On our recent holiday in The Lake District, we climbed Great Gable. The Westmorland Cairn at one side of the rocky summit of the mountain was a special place for my Grandparents and my aunts. Standing there overlooking Wasdale and, when the mist allowed, looking across to Scafell Pike I was reunited with past generations while also remembering the occasions when I took first one and then, couple of years later the other of my children to the top of England’s highest mountain. For me, on a blowy day, Great Gable afforded a poignant reconnection with various pasts as I stood there with those same two children, now grown up and with lives and homes of their own.
The Westmorland cairn was built by the Westmorland Brothers in 1876 who felt the view from the crag was one the finest in The Lake District. I would not argue. A little way from it and more central to summit is the Memorial Cairn built by the Members of the Westmorland Climbing Club to commemorate those of their number who died during World War I; it too is a moving sight with its inscription speaking of comradeship and sacrifice out of sight of all except those prepared to make the reasonably arduous climb to see it.
Compared to other parts of the world our mountains barely signify, being small, and yet they evoke much for those of us who love them.
Today’s Psalm, no 111 looks back to the Exodus wanderings and refers to the great acts of redemption that are God’s gift to his people. The people had journeyed far and entered their Promised Land. It had been an arduous journey and whilst a day’s mountain hike is nothing to forty years of tough slog, the contrast between hard work and the reward of achievement is still real. In all cases, however great the achievement and however wonderful the view, still the gift from God to us of our redemption towers over everything.
Coincidentally, the path up to Great Gable is named Moses Trod and as I trudged up it, I remembered the words of a hymn. It is not in Singing the Faith, but you can find it in Hymns and Psalms at 822. The last verse of Isaac Watts’s ‘There is a land of pure delight’ goes like this:
“Could we but climb where Moses stood,
And view the landscape o’er,
Not Jordan’s stream, nor death’s cold flood,
Should fright us from the shore!”
There is a place for bringing together past and present and giving thanks, hopefully, for faith in what is yet to be.
A Prayer
Loving God, we thank you for special places, especially those that let us pause to reflect on the point of life, love, and faith. We thank you for journeys and for the unmeasurable breadth of your love for us and the grandeur of our Redemption because of what Jesus did. May we never forget. Amen.