I love to watch clouds. I love to watch them moving across the blue canvass of the sky … thinning to whisps or jumbling into a new form by joining another … I love to watch them moving slowly and steadily across the sky or rushing off somewhere else like they are late for a very important date. I love those slow sky days with clouds I can linger with for a little while … clouds that invite me to see things I know on the ground and can name in their shapes … only to then watch that shape be changed and rearranged evaporating/dispersing the object I saw them impersonating.
“The sky is the daily bread of the eyes.”
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
And then there are other kinds of cloud watching times … when storm clouds gather … when we’re watching and waiting to see what they are going to deliver … whether they will give us rain, snow, sleet, or hail … There are the low cloud days … grey overcast skies that make us wonder how long the heavy clouds will be with us … how long will it be before the sun break through and burns off the cloud cover or the wind picks up and carries them away. Sometimes we wish the clouds away and other times we welcome them to stay … to relieve us from the baking sun and bring a little reprieve of shade …
In the world of our ancient stories, clouds are prominent characters … and sometimes have a lot to say … Three of the four collections of stories we have of Jesus of Nazareth give us this story of 3 of the spiritual giants of our tradition and a mysterious cloud.
Jesus took 3 of his closest friends and followers up a mountain away from the crowds to be by themselves. It was a critical time for all of them. The authorities were growing increasingly hostile and threatened by this peasant movement. The beloved community Jesus inspired and encouraged empowered the powerless in his society … gave them hope and courage but it threatened those who would lose privilege and wealth were they to share it. Storm clouds were gathering for the Jesus inspired movement as the political and religious leaders plotted to put an end to this potential uprising.
With Peter, James and John, Jesus takes refuge in a high place at a low time in his life. At this intersection of expectations with mounting and opposing pressures from supporters and opponents, the storytellers give him an audience with the representatives of the twin pillars of his tradition … Moses takes up residence in this story standing in for the sacred body of teaching they knew as the law of their tradition and Elijah also appears standing in for the prophetic voice of speaking truth to power. In this mystical moment, the story suggests that Jesus is receiving the counsel of the heroes of his tradition … the wisdom of his ancients … the counsel of his elders … Peter wanted to preserve the moment somehow … put time in a bottle … build a monument to each of these leaders, create a cairn … build a sacred refuge from the storm brewing below … And Jesus didn’t know what to say … his friends were terrified. But then, the story brings a cloud to embrace them … and the cloud speaks … the cloud says what needs to be heard.
The story is silent on any dialogue from the earlier characters … we have to imagine the conversation with Moses and Elijah … but the cloud speaks … and the storyteller lets us in on it … the cloud speaks the needed affirmation and then when the cloud is silent, those characters from the past disappear. Those facing into this moment in time are left alone with each other. The cloud confirms that the wisdom they need for this time is with them … within them … And the storyteller takes Jesus and his friends from the mystical moment back down the mountain to face the conflicts and realities. There is no lingering on the mountain … they can no more stay there than any cloud can stay where it is …can remain unchanged …
… you can’t save a cloud
like you can save a leaf or
a flower or a rock – clouds are now.”
– Terri Guillemets
Both of these visitors from the past had a lot of experience with clouds. Moses was always looking to the sky for guidance … it was a pillar shaped cloud that gave him a sense of direction during the day as he led the turbulent tribes through the storied wilderness from slavery to freedom … and it was a cloud of fire that gave them direction by night. If you read his epic journey of exodus, you’ll find he was often caught up in the clouds for days on end seeking an audience with his sky god. After one of his legendary consultations in the clouds, he came down from the mountain with a code of conduct … with clearly articulated rules for living that would keep the community of ancient Israel together and would help keep human life human. Those so called 10 commandments that came out of the clouds have given us an ethical framework for survival … And Elijah had plenty of weather in his life. He dealt with stormy royals, competing rituals, religions, political alliances amid corrupt leadership. Elijah was often in the eye of the storm because he knew he couldn’t be silent in the face of injustice.
And now, in the world of the 1st century story, Jesus and his friends were instructed by their own experience with the clouds … amid the storm clouds of growing hostility, this breathtaking cloud, this momentary cloud that was and would never be again opened a window to wonder. This liminal time with their heads in the clouds somehow restored their courage for what was required of them on the ground.
Clouds are the great teachers of impermanence … that nothing can defy the law of change … the particular cloud we see, the particular sky over us is now and never again. Whether it is a dark, heavy cloud, a backlit beauty, or a gentle cotton ball wonder playing with our imagination, no cloud remains unchanged for long. It speaks ‘now’ like nothing else does. This particular moment is now and is unrepeatable. This particular day is one we’ve never seen before and will never see again. Clouds can open a window to wonder for us … that can keep us from building our monuments on the mountain … from all the ways we try to tether ourselves to a time we don’t want to leave … to the beauty of a moment that can’t be held but can always travel with us … The cloud kept our storied characters from settling down with the wisdom of the past … taking refuge in what worked for their ancestors … resisting the winds of uncertainty and change … From the strength of that mystical and unrepeatable moment, they made their way off the mountain, into all the weather the valley held for them … Their experience of the cloud prepared them for the changes and challenges that were coming. In the beauty of these summer days, clouds can be our teachers, too. Experts in change and mentors of impermanence, they companion our days and nights teaching us to trust and entrust ourselves to life … to be formed and reformed and transformed. May we have the courage to live the wisdom of the clouds.
-Nancy Steeves
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