Life's Summit - And How We'll Know When We Get There

 “Life’s Summit – And How We’ll Know When We Get There”

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; Philippians 2:1-4

A  meditation delivered electronically by Rev. Dr. Randy K. Hammer, Oct. 4, 2020

The wise preacher of Ecclesiastes reminds us that we are stronger when we stand together.  It is important that we have one another so that when we fall, there will be another to help us back up. As one strand alone, we are weak.  But “a threefold cord is not easily broken.”  But the America we know today is a cord that is unraveling.  An unraveled cord is weak and easily broken.  We have forgotten that we need to look out for one another, care for one another, and make sure that everyone has the same opportunities and benefits.

There is an ancient story about a Hindu sage who is teaching a crowd of people in a large, open field that illustrates the importance of standing together.  The sage tells a parable about two monks who have studied for years, preparing themselves to climb to the summit of a mountain so they can meet the revered Buddha.  In the story, the two monks begin the difficult climb up the mountain, and halfway up one of the monks falls and breaks his leg.  They both stop, and the other monk does what he can to make his climbing companion comfortable.  They decide to settle in there for the night.  In the morning it is obvious that the monk who broke his leg isn’t doing so well.  He has developed a fever and should not be left alone.

Now, the Hindu sage stops and asks his listeners, “What would you do?  Would you leave your companion behind and keep your appointment with the Buddha, or would you help your fellow monk back down the mountain to receive medical care?” One eager student replies, “I would make him as comfortable as I could.  Then I would continue my journey up the mountain to meet the Buddha.”  The teacher looks at him and says, “Well, I’m glad I wouldn’t be traveling with you!”  The monk is quite embarrassed.

The teacher goes on to explain that, in every age and every generation, when we have more people who would leave that monk behind to keep their appointment – no matter how sacred that appointment might appear to be – we have an age of cruelty.  When there are more who would help the injured monk back down the mountain, we have an age of compassion.”

In commenting on this story, writer Mark Nepo asks, “What if making it to the top isn’t the summit of our journey?”  What if, and I am paraphrasing him here, putting down what we’re after in order to care for another is the thing that matters most?  “What if our grand dreams are only meant to start us on our journey until our love awakens us?”  And then Nepo concludes, “Perhaps caring for another – wherever we’re stopped along the way – is the summit?”¹  

There are signs in America today that could make one think that we have moved into an age of cruelty.  Much of the spirit of our age seems to revolve around the idea of what’s good for me; what will enable me to reach the top, with little thought of what it is doing to those I trample on or ignore to get there.  And this spirit has reached the top levels of American government.  What does it say about a nation that would even consider abolishing health insurance for millions of Americans in the midst of a pandemic?  I ask you, would pulling the rug of health insurance out from under millions of Americans in the midst of the worst pandemic the world has suffered in over 100 years indicate a spirit of compassion, or a spirit of cruelty?

Well, it is World Communion Day.  I realize that the primary focus of this first Sunday of October is a reminder of that which unifies Christians and denominations all over the world, in spite of our differences.  But it seems to me that a pressing concern for today is the fact that as a nation we are fractured and divided and have allowed the spirit of cruelty to creep in and threaten to overpower the spirit of compassion that should characterize what many like to refer to as a “Christian nation.” 

So then, how will we know when we have reached life’s summit?  When we have achieved success, according to the world’s standard of success?  When we have made all the money we can make or accumulated all the toys we can accumulate?  When we have gotten what we wanted to the detriment of others or ignoring others and their needs along the way?  I think we know the answer to those questions.  We will have reached life’s summit when we are as much concerned with the interests and well-being of others as we are of ourselves.  We will have reached life’s summit when we, to borrow from John Shelby Spong, have learned to “love wastefully.”  We will have reached life’s summit when we rule out all cruelty and allow compassion to become the driving force of our lives.  May it be so.  Amen.

¹Mark Nepo, The One Life We’re Given.  New York: Atria, 2016, p. 130.