What goes up must come down (Toss baseball in the air). What goes down must go up? (Toss baseball in the air) It’s been one hundred years since the Cubs won the World Series this year. They’ve been down for a long time; it’s time for them to go up. I’m holding onto this moment in history for up!
Well we signed up my son Nathan for the Crystal Lake American League yesterday. Well Tammy did while I was at Synod Outreach Committee Meeting. But I asked her to sign me up to help with coaching. I can renew my old baseball days. Remember those moments? What goes up must come down (toss baseball in the air).
Reminds me of the story where a boy was throwing a ball up in the air. Someone asked him what he was doing. He said he was playing catch with God. I throw the ball up in the air and he throws it back.”[1] We know that what comes up must come down. We also know that comes down can go up. When someone goes up a mountain they have to come down again. So here we stand at the foot of the mountain with the disciples, being invited to go up.
Jesus could tell that these three disciples needed to get away. The past six days have been the longest six days of our lives. We need a rest! Peter just confessed that Jesus is the messiah; he’s the one who will save us from this Roman occupation. But then he told us he was going to have to die on a cross when we get to
"Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves." (Matthew 17:1) Jesus took these three men up to the mountain for prayer and rest. It’s been a long six days; it’s been a long week! What? You want to go up to this mountain. Why? For rest and prayer… okay! We could use it.
So they climbing this mountain when Jesus experienced a “metamorphosis” is the Greek word; we call it a transfiguration. Peter, James and John, his three main followers, they see Jesus transformed in an instant. They are so amazed that they just want to stay there; “It’s good to be here, can we live on this mountain; can we just stay here for awhile and watch you blaze?” Notice that they don’t fall down and worship Jesus here, for they still don’t see him fully transformed as God until after the cross. But as Peter is talking, they here a voice and are engulfed in the clouds; “This is my beloved son, listen to him”. In the midst of all the talking, Peter is told to shut up already, stop your constant talking! They fall down in worship the presence of God on this mysterious mountain. They stop talking and just lay there. Then the voice, the vision is gone! God’s presence, where did it go? They perhaps find it again in the simple touch of Jesus and his words of comfort.
There is something very mystical about being on a mountain in the Bible. We call them mountain top experiences. Perhaps you’ve climbed a mountain the way Paul Sponholz did this past month, a member of the church who was in Africa and climbed
We spend more time in the valley than on the mountain. But after six days of going and going fast in our lives, we are invited to find renewal at the
For the next seven weeks we are going to be talking about SABBATH – SABOT; stop! In order to face the six days, we need to really rest and renew. This Sabbath day of renewal isn’t only about resting from the past week but it is to find the strength for the next six days. We spend more time in the valley of every day life than we do on the mountain of rest. You see, seven days without resting in God leaves one weak!
You and I have been taken into this place of rest today; we are given this SABBATH MOMENT after a long six days to find renewal in God’s presence; in the mysterious presence of Christ in the sacrament, word and community of Christians; we are given this momentary renewal in the mysterious clouds where we are found in God, and then we descend…
Henry Drummond, the Scottish theologian said, It is not God’s desire that we live on the mountaintops. We only ascend to the heights to catch a broader vision of the earthly surroundings below. But we don’t live there. The streams begin in the uplands, but these streams descend quickly to gladden the valleys below.” The streams of living waters start in the mountaintops, but they come down to gladden the valleys below.[2] What goes up must come down, and the disciples are heading down the mountain until they reach the next mountain,
Prayer: Gracious God, you renew us through your Holy Spirit as we see you inviting us to your mountain of grace this day. Guide us as we worship and praise you for this moment to find renewal in Christ, in his name we pray, Amen!
[1] John Thomas Randolph, The Best Gift, CSS, 1983, p. 96
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