6 February 2005 | Going to the Mountain Top for a Larger View

Some of the greatest moments in the bible happen on mountain tops. ...How many of you have ever been to the top of a mountain? All of you, I suspect.

The first mountain top I remember was Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak in the Great Smokey National Park. My mother was so excited about being there - 6,800 feet!

While John and I were on our honeymoon we went to Mt. Washington, the highest peak in the northern Allegheny range. We loved the view but John was not impressed with the ride on the cog railway.

Speaking of cog railways, I’ve been to Pike’s Peak twice. It’s just a little higher than Mt. Mitchell - over 14,000 ft. I fell asleep from the thin air.

John and I went to the Jungfrau in the Swiss Alps in 1968. That was one of the most beautiful places in the world - snow dazzling in the sunlight.

In contrast, we drove our kids up Mt. St. Helens just a year after it erupted. It was covered with as much ash as the Jungfrau had been covered with snow.

I’ve been up Mt. Tabor twice. Mt. Tabor is the place tradition puts the Transfiguration of Jesus. Matthew’s gospel says Jesus led Peter, James and John up a high mountain. Mt. Tabor is only about 2000 feet high. Nevertheless, as I looked out over Galilee and felt the wind blowing on my face, and smelled the pine trees, I felt sure I was sharing an experience with Jesus.

My best mountain top experience came in 1996 when I climbed Mt. Sinai in the darkness of the night - or I should say my camel climbed Mt. Sinai. Mt. Sinai is the place where tradition says Moses received the Ten Commandments. We celebrated Holy Eucharist on Mt. Sinai as the sun came up.

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My purpose in remembering all these experiences is not to give a travel log. It’s to make us think about the great variety of mountain top experiences. For just as each of the experiences I mentioned were very different, so are the experiences that lead us to say, “I’ve been to the mountain top.”

For many Episcopalians, Cursillo has provided just such a mountain top experience. This diocese is now trying to revive it. For others, it may have come while walking the labyrinth. Or perhaps as you lived into the dark night of your soul, or as you joined the March from Selma to Montgomery, or as you participated in Michael and John’s Blessing. It may have happened in the birthing room of a hospital, or along side the bed of a loved one as he closed his eyes to this world, all the while holding onto the promise that he would open them to the next.

The times when we feel like we’ve been to the mountain top are as varied as the land forms we call mountains. In one way or another they are times when we get a new vision about life and how God is calling us, a new way of thinking that opens up new possibilities, a new understanding of who we are or where we are going, a new feeling of closeness to God or acceptance by God. In many and varied ways, God works through those experiences to transform our lives.

Sometimes these mountain top experiences happen to us when we are not expecting them. But often, they come when we are actively searching for God’s will. We purposely go to the mountain, so to speak, to get a larger view. We want to see things in a way we never saw them before.

That, I think, is why Jesus and Moses went to their mountain tops. Each had reached a place in their lives where they needed a greater view. They needed to see things in a way they had never seen them before. So they went to the mountain top. They went to get close to God; to listen for God’s word.

Think about it. Moses had just led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt. Now that they were in the wilderness and free, what was next? How were they to live together? What was their ultimate destination? What was Moses ongoing role to be? So he went to the mountain top to wait on God; to learn what was he supposed to do with all these people?

...Surely you’ve experienced times where you wondered “What’s next?” Times when you felt like you’ve finished with one task in your life, but don’t know what’s next on the agenda. Where you say to yourself, “God surely isn’t finished with me yet. I’m still here. What am I to do now?” . . .(pause)

Jesus was in a similar place when he went to the mountain top. He had spent months, perhaps a year or two, demonstrating by word and deed what the kingdom of heaven is all about. He showed sick people what it’s like to become whole. He showed people that the kingdom of heaven is more than having all the good things of earth. That it goes much deeper, right to the heart and soul. He showed those who thought the kingdom meant following the established law, that the law is only a lead-in to true righteousness. He demonstrated that the real power of the world isn’t in having control over others, but in freely loving.

By the time Jesus went up the mountain of transfiguration, he had walked the length and breadth of Galilee with his disciples. The disciples had come to believe that he was the Christ, the one sent from God. The only trouble was, they still didn’t really understand what that meant. If you remember, Peter had gone ballistic when Jesus said he must suffer and die.

Anyway, with all that behind him, what was next for Jesus? Was it time to move on? Was it time to confront the powers in Jerusalem?

Off to the mountain top went Jesus. Off to a place where he could get a greater view. Where he could listen for God’s voice. But he didn’t go alone. He took his closest disciples with him. They would need a mountain-top experience to stay on the road with him. As it turned out, they received more than they could have ever imagined. So much so, Peter wished they could just stay there and capture the moment forever. But of course they couldn’t. One can never stay on the mountain top. There is always work ahead.

Next Sunday your Search Committee will invite you come to Mount St. Miller - you know, the parish hall. One of their purposes is for you to dream about the future of St. George’s, that is, to seek a vision for the future. In preparation, it might be helpful to reread some of the great visions in the bible: The vision given to Abraham - that he will be the father of a great people and a blessing to all the families of the earth. The vision given to Moses in the burning bush - when God called him to go to Egypt and set the people free. The vision given to Ezekiel - when he saw the dry bones of fallen Israel receive new life. The vision that knocked Paul off his horse and blinded him - a necessary assault to his senses to turn him into a Christian and become the apostle to the very people he had been persecuting.

Those are a few of the great visions in the bible. But also think about Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech - “I have a dream of a day, right down in Alabama, when little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.” How about Bill Gates more mundane “vision of a computer on every desk and in every home.” Or Michael Hopkins vision of St. George’s growing from that little one room chapel to this...... You didn’t become what you are today by chance......

Next Sunday you will gather on Mount St. Miller to dream about the future of St. George’s and the kind of leader who will help you move into that future. Don’t wait until next Sunday to start thinking. Let your mind wander as you drive to work, or as you day dream out the window, or take a shower. Think of the ministries St. George’s already has. Ask God “What’s next for us?”

One final thought. On Wednesday we begin the Season of Lent. This season is set aside for reflection and examination of our lives and ministry. What an appropriate season to be doing this work - for St. George’s and ourselves. Let’s use Lent well. You never know, when Easter comes, we just find that we may have been to the mountain top.