Come Let's Go Up To The Mountain

During my time at New Life Church I was spending early morning hours in prayer, fasting, and I was seeking to hear God’s voice.  Out of that pursuit I received something I did not ask for or expect…dreams.

Here is an example.

I dreamed I was in Nashville, at Belmont Church, at the KOINONIA Bookstore and Coffee House.  I could hear a song coming from the small performance stage on the coffee house side of the building.  I had played music on that little stage many times. As I walked into the front door, the bookstore side of the building seemed to grow and the bookshelves seemed to grow taller.  I remember even thinking in my dream, “I don’t remember the bookstore being this big.”  The bookshelves became a sort of labyrinth. I followed the music and eventually came around a set of shelves to where the stage should be.

Instead of the small raised carpeted platform nestled in the corner where the two red brick walls met, there was just a floor. Windows were letting in light where the brick wall should have been.  Sitting cross-legged in a circle on the floor were about a dozen people, singing.

They looked a bit like college-aged neo-hippie types.  They had their eyes closed. Some were swaying to the music a bit. Some one was playing a djembe.  The guitar player and main singer of the group looked a bit out of place.  He was portly, in his 50’s, had a grey gotee and feathered grey hair over his collar.

What first attracted me to the song was the rhythm.  It was a slow rolling 4 with triplets on the beat (or, more precisely, it was in 6/8 time…1-2-3-4-5-6-2-2-3-4-5-6.)

I came to the circle and listened to the repeated lyric:

Come let’s go up to the mountain. Come let’s go up to the Lord

Come let’s go up to the mountain. He will teach us His ways.

It was from Micah 4:2, Many nations will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

And me being me (even in my dreams) I begin to “debate” with the faceless someone who was standing next to me, “You see? This is what I’m talking about. Everybody wants to run-up to the mountain to get away from their troubles and responsibilities. I want God’s presence down in the valley. That is where I spend my time.  I work in a dark crevasse and I need Him down there.”  My faceless dream companion didn’t respond. We just stood there and listened to those two lines over and over.

The next day I woke up. I think I may have vaguely remembered that dream for a while but by the time I was done with my shower, it was gone.

That evening we had worship band practice.  We were at the church building, on the stage, goofing off a bit before we actually got started.  Rick Evans came to us and said, “Let’s listen to this new song. Chris, I think you’ll be able to play this.”  Rick popped in the CD and a single violin began to play a-tempo.  Then it began to pick up into a kind of “jig” feel. Finally the band came in with a slow rolling 4 with triplets on the beat.

Next, a young woman began to sing:

Nations will be flowing to Zion
When they see the house of the Lord
Running to His peaceful kingdom
Shouting they lay down their swords

Come let's go up to the mountain
Come let's Go up to the Lord
Come let's go up to the mountain
He will teach us His ways

It started with a strange feeling of familiarity. Then the whole dream flooded back.  I began to play along.  The notes were there, the feel was there. The song was a natural fit for me.

I can’t remember who I said this to (maybe Michael Collins) but I said as nonchalantly as I could:

ME: I really liked this song the first time I heard it.

MICHAEL: When was that?

ME: Last night in my dream.

Come Let’s Go Up to the Mountain became an important song in New Life for a time.  It seemed to release people to dance, and I don’t mean the small Pentecostal Pogo either, I mean full attempts at ballet sweeping across the room.

I saw a video performance of the song a couple of years later where I recognized that portly grey-haired goteed guitar player from my dream, Don Potter.

chris