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"Mountaintop Moments"
The Rev. Catherine Wright
February 22, 2009
Last Sunday after the Epiphany, Year B
St. Mark’s, Glen Ellyn
(RCL) 2 Kings 2:1-12, Psalm 50:1-6, 2 Corinthians 4:3-6, Mark
9:2-9.
I know, keep silent.
There are moments we want to revel in, to hold onto, to grab
tightly. We see that in our Gospel lesson for today. Peter wanted
very much to build dwellings and have Moses and Elijah stay
for a while with them. To hold on to that moment- to live on
that mountaintop. Peter says what we all want to say-“It
is good for us to be here”. I am glad I got to experience
this. I want to hold onto it. And those mountain top moments
in our lives are important and a gift from God, but we can’t
stay on the mountain and we can’t force the reality to
continue for longer than it should. Be there on that mountain,
enjoy it, savor it and move on strengthened by it when it is
time to go.
Then there are those moments that we want nothing to do with.
That we see approaching and want to turn away. We want them
to be happening to someone else, but somehow it is us standing
there. Where is the escape hatch- how do we get out of this.
We see this in our reading from second Kings. Elisha knew that
Elijah was leaving and he did not want to dwell on it and he
did not want to run away. Three times Elijah tells Elisha to
stay behind, and three times Elisha refuses- “As the Lord
lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you”.
Three times groups of prophets say to him that today Elijah
is leaving, and three times Elisha tells them that he knows
and to be quiet. Let’s not talk about it. I don’t
want to dwell on that part, let us focus on being together and
making the most of the time together. I know the reality that
is coming and I don’t want to focus on that right now.
He doesn’t want more information, he wants time with his
mentor and he knows that is very limited right now.
I want to clarify something. When I first heard this passage
about Elisha and Elijah I thought Elisha asked something really
odd of his mentor. He requests that he “inherit a double
share of your spirit.” It sounds like he is asking to
have double the spirit than Elijah had- like Elisha wanted to
be twice as great. But that is not what he is asking. He wants
to be the heir, to take over when Elijah leaves, and he wants
not just the normal amount of inheritance, but a double share.
Make it clear to everyone that I am suppose to be doing this-
let’s make the transition clear.
And yet the message in both lessons, whether they were trying
to hang onto a moment they could not, or turning from a reality
they knew but did not want to dwell on, was to pay attention
and listen. Elisha needed to be watching when Elijah was taken
up. The voice from heaven reminded the disciples that “This
is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” Pay attention
to what is going on around you. Watch, listen.
A group of us recently began a class together- the Ministry
of Mothers Sharing or MOMS. We are meeting together weekly for
a total of eight classes. This week one of the handouts was
the Serenity Prayer- written by Reinhold Niebuhr. Many of you
I am sure have heard at least the first part of this prayer-
but I want you to also pay attention to a line in the last part
of the prayer, a part we don’t often get to hear. The
prayer goes:
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.
We are called to listen. To hear what Jesus is saying to the
world today. To look at the world as it is, not just as we would
have it to be.
In two weeks we begin an adult education offering on the Millennium
development goals. We will be looking at these benchmarks for
progress that the world community has developed and is tracking.
We will examine each of the eight benchmarks- to see where countries
have made improvements and where they have not. To see why these
areas are important to the welfare of all people, We will be
able to see what we are already doing as a community to address
the areas of need and what else we can do. We will be listening
to the world around us, hearing what people from all over the
world have to say and learning how we can add our voices to
theirs to make real, significant changes in the world today.
One project that makes a difference is Nets for Life. We will
be joining with others in the diocese to raise money for nets
for Africa to reduce malaria. We will be trying to look a little
more closely at the world as it is, not as we would have it.
We will be tempted to shout out- I know, be silent. But until
we do know how can we bear the silence? We must take a hard
look at the realities of the world we live in- locally, regionally
and internationally. We can congratulate ourselves on the steps
we have already taken. And we can determine what efforts we
personally want to commit ourselves more strongly to.
This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday. The start of Lent. No matter
where you find yourself on the scale of past Ash Wednesday participant-
If you have never before attended an Ash Wednesday service,
or if you haven’t missed one in years, I urge you to find
a service on Wednesday. There are three here at St. Mark’s-
6:30am, noon and 7pm. If those don’t work for you, find
one near where you will be on Wednesday and go there. It is
a time to remember that we don’t have all the time in
the world, and to not take ourselves either too seriously or
too casually. We cannot cling to the mountain top experiences,
nor should we dwell on the bad things coming. We are to listen,
and pick up our mantle. We are dust, and to dust we shall return.
But we are beloved dust, created into beings loved by God in
a way we can only begin to imagine. We are to use our time and
energy here well. To listen, to see the world as it is and make
it someplace even better. Let me tell you Easter is far more
glorious when you have taken Lent seriously.
And how do you take Lent seriously? I can’t give you
one answer for that- each person needs something different and
most years I need something different than I did the year before.
Some give up something, others add something. For some people
fasting on a regular basis and donating the money saved makes
a difference. Others cut down on screen time, or add more regular
prayer. Some cut out one particular food for the Lenten season,
others add more healthy foods to their regular rotation. For
some it is as simple and difficult as reviewing the covenant
made at baptism and recommitting to it. Others review what has
been going on in their life and meet with a priest for confession
and absolution. You need to examine your own life and motivations
to decide what would be most helpful to you. How can you remind
yourself on a regular basis that you live a life listening to
the transfigured, risen Christ? How can you mark this time before
Easter as a special time of year, a time to examine your life
and what controls it. What will help you proclaim to others
that you have received an inheritance from Jesus and have taken
up that mantle. That you are listening to the world around you
and have “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God.”
How can you be a Christ bearer to the world around you this
Lenten season and always? May God who makes all things possible
give us the ears to hear and the eyes to see the way.
Amen.
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