“When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God upon this mountain!” (Ex. 3:12).
When Moses encountered God at the burning bush, as he does in our reading tonight, God laid out an agenda. Moses was to return to Egypt and lead the People of Israel out of slavery. The immediate destination was Mount Horeb or Sinai, where the People were to worship God. God also promised to bring the People into their own land, in the country of the Canaanites: the land that had been promised in the time of Abraham, as a part of the covenant. At the head of the agenda, however, is the stop at the mountain for worship.
This significant agenda item is part of a larger pattern. When God called their ancestor Abraham to leave his home and journey forth, Abraham got going, not knowing the destination (as the Letter to the Hebrews tells us: Heb. 11:8). But when he paused in the journey, at Shechem, God revealed that Abraham was to possess the land on which he was standing. God says, “To your offspring I will give this land” (Gen. 12:7). Then we’re told, “So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him” (Gen. 12:7).
That’s the significant pattern: at each point where God reveals the agenda, Abraham (and later others) pause and build an altar. When he moves on from Shechem to Bethel, Abraham builds a new altar and invokes the name of the Lord (Gen. 12:8). “Rise up,” God then says, “walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I will give it to you” (Gen. 13:17). So Abraham moves on to Hebron in the south, where once again (yes!) he builds an altar to the Lord.
The command to worship God on the mountain in our reading tonight fits into this larger plan. When Moses leads the People out of slavery, the first stop is Sinai. As that story unfolds, Moses builds an altar at the foot of the mountain before ascending into the cloud and fire on the summit. There instructions for worship in the sanctuary are given; the commandments and laws are given; and God reveals himself in glory. God draws near to the People.
Altars are places of sacrifice, where offerings are made; and the ultimate point of worship and sacrifice under both covenants is to bring reconciliation and peace. St. Augustine wrote centuries ago that “The true sacrifice is offered in every act which is designed to unite us to God in holy fellowship” (City of God 10.6). Christ’s sacrifice of himself on the cross is the sacrifice that reconciles us to God, and brings peace and justice. In Jesus, God has drawn near to us. He does what the old sacrifices could not do in any perfect sense, because Jesus offering of himself is itself the action of God.
The altar we dedicate today connects us in a holy mystery to the sacrifice of Christ himself. “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matt. 26:27-28), Jesus says at the last supper; and Christians have continued to partake in this reconciling sacrifice “in remembrance” of him. Augustine reminds us that when we come to the altar we too are sacrificed, offered to God through the offering of Christ the great high priest himself. In the sacrament celebrated here, we’re united to God in holy fellowship, in the body of Christ which is the Church.
Remember this about the pattern we see exemplified in our first reading: the People of God under Abraham and Moses keep moving. God’s agenda is lived out in pilgrimage, as the Church goes forth to do her work. Jesus says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19). “Go” is the key word under both covenants. Our pattern is to get moving in obedience to God’s command; to move into the promised land and there to build an altar to the Lord. The whole redeemed community journeys forward in response to God’s command.
Jesus sends us out in mission, but we begin with worship. Tonight we dedicate this altar and worship God, offering all we are in response to what God has done for us. Here we offer the sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving for the reconciling work of Christ, who has redeemed us and made us his own. “The true sacrifice is offered in every act which is designed to unite us to God in holy fellowship” (City of God 10.6). May we be united to God is that holy fellowship, and move forward together in the mission that Jesus has given us.