Sacred Spaces in Life, Mountain View United, Aurora, CO, 2/19/2012 by Rev Steven R Mitchell

Sacred Spaces in Life
By Rev Steven R Mitchell
Mountain View United, Aurora, CO 2/19/2012
Based on 2 Kings 2:1-12 & Mark 9:2-9

Fourteen years ago this coming May, I took a five week holiday driving from Seattle to Dallas, Texas to visit my first grandchild. Since I was in my car, I had decided to spend a week or so visiting my family in Kansas, then spent a week with my daughter, son-in-law and new grandson, then finish up my travels by stopping off at a few tourist sites that I had not yet been to that are located in the Southwest, specifically the Grand Canyon.
For more than forty years I had seen pictures of this great slice in the earth’s crust, watched documentaries on how water has carved through the dirt and rock, I even had read stories about a little donkey that lived in this wilderness. It was time to go see it. When I arrived there at the first stop in the area of the major observation point, none of this had prepared me for what I was about to experience.
When I had walked a short distance along the path to the edge of the canyon, I was by myself, not another person around. In the silence of the early morning, with the wind gently blowing up out of the canyon, gazing out toward the great expanse of the North, I was overcome with an indescribable feeling which the only word of “Awe” can come close to expressing that experience. The color, the magnitude, the immensity of this geological wonder was in those very first moments, truly a “Sacred Space” in my life. I was breathless, drawn to tears, almost speechless, I hear myself quietly repeating, “My God, how great thou art”, over and over, almost in a mantra. It was the only response that I could give in those first few minutes.
Then, the silence was broken when a bus filled with Japanese tourists stopped, unloaded with what seemed to be an endless line of noisy camera snapping, which felt to me like an act of irreverence. Why weren’t these folks stopping to take in this awe inspiring piece of work that God had created? Why were their lips not silenced by the color, the rock formations, and the sheer size of the canyon? After the crowd had left, again I was standing all alone, still looking at this natural wonder, but I was no longer in the same space that I experienced upon my arrival.
This morning’s lectionary texts speak to this experience that I just shared with you when I first saw the Grand Canyon. We don’t know what John and James were thinking nor is there any record of what they had to say about their experience, all we have is Peter’s response. “It is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Said another way, “Hey Dude, let’s build something really cool, so everyone who comes after us, can know that this is a very special place!” Peter was so moved by what was happening, that he wanted to do something that he thought would ensure an ongoing experience, not just for him but for everyone “forever after!”
Peter knew that he had just experienced a sacred moment. This story and the experience that I had through those very first minutes of viewing the Grand Canyon, started me thinking about “sacred spaces in life”. How do we live with those sacred spaces that occur in our lives? Do we want to be like Peter and try to hang on to those moments, or do we react like the noisy tourist, just stumbling along, not really experiencing the “moment” because we don’t take the time to be still and recognize those spaces?
There are several things going on in this story. One of those comes with what is happening with Jesus. Here we have Jesus, taking a very select group up the mountain. While up on the mountain top, Jesus not only is having this encounter with Moses and Elijah, but he is described as physically changing in his appearance. This is reminiscent of the change that Moses had had when he has spent time up on Mount Sinai in conversation with God and receiving the Ten Commandments.
I believe one of the realities that come in our encountering God or a representative of God, is that there are changes that occur, sometimes physically, other times emotionally. When we have experienced something that to us is so personal, so sacred, our lives are forever changed. In this past Tuesday evening’s Bible study, I shared what I believe to be the most powerful “sacred moment in my life.” In 1988, I had attended convocation on the East Coast that focused on ministering to people living with AIDS. It had been a very powerful four days, where I not only was learning about the disease and how as the church we were called to provide compassionate response, but the very first lecture dealt with the churches historical misreading of scripture regarding sexual orientation.
This subject was one that I had personally been struggling with at that time, having gone through a divorce over this issue, losing my family, as well as having participated in “reparative” therapy. In short, personally, I was feeling pretty lousy about myself. On the plane ride home, I was processing all the information that I had received, especially the information about how for centuries the church had abused scripture in its understanding of human sexuality. Then at thirty thousand feet above the earth, God spoke to me; not in my mind, but audibly just as you and I would have a conversation, saying to me, “Steven you are the way I have made you! I love you.”
Years of self-hatred immediately left me. For the first time in my life, I felt a true sense of peace. No longer was I afraid of being discovered; of being found out. For the first time in my life, I was able to be the “real” Steven Mitchell. Now nobody else heard this conversation. There was no wind, no booming voice. It was a “sacred moment” between me and God. I have never heard that voice again, but in that instant I had found my “voice”.
Often times, when we have those “sacred moments in life”, we want to hold on to them, not letting them end, wanting to revel in them. That’s what Peter was saying to Jesus when he wanted to build those three monuments. Yet, there came a point with this sacred moment, when only Jesus and the three disciples were the only ones left on that mountain top. When we have those sacred moments in our lives, there is a beginning and an ending of the actual event. What we are left with, is the question of “how are we going to incorporate that event into our lives?” What voice will we find through that sacred space?
Do we all have these “sacred spaces in our lives?” I believe we do. Oh, it may not come with an actual audible voice from God, or with a vision of Moses and Isaiah, of even seeing the face of Jesus of a grilled cheese sandwich (which was the theme in the T.V. show, Glee). Only you will be able to recognize what these sacred spaces are in your life. But they will be a mountain top experience for you! It can be in something as ordinary as through a wedding, or as miraculous as being present at the birth of a child, or sharing those fleeting moments with someone who is transitioning into the next plain of existence.
Sacred spaces in life, I think, come more often than we think. For myself, I find sacred space most often when I have the privilege to hang out with my grandchildren. I find sacred space as I spend time becoming more acquainted with you here at Mountain View. I find sacred space, when I read scripture, sit and think about what I have read, then write how I have been moved, challenged, and enlightened by God’s words.
If you feel that you have been short changed in this area, then I would challenge you to step back just a little, take more time to smell the sweetness in life, be more receptive to the possibilities that each day brings. Sacred spaces in life! They come and then they go. What will you do with them? Amen