Sermon: God of the Valley

Delivered at Bethel United Methodist Church and at Salem United Methodist Church in Greenville, South Carolina on February 21, 2016

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

God of the Valley

Audio Version

Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain to pray.  And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white.  Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him.  They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.  Now Peter and his companions were weighed down with sleep; but since they had stayed awake, they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him.  Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah" - not knowing what he said.  While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were terrified as they entered the cloud.  Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"  When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and in those days told no one any of the things they had seen.

On the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met him.  Just then a man from the crowd shouted, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son; he is my only child.  Suddenly a spirit seizes him, and all at once he shrieks. It convulses him until he foams at the mouth; it mauls him and will scarcely leave him.  I begged your disciples to cast it out, but they could not."  Jesus answered, "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here."  While he was coming, the demon dashed him to the ground in convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.  And all were astounded at the greatness of God.

Luke 9:28-43a (NRSV)

I will swim in the deep

'Cause You'll be next to me

You're in the eye of the storm

And the calm of the sea

You're never out of reach

From "Let the Waters Rise" by MIKESCHAIR

During the latter half of my years in college and during the first few years after I graduated, I was involved with the Wesley Fellowship, the United Methodist group at the university I attended.  Some of the happiest days of my life were the days I spent with this group on the retreats we took throughout the academic year.  These retreats gave me the opportunity to leave the cares of my life at home and to simply enjoy some time away from everything with my friends.  Some years, at the beginning of the fall semester, we went on a short "mountain getaway" at Asbury Hills, a nearby camp.  At the end of one such mountain getaway, when we gathered for Communion before heading home, Edward, our campus minister, read us a particular story about Jesus.

One day, Jesus and His three closest disciples, Peter, James, and John, hiked up a mountain to pray.  The three disciples were rather sleepy, but they managed to stay awake to witness something amazing.  While praying, Jesus suddenly took on a heavenly appearance: His face changed, and His clothes became brilliantly white.  Moses and Elijah, two of the most important figures from Jewish history, appeared with Jesus, and the three began discussing events yet to unfold in Jerusalem.  Peter, James, and John caught a glimpse of Heaven.  It was a true "mountaintop experience" if there ever was one.

Totally awestruck but ever the first to speak, Peter made a rather odd suggestion.  He said, "Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."  While Peter was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped everyone.  Within the cloud, the three terrified disciples heard a voice say, "This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!"  Suddenly, the three disciples looked around themselves and saw that everything had returned to normal.  The experience was over.

We don't really know exactly what Peter was trying to say on the mountaintop.  The Bible tells us that Peter, as awestruck as he was, didn't really know exactly what he was trying to say at that moment.  After reading this passage, my friend Edward suggested that what Peter might have been trying to say was, "Let's all stay up here."  Perhaps Peter didn't want that brief intersection between Heaven and Earth to end, so he thought it would be a good idea to enshrine Jesus, Moses, and Elijah on the mountain.  The story of Jesus' Transfiguration was indeed a fitting story to ponder right before heading home from a "mountaintop experience" like a retreat.  When such experiences come to an end, at least part of us wants to stay on the mountaintop.

So often we grow weary of the trials and tribulations of life, so we reach upward toward a transcendent God - a God "up there," high above the world and the chaos therein.  We seek out so-called "mountaintop experiences" so that we can connect with the God "up there."  Churches work very hard to engineer such experiences through dynamic preaching, poignant worship music, and retreats at beautiful natural settings, to help people experience the transcendence of God.  Mountaintop experiences have a profound effect on us, but sadly they can be few and far between in life.  Furthermore, the feelings we feel on the mountaintop are not sustainable.

As much as we want to stay on the mountaintop, we must inevitably descend from the mountain, and soon we will find that the valley is waiting for us.

The next day, when Jesus, Peter, James, and John hiked down the mountain, they found a large crowd gathered around the other nine disciples.  A desperate father approached Jesus and begged Him to help his son, who was suffering the violent torment of a demon that might now be labeled as epilepsy.  He then told Jesus that he first brought his son to the disciples and that they were unable to help him.  Frustrated, Jesus chastises the disciples, saying, "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you and bear with you?"  The beauty, awe, wonder, and joy of the mountaintop had given way to the frustration, disappointment, and failure of the valley.  Jesus instructed the man to bring his son to Him and then dealt with the problem himself.

The inevitable comedown after a mountaintop experience can be rather brutal, especially when a person is going through an otherwise difficult season in life.  One spends a few days enjoying life as it should be, before being abruptly thrust back into life as it is.

Later that fall, on the Sunday evening after I returned home from another retreat, I went to Wal-Mart for some reason, perhaps to delay going home for the evening, and I ran into a man I knew from a job I had when I was in college.  He asked me how I was doing, and I replied, as I often do, with a boisterous, "Pretty good!"  It was really more of a programmed response than an outright lie, but I was not telling the truth.  Moments earlier, I was crying in my car.  At that time, I worked for a casino vendor, and, though I didn't really hate my job when I accepted it, what began as a lingering shame for working in a corrupt industry had mutated into a hellish mixture of anxiety, belligerence, and despair that had all but taken over my life.  My crash back to reality had made my usual Sunday night blues a lot worse.

---

One of the most well-known and cherished parts of Scripture is the Twenty-third Psalm.  The psalmist David begins this poem with those beloved words of comfort,

The Lord is my shepherd;

I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

Though this Psalm begins with bright, peaceful imagery, it begins to take on a darker tone as the imagery becomes more threatening.  David writes,

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For You are with me.

He goes on to write,

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.

Interestingly, the same poem that begins with beautiful imagery of "green pastures" and "still waters" also includes menacing imagery of adversaries and a valley as dark as death itself.¹

I have known this passage of Scripture ever since I was a child, but nowadays what I think is truly profound about the Twenty-third Psalm is that it paints a realistic picture of the journey of faith.  David knows that life, even a life of faith, is marked by both good times and bad times.  At the same time he acknowledges God's presence through it all.  He knows that God does not lead us away from the dark valleys of life and that God does not eliminate all of our problems for us, but he knows that God is in the midst of it all.  He knows that God's presence does not depend on one's circumstances or one's feelings.  He knows that God is equally present beside a peaceful stream or through the darkest valley.

David understands that the God of the mountaintop is also the God of the valley.

Though it may seem to us that God is more present with us during the mountaintops of life, God is no less present with us in the valleys.  God is with us in the celebration, laughter, beauty, and joy of life, but God is also with us in the minutia, struggles, frustration, disappointment, and sadness.  Though, at one time, I might have thought that God was more present with me on those carefree days I spent with my friends on retreats, looking back, I realize that God was also with me in that dreary office in that godless industry.  Never in a million years would I ever return to my old job, but, at some point after I started my current job, I noticed that I strangely missed something about my time in the valley.  I wonder if maybe I missed a closeness to God I did not even realize I was experiencing in those days.

Though we might be inclined to stay where we feel safe and comfortable, God leads us elsewhere.  At the beginning of a traditional worship service, one might witness an acolyte bringing a flame into the sanctuary to light the candles at the altar.  The flame is a reminder that God is present in the midst of the worship service.  As my religion professor Dr. Turner would say, "Where there's smoke, there's fire, and, where there's fire, there's God."  At the end of the same service, one might witness the acolyte extinguishing the candles and then taking the flame back out of the sanctuary.  This action reminds us that the presence of God is not confined to a church building and that God is actually leading us out of the safety of the sanctuary and back into the world.

Perhaps we cannot truly encounter God if we are constantly retreating to our proverbial mountaintops.  If our relationship with God depends on our feelings, then our faith is nothing but a house built on a foundation of sand.  Perhaps it is only when we confront and embrace the fullness of life's journey - both the mountaintops and the valleys - that we truly encounter God.  God is not "up there," far removed from the trials and tribulations of life: God is "down here" with us in the midst of it all.  We be confident of this truth, for we see that, in Christ, God actually joins us in the human experience.

So often, when we ask God for help during difficult times, what we really want is for God to take away the storms of our lives.  Perhaps what we should seek, from the God who is with us in both the good times and the bad times, is the strength to weather the storms.  From a prison cell, St. Paul writes,
I know the experience of being in need and of having more than enough; I have learned the secret to being content in any and every circumstance, whether full or hungry or whether having plenty or being poor.  I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength.²

All of us have experienced both mountaintops and valleys in life.  I suspect that most of us, if we were honest, would admit that we would probably start looking for a detour if we saw a valley ahead of us.  Sometimes it is only when we look back on our time in the valleys of life that we begin to see the hand of God working to bring something beautiful out of the pain.  Wherever you find yourself at this moment, on a glorious mountaintop, by a quiet stream, or in a dark valley, may you realize that God is always with you, regardless of how you feel.  May you never forget that the God of the mountaintop is also the God of the valley.

Thanks be to God.


Notes:

1. Psalm 23 (NKJV)
2. Philippians 4:12-13 (CEB)

The image of the Transfiguration of Jesus was painted by Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov in 1824.  The engraving of the "dark and dismal valley" was created by George Pearson in 1864.  Both images are public domain.