We are coming to the end of our Epiphany exploration of the
Christmas carol Go Tell it on the
Mountain. We’ve seen how mountains are the perfect location for proclaiming
news, and that God very often breaks into our day to day lives. It doesn’t
matter if we are shepherds or CEO’s if we are aware we could feel the brush of
angels’ wings and hear their song. And we’ve been reminded that just as the
lowly manger held God, so our human bodies also have that image imprinted on
us. Our lives are meant to seek and serve the God of Love.
The final verse of the carol Go Tell it on the Mountain says, “He made me a watchman/Upon the
city wall,/And if I am a Christian,/I am the least of all.” This recalls
several citations in the Bible. Ezekiel 3:17-19 says, “Son of man, I have made
you a watchman to the house of Israel…hear the word of my mount and give them
warning.” Isaiah also notes, “I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem. Who
shall never hold their peace day or night.” (Isaiah 62:6)
Jesus also states, “keep watch, because you do not know the
day on which your Lord will come…If the owner of the house had known in which
watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not
have let his house be broken into.” (Matthew 24:42-43)
The word ‘watch’ is derived from Old English and pertains to
‘remaining awake’. So in order to be a watch-man (or woman) you have to stay
awake and alert.
It is, as Caela Wood notes in d365.org too easy to be distracted, “I have a difficult time staying present in each
moment of my day. Maybe you know what I’m talking about? I wait in line to buy
lunch but instead of paying attention to the room I’m in, I scroll through
Facebook or respond to a text. I chop vegetables for dinner but I’m actually
miles away thinking about what I need to get done tomorrow.”
She goes on to note, “those moments when I’m actually really
truly there — those moments feel special. Holy. When I look at the face of
someone I love and notice their smile. When I set aside my worries at bedtime
and just breathe for a few moments before falling asleep. When I push my body
to complete a new task that requires my full concentration. In those moments, I
am Peter on the mountain with Jesus. I want to stay in the moment. It is good
to be here — wherever “here” is.”
What sort of things distract you from being truly aware of
what’s happening around you? Do you ever find yourself on auto-pilot during the
day and wonder what happened when you were zoned out? How can you make yourself
more aware of God acting in your day-to-day activities?
The Old Testament citations from Isaiah and Ezekiel insist
that we should not only be awake and aware, we must also proclaim what we hear
from God. We need to tell out the Good News of God. The song says, “Go, Tell It
On The Mountain,/Over the hills and everywhere;/That Jesus Christ is born.”
As we head into Lent, we need to tell not just about the
Birth, but also the Life and Death and Resurrection of the One we call Lord. We
need to tell what God does in our lives each and every day. We can only do that
when we are awake and aware of God’s actions in our lives and in the lives of
those around us.
And so we come full circle and return to the proclamation in
Isaiah 40:9 “You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high
mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift up your voice with a
shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, ‘Here is
your God!’
How can you ‘tell the good news’? Who will you tell it to?
Next week, we’ll start a new Lent series. 