{"id":248,"date":"2022-11-30T14:32:50","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T14:32:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/2022\/11\/29\/fire-on-the-mountain\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T20:02:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T20:02:42","slug":"fire-on-the-mountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.valpo.edu\/devotionals\/fire-on-the-mountain\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire on the Mountain"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sometime in the last year I read Fire on the Mountain <\/em>by Terry Bisson \u2013 an alternate-history novel. The one changed piece of history that sets everything on a different course is: Harriet Tubman was able to be there with the abolitionist John Brown for his 1859 raid at Harper\u2019s Ferry. Her wisdom changes everything, and instead of being a deadly failure, the raid is successful. The band of abolitionists makes its escape into the Blue Ridge mountains with stolen weapons to use in the cause of freeing the slaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The novel speaks from the point-of-view of a 12-year-old boy who is enslaved near Harper\u2019s Ferry. He and the others on the farm are trying to make sense of the raid. The gossip lines are lighting up, the word \u201cfreedom\u201d hangs tantalizingly in the air \u2013 and yet they are terrified to speak above a whisper, because, after all, their masters still hold them in slavery, and such talk is dangerous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The boy remembers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a granny woman at Green Gables, and she said that God would send a sign of deliverance, a fire on the mountain. Sure enough, as soon as it got darker we saw it, blazing like a star that had come down and landed right on top of the ridge. All the talking stopped. All you could hear was wood and leather hinges creaking and children being hushed as everybody came out of the cabins and stood there watching, watching, watching. \u201cFire on the mountain,\u201d the granny woman said. \u201cThey up there sharpening they swords.\u201d Then she said that word again: freedom.<\/em>1<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From down in the valley, the people who are enslaved look up to the mountains, where they see that fire and know that the people gathered around it are fighting for them. It makes them hopeful. It makes them stronger. It makes them prepare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advent and Christmas are filled with words from the book of Isaiah. Quotations fill not only pulpits, but also Advent liturgy and Christmas carols and decorations and even the Bible stories about Jesus\u2019 birth. \u201cFor a child has been born for us, a son given to us\u2026\u201d (Isaiah 9:6)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These prophetic words are like a fire on a mountain.<\/strong> At the time they were first written the people of Israel were dealing with political conflict and impending war, followed by violence, the destruction of their capital city and the Temple, and finally exile. God\u2019s people were surrounded by hopelessness; it was during this time that people wrote the book of Lamentations and some of the most tragic psalms. Yet in those very moments of deepest darkness, God lit a fire on a mountain:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them\u2026They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord\u2026\u201d (Isaiah 11:6-9).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSay to those who are of a fearful heart, \u2018Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God. He will come with vengeance, with terrible recompense. He will come and save you\u201d (Isaiah 35:4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cComfort, O comfort my people, says your God\u2026A voice cries out: \u2018In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord\u2026\u2019\u201d (Isaiah 40:1, 3).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isaiah\u2019s words are not only for solace \u2013 not \u201cThere, there,\u201d and a pat on the back \u2013 not \u201cpie in the sky in the great by-and-by.\u201d They are what the Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann calls transformative solidarity<\/em> \u2013 \u201ca powerful intervention that creates new possibilities.\u201d2 <\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The words of hope are powerful because it is God doing the speaking and God doing the intervening. <\/strong>God: the only one more powerful than the forces of this world that keep us down; God: the only one more powerful than our own despair.3<\/sup> These words are God\u2019s Word to us, God\u2019s policy towards us, God\u2019s promise for us. God has bound God\u2019s self to us with these words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we hear these words, we might imagine a fire on a mountain \u2013 the presence of God, working for our good even when God seems so far away. A burning bush that will catch the attention of a future liberator (Exodus 3). The Spirit that will give disciples the power to speak to those different from them (Acts 2:1-12). The refining flame that will melt away wrongdoing (Malachi 3). A pillar of fire that lights our way when we must journey through the darkness (Exodus 13:17-22). The light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness does not overcome it (John 1:5).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I lift up my eyes to the hills \u2013 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From where will my help come?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My help comes from the Lord,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who made heaven and earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He will not let your foot be moved;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He who keeps you will not slumber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He who keeps Israel<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will neither slumber nor sleep. (Psalm 121:1-4).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

+++<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastor Kate<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastor Kate<\/a>\u00a0and Pastor Jim<\/a> take turns writing weekly devotions for the Chapel of the Resurrection. Contact them here:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

pastorkate.youcanbook.me<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

pastorjim.youcanbook.me<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1<\/sup> Terry Bisson, Fire on the Mountain<\/em>, (Oakland: PM Press, 2009), p. 28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2<\/sup> Walter Brueggemann, Isaiah 40-66<\/em>, (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1998), p. 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3<\/sup> Brueggemann, p. 20-21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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