Service 02/22/2009
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In the audio podcast of this service, the Scripture Reading starts at 21 min 30 secs: Mark 9:2-9
The Sermon starts at 26 min 15 secs. “Peaks for Valleys”
An old high school basketball hack (me) and a young high school basketball jock (Pastor Mark) were taking on a couple of high school kids. It was shortly before the Super Bowl and we wanted some fresh air. The Buurstra basketball was fetched, and when it was dribbled on our small concrete patio, having gone soft–like the high school basketball hack, it dribbled something like this…thud. But no one wanted to take the effort to pump it up so the geriatric team schooled the young whipper-snappers. Of course, had the basketball been pumped the kids would have won. (Actually, had we played full court…)
This old basketball reminds me of a conversation Scott Pontier of the Hope House and I had about our current national crisis. Scott said that in personal counseling and business consulting he is using the word “resiliency” lately. Resiliency—the ability to bounce back from down times. Where do we find God’s resiliency in deflating times?
The Holy Spirit must have had resiliency in mind in orchestrating the mountaintop story of the transfiguration just before the valley of suffering on the way to Jesus’ cross. That’s why Transfiguration Sunday is placed just before the beginning of Lent. God is telling us that peak experiences have some value for the valley of the shadow. But what?
First, let’s explore the peak experience of the transfiguration story. Jesus takes his inner circle, Peter, James and John, on a mountain top retreat. Somewhere after Kum Ba Yah, and during Shine, Jesus, Shine! he did. And that light radiating from heaven signi-fied that the man of sorrows on way to the cross was the reason for the church triumphant. And suddenly there was Moses and Elijah! While they now had just enough for a 3 on 3 basketball game, Peter, James and John knew that something more important was happening. Somehow Moses, Elijah, and Jesus’ high tea proved that Jesus was the fulfillment of the old covenant law (Moses) and prophets (Elijah). Then a sign of God’s presence, a cloud, enveloped them, and a voice rumbled from it, This is my beloved son; listen to him! And so when the lightning and thunder passed over, on their way down to the valley towards the cross, they listened to Jesus when he said, Shh! Don’t tell anybody until Easter. And so Peter, James and John pondered this awesome experience for a while.
And so must we. For God gives us peak experiences, too. On a national scale: why did Sullie’s heroic landing in the Hudson receive so much attention? Because it was a miraculous success when our country needs an emergency landing also! Why did 2 million crowd the national Mall for the Inauguration? To see King’s dream fulfilled.
Remember our economic mountaintop when your home was worth some 20% more than today? Our problem with that was that we forgot that life isn’t only ascent, but descent too
As individuals God grants us peak experiences, too. I think of a Japanese teacher, converted on his TB deathbed, just after WWII. Isobe-sensei told me that he awoke out of a delirium to see a shining cross moving toward his chest that touched and healed him. I’ll never forget his expression, bright cross…! Or, I think of the young couple that broke up because he was tired of chasing her after fights. He ran away to pitch a tent by a friend’s cottage, only to hear her car pull up at midnight looking for him. They talked, she got stuck in the sand, and promised always to “come back.” Then he got down on one knee.
So I’ve already begun to answer why Jesus told his boys to ponder what happened on the mountain. God uses peak experiences to give meaning to life in the valley. The lightning and thunder on the mountain promised that even though Jesus would have to go down to the cross, there’d be a crown awaiting. Dr. King’s inspired dream on a day when most blacks could not even vote, promised that one could become president. The plane’s expert landing may prefigure God piloting the world’s economy to a similar miracle. Indeed God has gifted American ingenuity to always climb the next mountain. As Dr. King proclaimed, I’ve been to the mountain and I’ve seen the other side! The young man saw in the young women’s tearful embrace, someone he could commit to. And Isobe sensei’s bright cross promised a healing light to help him the next 50 years of life!
And not only does God give meaning through peak experiences, God gives direction. And that direction is always back down into the vale of tears knowing that there will be more mountain tops in this life and an unending mountain top in the life to come
So how does Jesus want you to use the Peak Experiences of your life for today’s struggle? Look back and look ahead. Look back to identify the peak experiences that God has given you. They may be a time of great athletic ability, a time of family love, a time of prosperity, a time when you knew God loved you. And as you ponder these, look ahead to where these peak experiences may point you in the struggle: scoring 30 points in a basketball game may mean that you’re strong enough to handle the cancer until Jesus gives you the heavenly body. When you made 6 figures may challenge you to become the next Michael Dell until freedom from want is achieved on God’s forever mountain. The great times on your honeymoon may promise you that you can get through this rough patch until all are enveloped in love. That feeling that you had when you sang Shine, Jesus, Shine! promises that God will be with you always until you see Jesus’ face.
So, remember/interpret your peak experience to bounce back in deflated times.
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