1. Which Mountain? Peter Fitch, St. Croix Vineyard Sunday, June 12, 2016

2. Psalm 42 As the deer pants or the water brook so My soul pants for You, O God... Deep calls to deep at the sound Of Your waterfalls...

3. Longing for Zion from Mount Hermon

4. Tears... Where is your God? For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, with the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival...

5. Two different visions of religion Northern Kingdom (931 BC) didn’t want to be religiously dependent on Jerusalem Jeroboam II created a new religion, mixing the worship of Yahweh with the Baal worship that was popular in the land Allowed anyone who wanted to become a priest (1 Kings 13:33-34) Judah, in the South, remained loyal to Yahweh

6. Lost in the North A worshipper of Yahweh longs for the freedom to visit Jerusalem, to join in the great festivals at Mount Zion, but he is stuck in the North, near Mount Hermon People keep taunting him... “where is your God?” For him, God is in the South, in a vision of pure religion from the point of view of the writers of Scripture

7. There’s always been a spectrum Clement _____________________ Tertullian or of Alexandria Cyprian

8. Voices Left and Right Clement: all truth is God’s truth; philosophy useful and God used it to prepare the Greek world for Christ Tertullian: “What has Jerusalem to do with Athens, the Church with the Academy, the Christian with the heretic?” Cyprian: There is no salvation outside the Church

9. God of... Popular culture, or... Of pure Biblical vision? A lot of people are sure they know, the lines are drawn, there are good guys and bad guys Exclusion reigns Andrew Smith’s song, “Holy War” Zoe’s song, “Me and the Coupland Kids”

10. But Jesus is not like this He has a conversation with a woman in the North, in Samaria, and she asks a similar question Should we worship on Mount Gerizim, where our people worship, or should we try to get to Jerusalem, to the Temple on Mount Zion?

11. John 4:19-26 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

12. John 4:19-26 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

13. John 4:19-26 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

14. Jesus Models what it would look like to accept people as they are, without ethnic, gender, moral or religious bigotry Also, without trying to convert them to one’s own particular religion or belief Rather, He affirms that the God of All People is looking for people who will simply worship “in spirit and in truth” He does affirm that “salvation is from the Jews” but He doesn’t ask her to convert...

15. Which mountain is right? Maybe neither and maybe both The mountain of “everything equal” has some problems So does the mountain of “pure Biblical religion” Jesus doesn’t represent the kind of exclusivity His followers sometimes do

16. No More Us/Them Thinking Peter Rollins on Galatians 3:28 (In Christ, there is no Jew/Greek, slave/free, male/female) No ethnic, no economic, no gender distinctions Matthew’s parable of a wedding feast where someone isn’t dressed properly—holding on to the old way of thinking

17. A Third Way: Jesus Himself--a new kind of Mountain He models welcome and acceptance for all honest and humble people He does what He can to help without demanding that they change He encourages them to believe that God loves them as they are and that they are free to live a new quality of life as they participate with His Spirit

19. Brian Doerksen’s Psalm 121 and Shirley I lift my eyes up, to the mountains, where does my help come from? My help comes from You, Maker of heaven, Creator of the earth O, how I need You Lord, You’re my only hope, You’re my only prayer So I will wait for you to come and rescue me, Come and give me life