March, 2, 2003
2 Corinthians 4: 3-6
Mark 9:2-9
“Can You Keep A Secret ?”
It has been a few years since I was a Boy Scout,
and yet I still remember the experiences I had in scouts as being some
of the best times of my life. I remember with special fondness the time
I flew out from Massachusetts to New Mexico to go backpacking at the
Philmont Scout Reservation. Philmont is a national camping area, owned
and operated by the Boy Scouts of America. Philmont is large,
comprising 137,493 acres or about 215 square miles of rugged mountain
wilderness in the Sangre de Cristo (Blood of Christ) range of the
Rockies. Philmont has high mountains which dominate rough terrain
with an elevation ranging from 6,500 to 12,441 feet. The property was
donated by the Phillips family to the Boy Scouts of America, “... for the purpose of perpetuating faith,
self-reliance, integrity and freedom -- principles used to build this
great country by the American Pioneers. So that these future citizens
may, through thoughtful adult guidance and by the inspiration of
nature, visualize and form a code of living to diligently maintain
these high ideals and our proper destiny.” (Waite Phillips - December 1941 )
For me the experience was meaningful in so many
ways, and as I read the account of the Transfiguration of Jesus, I was
reminded of climbing up the mountains of Philmont, and especially the
moment on a crisp summer morning, rolling out of my sleeping bag to
watch the sun rise, below us, for we were so high there was clouds
below us as well. As the orange light filled the sky, I was filled with
awe and reverence. The moment was over quickly, the sun took its place
in the sky and we went about making breakfast and breaking camp for the
day ahead. But that moment stays with me, and the sense of awe I
felt then is renewed whenever I take the time to take in the beauty of
the earth.
God’s power is sometimes gentle, sometimes
abrupt and awe inspiring. From the crocus that sprout through the snow,
to the earthquakes that shake up our world, God’s power is still
as active now as it was when the Transfiguration took place. Sometimes
it feels like evil may get the upper hand, sometimes it feels like
injustice is prevailing and that society is hopeless. It is important
to remember that the power of the Creator is at work today and can fill
us with renewed vision. Sometimes we have to make the trip to the
mountains to experience this power renewal. To go to the
mountaintop means that we can clear our heads of all that distract us
and keep the light of God from shining in our hearts.
The second lesson of the Transfiguration is for
Jesus to give Peter and James and John a glimpse into who he was. Jesus
had lived a very human life, he had been born and raised by humans, he
trained in the Jewish law, he had a special ministry, yes, but the
Disciples were not prepared for what was to come in the days ahead.
Jesus was no ordinary prophet, he was no ordinary man, and the
Transfiguration gave the Disciples a clue to how Jesus was about to
change history. Jesus took them to the mountain to help unveil his
mission, and his purpose. Near the city of Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil,
is a remarkable facility. Twenty years ago the Brazilian government
turned a prison over to two Christians. The institution was renamed
Humaita, and the plan was to run it on Christian principles. With the
exception of two full-time staff, all the work is done by inmates.
Families outside the prison adopt an inmate to work with during and
after his term. Chuck Colson visited the prison and made this report: “When I visited Humaita I found the inmates smiling
-- particularly the murderer who held the keys, opened the gates and
let me in. Wherever I walked I saw men at peace. I saw clean living
areas, people working industriously. The walls were decorated with
biblical sayings from Psalms and Proverbs .... My guide escorted me to
the notorious prison cell once used for torture. Today, he told me that
block houses only a single inmate. As we reached the end of a long
concrete corridor and he put the key in the lock, he paused and asked,
‘Are you sure you want to go in?’ “ ‘Of
course,’ I replied impatiently, ‘I’ve been in
isolation cells all over the world.’ Slowly he swung open the
massive door, and I saw the prisoner in that punishment cell: a
crucifix, beautifully carved by the Humaita inmates -- the prisoner
Jesus, hanging on a cross. ‘He’s doing time for the rest of
us,’ my guide said softly.”
(Max Lucado, In the Grip of Grace (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1996), 113.)
The identity of Jesus as Christ has a goal; it
cannot be contained in a shrine on a mountaintop. Jesus’
mission as the Christ has a purpose, and that purpose is the full
manifestation of the power of God’s love in the endurance of
human suffering and the defeat of the powers of sin and death through
the cross and resurrection.
We are like those who were not there on the
mountaintop, we have to trust in the power of Jesus without having been
there ourselves. But the Apostle Paul does not consider this an
obstacle to follow Christ. The light of Jesus is in our hearts, and
through this light we are given knowledge of the power and love of God
our Creator.
To keep ourselves from perishing, from being
blinded by unbelievers, we must look to that light. We must find ways
of keeping the relationship to our Creator strong.
A friend of the Christian author Fredrick Buechner
tells of the time Buechner was consumed by worry over his
daughter’s affliction with anorexia. Sick with worry, driving
back to his home in Vermont, he pulled into a rest stop. There Buechner
spied a license plate, one of those vanity license plates, although
this time it was not really a vanity plate. The license plate read
simply “TRUST”. For Buechner it was a revelation. A great
sense of calm swept over his life and he knew he could go on. You have
to admire that New England Bank trust department officer, who in a pun
on his title, put “TRUST” on his license plate. And you
have to admire Buechner for taking that license plate and turning it
into a revelation from God for his life. Similar moments occur in
worship when we catch some snippet of a phrase, some insight, some
vision, (which may be extremely difficult or even embarrassing to share
with others) and base our lives upon it. Such are the ways of
revelation. (Pulpit Resource, William Willimon, vol. 31 number 1, p. 36.)
To unveil the Gospel we need to trust in the
awesome power of God. We have to trust in the source of life, the
sustainer of life, the one who holds us close, and who shines in the
darkness.
It is always my hope as I prepare worship, as I
study the scriptures, as I write the sermon, that I can catch a glimpse
of God. I also hope that as we gather together, as we sing the hymns,
and pray together, we will catch a glimpse of the power of God. I hope
that the sacraments of bread and wine are more than just a pious
exercise, and that we will sense the spirit of God feeding our souls,
shining in our hearts so we might know the glory of God in the face of
Jesus Christ.
No, you and I were not on the mountaintop, but we
do know the secret, that Jesus is the Christ, and God is our creator,
and the Holy Spirit is our sustainer! This is a secret we can share, so
others can know of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Amen
