Up A High Mountain

 

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.

As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead could mean. Then they asked him, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" He said to them, "Elijah is indeed coming first to restore all things. How then is it written about the Son of Man, that he is to go through many sufferings and be treated with contempt? But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written about him." Mark 9:2-13

 

Up A High Mountain

 

We climbed and climbed into the night

a handful of passengers anxious to get home

a different story to each of us

searching the night for our high mountains.

 

Still wrapped in winter's blanket

these elegant ancient ones reach from frigid water

shaking off the bitter cold and the constant rain

signaling to us all as we come home.

 

Up over the high mountain we encounter God

the one who makes accessible the holy

who plants hope and love in our hearts

and guides the pilots over the roughest weather.

 

We are not ever alone in our journey

surrounded by the ancient pillars of faith

those who have forged the way before us

and who reach out their hands in welcome.

 

In our climbing and our descending

they stand as reminders that love does not die
these solid rocks obscured by low menacing clouds

will bring us to our journey's end.