High Places
“Six days
later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up
a high mountain, by themselves.” Matthew 17:1
There is something
special about high places. Most known cultures
understood the spiritual connection between high places and the transcendental as
they understood it. And some cultures
even tried to build temples and monuments on top of high places to underscore
this belief.
You see examples of
this in non-Christian cultures, such as the Parthenon which was dedicated to
the goddess Athena that still stands on the Athenian Acropolis in Greece. Christian cultures have done the same; the
ruins of the Basilica of St John the Evangelist which is also the burial site
for the Disciple Jesus loved, sits high on the Ayasuluk Hill in ancient Ephesus. I’ve been fortunate to be able to have stood
in both places. And I have been blessed
to stand at the base of Croagh Patrick, as it rises 2,500 feet high along the
western edge of Ireland; it is believed that St. Patrick spent 40 days on its
summit to prepare for his evangelical mission to the then-pagan island.
Some of my favorite
high places have no buildings on them at all.
In the late 1980’s, well before I started taking my faith life more
seriously, I was living in southern Nevada.
Each year I escaped the late summer heat by heading nearly five hours
north to bow hunt in and around North Schell Peak. The mountain stood nearly 12,000 feet
high. While I never climbed to the top,
I did climb twice to the tree line. Although
my mind at the time was mostly on mule deer, I watched sunrise from there one
morning. It was enough of an emotionally
moving experience to climb up there the next morning as well.
This week Michelle and
I headed to Marquette in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to enjoy the autumn colors. On Tuesday morning, fortified with breakfast
from Donckers, we set out to climb nearby Sugar Loaf Mountain. The climb is not overly strenuous; we saw
several children on the trail. But to
someone who was just 36 days out from knee replacement surgery, it was challenge
enough. The last leg to the summit is
steep enough that there are a series of staircases to help reduce any risk of
injury. I counted: 299 steps in
all. The summit brings you to several
observation decks about 1,000 feet above sea level.
The view was
spectacular. Inland, you could see ridge
after ridge covered in maples in full color.
Lake Superior sprawled all across the view to the north. I counted 21 distinct shades of blue between
the water and the sky. God’s full palette
was on display.
The typical view in
Northeast Wisconsin is perhaps a mile or two in farm country; it’s much less in
urban areas. The view from Sugar Loaf
was easily 25 or more miles in all directions.
It is good for the soul to occasionally experience the largeness of God,
lest we forget. And very much unlike my
experience at dawn on North Schell Peak 35 years ago, this moment I was much
more aware that it was God’s presence and glory surrounding me.
I am grateful for his
patience with me.
His Peace <><
Deacon Dan
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