Stepping Into Tomorrow, One Foot in Yesterday

The Journey is important.  We may never arrive at The Destination, even if we know where that is.  Honest worshipers must admit that they’re somewhere On Their Way, perhaps even a bit further than the last cairn marked; but new adventures and crises are daily fare.  The Season of Lent accentuates our pilgrimage:  called to put our hand in that of God, we step out confidently into the Cloud of Unknowing–just as did those who mentored us.  Scriptures explored this weekend refer to the robustness of the Journey…Come along?

The Hebrews had finally reached the Land of Canaan:  what would this new place hold for them?  Joshua 5:9-12 announces the end of their “Egyptian disgrace” of slavery and desert life, while reminding this People that God isn’t yet done with them.  Indeed, it’s virtuous to remember from whence we came, especially in times of new beginnings.   The journey has been arduous, but now we’re HERE!  But where are we, really?  Wise travelers know that the present earthly haven, no matter how pleasant, is but a base-camp for new vistas and horizons.

Paul has new glasses.  “From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once know Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.  So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”  (II Corinthians 5:16-17)   Lent directs us away from our previous astigmatism to an appreciation of how God is transforming others–even THEM.  If Christ is the savior of the world, how then can ANYone be outside his reach?  If there’s hope for the villains of our Past, why then should there not be hope for US who are newly arrived at the Promised Land?

The Parable of the Prodigal Son/Father (Luke 15:11ff) may lull us into familiarity–but there are some who are hearing this heavenly grace for the first time.  The narrator can’t improve on the story–it’s well told–but can lean on the idea of a God who yearns for the family to be again complete.  Part of that yearning is an admission of separation, knowing that most disciples have skeletons in their closets which should be wept over from time to time.  See how far we’ve come?  “Perhaps the parable can speak to us now of the joy of God in welcoming back a chastened, humiliated Christian church…to enjoy again the original inheritance of the gospel of grace.”  (Martin L. Smith, in SOJOURNERS, March 2019:49)

Ancient Hebrews and more modern Christians are not tourists:  the wilderness is harsh and brutal.  The Good News is that not only has God provided  daily sustenance, but also a sense of procession towards a Holy Place.  John Wesley spoke of being on the way to perfection:  even though the trail is littered with tarnished treasures,  our Journey approaches a homeland, day by day.

God Bless Us, Every One                                       Horace Brown King

My encounter with bible passages assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com