Mountains become Sanctuary...

Mountains become Sanctuary

Mountains can be obstacles on a journey however, they can be holy places where one can encounter God. They can be sanctuaries. In its original context the word sanctuary meant a holy place. Thus the place in our church where we find the altar is called a sanctuary. In our faith traditions, mountains were places where the presence of God was found. We see in the Old Testament, Moses encounters the burning bush on Mt. Horeb and God tells him that he is standing on holy ground. It was on Mt. Sinai that Moses received the Ten Commandments. In the Gospels, mountains (sometimes referred to as mounts) were places where important things happened. The Sermon on the Mount, the Mount of Olives where Jesus prays before his passion and the mountain where Satan takes Jesus during temptation in the desert are just a few examples.

On my first trip to Haiti, traveling up Goat Mountain didn’t seem like I was going to a sanctuary, a holy place. There were boulders to navigate around and large holes to avoid or go through. A vehicle was stopped and there were a number of people trying to help get it started to clear the road. But on top of that mountain and beyond into the towns as we traveled you could see great beauty in the landscape and in the people of Haiti. In retrospect, the people we passed on that mountain were a blessing to those whose vehicle had broken down. In beauty we find God and anywhere we find God, we find sanctuary.

Journeys are not always easy to travel and mountains are not always easy to climb. Our journey to God is not always easy. If we find others with whom we can travel, our journeys are easier, mountains, actual or symbolic, become easier to climb. Our experience of God is more complete because we traveled together and we encountered God together.

There are different types of mountains in Haiti. We travel together with the people of Haiti and it makes it easier for us and them to climb the mountains of God and experience sanctuary.