The Eternal Now: Becoming Light!

while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him.

Luke 9:29,30

The Eternal Now: Becoming Light!

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr,, on the night before he died, preached a sermon in Memphis. Recounting the story of Moses on the eve of his death King said,


I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land.

The mountaintop experience. We talk about it and we experience experience ourselves anew on the mountaintop. An experience of the mountaintop is that moment when it seems that everything comes together, where worries and fears and the focus on our failures just seems to drop away. The mountaintops in our lives are about transformation and well being. Dr. King experienced the mountaintop and he speaks of the eradication of fear in his life AND the reality of his vision. "I've seen the promised land!" And he knew that the transformation was not for him alone, but for the struggles of African American people as they faced segregation, prejudice and institutionalized hatred in the United States. He knew that transformation was about Justice. So King said,

"I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight , that we, as a people, will get to the promised land."

Jesus, Peter, James and John climbed the mountain. There, on the mountaintop, Peter, James and John were excited to see Jesus in his glory. His clothes were a bright, bleached white. Jesus' countenance shone. They saw Jesus transformed and they saw the possibility for their human lives, as transformed by the incarnate Spirit of God. And as if that were not too much, they met their mountaintop ancestors. Peter is so overwhelmed by the experience (as we often are on the mountaintop) he said to Jesus, "Let's build little houses - one for you Jesus, one for Moses and one for Elijah -- and let's just stay here.

On the mountaintop we discover and experience who we are, the Beloved of God. This is an overwhelming experience, one that might tempt us to take leave of our lives, the nitty gritty of the day to day. This experience can cause us, like Peter, to build a hut to contain our experience and pull away from life "down in the valley."

This was not such a good suggestion, or at least Jesus ignores it. One cannot live on the mountaintop -- the wind blows hard, the weather is harsh, there is no water (water flows downhill). We live in the valley. And if we check out our biblical characters, Elijah and Moses, we see they both returned to life, to their work for Justice in the world. Jesus, too, descends.

After Peter speaks, there is a voice from heaven that announces who Jesus is and the group of them go down the mountain. The very next day Jesus and the disciples are surrounded by a crowd, teaching and healing -- living out their mission through word and deed.

So it is for us. We experience the light and truth of our lives on the mountaintop. We sometimes call this "being saved" or our "spiritual experience." To be sure, we are transformed through these experiences. It is by the grace of God that we are changed on the mountaintop.. But, that is just the beginning. I'd say that we become light down in the valley. We become the light of God for others. This means we are comfort for the afflicted freedom for the captive, liberation for the oppressed.
Ireneaus said that "the glory of God is a human being fully alive." This means descending from the mountaintops of our spiritual experience to the valley of our day to day. It means that we fully occupy our lives,living fully, compassionately and lovingly right where we find ourselves, right where we are.

Embracing eternity within ourselves, our bodies, our environment, we become the light of justice and peace in the world.

Blessings, David