{"id":4596,"date":"2020-02-23T23:24:39","date_gmt":"2020-02-23T23:24:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/23\/mountaintop-views-based-on-exodus-2412-18-and\/"},"modified":"2020-02-23T23:24:39","modified_gmt":"2020-02-23T23:24:39","slug":"mountaintop-views-based-on-exodus-2412-18-and","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/2020\/02\/23\/mountaintop-views-based-on-exodus-2412-18-and\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cMountaintop Views\u201d based on\u00a0\tExodus 24:12-18 and Matthew 17:1-9"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/figure>\n

\nWhen
\nI was 13 I read the Chronicles of Narnia. \u00a0They were good, not my
\nfavorites, but easily kept my attention to finish all the books.
\nHowever, it was not until MANY years later that I learned that the
\nbooks were written as intentional Christian metaphors, and I was
\nfloored. \u00a0Nothing, at all, in the books had felt like Christianity to
\nme. \u00a0I didn’t go back to reread them, but I did get peer pressured
\ninto seeing some of the movies, at which point I was able to see
\nboth: 1. How the story could have been written and understood as
\nChristian and \u2013 at the same time \u2013 2. How I entirely missed it.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\n(The
\nkey really being that I was raised in a Christianity that centered on
\n\u201cLet there be peace on earth and let it begin with me\u201d while
\nthose narratives are inherently violent.)<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nIt is
\na little bit embarrassing though, to have missed the entire point.
\nHowever, I just didn’t see it. \u00a0I couldn’t. \u00a0There is a deep truth to
\nthe fact that we can’t see things that we don’t have the context to
\nmake sense of. \u00a0The Chronicles of Narnia didn’t look to me the way
\nChristianity looked. \u00a0Now, there are 2.3 Billion Christians in the
\nworld, and I don’t think it is reasonable to assume we all understand
\nour faith in the same way. \u00a0Sometimes it is a little bit startling to
\nrealize just how wide Christianity is and how often it contains its
\nown opposites. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nAt
\nthe same time, that’s sort of the beauty of it all. \u00a0People from an
\nincredibly wide range of worldviews, life experiences, and
\nbackgrounds are all able to find meaning in our tradition because it
\nis quite adaptable to variation.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThe
\nscriptures this week have led me to thinking a lot about perspective,
\nas they both have to do with changing perspectives. \u00a0Mountaintops
\nthemselves are places where people see things differently. \u00a0Some part
\nof that has to do with the effort expended to get to the top, and
\nanother part has to do with seeing things from a different angle.
\nFrom the top of the mountain, it is easier to see the forest than the
\nindividual trees. \u00a0It is also easier to understand how various parts
\nof the landscape related to each other.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nAdditionally,
\nboth of these stories have transformational experiences occur at the
\ntops of those mountains. \u00a0Moses has been called up the mountain by
\nGod, and leaves behind the people he is leading in order to follow
\nGod’s instructions. \u00a0As Moses ascends, a cloud descends. \u00a0For the
\npeople left behind, that may have created a sense of mystery or
\ndistance from Moses on the mountain, or perhaps anxiety for his well
\nbeing.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nBut
\nfor Moses, alone on the mountain in the midst of a dense fog, for 6
\ndays without further instruction, that was likely INTENSE, like a 6
\nday silent retreat with visual sensory deprivation. \u00a0When I had a 6
\nhour drive home from college in the days before cell phones, the time
\nalone with myself was enough to be disconcerting and clarifying. \u00a06
\ndays alone on a mountain in deep fog would be plenty of time for
\nreflection \u2013 to say the least. \u00a0There are many people who can’t
\nhandle 30 seconds of silence \u2013 for good reason. \u00a0Probably most
\npeople in our society get squirmy well before 30 awake minutes
\nwithout distractions. \u00a0But 6 days!!! \u00a0Yet, the people I know \u00a0who
\nhave gone 6 days or more away from distractions all describe it as
\nholy and perspective changing, although not usually easy.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThe
\nsix days are a passing note in the story, but my goodness I think
\nthey matter. \u00a0On the seventh day, God calls Moses and the cloud
\ndissipates to reveal the \u201cglory of God\u201d which was so intense the
\npeople at the bottom of the mountain could see it. \u00a0After 6 days of
\ndense fog, that also must have been a new and different sort of
\nintense. \u00a0AND THEN, Moses enters the cloud WITH God and they spend 40
\ndays and 40 nights together. \u00a0 \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThis
\nis one of the stories of Moses receiving the 10 Commandments, and it
\nseems to emphasize the holiness and uniqueness of the experience.
\nMoses got A LOT of time with the Divine \u2013 way more than his
\npreparatory 6 days. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThis
\nstory is cleaned up to fit into a good, faithful telling, but there
\nis an incredible core to it. \u00a0As Addison Wright once pointed out, the
\nfaith traditions in the Ancient Near East at this time were all god
\nand goddess centric. \u00a0That is, people sacrificed at Temples or
\nengaged in behaviors meant to please the gods, with the goal of
\ngaining favors from the gods. \u00a0Favors like fertility for people and
\nand flocks, rain for the fields, etc. \u00a0Thus faith, worship, and
\nofferings were largely transactional. \u00a0Wright believes that something
\nentirely new emerged in the Sinai desert, and that something new is
\nthe core of this story. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThat
\nsomething new was the concept of a God who cared how people treated
\nEACH OTHER rather than simply being interested in
\nself-aggrandizement. \u00a0That is, the faith traditions of the area
\nreally saw gods and goddesses as being like powerful people \u2013
\nselfish, greedy, and needing to be manipulated into helping out. \u00a0But
\nsomehow, a small group of desert wanderers came to understand a God
\n(possibly singular, more likely this started as a primary or tribal
\ngod for them) whose PRIMARY CONCERN was moral behavior. \u00a0And that’s
\nthe story of the rest of the Bible, right? \u00a0The people try to claim
\nthat they’re all about God and God keeps on responding, \u201cthen take
\ncare of the vulnerable among you and build a just society. \u00a0THAT is
\nwhat I want.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThis
\nnew idea of a God interested in moral human behavior and a just
\nsociety is the core message lurking under this cleaned up version
\nabout Moses, a mountain, a fog, a fire, and a lot of waiting. \u00a0It is
\nimpossible to tell where the original story lies and where it has
\nbeen adapted, but the core is powerful and the current version is
\npowerful and they’re both worthy of consideration.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThe
\nmountaintop experience being such a powerful part of the Jewish
\nstory, it makes a lot of sense that the Gospel writer Matthew tells
\nthe Transfiguration story as another mountaintop story. \u00a0In this
\ncase, rather than a dense fog, it is as if a fog has been lifted and
\nthe disciples are finally able to see clearly.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

From
\nthe Gospel writer’s perspective, people were confused into thinking
\nthat Jesus was just another teacher\/healer, but on the mountaintop
\nthey saw just how holy and special he really was. \u00a0The experience of
\nbeing close to God on the mountaintop is repeated, with God’s own
\nvoice speaking. \u00a0 \u201cThis is my child, the beloved, with whom I am
\nwell pleased.\u201d It doesn’t get much better than that! \u00a0Yet those are
\nthe words that whisper through the ages, being shared time and time
\nagain, because those are the words that God speaks to each of us.
\n\u201cThis is my child, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.\u201d
\nImagining being on mountaintop seeing God’s delight in Jesus reminds
\nus of why we continue to work in the world as the Body of Christ. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

The
\nperspective change on the mountaintop is interesting. \u00a0In these
\nstories, new insights are gleaned, ones that change lives. \u00a0I’ve been
\nthinking about when those perspective shifts can happen for the rest
\nof us. \u00a0Climbing mountains remains a good option \ud83d\ude09 but what are
\nothers? \u00a0Some of the most common in the church are mission trips, or
\nparticipating in new-to-you ministries of the church. \u00a0Anytime we
\nmeet and engage with people who are different from us, we gain
\nvaluable perspective. \u00a0And, the more we listen to people, the more we
\nlearn. \u00a0Sometimes I think perspective shifts are just direct gifts
\nfrom God. \u00a0Other times they come after long term spiritual practice
\nor prayer. \u00a0Some require those 6 days of silence in dense fog (or
\nvariations thereof). \u00a0Julia Cameron in \u201cThe Artists Way\u201d says the
\nway not to get stuck is to write 3 pages of longhand every day and
\nhave a date with yourself to do something new every week. \u00a0Her
\nparticular goal is to keep creative juices flowing, but it turns out
\nthose are related, aren’t they?<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nOne
\nother intersecting piece comes to mind. \u00a0When our anxiety is UP, we
\ntend to see the world more in black and white. \u00a0So, rather than
\ndeveloping increasing capacities to see many perspectives in the
\nworld, we will tend to pick one and STICK WITH IT AT ALL COSTS. \u00a0The
\nchallenge is, that for most of us today, anxiety is high. \u00a0Of course,
\nthe \u00a0current power structure (of any time and place) benefits from
\nthe increased anxiety that leads people to either\/or thinking and
\ndoubling down into opposing camps. \u00a0It maintains the status quo. \u00a0The
\nstatus quo is generally the compromise between two opposing camps,
\nright? \u00a0But what is really great for people are win-win situations,
\nwhich require creative thinking, the capacity to see multiple
\nperspectives, and openness to new ideas.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nNow,
\nit turns out we can’t spend our whole lives on mountaintops, and we
\nall exist within some parameters of perspective that we can’t just
\nwill our ways out of. \u00a0Furthermore, we LITERALLY can’t see things we
\naren’t expecting to see, which makes it SUPER hard to break out of
\nour perspective when it is… in fact…. wrong.<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nMy
\nfavorite idea from John Wesley is this, \u201cSometimes each of us are
\nwrong. \u00a0Clearly, if we knew when we are wrong, we would correct
\nourselves and not be wrong. \u00a0So, sometimes when others disagree with
\nus, it is actually a sign that we are currently wrong. \u00a0Since we
\ndon’t know which times those are, we should approach all
\ndisagreements with humility.\u201d \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nWhat
\nwould have happened if Moses came back down the mountain with a new
\nconception of the Divine and people said, \u201cnaw, that doesn’t sound
\nright?\u201d \u00a0Where would we be today? \u00a0Where would the world be?<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nTransfiguration
\nSunday is the final Sunday before Lent. \u00a0It foreshadows for us the
\nperspective shift of Easter, and by giving us a foretaste of it,
\ngives us the motivation to engage in reflection for Lent to prepare
\nourselves for Easter. \u00a0It turns out that Lent is also meant to give
\nus a perspective change. \u00a0It slows us down, offers us time to think,
\nand reflect, and consider. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\n<\/p>\n

\nThere
\nare a lot of ways to expand our worldviews, to glean a better
\nunderstanding of what is going on all around us. \u00a0None of them are
\nperfect, and our capacities to see and understand will be limited,
\nbut thanks be to God, we can grow and become. \u00a0May we take the view
\nfrom the mountaintop and let it change us from the inside out. \u00a0Amen\n<\/p>\n

– <\/p>\n

Rev. Sara E. Baron
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
Pronouns: she\/her\/hers
http:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/<\/a>
\u2028https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FUMCSchenectady<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
\n

February 23, 2020<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was 13 I read the Chronicles of Narnia. \u00a0They were good, not my favorites, but easily kept my … Continue reading \u201cMountaintop Views\u201d based on\u00a0\tExodus 24:12-18 and Matthew 17:1-9<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[34,38,28,39,33,1941,1942,1940,1939,1943,64,1938,442],"class_list":["post-4596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-fumc-schenectady","tag-progressive-christianity","tag-rev-sara-e-baron","tag-thinking-church","tag-umc","tag-addison-wright","tag-artists-way","tag-changing-views","tag-first-united-methodist-church-of-schenectady","tag-gain-perspective","tag-sorry-about-the-umc-world","tag-sunday-before-lent","tag-transfiguration"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4596\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}