A Summit Meeting

2 Kings 2:1-12a; 1 Corinthians 4:3-6; Mark 9:2-9

As the date on today's bulletin indicates, today is the last day in the season known as Epiphany. Because it is during the season of Epiphany that the church has traditionally taught about the ways by which Christ was manifested to the world, it seems appropriate that on this last Sunday of the season we should discuss one of the most unusual manifestations of Christ: His transfiguration upon the mount.

Now, as I've mentioned before, mountains have played a very important part in the history of God's dealing with humanity. After all, it was upon Mt. Sinai that Moses received the Ten Commandments. It was upon a mountain that Elijah heard the still small voice of God. It was to a mountain that Abraham was led to sacrifice his son, Isaac. It was upon mountains that the people of God put their temples for the worship of the Lord. It was upon mountains that Jesus would go to pray. And it was upon a mountain that Jesus preached his most important teachings to those who would listen.

Why mountains? It was because the people of ancient times took quite literally the idea that heaven is up and the world is down. They believed that if a person could go up high enough they would be close enough to heaven to be able to commune with God. Even in our Old Testament lesson for today we see that Elijah went up as he was taken from Elisha into heaven. The ancient peoples believed that God made use of mountains and various other devices to step down out of heaven to have contact with humanity.

Of course, we don't believe this, today. We know that the higher you go the closer you get to outer space. We know that heaven is no more up than down. Nevertheless, it is important for us to have a concept of how God comes to us. It is important for us to ask: "How can I have contact with God and how can God have contact with me?"

It is an irony that in this day of technical marvels human beings are more private and more isolated from each other than ever before. People no longer entertain as they used to. People no longer walk down the sidewalks of their town and greet their neighbors, as they used to. We no longer get information about what is going on in our community by word of mouth, but by a radio, or a television, or a newspaper. We're isolated by the speed of our automobile and by the walls of our own homes. And, sadly, this has affected our spiritual life, as well. It seems harder and harder for people take the time they need to have contact with God.

I wrote a poem that talks about our need to have contact with God:

I go up to the mountain top;

I go up there to pray.

And Jesus ventures up, as well,

To be with me each day.

My mountain isn't very high --

It may be just a space

Where I can go to meet alone

With Jesus, face to face.

I go up to the mountain top

And sometimes when I'm there

The very presence of my Lord

Seems dazzling and fair.

And now and then, while in my prayers,

The scriptures come to life.

They speak to me in times of joy,

Or when I've pain and strife.

I go up to the mountain top

And sometimes want to stay.

It seems so good to be with God,

To talk with Christ all day.

But, hearing his sweet voice, I know

There's work for me to do,

And so I leave my mountain top

With strength and joy, anew.

I go up to the mountain top,

I go there every day

To get the strength I need to serve

And follow Jesus' Way.

We all must have a mountain top

Where we can meet the Lord.

In him there's wisdom for the tasks.

In him there's power stored.

I hope that you have found a regular time and place in your life to have contact with the Lord. And, yet, I know how difficult this is for some of us. We claim to lead such busy lives. But, it is important for us to remember that God claims us, as well. And if we profess to be followers of Jesus there are sometimes obvious changes that we may have to make in our schedules to come closer to Jesus. Sometimes we are forced to make decisions about whether we would do something secular or something within the church. Sometimes it is a decision about whether we would like to stay home and watch T.V. or go to a Bible Study. Sometimes it is a decision about whether to go bowling or be active in the United Methodist Women. Sometimes it is a decision about whether to stay in bed or worship God in church. We need to pray for each other as we struggle with these often difficult decisions.

Mountains also seem to play an important part in politics. Over the past few weeks, we have heard news about a summit conference that was supposed to have taken place between Presidents Bush and Gorbachev.	The conference has been canceled because of the war and because of strife in the Baltic states. They call these summit conferences because, even though they don't take place on mountain tops they are meetings between the top leaders of each country.

Our gospel lesson for today describes a different summit meeting that actually did take place upon a mountain. And the leaders who met together there were Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. Why was this and why is this important to us today?

I am reminded of a teaching of Jesus in Matthew 15 where he said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets. I have come, rather, to fulfill them." As one studies the scriptures of the New Testament one quickly realizes that much care is given to show that Jesus' message to the world wasn't that the teachings of the Old Testament were unimportant. Rather, Jesus came into the world to fulfill the Old Testament. He came to show how true those teachings were and then give us a way to fulfill those teachings in our own lives.

So, Jesus met with Moses, the author of the Law, and Elijah, the greatest of the prophets, in that summit meeting, to vividly show his disciples that the teachings of the Law and the Prophets of the Old Testament were very much connected to and a part of his own life and teachings.

So, it makes sense to us that if Jesus came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, that we should strive to know as much as we can about the Law and the Prophets. And, yet, surprisingly, there are many Christians who hardly ever read the Old Testament, but are content to only read the passages of the New Testament. In fact, most of us have copies of the New Testament, alone. They're sold in all the Christian bookstores, sometimes with the book of Psalms included. But, how many of us have seen copies of the Old Testament, alone? Indeed, they're very difficult to find. But, this only demonstrates the persistence of the fallacious belief within Christendom that the New Testament is somehow more important than the Old Testament. And, yet, Jesus' meeting with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration tells us that we need to be knowledgeable about both.

So, one of the most important things for us to take with us as we go to our mountain tops to be with God is a Bible. For it is most often that God will use the printed words of the Bible to speak to us. If we want to be in contact with God, we need to study his word, contained, as the creed says, in the Old and New Testaments before we study anything else.

The question is important: how can we know what God wants for us and from us in our life? Many people seek the answer to this question by joining cults. Many seek to find out what life has in store for them by reading the astrology charts in the newspapers. Many seek to control their fate by reading tons of self-help books. But the apostle Paul told the Corinthians, "Do not go beyond what is written in scripture." And God said it very clearly to the disciples when he said, "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!"

As we seek the answers to life's questions how important it is for us to find them in Jesus, in the scriptures, in God's word, and in prayer before we look anywhere else. For God's word is faithful and his Son's righteousness has power to make us whole. Amen.