{"id":3739,"date":"2020-02-24T10:18:36","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T10:18:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/?page_id=3739"},"modified":"2020-02-24T10:24:12","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T10:24:12","slug":"sermon-23rd-february-2020-morning","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/sermons\/sermon-23rd-february-2020-morning\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon – 23rd February 2020 – morning"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sermons index<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sunday next before Lent – morning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Sunday 23rd February 2020<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

1 before Lent – morning
\nExodus 24. 12-18
\nMatthew 17. 1-9<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"Maureen<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\nHow many times have you toiled\nup the mountain, only to find at the summit that you are lost in the\nclouds?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThis might be a real physical\nmountain; I know many of you are, or have been, keen walkers – and\nwith Snowdonia not too far away and the Shropshire hills almost on\nour doorstep, this may be a very common occurrence for many?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nI used to work with a\ncolleague who would spend most of her weekends off hill climbing and\nfell walking in the Lake District. I vividly recall Monday mornings\nwith her regaling us of yet another weekend spent feeling absolutely\nphysically exhausted, of being freezing cold and soaking wet, of\nfinally \u2013 after many hours \u2013 stumbling into a bothy (if she was\nlucky) with no heat, no bedding and then having to put together some\nsort of meal. \u201cLovely!\u201d She would cry \u2013 \u201ccan\u2019t wait to go\nagain!\u201d I confess that I felt it had lost something in the\ntelling! Not an experience I ever envied her!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBut of course I can appreciate\nthe attraction of climbing to high places. Where the sky seems vast\nand open before you; where you feel very close to Nature, and God;\nwhere your everyday worries and concerns maybe get left behind on the\nvalley floor, or at least where you gain a fresh perspective on them.\nAnd in these times where suddenly everyone seems to be speaking about\ntheir mental health and the struggles to protect that sense of\nwell-being, it is very good for us all to get out in the open, the\nfresh air, to feel more connected to the natural world. And if that\nmeans you need to find a hill or mountain to climb \u2013 then so be it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBut we all have other kinds of\nmountains to climb at times… Mountains that can seem just as\ndaunting and impossible when regarded from the foothills. Mountains\nrepresented perhaps by debt, by relationship worries, by workplace\nbullying, by doubts about our sexuality, by others\u2019 prejudices or\nexpectations that confront us. How are we meant to overcome them?\nOften \u2013 just as with the real, physical mountains, by just putting\none foot in front of the other and conquering the mountain one step\nat a time. Until suddenly we emerge at the top and can look down and\nsee just how far we have come. And such journeys are nearly always\nmade easier if you have companions on the way. People who will\nencourage you and give you confidence that you can beat this if you\njust keep going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBut what about those times\nwhen you do reach the top, but the clouds come down around you and\nthere is nothing to see? Then we can feel far worse. We may become\ncompletely disoriented, despairing, unable to see how to move\nforwards. And if we then put a foot wrong, we may fear that we will\nstumble and fall! Well again, the presence of good friends who will\ncome alongside us; maybe hold out a hand in the darkness and fog that\nis all around; stick with us and not\nspend their time telling us how stupid we have been to get into this\nsituation in the first place! The presence of such individuals and\nour ability always to take our doubts and uncertainties to God \u2013\neven when the fog and the cloud seem most dense \u2013 those are the\nthings that can help us and bring us eventually safe down the other\nside until we emerge \u2013 maybe blinking, maybe a bit scratched and\nbruised and grazed, maybe very weary, but nevertheless with the\nsensation that something important has been achieved. And we too are\ntransfigured, changed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBoth Moses and Jesus feel\ncalled by God to ascend the mountain. It has been said that Lent is a\nseason destined to be spent on the plain \u2013 or in the desert \u2013 in\nsombre, austere mood. But just days before we embark on that\nwilderness journey, we are invited to join Moses and Jesus and the\ndisciples for a mountain-top spectacular. A glimpse of something\nwonderful and luminous, a unique preview perhaps of the Glory to\ncome. Faces appear radiant and everyone is changed by the experience.\nThe disciples, elated and fearful by turn, see their familiar friend\nin a completely new light. They discover him not only as their\nteacher and confidant, but as one who has a universal, cosmic role,\nlinked to the great stream of history of his people. He is not only\n\u2018theirs\u2019. He is not even only for the Children of Israel as Moses\nwas. He is for all time and for all humanity \u2013 even for us!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nNo wonder their minds are\nblown by the vision and they hurry to try and contain it; to make\nsense of it on their terms. But it is bigger than they realise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe mountain top is the place\nof all creative religious experience \u2013 it was the venue for all the\nsignificant moments of Israelite life. The giving of the Law and the\nsealing of the covenant, the place where God shows something of\nhimself to mere human beings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAnd for Jesus, the mountain\nwas the place of the new covenant, the scene of transfiguration, the\nmount of crucifixion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe mountain experience breaks\nthe monotony of the plain that it relates to. It was the exception\nfor Moses, for Elijah and for Jesus. Between those high points were\nyears and years and miles of flat land and sinking hearts. For if the\nvision of the mountain top were to be prolonged, it would become an\nindulgence, not an inspiration. Maybe that is why, so often, the\ncloud descends \u2013 so that we are only granted the occasional glimpse\nof the way ahead. So that we are forced to feel our way carefully and\nto call on the help of God and of each other? But those glimpses are\nmagical! Providing us with the fresh experience of the God who meets\nus from the future, to raise our sights and enlarge our horizons so\nthat we may leave fulfilled and joyful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nSo as you approach Lent, as\nyou journey through the week ahead, spare a thought for the mountains\nthat others may be trying to climb. Offer them a helping hand \u2013 or\nat least some companionship along the way. That way, we may all\nemerge from the cloud of our unknowing together. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday next before Lent – morning Sunday 23rd February 2020 1 before Lent – morning Exodus 24. 12-18 Matthew 17. 1-9 Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs How many times have you toiled up the mountain, only to find at the summit that you are lost in the clouds? This might be a real physical mountain; I … <\/p>\n

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