Mountain Sunday
The reading I have chosen for today (Mountain Sunday) is from the Old Testament book of Isaiah. The prophet Isaiah was talking to a group of people in a foreign land as slaves. It is a passage of hope for a group of people with very little hope. This passage gives some idea of what life was like for the people hearing this message. They will grow old rather than dying young; they will live in their own houses and eat crops they have planted. A new heaven and a new earth where the past forgotten – is the hope given to the people Isaiah was speaking to.
The passage ends with the idea of the wolf and lamb eating together and they will not harm or destroy on God’s Holy Mountain.
A Holy Mountain is a place to go to be close to and worship God and because you may be closest to God at the top of a mountain. It is a place where you can look down on everything that is below you and know that there is nothing above you. It is often an achievement to climb to the top of a mountain and so it is also a place of rest once you have arrived at the top. The top of a mountain can also be a place of protection because you can see the approach of enemies.
However it might be that getting to a mountain top is in our imagination. We can still worship God wherever we are and we can feel God’s protection at all times. We can rest and be active in our service for God. Perhaps next time you feel that you want to be close to God – instead of climbing a mountain, just find a place of quietness that you can sit and look around at God’s creation.
Shirley Bowers
Lay Preacher