Getting high and mountain top experiences

We all talk about mountain top experiences in the Church. Most of the mountain top experiences that I have heard people talk about are located in nature and there is a warm fuzzy feeling that wells up inside. It is a time of great happiness and joy. A time that, if it could be photographed, would hang over the mantle and recalled at each meal. A vacation. A retreat. A "once in a lifetime" experience. All have been told to me as mountain top experiences. 

And who am I, you may say, to be one to question these experiences. They may very well be high moments in peoples lives. But what is important for me to remember is that just getting high is not a mountain top experience. 

We can be high and feel exhilarated. We can be captured by the beauty of the world around us. We can even try to take a picture and capture that moment for our lifetime. But if our vision is not changed then we just got high. We did not have a "mountain top" experience. 

Throughout the Bible there are people who had mountain top experiences. March 2, 2014 marked the Transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain, which is a story that is often cited as when the disciples had a mountain top experience. Maybe they did. I don't know. What I do know is that if their vision was not changed, they were just high. The still were just as dense as they were prior to their experience. They still "did not get it". They still were blind. They still did not see the Way. 

Moses and Elijah, who each make a cameo in the Transfiguration story, each had an experience on a mountain that changed their vision. I would say they had a "mountain top" experience. Moses' apathy toward or disengagement of the enslaved people of Egypt was changed and he became a leader toward freedom. Elijah who fled to the mountain out of fear of being killed, encountered God and then went down the mountain with a new vision of his situation. 

Having a mountain top experience means that our vision changes. Things seem paradoxically bigger and smaller at the same time. The world seems bigger on a physical mountain top. Rocks. Sky. Earth. The whole of creation seems massive. At the same time things seem smaller on a physical mountain. One human being. Situations. Problems are all put on a landscape that dwarfs these things. 

Popular expressions of Christianity seek out the high rather than the mountain top. Because lets face it, we all would rather just feel really good about our lives than to have to change them. So beware of the mountain top, it may feel great - but it also may change you.

And we all know what is said about how much we like change...

10 weird things kids do at communion I wish more adults would do

Photo by Leah Lyman Waldron

Over the past several years I have had the joy of administering a sacrament in the Church called the Eucharist or Holy Communion. 

Maybe it is because of the fancy word Eucharist, or the purity invoked when we call something "holy", but adults, for the most part, are funny when it comes to teaching kids "how to take communion". Often I see adults attempt to transmit a deep reverence about the sacrament to the child. However, children are not that keen on reverence and it is often interpreted as fear. And out of a sort of childlike fear, kids can "say the darndest things" and communion with kids is something to behold. Mainly because the theology a child has at communion is more profound  not less. 

Here are ten profound things kids teach me about communion based on things that have happened to me:

1. Run down the aisle. It is okay to run down the aisle for communion. In fact shouldn't we all be running to feast with Christ? Next time, don't walk to communion - at least in Spirit.

2. Take communion with a stuffed animal. This should be acceptable, as long as the stuffed animal is served communion as well. Kids understand that everyone is welcomed to the table. Humans and teddy bears alike, and kids always have to “help” their bears take communion. 

3. Drink every drop. It is critical that every drop of grape juice and morsel of bread is consumed at communion. Who cares if people are waiting behind you to move back to their pews, you do not leave that table until you have been able to take every last moment you can with Christ.

4. Ask for a "big piece". Why settle for just a little bit of Christ? Don't we all want a "big piece" of Christ?

5. Dunk the whole piece into the cup. If you get to dip the bread into the juice, soak that bread and do not worry about drips or stains (see points 3 and 4).

6. Seek out the leftovers. The bread of Life is too good to discard in the trash or fed to the birds. That is why we eat all the bread after worship. 

7. Being shy is okay. Kids understand that it is an honor to be at the table of God and they do not demand a place but know that it is a treat to be there. Being shy to kids is like being humble to adults. Humility at the table of God, is always a faithful idea. 

8. Laugh. Partaking in the banquet of God is a joyful event! Smile, laugh and if you need to, put a rubber crocodile on your head and make the pastor laugh with you. 

9. Express thanks. One thumbs up at the meal is something, but two thumbs up is great. 

10. Save some for later. Putting bread into your pocket seems like a reasonable way to take Christ into the world.

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Update: 

Thank you for reading and for commenting on this little post. Needless to say I have never had this volume of response to anything that I have ever written. The number of people I read who shared their own lesson they have learned from children have been inspiring and smile inducing. Thank you. 

Also thank you to everyone who commented on the grammatical errors. I need to be better at editing posts. And, the irony is not lost on me as today is National Proofreading Day.

Finally, may you all have a Holy Lent and may Christ continue to embody us all to Be the Change. 

Peace.

Church and the person who tries too hard at the improv show

Recently I attended an improv comedy show here in Fort Worth, 4 Day Weekend with some of the church members of Saginaw UMC. It was a great time. The thing I have learned about going to an improv show or a stand-up comedy club is that if you are picked - don't try to be funny. Let the comedians do the funny stuff, just be yourself and let them play off your responses. 

It is really painful to watch a person try to be funnier than the people who make a living making people laugh. You can see they are trying too hard to be cool or be quick or witty. They are uncomfortable in their own skin that they feel they have to over compensate and be someone they are not. It sometimes seems like people are convinced they are not interesting just as they are and they feel they have to make stuff up to look interesting. And the irony is the more you try to look interesting the less interesting you are - see the Kardashian family.

In all honesty, it is not just in the clubs and improv shows that people try too hard to be interesting in order to draw attention. It happens all the time in our churches. And not just in the church sign fails that float around that force many of us to slap our heads in disbelief. 

The Church is really doing a disservice to the entire cloud of witness when we try too hard to be cool or funny. 

People want authenticity. People want real. People want honesty. People can see when we are trying too hard and it makes everyone uncomfortable and want to slap our heads in disbelief.

The story of God is interesting enough. We don't have to try to be something we are not just to get attention or try to keep up with all the other messages out there. Just be yourself.

You are interesting enough.