7-31-17 - On That Mountain

Next Sunday we celebrate the Feast of the Transfiguration, as it happens to fall on a Sunday this year. Since I am on vacation, and we hear that story every year at the end of Epiphany, I thought about skipping a week. Instead, I'm adapting my reflections on it from a few years ago. Enjoy!

Do your plans this summer include some time in the mountains? In the Bible, mountains are often places where people encounter God. On Mount Moriah, Abraham is spared by God from sacrificing his son Isaac. On Mount Sinai, Moses meets with God, his face so bright when he descends that people are blinded. On Mount Horeb, Elijah glimpses God. Something about the height and majesty of mountains seem to make them fertile ground for theophanies.

Maybe it's because mountain tops are “away places.” They generally take some effort to reach. We need to plan our expeditions, bring lunch and water - or, if it’s a really BIG mountain, weeks’ worth of supplies. We have to make sure we’re fit enough to make the climb, and maybe surround ourselves with people to hike with.

And we have expectations – of beauty and grandeur, of great vistas and intimate moments with the natural world. We expect hard climbs but also some flat ground and downward slopes. And we expect to see something at the top that we can see from nowhere else on earth, the big picture that puts our lives into perspective.

The life of faith can be like that, with hills and valleys en route. We know God is also to be found in the lowlands, but we hope to have a close encounter with God in the heights, one that will help us through the more challenging parts of our journey.

I don’t know what Peter, James and John expected when Jesus invited them along on his hike – certainly not what they experienced. They probably expected some rich time of conversation and contemplation with their master and friend. And so should we as we make this climb with Jesus.

What are your expectations of time with God?
What do you dread?
What provisions do you want to carry for going deeper in the Spirit? Who else do you want along?

This is a very familiar story to lifelong churchgoers, but I pray we will have a new encounter with it this week. After all, we can hike up the same hills time and again and never experience them quite the same way. May it be like that with this strange and extraordinary tale of Encounter.