Today is the Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ, which celebrates Jesus' radical change of appearance while in the presence of Peter, James, and John, on a high mountain (Mt 17:1-8; Mk 9:2-8; Lk 9:28-36). The Transfiguration revealed Christ's glory prior to the crucifixion, and it anticipated his resurrection and ascension. It also prefigures the glorification of human nature in Christ.
The feast was included in the American Prayer Book of 1892 as a result of the efforts of William Reed Huntington (1838-1909), ecumenical leader and liturgical reformer born in Lowell, Massachusetts. Huntington proposed a "foursquare" basis for church unity that came to be known as the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, still the primary Anglican ecumenical statement and standard.
It is also the 59th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, Japan. On August 6, 1945, a U.S. warplane dropped the first of the only two atomic weapons ever used in combat, prompting Japan's surrender and the end of World War II. Authorities now say the number of dead from that single bomb totals more than 237,000.
Climbing Maine's Mountain of the Transfiguration
Pilgrimage to Acadia's Sargent Mountain
by the Rev. R. Rhys Williams
[ENS, New York, August 6, 2004] - Note to Readers: the following reflection is reprinted with permission from the Summer 2004 edition of The Northeast, newspaper of the Diocese of Maine, which has served readers since 1872 as the oldest continuous news journal in the Episcopal Church. In this piece, provided to ENS by Northeast editor Heidi Shott, the Rev. Rhys Williams describes a journey he made up Sargent Mountain on Mount Desert Island where, in the early 1890s, Huntington composed the Collect for Transfiguration.
No better day can be found to climb a mountain than the Feast of the Transfiguration, August 6. This would be particularly appropriate if the peak were Sargent Mountain on Mount Desert Island. It was there, in the early 1890s, that Dr. William Reed Huntington composed the Collect for this great feast day, for the 1892 revision of the Book of Common Prayer. It remains there, slightly revised, on pages 191 and 243.
In the mid-1950s, while rector of St. Mary and St. June, Northeast Harbor, I decided to make my own pilgrimage up Sargent Mountain to discover what inspired this rector of Grace Church, New York City, and summer visitor to Maine, to write this prayer so long ago. My companion was Paul Favour, park naturalist and vestryman and lay reader at St. Mary and St. Jude.
The day was perfect, one of those brilliant, sparkling days which turn this island into one of the most beautiful places on the eastern seacoast. As we left our car at the northern end of Upper Hadlock Pond, I heard the soft, sibilant song of one of our "summer visitors," the black-throated green warbler. The woods presented contrasting patches of clear sunlight and cool shade. We took the Hadlock Pond trail east around the upper end of the pond. Then we turned north on the Waterfall Trail and began to climb in earnest. The Waterfall Trail is well-named, winding along one of the many small brooks which tumble down the mountain and feed into Hadlock Pond. There is one spectacular waterfall which probably gives its name to the trail, but all along this part of the climb the brook was our constant companion.
When we came out of the woods on the shoulder of the summit, I heard the familiar "peabody" call of the white-throated sparrow. We stopped to look back and tried to take pictures of the vast view which stretched before us. No camera lens, however, would be wide enough to take in the sweep of mountains, islands, bays and ponds which spread out before our eyes.
We ate our lunch in the lee of a large rock where we could look out to the Camden Hills 35 miles to the west and Isle au Haut 20 miles to the southwest. In the foreground were Acadia and Parkman peaks with Hadlock Pond, Northeast and Southwest Harbors and the long arm of Somes Sound. Our view to the east was somewhat limited by Penobscot Mountain, but Paul showed me where to look for the small speck on the horizon which was Mount Desert Rock 20 miles away to the south.
Everything was still. No everyday noises from the roads or towns below us carried to our mountain peak. Neither of us could find the right words to describe our feelings. The best we could say was that here we enjoyed a great sense of peace.
When we got to the summit of Sargent Mountain, I stopped to let Paul read the Collect which Dr. Huntington had composed. It took little imagination to see why the words of this prayer had been suggested to the priest. We conjectured that the day on which the Collect was written must have been much like it was the day we stood at the top of this mountain -- quiet and majestic.
We made our descent on the west side of the mountain. We crossed the chasm aptly named the Giant Slide on one of the many carriage roads which wind through the park. Then we turned south to follow the trail along Parkman Mountain where Paul made an annual check on a set of deer browse plots. From there we followed the short trail through the woods to the north end of Upper Hadlock Pond and the car.
As we were driving home past the pond, I looked back at Sargent Mountain and tried to find the right words to express the experience of my pilgrimage. All I could think of to say was, "It would do everyone a lot of good to climb a mountain like that." Paul reminded me that most visitors to Mount Desert Island drive to the summit of Cadillac Mountain, but we both agreed that the walk to the top of Sargent Mountain was worth so much more.
The Feast of the Transfiguration or any sunny day is a good day to climb a mountain. I find the experience is good for the soul and I am planning to go back up Sargent Mountain someday. If you would like to share this experience, come along with me.
-- Williams wrote this article about 50 years ago for The Bar Harbor Times. He writes today from his home in Otisfield, Maine, "Paul Favour died in 1984, and I used the story of our climb up Sargent Mountain as the basis for my homily at his burial. The service was held at St. Mary's by the Sea, Northeast Harbor, where, appropriately, the great window above the font is dedicated to Dr. William Reed Huntington.
Collect for Transfiguration
O God, who on the holy mount didst reveal to chosen witnesses thy well-beloved Son, wonderfully transfigured, in raiment white and glistening: Mercifully grant that we, being delivered from the disquietude of this world, may in faith behold the King in his beauty; who with thee, O Father, and thee, O Holy Ghost, liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen.
