Service on the Mount

 BY MARK

The mist was around us and the clouds had descended upon the mountain so that we could see ahead but not the valleys below.  Our band of 20 or so from our small Port au Prince church had decided to worship on the mountain this particular Sunday.  Well, we really had no choice but to worship there because we were studying the Sermon on the Mount. That is just how we roll in our Port au Prince church!  

We drove up the mountain, parked and continued to slip and slide up some steep trails until we found a vacant plateau.  The clouds and mist precluded a good view of the valleys below for the bulk of the “service on the mount”, but from time to time, the view was apparent and breathtaking from our 5,600 feet perch (someone had an app to let us know how high we were). 

After we sang, studied, prayed, worshipped, shared and ate together, we started down the mountain.  Only then did the rain start in earnest!! The slippery paths on the descent were more slippery as the mud and rocks were wrapped with a thin layer of slime.  As we arrived at our vehicles covered in our own layer of slime and rain, we shivered, laughed and were thankful that we all had arrived without incident.  It was the kind of fun that one may not enjoy at the time it occurs, but delight in it later as you share the story and experience. 

The day was about worship!  Sometimes I think that worship means being in the sanctuary of a church, singing songs and listening to a sermon.  I too often forget that “worship” can (and should) take place where we are.  From the beautiful mountaintop, to splashing in the mud and sliding down the side of the steep mountain, to the place where we work to the place where we may not even want to be (for instance, if I am shopping at a mall with Kathy….sorry, dear!).  I try to remember that worship is about a relationship.  It is about a state of mind.  It is about a Jesus who died for me!  So sometimes I have a mountaintop experience in worship but I pray that the mud that I slide around in from time to time does not keep me from being aware of the God to whom I owe everything!  I pray that I can worship where I am!

Ps 125:2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,

                  So the Lord surrounds his people

                  Both now and forevermore.