Mountaintops 

Summertime has often been when we challenge ourselves. We sign up for an adventure. And the healthy sling on backpacks and grab a hiking stick, get feet comfy in good hiking shoes, and set out for the mountains. No matter where we go, we are decked in modern gear and hope our lungs will hang in as we try to achieve heights and distances that are outside our norm.

There was a lot of mountain climbing at crucial moments in our ancestors who are recorded in the Bible. It was like one had to get above the common level to clear out the soul so it would be opened to the messengers and demands of God. And that hot desert sun allowed God to have sufficient space to be who He is - not limited by anything or anyone, not a bunch of trees nor confining structures. Mountain tops are heavenly, though often hard to summit.

If you have been blessed to visit Mount Sinai, known as Jabal Musa or Mount Moses, on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt - the only part of the country located in Asia and on the Mediterranean and Red Seas - you know it’s a pretty good haul to get to the top of that mountain (7,497 feet) in the extreme desert heat. In fact, today, it’s usually an excruciating camel ride climb (the saddles way too small for normal bodies) half way, then small steps to the top.

In the Old Testament times, there was lots of activity up there. Moses, for instance, went up and down as if mountain climbing was as easy as pie. He was doing God’s work most of the time, so it was a task one had to tackle to get away from Earth, so to speak, and the gossips and conversations of everyman, to separate self and soul from daily life in order to be open to the dictates and experiences of Yaweh God.

Supposedly it was at Mount Sinai that the voice of God arrived in thunder: lightening preceded it with a thick cloud, accompanied by a noisy loud trumpet - No one really knew what was happening. Moses, who at that point led the so called “children of Israel”, climbed up rocky, dusty Mount Sinai and returned a number of times. So whether the roar came directly from Moses or from a loud voice upon Sinai, we don’t really know, having not been there, and depending on the Bible writers to record their version. But apparently, everyone heard that loud Trumpet sound some holy person blew. Imagine if Louie Armstrong or big Al Hirt gave such a blast on their trumpet that it could be heard all the way from here on the banks of the Mississippi River to the Tennessee River half way to Nashville. Would you pay attention?

In Exodus 20, we are told THAT sound was God dictating to all his people the words of God’s covenant - what we know today as the Ten Commandments. Of course, the people, who had never heard such a noise or visioned such an arrival, were afraid and probably had ringing in their ears that hurt. But God aimed to get their attention. His voice, louder than a bomb explosion, came out of the air and surround all people like a giant silk fabric in the air.

There have been other Sinai mountain moments. Moses took a few buddies - Aaron, Nadab and Abihu and 70 elders of Israel - to a designated spot on that same mountain. As they worshiped, and, I guess, looked up, they saw far off what they surely believe was the God of Israel hovering above a “paved work” that seemed like a clear sapphire stone. Immediately, a cloud blocked out everything, covering the mountain in a dense fog for six days. Moses disappeared into that cloud, supposedly 40 days and 40 nights, where, as God’s chosen, he received the repaired version of the two stone tablets written or engraved with the finger of God. And we know the rest of that story.

God often speaks in a cloud - or sends a pillar of cloud to lead his people as in Exodus, and the Lord rode on a swift cloud in Isaiah, and Daniel’s vision of the coming of the son of man in a cloud is hard to overlook. Important things happened in clouds which covered tops of extra high mountains. Truly, being able to soar higher than any mountain into the clouds in today’s airplanes is an amazing privilege: to swerve around and through the formations and puffs of white or blue or grayness which hold secrets and majestic forms and weather and power. Does God hover in those gorgeous clouds even today, watching and waiting for that time when everything will become heaven? or at last when He will speak to and welcome all of us to Judgement Day?

There was a time when I pretended to be a mountain climber. I could not have made two steps if it wasn’t for my guide Jim Williams who had not only Job’s patience, but the know-how to encourage and to know when I was done. Jim had gained fame when he was the first to climb all the 7 summits on the 7 Continents in a year and also doing something amazing across Antarctica. He taught me (at age 68 and up) to rock climb on walls, and even went outside onto a Teton mountain and gave it a try - well connected with hooks and lines to Jim so I wouldn’t crash into a rock or back down to earth. I love to rappel and had no fears of that part. But hiking and climbing through narrow passageways and looking down to what could be the end of my life if I slipped became pretty interesting. We tackled the Himalayas, Mt. Everest, Tibet’s Holy Mt. Kailash, and of course some of the Tetons, where I got the hang of climbing, somewhat. And we saw a bear now and then. In the areas of our serious climbing, life was primitive with holes in the floor for toilets, no heat but wonderful caring Sherpas who covered my frozen body with thick warm blankets each night, and the food in Tibet and Nepal both up and down the mountains I long for today. I also lived a couple years on the side of Mt. Meru across from Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanganyika, but never climbed them. And I hope when and if this coronavirus terminates, I will still be able to climb Mt. Sinai and Japan’s Mt. Fujiyama. Hanging on, as an old lady.

Moses was not a youngster when he attacked the desert mountains in Egypt-Sinai. He knew his stuff, I guess. But do we have to get up that high to know God? In the Bible, God communicated with his trusted leaders up in those beautiful clouds with a view. I often worry today about what we might miss because all of us have our heads buried on earth in cell phones, with ear plugs to keep out all invasive noise. If God were to give a shout out from a mountain, like Everest or the Matterhorn or Kilimanjaro or even Alaska’s Denali - who would hear it or pay attention? Would climbers puffing through those oxygen masks or ear plugs blocking out sound with their favorite power beat song - would they probably just pass it off as being delirious and just way too high for good oxygen? Would they just keep on climbing not wanting to interrupt their prideful ascent to claim they had reached the summit of whatever challenge they were attacking?

I wonder if anyone would even pay attention today if a loud noise in such a cloud came once again to remote Mt. Sinai - where, at the base, still survives and grows what’s left of the burning bush. Do tourist, and there are very few these days because of Wilayat ldiut or Al-Qaeda  presence, even look up at the summit of holy Mt. Sinai and remember Moses who lugged the Ten Commandments from God down that mountain to us? It’s tragic.

Now if you are on the Northern side of Jerusalem, between that city and Nazareth, there is another extraordinary holy place on a lower but accessible and popular mountain where the transfiguration of Jesus took place. It is Mt. Tabor or Mount of the Transfiguration. This is where Jesus experienced another powerful moment in conversation with his father God. The Franciscan Church built there in honor of that event, is still famous for its peace and quiet and two giant stained-glass windows of peacocks. To get to the top of that mini-mountain, however, is an adventure in hairpin turns that take your breath away, especially if you are in a van much less a bus. But it’s worth it. Supposedly from this site, Jesus showed his extraordinary heavenly glory when he was side by side with Moses and Elijah, both who had similar experiences and had been taken up by God to Heaven with no tombs or funerals in between.

In the Transfiguration moment, God’s voice repeated what He had said at the riverside Baptism of Jesus: “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased.” And with an added “Listen to Him.” Peter, who fretted about building shelters or a retreat spot for the heavenly guests, and James and John were overwhelmed by what they saw and heard and immediately fell to the ground in fear - for here on this mountain Jesus was called Son of God by God himself. It was THE confirmation of who He was, is and would be always.  To Peter, this proved that Christ is bound to come again, probably in a cloud and with Glory.  Apparently, the apocalypse is also supposed to occur at that same place when Jesus returns to straighten us out and take us home to heaven.

Maybe this all seems unbelievable. But Martin Luther said that faith must trample underfoot all reason, sense, and understanding. Even though it seems illogical, we follow Jesus. and if we follow Jesus, we forfeit the comfort of a narrow horizon. We will be allowed a glimpse into the Divine mystery of Being and be changed forever.

I add, it may take a mountain top to get it done.

 ~ Rev
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audrey@audreytaylorgonzalez.com
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