Mount Sinai

MOUNT SINAI

by

Dr. Gale A. Ragan-Reid (August 20, 2015)

"Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place

where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he" (St. John 4: 20-26, King James Version [worship in the mountains becomes worship in spirit and in truth]).

Greetings In The Holy Name Of Jesus,

My brothers and sisters, the old song, Ain't No Mountain High Enough, popped in my mind. Maybe because I recently saw a movie of divorced parents with the mother dying of cancer with both the dying mother and the step-mother singing and dancing to the featured world-wide pop ballad song of strong love conviction with a message that spoke to abandonment, loneliness, detachment, lost love, and unbelief, wherein the pain was felt like a song, saying---not even a mountain could keep a loved one from getting to the one they loved, but the love they spoke of was love of the flesh and the mountains they spoke of were earthly mountains, except the dying mother told her young son to see her in his dreams. How can we conquer the mountains of unbelief in our hearts that keep us from God---that keep us from getting to our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus---let us talk about that today as we camp out with Apostle John on the gospel verse, "the true worshippers shall worship him in spirit and in truth" (4: 24, KJV)? As I began to write, I heard the words of Martin Luther King (MLK), "I've been to the mountain top." If it were not for MLK inspiring us of his mountain experience to make us feel he walked close to God as Moses did and found out he would not be with us long---"for he wanted to live like we all do but..", then some of us might have lost more than our grip on hope for a new day in America for African-Americans and some of us might have truly sunk to an all time low of reality as it is and was for African-Americans in America but for the connection to Christ Jesus in saving grace---the belonging to God.

Martin Luther King's mountain experience made us hope for God's will---his instructions for us, his salvation for us---that we were not abandoned, without God, left behind but a part of the salvation of the Jews and Martin was our Moses in his dream seeing the things to be---our prophet standing on high ground. Friends, I do not hate those who felt that way---those who gathered up their strength that way to make it to another day---I felt that it was all a part of worship to feel that you are a part of God's plan---a far bigger plan than you have ever been accepted into and felt significantly changed by [the biggest plan known to man---Christ's plan of action to save man: Grace given every moment---every nano-second, every second, every minute, every hour, every day]. It was our hope. But for me, since a child, I called out, Father and loving God that way, I fell in love with His Son, Christ Jesus and it is he whom I leaned on for my understanding and strength to make it through for God did not give us Moses to help us with the salvation plan, He gave us Christ Jesus. I know it is hard for most of us to leave the mountain top---to go in spirit and in truth to worship but it is God's plan that we do not think of him as far away and only on the mountain---seeking him only on the mountain, for He is far closer to us now than ever before since Jesus died, resurrected, and ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father---He is in our hearts and speaks to our minds---the Spirit of Christ Jesus is in us---the Holy Ghost is in us.

Our Jewish brothers and sisters prayed Psalms---walking up the mountain, in Jerusalem. A lot happened on the mountain---we share the Jewish history on the mountain---"Our fathers worshipped in this mountain" (St. John 4:20, KJV). What is the saying, "Those who do not know their history are bound to repeat it", but " the genius of the Jewish people is their reverence for memory" resonated in the saying, "All of history is His story"---so, let us circle the tents discerning personal experiences with "a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" at Apostle John's camp ground on the bible gospel verse, "of true worshippers---shall worship in spirit and in truth" to discover more of our shared mountain experience, saying our evening prayer [known as the last Psalm of the Old Testament and the first Psalm of the New Testament, the Magnificat is prayed every night in the evening prayer, in honor of Christ Jesus]: