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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Revd Sharon Grenham-Thompson

It’s no coincidence, I think, that we often describe our greatest moments in life as mountain-top experiences. I’ve climbed each of the so-called Three Peaks in the UK - Snowden, Scafell Pike and Ben Nevis – and each one was a triumph as far as I was concerned. Particularly as a novice, I had to conquer far more than the physical demands of the walk to each summit – I found overcoming my fear of heights even more challenging. But that only made the achievement more exhilarating!

Mountaineers far more experienced than me will attest to their own version of the same thing – a Sherpa who made repeated ascents of Everest described summiting as like ‘stumbling into heaven’.

In times and cultures different to mine a mountain may be seen as the home of the deity, or even divine itself. In the Bible, God is often to be encountered on a mountain top – Moses receiving the law on Mount Sinai, Elijah defending his faith on Mount Carmel, Jesus seemingly transfigured on Mount Tabor. Monasteries and retreats have been built on top of mountains from Tibet to Tuscany.

Even if we live, as I do, in one of the flattest parts of the UK, knowing those mountains are there is comforting somehow. We may not consider that a deity lives in the sky, but the majesty of several thousand feet of rock still speaks to us of solidity, eternity, changelessness. In this uncertain world those are values worth discovering for ourselves, whether in religious faith or personal philosophy.

So God of Peace whatever personal mountain we climb each day, may we take comfort from knowing that even our struggle can bring us to a place of peace and transformation, a fleeting moment of heaven under the sky.

Amen.