Today is Transfiguration Sunday, that day that the church remembers and celebrates the brief window through which the disciples saw the glory of God midway through Jesus’ ministry.
High on that mountain in the Holy Land (okay, maybe not that high, Israel doesn't have super high mountains), the disciples were part of a holy moment. There on the mountain, in the midst of the clouds, in the thin air, they were in a thin place; a place where the perceived separation between ourselves and God seems thinner.
Almost all those who call themselves believers have experienced a thin place, a moment of extreme closeness to God, a time when it seemed as if God was so close you could reach out and touch, when you truly felt the joy and wonder of God’s presence and grace.
I think back to times when I was growing up, gathered around a campfire at Bible Camp. I think of dark times in my life, when the time of Lent brought a new awareness of God’s presence. I think of when I finally responded, “Here I Am” to God’s call. Those were wonderful times. Those were times I wish I could hold on to.
However, life isn’t like that. Mountain top experiences, times of extreme closeness and awareness of God are rarely ongoing. Sitting on the top of a mountain is an incredible thing. You can see everything that surrounds you from a place that’s high up like the top of a mountain. It can be nice from time to time to get to a high place, so you can more clearly see where you have been, so you can see where it is you might be headed, so you can make changes in your path if needed. I think we have all seen the movies where the shipwrecked crew climbs to the top of the highest tree they can find out where they are, so they can see all their options.
High places are wonderful. There on the mountain, up there where the holy seems so close, up there where God is not just a name or a faith, but a real thing, that we can almost reach out and touch it’s amazing. But as amazing as it is, we cannot stay there. Jesus came, not to hang out at the top of the mountain, glorying in God’s presence, shining like a bright light. Jesus came to announce the kingdom, to serve those in need, to give his life so that others might live. In our lives as people of faith we are called to mirror the one who is at the source of our faith.
It is when we come down from the high places that we can truly live. It’s in the places of pain and suffering, in the places of hunger and need, in the places of darkness and despair that we are called to live. Called and tasked to bring the visions and energies of those high places into the valleys. In faith we bring comfort and hope, we bring light and life. In the high places, in those mountain top experiences we are renewed and equipped to live out our faith in the places where we live.
The purpose of faith is not to have "spectacular" and "dramatic" “mountain top” religious experiences for ourselves. Faith is about taking those moments of holiness, those experiences of God’s presence, love, and grace, and using those experiences to empower us in service and love to those we encounter. Sure, there are times when I feel completely and totally unprepared, times when I wish it wasn’t me, times when I wonder what in the world God is thinking putting me in those places. But, then I remember that I’m not alone.
Jesus came down the mountain with his disciples after the Transfiguration. Jesus walked with them to Jerusalem, through the dark days of the trial and crucifixion, into the bright Easter morning. He sent his Spirit, and walked with them from Jerusalem, out into the world of the Mediterranean. And he walks with us today.
On that mountain top long ago, Jesus was transfigured, and the disciples had a clearer (though confusing) vision of who Jesus was. On our mountain tops, we too are transfigured, we too are transformed by the grace of God. On those mountain tops we know what it means to be claimed as a child of God, just as we are. And from those mountain tops, we must go out into the world.
Go tell it, not on the Mountain, but from the Mountain!
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