Worship Theme – Rocks and Water

During the three weeks of this worship theme we explore the stories of Rocks and Water in the life of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus.

Our opening greeting is from Psalm 98:8-9

Order the rivers to clap their hands,

and all of the hills to sing together.

All: Let them worship the Lord!

Water stories allude to life giving and flowing out.  The stories of rivers and seas and water coming from rock show how God saves. God’s power controls the water.  Water is powerful in mysterious ways.

We begin this theme with a week of stories about Moses.  From a babe hidden in the reeds beside the Nile River, to the parting of the Red Sea, God showed His saving power in the life of Moses.

We join in Moses and Miriam’s song in praise of the God who saved them from slavery and the pursuing Egyptian army.

Typically we use rocks to talk about strength and rivers to speak of fluidity.  Rocks also depict security and solidity.  Sometimes the rocks in these stories are mountains.  Mountains are strong places where we can be high up, close to God. The mountain places in these stories are places where we see God’s holiness and God’s protection.

Moses came to Horeb, the mountain of God.  And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. Exodus 3:2.  At the same mountain, hundreds of years later, Elijah spoke with God. 1 Kings 19.

In the final week of this theme, all three persons, Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, come together at the transfiguration of Christ.  “Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.  And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.  And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.” (English Standard Version, Matthew 17:1-3)

Each of these people knew that a mountain was a good place to talk with God.  Quiet and in God’s creation.

Do you have a special place where you go to talk with God?