Was It Just a Dream
Mark 9:2-29
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
Rev. Daniel T. Hans
March 30, 2008

The day began like any other vacation day.  I was relaxed and was looking forward to some fishing on one of my favorite lakes in Minnesota.  Fishing had been slow all that week so I was not expecting to catch much that day.  Just being out on the water carried its own reward.  I decided to start out using a jig to fish on the bottom for walleyes.  A jig is a painted lead weight to which is attached hair and a hook.  The technique involves bouncing the jig along the lake’s bottom.  After a few casts my jig got snagged on the bottom or so I thought. I quickly discovered I had a fish on the line – a big one!  For about 20 minutes I was Hemingway’s hero in The Old Man and the Sea. Like old Santiago, I too was victorious as I brought into the boat a 20 pound walleye, the biggest one caught in Loon Lake in anyone’s memory.  For 45 years I had been fishing those lakes in the hopes of catching the really Big One. It finally happened.  The excitement was indescribable.  But, my enthusiasm changed when our black Lab Bentley barked and I awoke.  Lying there in bed, bewildered, I couldn’t help but wonder: Was it just a dream?

Do you remember the two Bob Newhart TV comedy series? In the first series (1972 – 1978) Newhart played a psychiatrist in Chicago and was married to Suzanne Pleshette.  In the second series (1982-1990) he played an innkeeper in Vermont and was married to Mary Frann. The second series closed its terrific eight-year run with one of the best final episodes of any TV series.  Newhart awoke one morning in bed and said to his wife who was on her side facing away from him, “Honey, I just had the strangest dream that we ran an inn in Vermont.”  “Really?” replied his wife.  Turning toward him was not his second series wife Mary Frann but his first series wife Suzanne Pleshette.  The audience couldn’t help but wonder: Was it just a dream?

It certainly was profound for Jesus. Peter had just declared Jesus to be the Christ, the Savior from God, despite some of Peter’s own doubts. Immediately, Jesus told his disciples that Peter was correct but that he, Jesus, would suffer and be killed as the Son of God. God the Father responded to Jesus’ uneasiness about this prospect through the mountain top experience. There appeared Moses, the great law giver, and Elijah, the greatest of the prophets. It was as if these two incomparable leaders met Jesus as he was preparing to move toward the cross and said to him: Go for it! Or as a preacher I know likes to say: Go big or stay at home!

The Transfiguration also had a profound impact upon Peter, James and John, those three disciples who would later become leaders in the early church.
They too saw Moses and Elijah and heard God’s voice declaring: “This is my beloved Son, listen to him.” Are we to believe that two ghosts appeared on the mountain? I think not.  Peter, James and John might have seen Moses and Elijah in the sense that their religious heritage flashed before them and they realized that Jesus was the culmination of that tradition. Are we to believe that an audible voice spoke from the clouds? Again, I think not.  There is a hearing with the ears and a hearing with the heart. I think the disciples heard God’s voice in the heart.

Typical of Peter, amid a marvelous moment, he opened his mouth.
Overwhelmed by the occasion he wanted to build booths (little monuments) to savor and prolong the experience. His suggestion follows the pattern of newlyweds who want to keep forever the feeling of their wedding day or the young Christian who wants to maintain the religious high he got on a weekend retreat or the grade school class that doesn’t want to graduate to new things but wants to keep the teacher with whom they are so familiar.
As much as we want to embalm good experiences, it can’t be done.

I have to tell you that one of the worst things that could happen to Gettysburg Presbyterian Church’s future would be for Dan Hans to become another ghost of Gettysburg. By that I mean, that people keep hanging on to my memory rather than moving on into the future. I ask you to exchange the lament: “It’s not like it used to be” for the hope: “It’s going to be better than it ever was.”

Positive spiritual experiences are important to us, but trying to hold on to them is not healthy as it blocks opportunities for new growth. This may explain why the Gospel writer Mark connected the Mount of Transfiguration incident with the account of the epileptic boy whom the disciples could not heal. Mark links the scenes together to remind us of the inseparable bond in this life between spiritual ecstasy and physical agony, between divine blessings and human needs, between mountain top wonders and valley depth struggles. As Peter, James and John reach the base of the mountain, hear the father’s plea for help for his son, and suddenly have their joy invaded by pain; I can’t help but wonder if they might not have wondered: Was it just a dream?

How can we test these experiences to know that they have been genuine and not merely dreams built upon wishful thinking? Within Mark’s account of the Transfiguration we find three tests of a profound experience, three tests that assure us that although the immediacy of the episode is over, the impact of the event survives.

First, there is the time test. If an experience (a project, accomplishment, or relationship) has been genuinely good, truly positive for all involved, it will continue to be seen as good and positive long after its termination. As Jesus descended the mountain with his three followers, he told them not to tell anyone of the episode until after he had risen from the dead. “Until” is the key word here, because “until” is a time word. Don’t act upon, evaluate, or judge an event until time has passed. If after the passage of time, the experience is still valued, still seen as being helpful, then we can assume the experience was not a dream, was not blown up to be greater than it truly was. The passage of time is the first test for a profound experience.

A second test of authenticity is the reality test. Were my dad present this morning to hear my opening story about catching a 20 pound walleye, he would confirm that catching a 20 pounder in Loon Lake is consistent with reality.   He would probably proceed to question the prospect of my catching such a fish as being consistent with reality. An experience must match the way life is in reality.
The reality test for the disciples’ spiritual ecstasy came when Jesus reminded them in the midst of all the divine glory that we would suffer and be treated with contempt. “Suffering” is a reality word. As much as we want and seek a life of constant joy and pleasure, pain and disappointment are inescapable.
As much as we want things to remain as they are, change is inevitable. When the good feelings of an experience are placed next to the pain of that experience’s termination; if at that time hope rises above the pain and joy above the sorrow, then we can say that the reality test has been passed.
Facing painful and disappointing reality is the second test of a profound experience.

The third test is the charity test. This is the most important test of the three as it links the mountain tops with the valley depths. It connects the good feelings we have experienced with the ongoing needs that we will encounter.
To borrow a phrase from the Bethel Bible Series, the charity test reminds us that we are “blessed by God to be a blessing to others.” “Prayer” is the key word here for prayer is the catalyst for charity. Healing the epileptic boy, Jesus did what the disciples failed to do. When they asked him, why they had failed, he said, “This kind of healing can occur only by prayer.”

Jesus was not calling prayer a magical remedy. Prayer is an expression of dependence on God more than on human leaders and resources. Prayer is mysterious communion with God. Prayer requires a heart for the things that touch God’s heart. Prayer is the catalyst for charitable action. Pastors come and go; God remains. Therefore, prayer is always possible and always essential. If our profound experiences produce within us a life of prayer that leads to a life of helping others then we know that our experience has passed the third test, the charity test.

First, there is the time test. In the face of time’s passage I can’t help but wonder: Will the things I have learned from you and you have learned from me, survive time’s advance? Will the ministries we have shared, the mission trips we have initiated, and the needs we have sought to meet continue to be the objects of our commitment? Will the programs begun like Bethel Bible Series, Contemporary Worship, and Small Groups, survive and grow or be packed away into the church’s graveyard of Annual Reports? Will the relationships formed around weddings, baptisms, funerals, communion, and prayer for each other, will the relationship that began as pastor-parishioner and then by the grace of God developed into a bond between fellow seekers of God, survive? All I can say to those questions is that while none of us has been transfigured during the past 20 years, I have been transformed and I hope I’m not being presumptuous in saying you have been transformed as well. As to the time test, when one is changed by a profound experience such as we have had together, time’s passage cannot undo it, time’s passage will surely confirm it.

Next, I must put the past 20 years to the reality test. In our time together we have been confronted with more reality than we wanted to face in things like divorces and deaths, cancers and car wrecks, 911 and two Gulf wars. Our faith journey has not been lived in a vacuum. Our faith has been strained to its limit. For that reason, I find that one of the most encouraging verses in the Bible comes from today’s passage: I believe, help my unbelief. During the past 20 years the mountain tops and the valley depths have seldom been separated. Tears of joy and tears of sorrow have flowed together. There is no doubt in my mind that we have passed the reality test with an A.

And yet, amid our losses there have been great gains. While old friends have left us, new friends have joined us. Why have we been blessed with so many new members? Is it because of the preacher? Well, some have been gracious enough to suggest this, but it just isn’t so. While a pastor might be able to attract new people to a church, it is up to the congregation to keep them there. You have kept so many new people here for one reason: your love for Jesus Christ and your passion for serving people in his name. When new comers try out this church, they have a profound experience of being loved, being served, and being able to serve.

Another word for love is charity.  You are doing well in the charity test – being charitable to people both inside and outside the church walls by: sharing your building with children who need an academic and social boost through Head Start; providing an atmosphere where children and youth can feel they belong and can grow in their faith; and reaching out with impressive and expansive mission work. Another word for charity is stewardship. Your strong commitment to stewardship of time, talent & resources is a key indicator of a vital church and authentic faith experience. For the charity test of the past 20 years, the record speaks for itself.

I have already told the people of Second Presbyterian Church in Lexington that my greatest struggle in starting my ministry with them will be to avoid being like the rooster that was out walking one day. He left the barnyard and wandered into a zoo where he saw an ostrich pen. Upon returning to the farm he walked into the hen house, held up an ostrich egg, and said, “Ladies, I don’t mean to complain; I just want you to see what they are doing elsewhere.” I carry to Lexington from Gettysburg, an ostrich egg of your service to Jesus Christ.

While I have caught some nice fish in my life, outside my dreams, I have yet to catch that trophy walleye.  But I have the future before me to do that. While you have done some wonderful things in the name of Christ in and through this church, you have yet to become all that God intends you to be as a family of faith, as stewards of God’s grace, and as servants of Jesus Christ. But, you have the future before you to do that. I wish you the best in that endeavor and I will pray for you as I hope you will pray for me. 
Reaching God’s tomorrow happens only through prayer.

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