AtomMountaintop Moments…We ALL need them!!
Pastor Dave Peterson
First Lutheran Church
February 14, 2010
Luke 9:28-36
This is the Gospel of our Lord…and what a Gospel!!
This has been a week of celebrating dreams and visions that inspire…that encourage and motivate…that bring a smile to the face and an excitement to life!!
• Friday, the Olympics started…with the dreams and visions of 100’s of athletes…and not just of what might be…but I’m thinking of the dream and visions of the past that have inspired these young people to strive and stay focused…to train…to live their dream…and compete to the best of their ability!!
o Actually, I’m really excited to head home after church to watch a young man from Battle Lake, Minnesota…Wynn Roberts…compete in the biathlon. I’ve biked with and Wynn and actually…my son Josh and I taught Wynn how to wakeboard on Eagle Lake several years ago. Josh tells me his race is set for just after one o’clock!! I’ve got the recorder set to make sure we don’t miss this!!
• Yesterday, several dozen of us gathered at Trinity Lutheran to pack food kits for Haiti through an organization called Kids against Hunger. About an hour into our packing, we were given a break time…in order to watch a DVD that told of the the vision, the epiphany given to a man named Richard Proudfit (from Minnesota)…God gave him a vision of his purpose…here’s part of his story…from http://www.kidsagainsthunger.org:
o Richard’s grand obsession with feeding the starving children of the world began in 1974 in Honduras after Hurricane Fifi killed or left homeless thousands. He went there as an engineer with a medical relief team to help the survivors of that disaster. At first, Richard was so busy with his engineering and repair work that he did not see the misery all around him, and then something happened that changed his life forever. (He received an epiphany) He recalls that time: “It wasn’t long until I began to see the children - literally dying around us. One mother came to me crying, carrying her near dead child, pleading for help. That is when the Lord broke my heart and brought me to my knees and I knew that I had to come back to do something about it.”
As Joy and I left Trinity yesterday, we commented on what a great morning…no…what an inspiring morning it was for us…and how great it was that the leaders made us take the time to hear the story, to see the epiphany…to see and catch the vision of Richard….
As I said, it’s been a week of dreams and visions…and perhaps the most significant one for me has been the privilege of spending time in Luke 9…catching and reliving the vision that God gave to James, John, Peter…and even Jesus!! This was an Epiphany that inspired them, motivated them, gave them purpose and meaning, gave them the confidence…even in the tough times…to stay focused on the mission that God had given to them.
Let’s remember, just before this, the disciples had experienced Jesus feeding the 5000…then they had been asked by Jesus “who do you say that I am” to which Peter said, “You are the Messiah of God”. And then, Jesus reminded them that to follow him wasn’t going to be a glory road…rather, to follow Jesus would mean rejection, suffering, death, and more. Jesus laid this out to them…and then…8 days later…he gave them an epiphany – a revealing of the bglroy of God that over time changed EVERYTHING in their lives.
What did this mean Epiphany mean for them?
I choose the lesson from 2nd Peter to be read today, because, in this lesson we discover that the meaning of this vision was HUGE for Peter and the early church!! It gave them something concrete to stand on…to remember as they served Jesus in that first century church. Catch this again…using the “Message” by Eugene Peterson, as our translation:
“We couldn’t be surer of what we saw and heard – God’ glory, God’s voice. The prophetic Word was confirmed to us. You’ll do well to keep focusing on it. It’s the one light you have in a dark time as you wait for daybreak and the rising of the Morning Star in your hearts.”
This epiphany…times of revealing of who Jesus really was…was a defining moment for the disciples and, epiphanies like these continue to be defining moments for followers of Jesus today. These types of epiphanies “pull back the veil” for just a moment…to give a clarity, if only for a moment…to give a vision…that have a lasting effect for those who have them…and many today do.
Mother Teresa, early in her ministry had an epiphany (the veil was pulled back for just a moment)…and…since her diaries have been made public…we have discovered that she had ONLY one…and this ONE vision (epiphany) was what kept her going in the midst of the darkness of her ministry. You could say this one vision was “the one light she had in the dark time as she waited for daybreak and the rising of the Morning Star in your hearts.”
But, we don’t have to go that far to find people who have been given epiphanies from Jesus.
In fact, as I’ve asked people about their experiences in the faith, I’ve been privileged to hear stories from those who have had epiphanies in the nursing home before death occurred, from those who have attended National Youth Gatherings or Bible Camp, from those crying out to God in the lowest times of life, and from those given an unexpected vision in the everyday times of life. Some have told of incredible visions that go against our sense of reality…while others have told stories of a quieter nature. Some have spoken of receiving an epiphany while receiving communion…others while out serving on a mission/rebuilding trip.
When we used this gospel for devotions at our staff meeting on Tuesday, even there, several told their stories of “epiphany moments”…
• moments when the presence of Jesus was so real…
• moments that months and even years later continue to be defining moments that inspire.
• Moments to not just remember, but that live in the present moment to inspire, give courage and so much more.
In our Gospel, Peter, James, and John…and even Jesus himself, were given an epiphany to hold onto as they went down the mountain, back into the ups and downs of life. This became, as Peter wrote years later: the one light you have in a dark time as you wait for daybreak and the rising of the Morning Star in your hearts.
Today…a few thoughts about these epiphanies…these mountaintop experiences…
1) They are far more common that we will ever know!!
I used to teach a class called “witnesses for Christ” while in Brainerd. With the central focus being “My story, Your story, and God’s story” all were encouraged to tell their faith stories. Over the years I probably had around 50 people take this class and EVERYONE of them…100% had had an epiphany experience in their lives that entered into the mystical. What was interesting to me was that 75% of them had never told ONE person about this experience…for a variety of reasons!! Several thought people would think them nuts if they told others their experience.
After all, this is something we don’t talk have room for in our rational, industrial, technological, left brain society we live in. Yet…God still gives these experiences…they are more common that we will ever know.
2) God gives them…in his time and in his place. We cannot manufacture them…they are a gift. This flies in the face of those who end up seeking out these experiences…you know the stories of people hopping from church to church, or traveling to see the latest spiritual fad…seeking to continually live on a spiritual high…when they stop getting a high from one place…they jump to another and then another. No…real epiphanies cannot be manufactured…they cannot be a manipulated experience…
God gives them…as a gift…for a purpose…in his time and in his place.
3) These experiences are given to give God’s People hope and light when we go down from the mountain into the everyday of ministry. Notice the final verse of our Gospel… “when they came down off of the mountain!!”
Again, it’s so tempting to want to be like Peter saying, “Jesus…this is great! Let’s stay here forever! Let’s pitch our tent on the top and have nothing to do with the stuff going on that you talked about earlier…the stuff of entering into the sufferings of the world…Let’s not be concerned with those who need food…those who are mistreated by others…those in need…Let’s just stay up here with you!!”
And Jesus says “NO”. And he takes his disciples down from the mountain…right into the needs of the world…but changed…as they were given a whole new realization of who Jesus is…and his promise and call!! Again, hear the words of Peter:
“We couldn’t be surer of what we saw and heard – God’ glory, God’s voice. The prophetic Word was confirmed to us. You’ll do well to keep focusing on it. It’s the one light you have in a dark time as you wait for daybreak and the rising of the Morning Star in your hearts.”
Today we’re talking about epiphanies…mountaintop experiences…dreams and visions if you will…
• They are real…
• They come from being connected to the giver…
o (we didn’t spend much time on this, yet it’s so important)
• They are given to inspire…encourage…
• They are, in a real sense, a foretaste of the feast to come…to use our liturgical language
• They are an opening…a peek…into the Glory of God…
• They are God given…
• They have a purpose…
This has been a week of celebrating visions and epiphanies that inspire…that encourage and motivate…that bring a smile to the face and an excitement to life!!
• In my house, we’re going to be cheering on Wynn today as he pursues his Olympic dream…sure hope he can feel our vibes of encouragement!!
• Richard Proudfit was inspiring yesterday…even on DVD!!! I trust we will connect with kids against hunger many many times in the future…
• As for the Gospel today…
Let’s finish with this from Brent Blair:
Peter needed the mountaintop. We all do. It’s there that he learned he needed to listen to Jesus. God himself helped Peter understand this.
Further, we all have had those moments or we wouldn’t be here, moments when we learned we needed to listen to Jesus.
But let’s notice one important truth…Peter did not go up the mountain to find God. God brought Peter up that mountain. God revealed himself to Peter. We don’t find God up on mountains. God finds us.
This is the best news of all…God finds us…wherever we are…God finds us!!
What we do is stay connected…because God’s promise is, HE WILL ALWAYS FIND US!!!
Thanks be to God!!
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