| Inspirational Insights: Mountaintop experiences |
By: Pastor Bill Nelsen
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Posted: Thursday, July 23, 2009 10:01 am
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By the time this pastoral message appears my wife and I will be in New Orleans, La. with high school youths from the two churches we serve, Trinity Lutheran, rural Le Sueur and St. Paul’s Lutheran, Gaylord. We will be attending the National Lutheran Youth Gathering with 35,000 other youth and adult advisers from around the United States of America.
Worship services with inspirational speakers and contemporary Christian singing groups will be held in the Louisiana Superdome. Though we will be on very low land in New Orleans, I believe that for many of the youth in attendance this National Gathering will be a “mountaintop experience.”
When people speak of a “mountaintop experience” they usually refer to an event in life that produces memorable spiritual renewal or enrichment, sometimes a truly life-changing event. Indeed, sometimes these experiences do take place on mountaintops. I remember a life-enriching week spent with my family at a Christian retreat center called Holden Village, located high in the Cascade Mountains in the state of Washington, where we joined other families to study the Bible, discuss important topics of faith and life, take hikes on beautiful mountain trails, and gather each evening for inspirational worship. I can still recall the spiritual strengths that grew from that special experience.
Yet, spiritual renewal and enrichment do not always require a “mountaintop experience.” Reading a particular Bible passage, hearing an inspirational story in a sermon, joining with others in singing a traditional hymn or a new song of praise, praying with someone about an important life matter-any or all of these moments may produce deep spiritual enrichment and change. May God grant you such moments of spiritual renewal, whether you are in a large gathering of people in a dome or arena, attending a worship service in your church, walking through a field on a beautiful sunny day, or praying in the quiet of your home.
Rev. Bill Nelsen is pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church, rural Le Sueur. He can be reached at 507/931-4024 or 507/327-2149.
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