Session 5: Mountain

Welcome to the fifth and final session of our Lent Course, Journey to Freedom. And as you can see, for this final talk I have climbed a mountain. Admittedly it’s not a very big mountain. In fact it’s not a mountain at all, just a little hill called Torrisholme Barrow. But even though it’s not so high, the views here are amazing and I can see something of the wonder of the world God has made. Each year Christians from this part of Morecambe lug a great big cross up to the top of this hill on Good Friday and it becomes for a time a powerful place of worship and witness. I can see why they choose here. It’s no surprise that mountains have for so long been places of encounter with the Living God.

The Book of Exodus is ram-packed with mountain encounters with God. You may remember that back in session 2 we explored the call of Moses when he heard God’s voice speaking to him through a burning bush. At that stage of his life he was living in Midian and caring for the sheep. The precise location of that burning Bush was Horeb, the mountain of God. And most experts agree that Horeb is the same mountain as Sinai.

So as we reach Chapter 19 of the Book of Exodus, Moses finds himself back where it all began. God promised in Chapter 3 verse 12 that once he had rescued the people Moses would return to worship him on this mountain. So here he. And this return visit is a really important one. Moses stays on or near this mountain through most of the rest of the Book of Exodus. He hears hundreds of laws, instructions and commandments from God about how the people of Israel are to live together once they have come into the Promised Land. This mountaintop divine encounter lies at the very heart of God’s plan for his people.

In fact it seems to me that we can identify three ways in which Moses encounters God on Mount Sinai, and I think all three have something to teach us about our own relationship with the God we meet in Jesus.

The first strand of this encounter is communal. Moses is the point of contact between God and the people he is leading and it is through the words God speaks to Moses that Israel as a communal body learns its importance in God’s eyes.

‘You shall be my treasured possession out of all peoples,’ God says to Israel. ‘The whole earth is mine, but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom, a holy nation,’ he says. Remember. God is speaking not to an individual, but to a nation through an individual. This is a corporate identity. God builds community and relates to community. Belonging to each other and relationships we have with each other are not bolt-ons to faith. They are integral to faith. We’re not just called to be. We’re called to be with God and each other.

Then the second type of encounter on Sinai is doctrinal. A covenant is made between God and his people. If they stick to their side of the bargain and lives as he directs, then they will live long in the promised land and proper and be secure. So God tells the people through Moses how they are to live out their faith in him.

He reveals to them the ten commandments with its instructions that they are to worship the one true God and not make idols or worship false gods. He reveals to them laws which describe how they are to live in harmony with God and with each other. He describes how they should make the ark of the Covenant and gives long directions for worship so that they can place God right at the centre of their lives and remain ever thankful for the great things he has done in freeing them from slavery. So many chapters are given over to doctrinal instruction on how to live lives consistent with the covenant God makes with the people through Moses.

But then the third encounter that Moses has on the mountain is personal. There is an extraordinary intimacy between the God of all things and his chosen servant, Moses. Moses can see God face to face like no other. He can come close to God in a way that for any other person is dangerous. He can debate with God and even argue with him.

In fact they are so close that something of the glory of God is transferred to Moses such that his face shone with God’s glory. Eventually, when he is speaking to the people, Moses veils his face so that the people are not afraid. And then, when he goes up to speak with God he removes the veil and speaks to God face to face.

So three ways in which God deals with Moses on the mountain. Communal. Doctrinal. Personal.

Today, we may like mountains. We may feel closer to God when we climb up them. But we don’t need mountains. In John chapter 4, when the Samaritan woman asks on which mountain she should go to worship God, Jesus tells her that it does not matter where you worship God, it just matters that you worship him in spirit and in truth. Today there are countless places where we can go and worship the God we find in Jesus, from beautiful churches to the back garden.

But still we meet Jesus in those three ways. So let’s apply the three ways Moses meets God on the mountain to the three ways we can meet with God in Jesus. And as we do this, I want to invite you to reflect on how your own relationship with Jesus can grow.

So first, like Moses we relate to Jesus communally. This is very important for many people and doubtless for many of you watching. When I visit parishes in vacancy, one thing the people are often keen for me to hear is how close-knit their church family is and how much they value the love and the friendships and the support they find there.

And there so more to this than human need for company. Jesus built community. When he gathered the disciples at the table of the Last Supper, he spent ages telling them how to belong to each other as one flock or one vine. After his resurrection, he carefully rebuilt the community that had become shattered by the cross. The church matters because it is Christ’s body. Being part of the church matters because it is a foretaste of that heavenly banquet where we shall feast for all eternity with the saints of God. It is not possible to be a Christian alone. That communal dimension is critical.

Then second, like Moses we relate to Jesus doctrinally. And again many people are very strong on this. They believe in what he has come to do. They know that, through his incarnation, Jesus has come to share our life so that we can share in his. They know that, through the cross, he has destroyed death and set us free. They know that he has given the gift of the Spirit so that they can love him and serve him. They know that, in response to his saving work, he calls us to live lives of self-giving love. Those doctrinal beliefs matter. They are the heart of our salvation through faith.

Of course we need to go on growing in our understanding of what Jesus has done for us. But every time we stand and say the creed we rehearse his saving work. It is more familiar to us than we often know.

But what about that third, personal strand of our relationship with Jesus? The communal and the doctrinal matter massively. But sometimes we get the balance wrong. Sometimes we focus so strongly on the communal aspect of faith and are so active as part of the local church that we forget about knowing him within the depths of our own hearts. Sometimes we focus so strongly on the doctrinal side and our faith in what Jesus has done to the extent that he becomes more a theological idea than a person with whom we are called to be in contemporary relationship.

The heart of every renewal movement in the history of the church, Catholic or Protestant, has been men and women finding strong, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That is what Francis and Vincent de Paul and Theresa encouraged in their followers just as much as Luther and Wesley and Calvin.

So how much do you really know Jesus as a person and as a friend? Remember Moses’ closeness with God, so close that something of God’s glory literally rubbed off and made his face shine. That is the closeness that Jesus offers you. Your face can shine through its closeness with Jesus Christ.

So let me end this Lent Course with some ideas about how you can grow in your personal relationship with Jesus Christ. There’s going to be nothing new here. Just a challenge to do in your own life what so many Christians have done.

First, pray for the Holy Spirit. Pray the simple but dangerous prayer, come Holy Spirit, whenever you can. It is through the Spirit that Jesus is present in his Church and in our lives. So pray constantly for the gift of that Spirit.

Second, make a rule. We know we need to be at Church each Sunday, to pray, to study the scriptures. But it’s so easy to become slap-dash and ill-disciplined in these areas of the Christian life. We pray when we feel like it and forget when we’re stressed or busy, which is of course when we need it most. So write down a simple rule of life for yourself. Weekly worship will be top of the list. Then ask, when will you pray? How will you pray, perhaps drawing on some of the amazing apps not available? How will you serve? What will you give? Write it down and stick to it.

Third, use your imagination. I think very often when we approach the scriptures, we do so intellectually, looking for truth and sound teaching. That’s quite right. But there’s so much more than that. Next time you read a Gospel story, employ your imagination. Let Jesus come alive for you. See him, listen to him, look at the reactions of those around him. Imagine yourself into the story so that Jesus becomes real for you. Because it is when he becomes real that you will get to know him not just as an idea, but as a friend.

Fourth, use silence. Imagine if, when you met a friend, you just talked and talked but never stopped for one second to listen. That friendship would not last long at all. Yet that’s what we do with Jesus. We bombard him with words but never stop to listen to what he is saying back to us. When you pray, for a moment stop talking and just listen. Bask and wallow in silence. Listen hard to what Jesus is saying to you.

Fifth, do this in company. Earlier I said that a feature of every renewal movement has been people emphasising personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The other interesting thing is that they have done this in company with others. So is there a small group of people in whose company you can go deeper in your relationships with Jesus? Maybe you can make a rule together, maybe you can meet to pray or study the scriptures together. Maybe, if you are following this course with others, that group is the people you are with right now.

I remember a key moment in my own Christian journey was when, at the age of 18, curate pointe doubt that the Gospel was not about behaviour or values or what was going on intellectually in my head. It was relationships – with Jesus and with his followers. As Lent draws to a close and as you prepare to celebrate the resurrection, why not think today how can I go deeper in my personal relationship with Jesus Christ. How can Jesus come more alive for you. Because then, any place can be your mountaintop.