Reflection -Mountains Matter 22 September 2024 Christine Arnold, Linda Cowan
(Christine) Mountains are generally solid and permanent features of our landscape. They have formed over centuries and do not change significantly during a human lifetime. Though we do know that earthquakes and floods can alter mountains.
God created a great flood in Noah’s time. This flood covered the mountains but when the water receded, they were still there. In fact, Noah’s Ark came to rest on a mountain in the Ararat ranges. A dove brought back an olive leaf to show there was new life and God made a covenant with Noah that the earth would not be flooded again. This is signified by the rainbow. The permanence of the mountain signifies God’s permanence in the world and in our lives.
Mountains are places where people in biblical times saw themselves as coming close to God. Joy explained to us at the beginning of the month about their concept of the world at that time. The mountains were supports of the arch above the earth that let in the rain and provided access to heaven. To go to the mountains was to get closer to God. So, when Moses wanted to talk to God, he went to the mountain, when Jesus wanted time alone with his heavenly Father, he went to the mountain.
Moses went up Mt Sinai a number of times to talk to God. God spoke to him from a cloud at the top of the mountain. The people below could witness this happening. We can see a lot further from a mountain and are also more visible on a mountain. Moses received the ten commandments on Mt Sinai twice, because the first stone tablets were broken.
There are a number of instances of Jesus speaking to crowds of people on the slopes of mountains. In particular, we have his teachings and lessons for living in the Sermon on the Mount.
The transfiguration of Jesus was up a mountain. This was when he was glorified and God said “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him.” Jesus was acknowledged as the Son of God.
The Garden of Gethsemane is on the Mount of Olives. Jesus and his disciples would go there to pray. This is where Jesus was betrayed and arrested by the soldiers. He was crucified on a hill outside Jerusalem. Mountains and hills play a significant part in the Bible.
If we want “time-out,” if we want to have a sense of the glory of God, to gain some understanding of the might of God, it’s to the mountains that we look. Up a mountain is a place where we can see the wonder and greatness of God’s creation. Up a mountain is where we can get away from the pressure and material influences in our lives. When we shed these encumbrances, we are open to God’s voice. We feel closer to God as did the people in the Bible.
When we understand how great God is then we are reassured that God can sort out the things of concern in our lives. The Psalmist wrote and we will sing later “I lift my eyes to the hills from whence comes my help. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.” The God who made the mountains is also the God who made and cares about us. The mountains remind us of the majesty and wonder of God and his unchanging nature. (Linda) Mountains in the Bible often represent challenges, divine encounters and God’s unchanging nature serving as a metaphor for faith and stability.
Mountains matter to us as Christian people because they speak to us of the nature of God, of God’s greatness, the awesomeness of God.
And because they matter, we need to recognise the very real responsibility we have for the well being of our mountains. Jesus told his disciples, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good newsto the whole creation.” This includes not just people and animals, but the whole world that God created including mountains. What constitutes good news for the mountains? At the moment there’s not a lot of good news. Right now global warming and deforestation are causing huge problems in mountainous areas of our world. Species are losing their habitats, remote peoples are losing their homes and livelihoods, all of us are losing supplies of fresh water. We need to do whatever we can to stop the endangerment of this very special part of God’s creation. We need to be bearers of good news for the mountains.
We are going to spend a few minutes talking about how mountains are important to us and what we can do to safeguard our mountains.
POINTS FOR DISCUSSION
With the people around you talk about
- The most impressive mountains that you have seen
- How have they made you feel?
- Have you had times when you have been in the mountains and felt close to God as Moses and Jesus did?
- Do mountains matter?
What can we do to safeguard our mountains?