March 8, 2009
Genesis 17: 1-7, 15-16
Hebrews 11: 8-16
Mark 9: 2-9
"It Is Good For Us To Be Here"
Before taking John, James and Peter up the mountain, Jesus told his disciples that he would suffer, be rejected, and killed and then rise again. Then he told the crowd of people around him that if they wanted to follow him, they must take up their crosses and walk with Jesus. If any wanted to save their lives, they must give up their lives and follow Jesus. With talk of the cross, of rejection and annihilation still ringing in their ears, Jesus took John, James, and Peter up to the top of a very high mountain.
I am sure the fortunate three must have thought this is the real life with Jesus; not that ugly take up your cross and giving up your life business but up here on the mountaintop. Here, in the presence of Moses, the great lawgiver and Elijah, the great prophet, is where they belonged. Here in the face of the dazzling transformation of Jesus and the sound of God's voice declaring: "This is my Son - the Blessed! Listen to him!" This exulted place must be what Jesus really intended for his disciples.
It is Peter who came closest to hitting the mark: "It is good for us to be here. Let us build permanent dwellings so we might remain in this glorious place forever. Let us remain here with Moses and Elijah and God and away from the crowds below. It is good for us to be here."
Then, in an instant, all changed. Moses and Elijah were gone. Jesus' face no longer dazzled. The voice of God was still. Jesus led the three disciples back down the mountain to an excited, unruly crowd, a frightened father and his sickly son, and the other frustrated disciples who had failed to heal the boy in Jesus' absence. Jesus came down from the mountaintop.
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It is good for us to be here. I took a political science course my first year at Yale. It was one of those huge introductory courses where my entire grade depended on the final exam. Along with a couple hundred others I took the incredibly long essay exam filling one blue book after another. Then we all waited for the results, probably a week or more.
Word went out that the grades were posted and we all, the hesitant, frightened, assured, and bold alike went to find our grade posted on the classroom wall. I looked and looked for mine, but could not find it. Then I looked at the top of the list and there it was: "D. S. Moore -- 98%!"
I could have stood there forever. I was first in the class. I was at least 15 points higher than everyone else. I was a genius. College was going to be snap. I was Number One! How good it was to be there on top.
But I could not remain. I never, ever came close to 98 again. In some freakish act of fate or the devil, I set a standard I would never approach again. I continued to measure myself by that 98 and I felt confused and stupid. My parents wondered why I stopped working, why no more 98's, no more number one grades.
I still remember the thrill of that 98. But it was too much for me to bear. It was a great place to be, but I could not stay there for long. I never made it back to 98.
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It is good for us to be here. Almost twenty years ago Judy and I with our five kids moved to Scotland for two years. We lived in the Town of Walkerburn in the Borders Region right along the River Tweed.
We worshipped in a huge, stone Church of Scotland structure built in the 1850's to hold 300 or 400 souls. There were Sundays when our family of 7 bumped up the congregation by almost 20% or 30%. Over time in that church I realized that the people, hardy and wonderful souls, longed for another time and place. Some of them remembered, others remembered being told, how the Walkerburn Church was once filled to the brim every Sunday, was once a dynamic force for good and God within the town along the Tweed.
These were good people, good church people but there was no excitement, no real sense of the Spirit within them. All were focused on a glorious past and on the dreariness of the present. It did not matter that the Walkerburn woolen mills on the Tweed were all closed; that the population had gone for 10,000 to around 1000, or that people no longer had to go to church to be accepted in the Town. They could only see the glory behind that blinded them to the glory that God just might be planning somewhere in front of them.
The good people of Walkerburn were pressed down by the past. They longed for that old time and place. They, as with Peter, wanted to stay in a place they could not hold on to. The glory of the past was so heavy the people had no room for words such as these in their hearts:
You (God) call from tomorrow, you break ancient schemes, from the bondage of sorrow the captives dream dreams, our women see visions, our men clear their eyes, with bold new decisions your people arise.
("Spirit, Spirit of Gentleness", by: James K. Manley)
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It is good for us to be here. I will never forget the time I walked past the mirror in the locker room after football practice my senior year in high school. I looked at myself, and loved what I saw. I remember so well thinking, "I have arrived. I have mature muscles. This neck, this back and these arms are mine forever." Standing in front of that mirror was great. I could have stayed there forever.
What happened to that 17-year-old man-child in the mirror? I have no idea. I can still see him, picture him, and almost feel him. But now when I walk by a mirror or a storefront window there is no desire to linger. There is only shock and surprise. Where is the neck? What happened to that V-shaped back? And where oh where are the arms that could shove, push and lift anything or anybody.
The glory is certainly gone. There are times I think I know how Abraham and Sarah must have felt when God came calling. Their glory days were past. Their lives were all but over. Then God came along and He did not offer them a wonderful, sentimental and comfortable look at the past. He did not offer them a return to the glory days. God did not offer a pass to the so-called "golden years". God offered Abraham and Sarah a promise of a new glory to come. But they had to stand up and walk and trust to see it. And they did.
It is good for us to be here. Right here and now in this time and place it is good for us to be here.
I know it is different than it once was: Some of the glory is gone. The booming voices of booming congregations are quieter. There are people missing. The Congregation is smaller. The Congregation looks different. The sanctuary is different for many of you. Some wonder whose church is this anyway? Is it yours or mine or is it really God's? There are pictures on the floor in the office that once hung in prominence on the walls of Central Congregational. Much of the income to keeps the lights burning here comes from tenants, not tithes. You have a new pastor who spent most of last week locking himself out of one room after another because he never seen so many locked doors.
It is different, but it is a good time for us to be here. God is here keeping that promise He made to Abraham and Sarah and that is good. Jesus is here wanting and waiting to walk with us and that too is good.
Let's go back to that mountaintop where we began. Peter wanted to stay and I am sure John and James did too. But the one who had the most to lose, who gave up the most by coming down, was Jesus. He was with God. He radiated glory in the brilliance of God's love for him. He was exulted over Moses and Elijah. But, Jesus was the one who turned to go back down the mountain. He was the one who entered the crowd, who calmed the fearful father and healed his sickly son. He was the one who picked up his cross and asked us to take up ours and come with him so we might share in a whole new glory.
Jesus is the one who comes down to be with us and he is still with us. And that is why it is good for us to be here - looking ahead - following the One who always comes looking and calling for us.
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