Last Epiphany C The Eternal Now

 Last Epiphany C The Eternal Now
February 22, 2004
By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell


It has been said that, “Men don’t change mountains, mountains change men.” If anyone should ever ask me, why mountain climbing is worth the effort, and the risk...that is the answer! The men and women who climb mountains will come to a new understanding of their own limitations, and a better understanding of how they fit into the big picture.

When I arrived at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, from the flat lands of Illinois, the majesty of the Teton range blew me away. There they were, shooting up out of the valley floor. Snow covered and to my eyes, somewhat foreboding. While others talked about the awesome experience of reaching the summit, I frankly had no interest. Then in my third summer after numerous day hikes in the foothills of the Teton Range, the summit, in some mysterious way began to tug at me. 

Over the years I have learned to call that tug, divine discontent. A restlessness that, if you let it, will open new vistas, release latent potential, inspire a compelling curiosity, and new courage. A restlessness and discontent that is searching for rest and peaceful joy. 

Some of you may remember an amusement park feature that was simply a large revolving disk. The challenge was to stay on the disk without allowing yourself to be spun off by centrifugal force. If you were successful in making it to the center, you could enjoy a few seconds of equilibrium. But sooner or later you would slip from the center and be scooted off the edge of the disk to then start over again. 

When you think about it, life is like that revolving disk, we are always seeking some elusive moment of equilibrium…. a place of momentary rest, but then…just when we sit down and put our feet up…sigh…. the phone rings.

Our quest for that moment of peace is frustrating and expensive. Think about how much is invested to “Get away from it all?” even for a sigh. St. Augustine has a word of wise counsel, “We will never rest, until we rest in God.”

Maybe that’s why men and women climb mountains, or venture into the wilderness. How many times have you heard someone say, “When I am one with nature, I have a powerful sense of God’s presence.” In my own wilderness experiences, I have found that if I really allow myself to be in harmony with the beauty and majesty of the big picture, I am at worship. It is what I think of as WOW experience. When some claim that their wilderness experience beats a hot stuffy church, I don’t argue. I have questioned how you might get a mountain range to visit you in the hospital. 

It's true that the body endures a lot in a mountain climb, but the gifts along the way make it all worthwhile. The brilliant colors of a natural wild flower rock garden, a thirst-quenching drink from an ice-cold mountain stream, and the ever-widening panorama of our majestic Mother Earth. Our bodies know they are being tested, but the moans are lost in our soul’s hymn of praise.

Our family hiked all-day to camp along side a lake in the mountains surrounding Jackson Hole. We were there for a week of camping, and found ourselves feeing sorry for the fishermen who were delivered to the lake via helicopter. The means of getting to the destination are part of the end. Also, gondolas to the summit don’t “cut it” either. 

When hikers reach the summit, eyes widen to take it all in. The limitations of your camera’s view finder are frustrating. Any quadrant of 360 degrees is yours to see with the turn of the head. You can see everything, or so it seems. It’s as though you are standing on your own topographical relief map. Your relationship with all the other pieces of the puzzle begin to make sense. Perhaps that’s what our astronauts saw from space, as they looked at our planet without political boundaries, and called our island home a thing of beauty. 

Once on the summit you wish there was some way to make it last. You wish there was some way to share the moment with people you love. Let’s build a special place. My first thought when I reached the top of the Grand Teton was to wish that all my friends could experience what I was experiencing. Like the words from one of my favorite hymns: “All Things Bright and Beautiful.”


He gave us eyes to see them,

and lips that we might tell,

how great is God Almighty,

who has made all things well.


In our struggle to find peace in the midst of life’s ever-changing force-factors, it would help us to get some sense of what is going on from God’s perspective…from God’s mind and heart. How does what is causing me to be troubled or anxious about my life right now, look like from God’s point-of-view? A good prayer to pray: “Lord, help me see what you see.”

How the complex pattern of an oriental rug looks very different from the point-of-view of the butterfly compared to the caterpillar. 

Prayer in its simplest form is discovering how our story joins God’s story of redemption and reconciliation. Prayer asks, “is my life moving in harmony or discord with God’s beautiful symphony of creation?” In the book of Genesis, when God looked at His creation He said, “Behold it is good.” Hebrew scholars tell us that line might be better translated to simply read…. WOW! As though God surprised even himself at how wonderfully it had all turned out. In prayer, Jesus wanted his disciples to see their lives in relationship with God’s WOW.

In today’s Gospel our Lord invites Peter, James, and John to climb a mountain for a time of prayer. While on the mountain with Jesus, they had a vision. They saw Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah. There before them stood the law, represented by Moses, and the prophets, represented by Elijah. Two of God’s giants, talking to Jesus about his death and what his death would accomplish for all humankind… forever. It was like a vision of everything that was… that is….and that will be. 

It was as though they were caught up in the eternal embrace of God’s WOW! In our liturgy we share in that embrace when we say:

Christ has died,

Christ is risen, 

Christ will come again. 

It is no wonder that the disciples said, “Master, it is good for us to be here.”

IT IS GOOD FOR US TO BE HERE!

I believe we all share in the disciple’s awe whenever we enter a church. The church is like a stage on which the total spectrum of life on earth and life eternal takes its bow. When we see our life illumined by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we are on the right track for transformation. When we receive the sacrament at the altar, our profound insignificance…. becomes profoundly significant in the body of Jesus Christ. It is no longer just us, alone, with our faults and weaknesses facing the accuser. Now by faith, we can dare take our stand with Christ’s arm around our shoulder. We can take the encouragement and kindness we have received and share it. Now, by faith, we can depart into the world in peace. 



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