Last month, two men finished their quest: they were the first to free climb the Dawn Wall to the summit of the 3,000-foot rock known as El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. The Dawn Wall has been considered to be too steep and lacking enough cracks or seams in the rock for free climbing. I saw a picture of the rock they climbed and it looked scary!
Free climbing is not the most difficult or the safest style of climbing. It is much safer than free solo climbing, which doesn’t use climbing gear at all. In free climbing, the climbers use their hands and feet to ascend a rock’s natural features, using ropes and other gear only to stop a fall. The climbers map out the climb into “pitches” or rope lengths, based on the cracks and seams and other features. The Dawn Wall had 32 rope-lenghts or pitches of climbing. They use equipment such as camming devices, expansion bolts, carabiners and rope to create protection points, basically a network of ropes, as they ascend. If they use the equipment correctly, they should never fall lower than the last protection point. This is a very important safety precaution especially when climbing a rock no one has ever successfully free climbed!
I thought about asking the Altar Guild if I could set up a little demonstration of how this works on the beautiful wall behind our altar. I thought better of that idea… Instead, I had a different idea for a visual representation — my trusty laser pointer! A free climber evaluates the rock as much as possible to plan the ascent, starting HERE for example. it can be like a puzzle as the climbers ascend each pitch, creating protection points at appropriate places during the climb. Even though climbers plan as much as they can, there are always unexpected challenges. During the Dawn Wall ascent, one of the climbers “hit a wall” so to speak on pitch 15. He tried conquering that challenging pitch over and over. He and his climbing partner were concerned that they would have to split up and not finish the climb together. After seven days, he finally made it! The team was able to finish the climb together.
Friends, family and reporters awaited them at the summit. What an amazing accomplishment! Will the two men climb again despite all the challenges they faced during this 17 day adventure on the Dawn Wall? They both said they would keep climbing!
I liked the comment left by a reader named Juli Thomas on the National Geographic web site about their accomplishment:
"Amazing story of teamwork, problem solving, perseverance, skill, patience; all of the big stuff. Thank you for overcoming all obstacles and being an inspiration to the world and being nice guys on top of it, which is the most important thing of all."
The Gospel lesson today is traditionally called the story of the Transfiguration. I have heard many sermons on this passage over the years. They all seemed to focus on two main themes: linking the past (Moses and Elijah from the Old Testament) to the Messiah, Jesus; and, linking Jesus’ baptism to the Transfiguration to reinforce who He really was. Let me talk about those briefly as they are both important, then I will explain my view of the passage.
To link the past and present, the following activities repeated from other experiences in the Old Testament:
- Jesus clothes were as white as could be, like the face of Moses when he came down from the mountain where he experienced God. The disciples could relate to this reference.
- Moses and Elijah appearing and conversing with Jesus is seen by some theologians as Jesus being the fulfillment of the Law. This was important since Moses and Elijah are considered leading Old Testament characters in Israel’s history. They both lead Israel in ways few other leaders ever did. The disciples also knew these things.
The second theme was to reinforce who Jesus really was when the voice from heaven echoed the same message from Jesus’ baptism in Mark 1. A voice came from heaven in that passage that affirmed the identity of Jesus. Theologians use these passages as “proof” that Jesus is the Son of God.
How did the disciples react? Well, this is one passage where an angel DID NOT say “be not afraid!” though it would have been appropriate. I don’t mean to be disrespectful to the disciples, specifically to Peter, but he says some odd things sometimes. To give him the benefit of the doubt about the “building” comment, he may have been referring to the Jewish tradition of the Festival of Booths. I chuckled when writing this section of the sermon of how Peter might react if this event happened today. I can imagine him trying to take a selfie with Moses, Elijah and Jesus and posting it on Instagram. I can also hear him suggest building dwellings... out of Legos. Those are cool. yeah…
I have a little different view of the Transfiguration passage that I developed after reading The Interpreters Bible commentary and several other sources. It is my opinion that the Dawn Wall climbing story and the story of the Transfiguration can represent something special, something very personal in our spiritual lives — mountain top experiences and the struggles we sometimes have to overcome to experience them. In this sermon, I define “mountain top experiences” as any time you feel very close to God or you feel God is close to you.
I think mountain top experiences can be our expansion bolts, camming devices, carabiners and ropes, our tools to help us overcome the sometimes difficult climb of our spiritual lives. They can be our protection points that can help prevent us from falling too far when we lose our grip during our spiritual climb. Like one of the Dawn Wall climbers, we can “hit a wall” at times. We can’t seem to make progress or accomplish the goals we seek. We may feel that we don’t feel God’s presence in our lives even though we have the strong ropes of God’s Love securing us during our climb. Climbers use carabiners or springed hooks sort of like this (but much sturdier) to connect the ropes to the protection points, or what I would liken to our spiritual friends, family, rector, or others that help lock us in to our protection points. We are always connected as we climb together.
I thought of several possible mountain top experiences that we might use such as:
- Lenten services
- Church activities such as EFM, Church choir, or womens' retreat
- A walk in nature
- Crucio or Walk to Emmaus
- maybe attending church each week to experience the Eucharist can be one for us. Just like Peter said during his experience “It is a good thing for us to be here.”
We all have specific events that mean a lot to us. I think these "mountain top" experiences anchor us regardless of the challenges we face. They reinforce over and over who Jesus was and is. They remind us over and over where we have been. They encourage us to keep trying even if we fall over and over.
A few chapters after this story, we read about how the disciples “fell” in their spiritual climb. We will also read about how their mountain top experiences lead them beyond those falls. We read about how their climb changed our world. They continued their oral tradition of telling the stories of their experience with God, which eventually were written down and compiled into the Bible.
While reading a chapter for EFM a few weeks ago, I found this quote from the Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom that spoke to me:
"You were transfigured on the mountain, and your Disciples beheld your glory, O Christ God, as far as they were able; that when they saw you crucified they might know that your suffering was voluntary, and might proclaim to the world that you are truly the brightness of the Father.
The translations of the Greek are from The Divine Liturgy of Our Father among the Saints, John Chrysostom (Oxford, 1995), 75, 79.
I think that is a great example of expressing what a mountain top experience can mean to us and how they can spur us onward and upward.
Your homework for this week is to identify your mountain top experiences, whatever they are for you. Remember them. Write them down or share them with friends and family. I forgot to mention that the mountain top experiences of others can also inspire us to keep climbing, too.
Amen
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