I thought about these experiences at Resurrection a lot when reading about Neumark's description of Jesus' transfiguration story. She says, "But the Transfiguration story does not end with shouts on the mountaintop. Instead, Jesus leads his disciples down, where all is not brightness and light. Immediately, they are approached by a father seeking help for his epileptic son who flails about and falls into fires." It is wonderful to have these mountaintop experiences. You need them to renew your faith and to help you continue your mission in life. However it is not when you bask in your own light that you fight for justice, fight for the oppressed and needy, fight for the people who's voices are stifled. It is great to have this fire from the mountain top, but if you stand by with this fire, if you don't move forward in your desire to help others you are wasting the passion that God has give to you.
Even though I will probably never get to go back to Resurrection and have that amazing experience again, I hope that I will be on that mountaintop many more times in my life. I think that every time you help fight for justice the light will emerge. I think that when you realize that you are talking to and about real people this feeling of the mountaintop comes back. When you use what God has given to you to work for his people you can experience him more closely.
I completely understand with your "mountain top experience". I had a lot of these experiences during my high school life, but I realized something strange...It never lasted. That feeling that I was on top of the world, holding my God's hand quickly diminished to a small flicker once I returned home to my plethora of excuses not to praise God constantly. I eventually realized that just looking at the small things in your life can be a mountain top experience on its own. For me this semester, those experiences have been fueled by the stories we hear about justices and the love for social righteousness. I loved the post Abby!
ReplyDeleteThis was a great post! I just recently heard a sermon about the curse of the "mountain top" experience! It talked about how when we go to camps and retreats, our emotions are elevated but nothing more! The problem with this is that emotions change!!! We see that the two weeks after we get back from camp when we act as if nothing changed! The preacher said that we needed to quit counting on our ever-changing emotions to experience Christ! That we had to realize that our experiences with Christ don't come in the form of instant gratification, but rather require a grueling dedication to bringing the "mountain top" to ground level!
ReplyDeleteMost people can probably relate to the "moutain top" experience. I like what Lauren said about bringing the mountain top to ground level. I feel like the things we are learning about justice can fuel excitement and we can go out and work for justice and social righteousness.
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