Patience?! But I Want it NOW!

I got it from my mother. This tendency to anticipate the Bad Things happening even in the best of times. Her family said that “she could find a cloud for every silver lining”. The people I hang out with tell me that I, too, am a cynic. (Maybe that’s why not many people will hang out with me.) Texts to be heard this weekend are pretty vague, but the thread running through them is that God’s In Charge, no matter what!

We begin with the prophet ISAIAH of Babylon, 44:6-8. Here is a present God telling them/us, “Do not fear, or be afraid…” Well, why not? They’re in a foreign pagan country, their Temple and all the culture it stood for has been trashed. Can this nation, “broken beyond recognition be born again?” (Heather Murray Elkins, FEASTING on the WORD, A 3:243) Evidently the Right will prevail, as we wait out the fulfilment of God’s Creation. Thank heaven for stories Old & New of restoration, all in God’s time.

Paul’s Letter to the ROMANS, 8:12-25, is filled with ideas of the New Creation. “Children of God” will not inherit the trite and the tawdry, but the perfection which lies ahead. We don’t yet know what this looks like: “For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we [should] wait for it with patience.” What we see is NOT what we get! This frees us, then, to be the alternative to the weedy society which continues to churn out headlines of death & destruction. If I live in the hope of a New World coming, I can dare the slings & arrows of misfortune. Our present age is one in which the Church can and should protest the prevailing culture’s destructive ways of militarism and the worship of money!

You probably remember Jesus’ story (MATTHEW 13:24-30) about the fella who planted premium seed in his field, but then in the night some creep sowed weeds there, too? The hired men wanted to pull them out right away, but the owner told them to wait until maturity, because if they acted now, some of the good plants would also be destroyed. The analogy recognizes the earthly concerns plaguing the field which God called “good”. My horn-playing friend has the proper sticker on her instrument case: “Spit Happens”. Do we hafta like it? No, but we can live with it until harvest. In the meantime, what’s our role as agents of change?

In front of our garage is a large urn, in which we’ve grown all sorts of stuff: squash, cherry tomatoes… Last year I planted petunias there, which made a nice purple greeting as we came up the drive. Somehow at least four of these plants wintered over, surprising us. Now the plants are blooming; but there’s a not-a-petunia there too! I decided to let it grow, expecting a nice bloom of Something. As of this morning it’s almost three feet tall–and not a sign of flowering. If I pull it up it’ll wreck the petunias. I guess it’s there until frost.

In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King

Every Tuesday we look at scriptures to be read on the upcoming weekend; come join us at horacebrownking.com