April 11, 2015 - Church at Worship

When asked why climbers risk life and limb in the conquest of Everest, British mountaineer George Mallory simply responded, “Because it’s there.” Life could be characterized as a climbing expedition punctuated by periods of euphoric ascent and crushing descent. Thus, the peaks we must climb remain both terrifying and mystifying.

It is no wonder that the imagery of mountains plays such a prominent role in scrip- ture, from the theophany at Sinai, to the victory at Carmel. Mountains were places that displayed YWHW’s power and majesty. But the paradigm would shift with the arrival of a carpenter from the Galilean hill country. For in Jesus’ ministry, hilltops would become spaces of redemption and reconciliation.

As a Christian community we believe that the most important event in world history occurred at the top of mount Golgotha. This morning we come together to examine the first steps of Jesus’ climbing expedition. My hope is that we choose to scale the mountains of ignorance and indifference “Because He is here.”