2^nd Sunday of Lent

Gospel – Matthew 17:1-9

Climb Every Mountain

Heiskell, TN

Ever since she was born, our daughter Jaime has either lived with us or, after she married, lived just minutes away from us!  Until 2023!  Late in May, she, our son-in-law Josh, and our 2 grandsons, Nate and Tyler, packed up all their belongings and moved from Elmhurst, Illinois to Heiskell, Tennessee. A simple 25-minute drive to their house for dinner or to help Josh with a project had turned into an 8 hour road trip.  Things just weren’t the same anymore! 

However, over that first year, we were able to visit them a couple of times over the summer, and it was magical.  Their ‘homestead’ now covers 16 acres in the middle of the Smoky Mountains, including a huge barn, chicken coop, (actually 2 – one original and one newly built, not counting the 6 chickens),  lots of sheds and a beautiful house nestled on top of a hill.  They even own the mountain in their back yard.  It has been simply breath-taking to just sit on their front porch and breathe the country air and savor the sunrises, the sunsets, the storms coming over the mountains.  It quickly became a place of peace and quiet, a comforting, stress-free place! 

But back in 2023, our visits always ended much too soon, and we had to return home!  And that just tore us apart!  To leave such a place of joy and peace, to leave our family!  But duty called!  And as soon as we got home to Chicago, we immediately started planning on how and when we could go back!  Back to the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee!  Just one year later, we built our own home on their property and joined them on the ‘ponderosa’.  It was all a bit (a lot) rushed but certainly necessary.  But here we are!  In a place where the family is now re-united and we live together in love and contentment – them on the hill above and us on the hill below!!

Mountains!  In the Old Testament, mountains are mentioned over 500 times. It was a place where you encountered the divine, where you felt literally closer to God.  Mount Ararat – where Noah’s ark came to rest and God made first covenant.  Mt. Sinai where Moses met God, received Ten Commandments and his face shone white.  The Mount of Olives where Jesus often went to pray.  Mount Zion where the Temple was built.  Mount Hebron where God makes his covenant with Abram.  Mount of Beatitudes on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus gave us the New Law.  And Mount Tabor where today’s Gospel takes place.  Where Jesus is transfigured, and Peter, James and John encounter the divine!

And what they found at the summit of that mountain brought them such wonder and joy, such peace, that all they wanted to do was pitch tents and remain there with Jesus, Elijah and Moses.  It was a place of beauty and comfort, far away from the cares and the stresses of the world!  And they didn’t want to leave, to leave the experience, to leave their Creator, their heavenly family 

And that is what resonates with me today.  We are all living in a divided house, separated from Our Father in Heaven, separated from our loved ones who have gone before us.  As much as those Tennessee mountains are a place of peace and comfort, where my family reside in love and remains a haven from the stresses of life, how much more so is the Kingdom of Heaven where we will all reunite with our Father and each other. 

But that is the challenge for all of us!  To see beyond the struggles of this life!  To put in the effort and, like Peter, James and John, to climb that mountain and gather together at last as one family in Christ!