Recent blog entries...

• Embrace the Middle East
  one week ago
• God calls everyone
  2 months ago
• Trip to Israel
  about 6 months ago
• Spiritual accompaniment
  7 months ago
• The mountains are calling
  9 months ago

The mountains are calling

I’m sure you will all know by now that I love getting out into the mountains of Scotland. We are so incredibly blessed to have such an amazing landscape close to hand, and it’s always a real joy to me when I get the chance to head out into the hills. Being surrounded by such majestic scenery can really help to place our everyday problems into some kind of bigger perspective. And the mountains remind me above all of the power and might of our incredible creator God: “Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?” Isaiah 40:12.

So I’ve decided to indulge myself this Summer with a 5 week sermon series on some of the mountain-top experiences of the Bible. There are loads of these stories scattered through the Scriptures, and they are very often literally the ‘high points’ of the Bible, where some of the key events take place: the giving of the 10 Commandments; Jesus being transfigured; Jesus ascending back to heaven again, and so on.

We’ll be considering 5 different Biblical mountains over the Summer, and what their stories can teach us about God and the way that he deals with us:

• Mount Ararat: God’s promise to us
• Mount Carmel: An invitation to return
• Mount Nebo: Choices and consequences
• Mount Tabor: Seeing the glory of God
• Mount Zion: A new kind of mountain

Maybe you feel as if you have been trudging through the valleys of life in recent times. None of us can spend all of our time on the mountain tops, but we all need to experience those transcendent moments from time to time. Even if you can’t physically climb a mountain, I pray that you can know the elation and joy of walking with God in the high places, removed from all the problems and distractions that so often weigh us down. I’m going to leave the final word to John Muir, founder of the modern conservation movement and a great lover of the hills: "The mountains are calling, and I must go”.