Mountaintop

A Communion Sunday Meditation.
Text: Matthew 17:1-9

The day we had set aside to climb Camel’s Hump Mountain was wet with a gentle rain, but it wasn’t pouring, so we went anyway. We had hiking shoes and slickers, and the trail was well traveled, and we made it to the top of Vermont’s second-highest peak with just enough difficulty to make it feel like an accomplishment. The peak is above the tree line, just skree and moss, like a rock garden, and many hikers were unpacking their knapsacks for lunch. It was like a meeting of the nations, people from all across the country and some foreign visitors too, enjoying their tour of the Long Trail. There was a sense of camaraderie. Then, for an instant, there was a clearing in the fog, a break in the clouds, through which the sun shone and you could see the green mountains spread out below, and it was such a sight you could hear a great collective sigh. I think some of us applauded. It was just a brief moment, and then it passed. And eventually, we gathered up our granola bar wrappers, and checked our boot laces, and one little group after another went on, down this mountain.
It was an experience that defies description. As much as I have tried to keep the memory of that day, I know I have lost many of the details. As much as I have tried to convey it to you, to share the way the rocks felt beneath my feet and the way the mist caressed by face, you really had to be there.
Everyone needs to have their own mountain top experience.
I believe that is the intent of the gospel story, of the mountaintop experience shared by Peter, James, and John. It was a moment of enlightenment. They told the story to convey the experience, to share it with the other disciples, who in turn passed the story on to others.
You have probably had your own mountaintop experiences, which you have treasured in your own hearts, and have longed to share with others. If only we could bottle those experiences and return to them whenever we feel the need. But the presence of the holy rarely comes in the same way twice. We always have to come down from the mountain, or home from the wilderness. After enlightenment, the laundry.
We keep these stories for each other. We keep them to remind ourselves that the Spirit moves, in this life, in this world. We keep the stories to remind each other that God’s presence comes, the spirit comes, the Christ comes, and comes again. Holy ground is wherever the Spirit is present, Holy time is whenever the Spirit is present, a holy meal is whenever we break bread together.
We break the bread and share the cup in the presence of our Lord, the one who comes to us on the mountaintop and the one who walks with us down the mountain, the one who is host, and guest, and servant at the table all at once. May this be for us a sacred moment, a memory and a foretaste of the full presence of God in our lives. Amen.