The Hebrew/Aramaic word HESED is usually translated “steadfast love”. Scriptures expected to be heard on the upcoming weekend will speak about this steadfast love of God for all Creation. Hearers are reminded that God is still in charge, no matter where our wanderings may take us–and also that God will actually seek the lost and the misplaced, wonderful news! In all of it, we’re reminded that Gods Will prevails, no matter what….
JEREMIAH 4:22-28 bemoans the fallen and tawdry state of the world and its inhabitants: “For my people are foolish….They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good.” The Prophet pictures God giving up on the world: “Because of this the earth shall mourn…” His message is that God is always present, despite the rejection of The People. Not much has changed, has it, between Jeremiah’s day and our own?
St. Paul writes some letters to TIMOTHY, his lieutenant in the field. They speak of his feelings under house-arrest in Rome, aware that his salvation is not contingent upon his right actions, but due to God’s grace alone. In I, 1:12-17 we read about his awareness of God’s mercy: “Even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. (But) I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief…” We who search for wholeness of body, mind and spirit recognize that only through the presence of Christ can we find this wholeness.
In the Gospel lesson, LUKE 15:1-10, we find Jesus telling two stories–the Lost Sheep, and the Lost Coin. In each, the God-figure spares no time or involvement to find what was lost, and then to restore these to the whole remainder. ( We don’t know how the other sheep who stayed safe felt about their comrade who strayed.) But we come to the understanding that God wants ALL, even those neighborhood folks who never darken the door of the church. Will we make a place for them, welcome them back?
I’ve been reading Francis Thompson’s 1893 poem, “The Hound of Heaven”, which I commend to you. For a while, I was gonna name this blog “Found By the Hound”. But Helen Montgomery deBevoise writes (in FEASTING on the WORD, C 4:72), “When one in our community goes missing, we are all affected. When one is restored, we are all better off for it. That is how it is in the household of God.”
In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King
Come along on Tuesdays to get a preview of scriptures to be heard on the upcoming weekend; at horacebrownking.com
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