When I’m wearing my musician hat, I’m often handed music that has some passages which are pretty tricky–at least, for me. So I’m always glad when the conductor says, “Let’s try Letter ‘K’ again”; or, if not, then I may raise my hand and ask for another run at the offending passage. Sooner or later, I get it–or at least come close! Lessons to be heard on the upcoming weekend re-assure the hearer that God is a God of Second Chances–that it’s OK to screw up and try again. And again. And again.
JOSHUA 5:9-12 is a short passage, yet a watershed moment. The Israelites have arrived at the land of Canaan, and are desert wanderers no more. From this time on, the daily manna ceased, and they were able to eat locally. God has safely brought them across the Jordan and has instituted another chance for a new people renewed and tempered by the desert. These people are given a new identity, away from the horrors of the wilderness and the hopelessness of being Egyptian slaves. Contemporary arrivals at the Land of Plenty will do well to remember the brokenness of yesterday as they celebrate that which is before them as Children of God…
The words of St. Paul as expressed in II CORINTHIANS 5:16-21 are meaty with renewal and reconciliation. What jumped out at me was the phrase, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!” “Passed away” doesn’t mean forgotten: we’re painfully aware of how we’ve missed the mark. BUT there’s hope! Hope for the wretched refuse of our surrounding community. Hope for ourselves, that we may see and be seen “differently”. A realized hope that God-in-Christ has already created a Kingdom of Renewal even within us!
LUKE’s Gospel remembrance (15:1-3, 11-32) is the familiar story of the Prodigal Son–or is it the Prodigious Father? All of us have in some way emulated the second son, wasting our resources on stuff that evaporates with tomorrow’s dawn. Can we ever go home again? YES, says the story! The Father has left the light on and the door unlocked, realizing that his wayward offspring will someday “come to himself” and shuffle brokenly home… As the song says, “There’s an empty chair at home sweet home when the world goes back on you…” God dreams of the wholeness of ALL the family, that we can function together in kindness and acceptance.
The task, then, for the Church is to tell the hurting and the hesitant that they’re important to God’s wholeness; to invite them in to the feast; to make sure that the absent know that they have a good robe waiting and the signet-ring of God. The visible kingdom isn’t perfect yet–but the Great Conductor pauses the music for a bit in order that the passage may be refined: “Once more, then, from the top!”
In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King
Come join me at horacebrownking.com every Tuesday as we unpack the scripture to be read on the upcoming weekend.
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