Sir Edmund Hillary, Mount Everest and the Transfiguration
Author Unknown

A mountain top experience happens, when something
happens to us that is inspirational or exciting or
thrilling or moving, or all of the above.

One of the greatest mountaintop experiences ever
recorded happened on May 19, 1953.

Anybody know what it was?

That's right, that was the day when Sir Edmund
Hillary, and his Sherpa guide, Tenzing Norgay, reached
the top of Mount Everest.

The first two people ever to literally be, on top of
the world.

An interesting, but little known side story to this
great achievement is the story of the first photo ever
taken at the top of Mount Everest.

The first photo is a picture of Tenzing Norgay .

Now admit it, most of us never even heard of Norgay,
even though he deserves just as much credit for
reaching the top as Hillary did.

Virtually all of the publicity has gone to Sir Edmund.

Now I'm not saying that Tenzing doesn't deserve the
attention, cause he does.

What I am asking, along with a lot of other people is,
"Why is there no picture of Sir Edmond too?

Hillary answered that question a few years ago.  In an
interview, he was asked that very question, and he
gave this answer.

"Tenzing had never operated a camera before in his
entire life.  I didn't think the top of Mount Everest
was the place to teach him."

Today we read about another mountain top experience
that inspirational, exciting, thrilling, and/or
moving.

Jesus goes up on a mountain to pray.

He takes Peter and James and John, along with him.

And while they are there, it becomes Transfiguration
Sunday.

We know the story.  The appearance of Jesus changes.

He literally shines bright dazzling white, glorious!

And all of a sudden, two other people appear out of
nowhere.

Two other people, Moses and Elijah.

Though how Peter knows they are Moses and Elijah is
anyone's guess.

Maybe Elijah had his burning chariot with him.  And
Moses hand his burning bush?

Anyway, Peter knows this is Moses and Elijah.

He babbles something about building three little
dwellings, one of straw, one of sticks and… oops,
wrong story.

Three dwellings, three little tents.  One for Moses
one for Elijah, one for Jesus.

A voice speaks from heaven.  No mistaking who that is.

This is my Son.  My Chosen.  Listen to Him!

And then suddenly, (gesture) all gone.

And they come back down the mountain.

Back down the mountain.  

This mountain top experience is like many other
mountain top experiences; inspirational, exciting etc.
 etc.  etc.

But it ends the way that mountain top experiences should end.  

They don't remain there up on the mountain, like Peter suggests.

They come back down the mountain.  

And Jesus, Jesus goes back to work.  Meeting the crowds and healing people.

That is the way that mountain top experiences should be.

Yes we need to be inspired once in a while.  Or maybe twice in a while. 

But seeking religious thrills is not what Christianity is all about.

The real Christian life happens, not up on the Mountain, but back down on the plain.

Where the people are.  Where the hurt is.  Where there are needs to be met.

That is where the Christian life really happens.

Oddly enough, the greatest mountain top experiences 
ever, the climbing of Mount Everest, ends in a way
very similar to the story of the transfiguration.

After Hillary had climbed Mount Everest, be became an
overnight celebrity.

He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth.

His name became a household word.

He even became a spokesperson for Sears-Roebuck and
company.  

Which to most Scandanavians is even better than being
knighted.

And his name appeared on sleeping bags, tents, and
boot laces.

And He could have lived in his little dwelling of
success for the rest of his life.

But he didn't!

What did he do?

He went back to Nepal.

Back to those people , the Sherpas, whom he had grown
to know and appreciate and respect and love.

And he was also using his fame to bring them help.  

In his speech a few years ago, Hillary recounted how
an elderly Sherpa from Khumjung village, the hometown
of most of the Sherpas on his Everest ascent, had come
to him a few years after that expedition and said,
"Our children lack education.  They are not prepared
for the future.  

What we need more than anything is a school in
Khumjung."

So Hillary established the Himalayan Trust, and in
1961 a three-room schoolhouse was built in Khumjung
with funds raised by Hillary.

In its first decade the fund focused on education and
health.  

Since then the trust has built 27 schools, two
hospitals and 12 medical clinics, plus numerous
bridges and airfields, and also reforesting valleys
and slopes in the many areas of Nepal.

He would spend more than half the year traveling the
world, raising money for the trust and supervising the
various projects undertaken with the funds he's
raised.  And he has continued doing this for more than
thirty years.

Hillary had his mountain top experience.

And it moved him to a life of service.

A mountain top experience happens, when something
happens to us that is inspirational or exciting or
thrilling or moving, or all of the above.

We need mountain top experiences once in a while.

And the view from the top is great.

But we were never intended to stay at the top.

Peter never built his little houses, Moses and Elijah
went back to heaven.

And Jesus?  Jesus went back to the place where the
people were, where the people needed him.

Jesus went back to the valley to preach, to teach to
heal, and eventually, to go to the cross for us.

That is the way that mountain top experiences should
be.

Yes we need to be inspired once in a while.  Or maybe
twice in a while.

But seeking religious thrills is not what Christianity
is all about.

The real Christian life happens, not up on the
Mountain, but back down on the plain, when we use our
lives for God's sake and the sake of his children.