There’ll Be Some Changes Made

Eliza Doolittle, the waif flower seller, sings “Just you wait, ‘enry ‘iggins, just you wait! You’ll be broke and I’ll have money; will I help you? Don’t be funny!…Just. you. wait!” She looked for a radical reversal of fortunes–just like so many of us do. Wistful thinking? To be sure. Yet this is an acknowledgement that the world’s systems need to be reformed. Some extremists will affirm that there’s NOTHING good in this world–but yet God created, and called it “good”. Scripture to be read on the upcoming weekend explores the belief that God’s ultimate will is for the refinement of the broken, for the healing of the world…

We begin with the Song of Hannah, I SAMUEL 2:1-10: after much prayer and waiting, Hannah the barren has become pregnant, and her life is changed from mourning to anticipation! “Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth….(YHWH) lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes.” You may wish to compare this with The Magnificat (Luke 1:46 ff), Mary’s song upon knowing that she was pregnant with Jesus. Both of these hymns acknowledge that AT LAST God is making a move by bearing holy persons into an out-of-balance culture. Michael Pasquarello III writes, “the vision of reality sung by Hannah invites us to see the world as God intends, to behold what God is bringing about. It is a vision that may sound surprising to some and may even be threatening for others.” (FEASTING on the WORD, B 4:299)

We continue to read the Letter to the HEBREWS, today in Chapter 10: 11-25. The author is glimpsing the New Order which pertains under the priesthood of Christ. The verses which skip out at me are the final ones: “And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Evidently we who would be members of the New Order are urged to participate in these changes as they progress.

Following MARK’s carefully developed scheme, vv.13:1-8 tells that Jesus and his pals have finally arrived at Jerusalem just before Passover. The Galileans are rubbernecking at the big buildings, especially the Temple–Herod the Great made sure that this bastion of the nation was mightily constructed. The Lord told them to put all this in perspective: “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon the other; all will be thrown down.” Some will say that he was foretelling the Roman invasion of 67 AD; many will say that he was referring to his body as “the Temple”…or did he mean that even this human-built national centrepiece was vulnerable as a New Day dawns?? There WILL be some changes made! Who will remain faithful? Who will endure the necessary devastation of the Now for the improvement coming?

As we approach Advent–the Season for New Things–I appreciate this carol from Finland, here translated by Olav Lee…. Lost in the night doth the heathen yet languish, longing for morning the darkness to vanquish, plaintively heaving a sigh full of anguish: will not day come soon? Will not day come soon?? Sorrowing brother, in darkness yet dwelling, dawned hath the day of a radiance excelling, death’s dreaded darkness forever dispelling; Christ is coming soon! Christ is coming soon!

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

My complacency is challenged every Tuesday at horacebrownking.com by lessons intended to be read during worship on the upcoming weekend.