The Foggy Mountaintop Incident

Then a cloud overshadowed them,

and from the cloud there came a voice,

“This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”

(From Mark 9:2-9)

My mountaintop experience began when a good friend of mine, John, asked if I’d hike with him on an overnight to the Lake of the Clouds hut on the Appalachian Trail.

Sure.

We drove up the Mt. Washington Toll Road, it’s own exciting adventure!

An extremely dense cloud at the summit made the trail to the hut a challenge.

We began the 1.5-mile hike over a clouded, rocky trail arriving at the hut in about 45 minutes.

After spending the night among other hikers, we returned to the fogged in summit.

I’m not sure how we would have reacted if a voice came out of the wind and clouds, but I can guarantee you, we wouldn’t have pitched a tent!

 It is no accident that this story takes place on a mountain.

 This story takes place on a mountain top because ancient civilizations understood mountains as heaven and earth’s meeting place.

The Bible, understands mountains as places for epiphanies, like the stories Moses’ burning bush.

Jesus takes Peter, James, and John to the mountaintop where his clothes turn dazzlingly white.

In this epiphany, Moses and Elijah are talking with Jesus.

Peter, James, and John hear a voice talking to them: “This is my Son the Beloved. Listen to him.”

The epiphany’s significance is to reinforce the work of the disciples in the face of suffering and pain, or healings gone awry.

As Martha Simmons wrote, “where the sweet by and by meets the nasty here and now.”

For me this vision is a salvation story pointing to hope beyond today’s reality of hatred, pain and brokenness to a healed tomorrow.

Think about it: Peter, James and John saw Jesus on the mountain top. Where do you see Jesus?

Jesus' Paraclete Promise

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth:

it is to your advantage that I go away,

for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you;

but if I go, I will send him to you.

(from John 16:4b-15)

Our family had experienced a financial crisis.

We had to move into our summer cottage, have it winterized, and begin a new school.

My Dad knew I was anxious about entering high school, from my new elementary school.

So, Dad said to me that when I get off the school bus, and before I enter the building, stop, take a deep breath and say to myself, "you can do this."

Weird as it felt, I did as Pop said.

It was a good day.

The words, their source, the deep breath, brought comfort to my anxious heart.

Jesus, was aware of the tensions created by his ministry realized the disciples would be facing a crisis after his death.

To care for his disciples, Jesus promised he would pray to God to send the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, that would comfort them in their anxiety. (John 14:16).

Jesus’ Paraclete promise is to accompany them just as Jesus has been accompanying them.

In a sense, the Paraclete would be God’s EMT of comfort in their times of acute need.

It works like this.

Frequently I come home from worship on Sunday with a sense of spiritual frustration due to my hearing and mobility disabilities.

I can usually get a few words from the sermon and almost none from the prayer requests.

The acoustics in the Fellowship Hall eliminate much conversation.

Last Sunday the teenager living around the corner stopped his bike and we chatted a few minutes.

He’s been through a lot in his 17 years, homelessness, mom’s medical crisis, and caring for his 8-year-old brothers.

Yet there is a positive sense of like that radiates from him in his smile and greeting.

That brief encounter comforted the spiritual frustration of that morning.

You've Got Eternal Life!

"I write these things to you who believe

in the name of the Son of God,

so that you may know that you have eternal life."

(From 1 John 5:9-13)

Elaine's mother had a household rule: never call between 7:00 and 7:30!

Jeopardy! is on!

I wonder if her mother got to the pearly gates, asked St. Peter which room Jeopardy! was on at 7:00.

There's a big difference between heaven's’ pearly gates and eternal life 

The Bible describes heaven as mainly God's dwelling place.

As Cleland Boyd McAfee describes in his hymn, “There is a place of quiet rest, near to the heart of God.”

It’s where Elijah was taken in a whirlwind and the Spirit in Revelation 14:13 says, “they will rest from their labor.”

In heaven, God is surrounded by angels in a community of peace, love, and worship.

Eternal life is something very different.

In John 3:16 and in 1 John 5:13, eternal life isn’t referring only to life beyond the grave.

Eternal life is full life, now and in the world to come.

Both the Gospel of John and 1 John understand eternal life to be a present reality as well as future promise for those who believe in Jesus Christ. 

“Life” in this sense has to do with a quality of existence that death cannot destroy.

That is, it is “eternal,” not in the sense of lasting forever, but in its quality, in its appearance here and now.

Recognize God’s life-giving Spirit among us reveals the eternal life we already have.

It’s like Elaine’s mother sitting before the TV watching Jeopardy! excited at one winner, but disappointed at another.

God’s life-giving Spirit among us is God’s gift of eternal life.

Come, Sing A New Song

O sing to the Lord a new song, 

for he has done marvelous things. 

His right hand and his holy arm

 have gotten him victory.

(from Psalm 98)

When The Faith We Sing, a new songbook, was published I discovered there were several types of new songs.

Some of the new songs, such as "Down to the River to Pray", had been around for a long time, but singing it was a new experience to me.

Other songs, such as "Where Children Belong" were new because they were recently composed, so I had to learn them.

The oldest “new” song to me is the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32:1-42 because I hadn't realized it was a song.

Psalm 98 is an extremely important psalm anchoring the collection of “the LORD is king” enthronement psalms so it’s considered “the theological ‘heart’” of the Psalms.

The possible origin of Psalm 98 was a response to the exile crisis with the “marvelous things” referring to God leading the people out of Babylon in what amounts to a new exodus.

The message being, just as God’s presence was in the Exodus, so God’s presence is may be seen in the return from the Babylonian exile, so a new exodus that invites the singing of “a new song”.

The victory, it seems to me, is that God is present among us doing what God does: working toward salvation through justice.

This means I can sing a new song of hope in the crisis of our fractured world because God is present doing what God does.

I can also sing a new song of hope and healing for people living through a personal crisis because God is present doing what God does.

I discovered retirement is its own personal crisis because of a lifestyle change, but learned to sing a new song of retirement because God was present doing what God does: offering new life.