventure notes, 1999]
Christ wants to claim the world for God. It is our privilege to be his hands and feet to help spread the news of God 's ownership and love of the world. God desires us to live in harmony and wholeness--that harmony & wholeness which only comes as a result of being subject to his righteous rule.
We need to get pumped up at times for sure, because life can be hard. We need to be nurtured and instructed in tactical maneuvers so we can carry out our tasks and fight evil in the world. That is why we worship & study, to improve our relationship with God, to fortify ourselves for the mission. We need to have reserves built up, because the work is long and arduous and often we can become discouraged. When the work is hard, we need prayer power. We have the promise that our prayers will be heard, because we know that Jesus walks with us in the valley just as he went down the mountain with the disciples. Jesus doesn't let us get away with the excuse that it takes too much time or energy to nurture our relationship along the way, or that we're too busy or the work in the valley is too hard.
Robert Beringer reminds us,
Moments of high religious ecstasy are important, just as moments of intense emotion are important in a marriage, but you cannot build a marriage upon those moments alone. Nor can we build all of our faith on the memory of a great moment with God. God calls us into the future, and that usually means down from the mountain to meet the problems of the marketplace. Ernest Hemingway once wrote a book about his early days as a writer in Paris. He titled the book A Movable Feast. In 1950 he wrote, If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a movable feast. I do not know about Paris, but the presence of God is a movable feast. Even when we leave the mountaintop, we do not leave God behind. In fact, it is God who leads the way!
[Mainstay Publishers, 50-Day Spiritual Adventure notes, 1999]
God leads the way through the hard times in our lives--the times of sickness or sorrow or financial setbacks. God also leads us to others who are hurting. We are to show God 's love by meeting their needs--feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, listening to the troubles of others, and praying for their healing. I have walked with many people through hard times. I have sat holding the hand of a woman receiving chemotherapy as she overflowed her emesis basin, I was there as a young couple as they cradled their stillborn baby, and listened as others poured their hearts out about things I couldn't do anything to remedy. God may be calling you to walk with others in different difficult circumstances. If you don't know where to find such people, simply go to the hospital, or a nursing home, or the streets of our cities, or you could just look around you. There are suffering people sitting here in this congregation, and there may even be someone who lives under your roof who is hurting.
We are all called to be God 's family. We are to imitate Christ and show him to others. That is why we must make the effort to bear their crosses and walk with them through their valleys.
From the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem to bear the cross for us. He leaves us here to finish his work, but promises to walk with us. Therefore, we reach out to those who need us to help lighten their loads and assure them that God cares for them and they are not alone. We are to go out of our way to form relationships with people. We can make it easy for others to share their burdens with us by offering safe places to share their pain. That means we listen carefully and non-judgmentally; we keep confidences. We help where we are asked and where we are able. As we do this the light of Christ will be visible within us and shine through us to others, pointing them to the cross of Christ that shines forth as a beacon of God's love.
Id like to share a verse from a song I learned while still in high school that speaks of the importance of taking the time away, but then going back into the trenches, for that is where life is lived & that is where the hurting people who need our ministry are.
I love to be on a mountaintop fellowshiping with the Lord,- I love to be on a mountaintop cause I love to feel my spirit soar,
- but I've got to go down from the mountaintop to the people in the valley below,
- or they'll never know that they can go to the mountain of the Lord,
- yes, they'll never know that they can go to the mountain of the Lord.
[source unknown]
Let's transfigure our world by carrying Christ's light out into it, sustained and empowered by our mountaintop experience of knowing who Christ is--the unique Son of God and ever-present Savior of the world.
Copyright 2000 by Rev. Dr. Laurel Bobb