The Mountain Top

Good Morning and Welcome to Worship! Worship is often the first place that new people come into contact with this growing community of faith. And so, if you are joining us for the first time, I say to you what is said every Sunday: You are welcome here. Here is a place where all are welcome. For such is the love of God for God’s Very Good Creation.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow; praise God, all creatures here below; praise God above, ye Heav'nly host: praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.

In the name of God, who creates mountains, the name of Christ, crucified on a mountain, and the name of the Spirit, deep in the mountains. Amen. ALL: Holy! Holy! Holy! Earth is filled with God’s presence. Christ, as we come to into this sanctuary today, we enter the holy mountain of God. ALL: Holy! Holy! Holy! This mountain is filled with your presence.

Faithful God, there is no one like you in heaven or on earth. The highest heaven cannot contain you, yet you have chosen to dwell in our midst and shower your creation with your love. O God, let your church stand firm in the strength of your power, overcoming evil and proclaiming the gospel of peace.

Loving God, bless us to care for your creation, the sanctuary you have provided to nourish, sustain, and shelter humanity and all living things. Holy One, may the rulers, authorities, and cosmic powers of this present world yield to your reign of love, peace, justice, and goodness for all.

Creator God, guide us to hear the cry of the stranger and the forgotten. Help us to protect and comfort the weak, the young, and the old.

Eternal One, strengthen our faith, deepen our love, empower our witness as we name those on our hearts today.

Lord God, you are our sun and shield, our strength and hope. With Joy to share our prayers with you and each other as we are gathered in your name.

Amen.

Lord Jesus, as we hear the reading of Holy Scripture, speak to us your words of spirit and life. Amen.

¹⁷For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. ¹⁸But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy, and its people as a delight. ¹⁹I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and delight in my people; no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it, or the cry of distress. ²⁰No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. ²¹They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ²²They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. ²³They shall not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity; for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord— and their descendants as well. ²⁴Before they call I will answer, while they are yet speaking I will hear. ²⁵The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent—its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the Lord.

¹⁴Later he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were sitting at the table; and he upbraided them for their lack of faith and stubbornness, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. ¹⁵And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation. ¹⁶The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; ¹⁸they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Isaiah speaks of a new heaven and a new earth, and we have taken those words as a prediction of the future, but in Mark’s Gospel we hear the risen Jesus upbraid his eleven disciples for not believing the women at the tomb. Jesus calls out their stubbornness and their unwillingness to believe the words of others. Where does your stubbornness get the better of you? Where are you dismissive of what you are hearing because of who is saying it? Where might you need to hear the corrective words of Jesus and open your heart to the way of love?

Our God has bestowed us with favor and honor through Christ, who has given us the words of eternal life. From this fullness, let us now offer our gifts of thanksgiving in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Living God, we give thanks for Jesus who taught his first followers a new way to go through this world, and who still guides us through the Holy Spirit. Endow these gifts with your power, that they may express your steadfast love and impart your sustaining strength to all those in need. Amen.

May the Spirit of God blowing from the mountains, fill you with the knowledge of God’s presence in earth and the pulsing of Christ within you. Christ calls you to follow him down the mountain and meet the world in the valleys of life. Go in the power of God to raise up those around you. Amen.