Recognising our limitations

THE old song invites us to ‘Climb every mountain, Ford every stream, Follow every rainbow, ‘Till you find your dream.’

Well we didn’t climb every mountain but we forded plenty of streams and we were blessed by some beautiful rainbows AND we managed Scotland’s ‘Cardinal Munros’ – that is the ones lying at the four points of the compass. These are Ben Hope, the furthest north of the Munros, Sgurr na Banachdich, the most westerly of the summits, Ben Lomond the most southerly one and Mount Keen, the furthest east of Scotland’s 282 highest mountains.

Immediate responses? 1 Scotland is a stunningly beautiful country. 2 In Scotland it rains a lot! 3 The midge is the most dreaded creature on the planet! 4 Most importantly, it is good when God’s people come together to pray.

This Prayer Journey was part of the Week of Prayer for Church and Country which ran from August 17 to 22. In calling for such a week, it seemed to me that in a time of heightened anxiety, with none of us sure what the pandemic has in store next, that it would be good to make time to listen for the ‘still, small voice’ of the One who has promised to guide us through even the most uncertain times.

Each day of that week, there were morning reflections and online evening gatherings. The format allowed people from all parts to come together and the week would have worked fine if that was the extent of it.

But as a keen mountaineer, I’d always been struck by the gospel references to Jesus going to the mountains to pray: ‘Soon afterwards, Jesus went up a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night.’

(Luke 6:12)

So given that my Moderatorial year has thus far been restricted to sitting in front of a computer screen, I jumped at the opportunity to go to the mountains to pray as part of this special week. Joining me were Gregor McIntyre, one of my chaplains, and Richard Begg, a Church of Scotland minister presently serving as an army chaplain.

Of course you don’t have to go anywhere to pray; you can pray anytime, anywhere and about anything. But the three of us can report that there was something very moving about praying for the Church and for all of the country from these high places.

It seems to me that the nature of our prayer right now should principally be about humbling ourselves before God; ‘If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face…’ (2nd Chron 7:14) Covid-19 has reminded us of our frailty – that we’re not all-powerful or invincible.

Less of ourselves and more reliance on God would be no bad outcome of this season.

This came home to me forcefully on the isle of Skye. The weather was atrocious and with our heads down, we missed a key turning on our route and so found ourselves in a much trickier spot than should have been the case. We made the common sense, safety-first decision to turn around before getting to the summit. There was no point in putting ourselves at risk when our principal purpose was to pray, not to stand on the top.

The mountains don’t always give themselves up easily; sometimes it’s a matter of being humble, recognising our limitations.

Might humbling ourselves before the One who inhabits the highest of heights and the depths of the seas be what is required of us right now?

The Rt Rev Dr Martin Fair is Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in 2020/21 and is minister at Arbroath: St Andrew’s.

This article appears in the October 2020 Issue of Life and Work

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