Our church’s current book-study is Barbara Brown Taylor’s LEARNING TO WALK IN THE DARK. Her main idea is that we hide in too much light, and that we should learn to welcome the dark. Some are fortunate to see darkness as an option; for too many, it’s mandatory. Scriptures of the coming weekend may well speak to those entering dim and uncharted territory: those involved have been surprised by unpleasant situations and are urged to enter the valley with hope that God will meet them there. Some things can’t be avoided or put off until tomorrow…
The Old Testament, Genesis 22:1-14, is difficult. Abraham is sure that God has told him to sacrifice his son Isaac, the long-awaited progenitor of the promised multitude of descendants. Our culture rejects child sacrifice, and can’t really believe that GOD told Abraham this. Some current Christians will link this event to the sacrifice of God’s son Jesus; I don’t want to profane the Crucifixion with the attachment of human process to the God above human emotions. At any rate, a ram/lamb was discovered and the substitution was made. Abraham famously said, “God Will Provide!”
In the Letter to the Romans, 6:12-23, Paul argues that all persons are “slaves” to something–we may speak of compulsions or addictions–and that whatever interior darkness we may have is a result of exterior situations. “But thanks be to God,” says he, “that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” Again he sets forth a binary choice between Good & Evil, Darkness & Light, God-centered or self-centered. The greater argument of the entire section is that God has provided a change in our slavery through Jesus the Christ.
In the dryness of the Mid-East, cool water is a limited, if not sacred, commodity. Small wonder, then, that Jesus speaks of risky hospitality to his missionaries: “whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple” will not forfeit their just desserts. We’re reminded of the spectators at a long-distance run who offer water-bottles to the competitors as they dash past. And last Friday, one of the several daily appeals in my mailbox described severe Navaho life in the desert of New Mexico as the tribe eagerly awaited the life-giving water buffalo. Could I not give my symbolic cup? Often God’s Providence is partnered with human means of hospitality.
Bill Gifford interjects that “sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is New Jersey!” And even there, the People of God are urged to demonstrate their trust in God’s Providence by stepping forth in tenderness and compassion…. Besides, who knows what sort of blessing we may receive from the humble and dark-bound as we entertain angels unaware??
In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King
My encounter with lessons assigned to the upcoming weekend can be marked every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com
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