Author: rattleyrow@gmail.com

                         INTRODUCTION

The following meditation is a creation of my own imagination. The intent is to capture the spirit of God’s sending Jesus into the world to bring salvation to all. I invite you now to engage your imagination. 

There are three scenes. 

The First scene: at the crowded Bethlehem Inn amid confusion resulting from an influx of people seeking accommodations for the night.
The Second scene: A shepherd’s cottage somewhere in the Judean hills valley.
 The Third scene:  The Bethlehem stable, where the Baby Jesus is born.
************************************************
                 (Scripture emphasis)
Luke 2:15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the LORD hath made known unto us.

The Innkeeper is addressing his patrons:

   “Listen! Did you hear that? I could have sworn I heard another knock at the door! Keep it down; keep it down, you rabble-rousers! One would have to knock with a Roman mallet to get attention over this din!
No use for anyone else to come knocking on my door this night. My inn is full, like every other spot in Bethlehem! There is just no more room, not even if King Herod himself came looking. Well! I might consider it if the king came seeking! I may sleep out of my bed just for one night to have the honour of having him under my roof. But, no way will that ever happen. No king will be around here this night, just this despicable rabble from the hills.
Listen, there it is again! Someone with urgent business according to how they’re knocking on the door! “Hold on there! Don’t break the bloomin’ door down! ‘Got no room for you anyway. Might as well be patient”!
“Keep the noise down in there, will you? I am going to see who is at the door”.

“Well, that didn’t take long. Like I said, It is someone looking for lodgings for the night! I feel sorry for them, a young man and his lady, who is about to give birth. As I told you,’ I might sleep out of my bed if King Herod was the one asking me. The fellow at the door was far from being a king. I could not offer him and his lady anything. He said he had tried everywhere. And that this might be the night, whatever that meant! I felt a kind of pity for him! I told him there was a stable out back where the stable boy lives year-round with the cattle. I suppose last chance he’d put them up there for the night.

The second scene is set in a humble cottage in the foothills of the Judean Hills. It is the home of a shepherd Benjamine, and his wife, Naomi. 

 Benjamin is making ready to return to his shepherd’s responsibilities on the Judean hills. He has had a two-day reprieve from his tedious work of caring for the numerous flocks of Bartholomew, his master. Naomi is so very concerned about Benjamin, the love of her life. She looks at him now, and pity rushes into her glance! Her eyes grow misty at the thought of his being out there on the hills without the company he had at one time dreamt of having. Naomi felt that way ever since the family crisis, about which Benjamin rarely broke his silence.

Some believe that one’s destiny in life is somehow pre-determined. The old folks say that if a boy becomes a fisherman like his father or grandfather, it is because, before his birth, the sea laid claim to him, throwing a little salt spray into his soul! Benjamin chose to be a shepherd! His life’s dream was to have a herd of his own one day. One day he would share ownership and responsibility with his son. That goal was about to be a reality when a dreaded situation came to pass! He couldn’t pay the Roman taxes, and he watched his dream fade into a heart-wrenching spiral. He had no choice but to sell everything and eke out a bare existence in service to someone else. That someone is Bartholomew. There are twelve shepherds in Bartholomew’s employ.

Naomi moves towards him for their last embrace. She seems almost reluctant to break in upon his solemn reverie. Naomi knows well what is on his mind! She lays her head on his breast, and after a moment, sobs, “ O Benjamin, this is his birthday. He will be twenty years old today! O Mark, where are you? Benjamin’s chin quivers. His eyes fill with tears, and without another word, he leaves the house.

Mark is an only child! It was he that made Benjamin’s life worth living. All of Benjamin’s plans centred around Mark. When the farm failed, with it went all prospects for the future. Mark took his few belongings and left home. Rumour has it that Mark strayed far from the standards he had known, but no one knew for sure. For whatever reason, Benjamin and Naomi hear no word from him. Three years of silence now, and hopes are fading for their reunion.

Somewhere on the Judean hillside
The heavens are brilliant, with a million stars dancing as though commanded to contrast the dullness in Benjamin’s mental sky. When he reaches the grazing herd, the moon has dressed the whole hillside in a garment of glorious light. And then, just as Benjamin and his co-workers finish their rounds, the night bursts open with fantastic wonder. It is as though the curtain of the night rises, and with their naked eyes, they all stand face to face with the unfolding of the most beautiful pageant of the universe! One star appears as the director of this incredible symphony and summons the shepherds to fulfill their part in the most spectacular event that this world has ever experienced! 

  Benjamin is one of four shepherds chosen to engage in the wonders of the night. Under the watchful surveillance of the star, they shiver their way through the frosty night. Cold outside, still, warmed with the inner thought that the Great Creator of the universe is holding them in His arms.

 “ And they came with haste (to Bethlehem) and found Mary and Joseph, and the Baby, lying in the manger.” 

 Only the dim lights from Heaven’s windows brighten the interior of the stable. Suddenly there is another light. Benjamin takes notice of it as it begins to move from a corner of the stable. This light is a lantern in the hands of someone who slowly moves towards the manager. Benjamin watches in wonder as the light draws nearer! There is something familiar in the light bearer’s gait as he kneels in adoring awe before the Baby. And then Benjamin realizes the most beautiful sight of his entire life!! The figure kneeling at the manger is Mark! Without speaking a word to the other shepherds, Benjamin hastens to the worshipper and kneels beside him. Benjamin whispers to him through his tears, “Happy birthday, Mark.” 

And the other shepherds said afterward they were sure they saw the baby smile!

                     Prayer To Follow This Meditation

O God, We are genuinely fascinated by all that takes us beyond the limits of human understanding. We pray for humility that we may know that all life’s mysteries do not find technology resolution. 

The tiny Baby, refugee, found in Bethlehem’s manger, is Your answer to the world’s dilemmas, O God. When we give sober and reflective thought to Your Gift, we are left speechless. Here is a mystery more significant than all others. How can Your chosen, ” tiny ” instrument” address not the secrets of earth alone, but instils the hope Heaven’s as well? This Baby, grown to Manhood, brings Your Heaven and earth together. Through Him, we will become transformed, in time, and we will make earth be, as it is in Heaven, in the fulfillment of Your blessed Will. 

 Father, this is the hour for the world to hear Your invitation,
” Let us go to Bethlehem and see those things that have come to pass.” But the world will not listen until the voices of those who have seen and who believe amplify it above the world’s distracting verbiage? 

Father, we kneel surrendered before the manger bed of a helpless Baby! How would such a one appearing as we to be dressed in physical weakness ever rise to the enormous complexities that life would rain down upon Him? It is the power of Your love that remains His driving force. Jesus’ Faith that You are never far from Him is the secret of His victory! Let Love eternal that produced this event, long ago, find one more place to reveal itself this night- in my heart.
And all for Your Love’s sake. Amen.

Hymn: Silent Night

Winchester Cathedral Choir – Silent Night – Bing video

EDITORIAL NOTES

1. The Biblical quotations are from the KJV.    

 

   

 

 

 John 14: 27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (KJV)

Mark 4:37- 40  (Scripture Emphasis)
And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full. ³⁸And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? ³⁹And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰And, he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?

What emotions raged there! What questions percolated through inflamed minds in this threatening situation?
Was this storm the offering of some malign deity designed to leave a more benevolent God helpless?
Who among them would survive to deliver the heart-sickening news to those awaiting their return? How would wives and children shake the iron grip of perpetual loneliness? If only God would break through those storm-clouds with as much as a smile, it would at least be something to help relieve the inner chaos. It was at that instant that one of the crew wondered, “where is Jesus?  Adding, He knows God, like no one I ever met!” All eyes turn in the direction of the helmsman! Incredulous disbelief, like the previous vengeful wave, sweep over them. Jesus is discovered sound asleep at the helmsman’s feet!
It was one thing to hear his gracious teaching about ‘peace’; to experience it, counterposed on tempest-swept souls, is incomprehensible! The panicking disciples are speechless, in the embrace of the invisible arms of Peace. Their anguished inquiries awaken Christ. ” Carest Thou not that we perish? How can You lie asleep? “The words come tumbling from their trembling lips. His inquest into their behaviour is equally baffling! “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith” asks Jesus? There is more than a slight hint of disappointment in Jesus’ voice over His friend’s portrayal of their lack of faith. Nothing is more grievous than the disappointment of a raised expectation.
Jesus’ life is a living assertion, unshaken by life’s vicissitudes, that God, His Heavenly Father, maintains constant, and loving commitment to watch over Him with unspeakable tenderness. Herein is the essence of His Faith.

But how can Jesus expect the disciples, and by extension us, to emulate faith like His, unless and until we come to know God as He did?  Human intellect cannot by itself deliver to us the faith that results in Peace!   Elsewhere in scripture, Jesus grants  a breath-taking revelation of His understanding of the nature of God which issues in His Peace.
 “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” (John 17: 5)

Jesus relives, on earth, life as it was in His Father’s House before His nativity in Bethlehem. With perfect recall, He captures the majesty of  His Heavenly Home and the unwavering love of His Father.

Jesus recalls:
– The ineffable peace pervading all.
– The exuberant joy expressing in all things and all people,
    as ‘ Love unleashed’.
–  The Father saw something great shining in every tiny spark of hope and desire beating inside a human heart.
– And a sacred covenant ever-present, that fear will never sit invincible upon the throne of human hearts.” Certainly, I will be with you,” is God’s abiding mantra.

Faith for Jesus remains to this day, living always in fellowship with God. Not howling winds, or crashing waves or the threat of death could obliterate the Divine Presence or replace that sacred promise, ” Certainly, I will be with you”.  Could it be for us as it was for Jesus and as expressed by poets :

Trailing clouds of glory do we come	65
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy! (2)

That is the faith Jesus expects His friends to own, then and now.
Our present experience with a worldwide pandemic is reminiscent of the night of terror on the Sea of Galilee. Conscious of our origin, and now as emissaries of Jesus’ faith, may we awaken Peace, faith and renewed hope that will make the world resemble Heaven more.

            Prayer To Follow This Meditation

Hold us in Your tight embrace, O merciful Christ. May our lives emanate
Your pulse-beat of compassion, understanding, and peace wherever we live in this hurting world.
Here are my hands to wipe away tears from the eyes of those who have lost loved ones through this horrible pandemic.
Here is my mind; make it wise to understand that I am the keeper of my sister’s and brother’s health. Help me never to obsess over demanding my rights while being reckless about the fundamental rights of others.
Here is my heart, wherein love and appreciation for this life are born. But I cannot fully live my life until I recall how You created me to fulfill Your purpose and fill my little space here by making it resemble Heaven.
Here are my lips; speak through them with authenticity, the words “Peace Be Still.” Then may others hear, not me, but the Christ who remains with us forever as the Prince of Peace. For His Sake, and in His Name, Amen.

Hymn: Peace, Perfect Peace

1. Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin?
   The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.
2. Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed?
   To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.
3. Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging round?
   On Jesus’ bosom naught but calm is found.
4. Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away?
   In Jesus’ keeping we are safe, and they.
5. Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown?
   Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.
6. Peace, perfect peace, death shad’wing us and ours?
   Jesus has vanquished death and all its pow’rs.
7. It is enough: earth’s struggles soon shall cease,
   And Jesus calls us to Heav’n’s perfect peace.

https://youtu.be/qoDzOeSXDW4

 

                                      NOTES

1. The Scripture quotations here are from the KJV.

2. Ode On Intimations Of Immortality.
Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood by William Wordsworth – Poems | poets.org

3. Photo. Brigus at nightfall, Newfoundland- Labrador by
Vicki J. Meltzer

 

Psalm 23: 5 “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” 

Revelation 7:17 “For the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd. He will lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

There is much value in standing back from present situations that threaten to overpower us and permit our souls space to breathe and gain a fresh perspective.

What an incomprehensible dichotomy life’s situations prove to be. Which vantage point will best allow our most trustworthy options?

David here in one breath appraisingly speaks of lying down in green pastures, and enjoying life beside calm waters; in the very next breath, he tells of discovering a banquet table spread in the company of enemies urging his involvement. It is often like that! The people who feel the essential need to gain a new perspective on present situations are afraid to take the chance to do so. Was that not precisely the situation of David’s ancestors. Their forced slavery in Egypt was ending by the command of God. Their suffering in Egypt made God appear aloof and hidden. Now realizing how tenuous their freedom was under the even more tenuous auspices of the liberating Pharoah, would it be foolhardy for them to stand back and seek the wisdom of closer scrutiny? By Pharaoh’s insidious command, his brutal forces closed the gap behind them. The Red Sea stretched before them. Freedom’s dream had now all the trappings of a banquet table spread for them in the presence of the enemy! How can they, or anyone else, ever gain a bona fide perspective under such stressful situations demanding immediate response? When unprecedented circumstances force individuals into situations never before thought of, let alone exexperienced, from which direction will a new perspective come? Any suggestion of a walk beside still waters or in green fields is comparable to an experience of suffering a mirage in a lifeless desert.

You cannot depend upon finding a new perspective in urgent situations by looking either right or left, behind or in front. Listen to what transpired with the Hebrews at the Red Sea. With the sound like a thousand silver trumpets on the frosty air of morn, they heard the voice of Moses, Look UP’ “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord!” (Exodus 14). One must learn the efficacy of the Upward Look! 

Psalm 23, which includes a text for the present meditation, does not begin with the challenging view of a banquet table set for David in the presence of enemies. It starts instead with the encouraging result of the Upward Look! It begins with what the German Jewish theologian, Martin Buber, identifies as an ” I – Thou” relationship. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.” The walk beside the tranquil waters and in the green fields are now super suggestions to gain a new perspective on what tomorrow may bring. You know that your Shepherd will lead the way. 

The centuries following the birth of Jesus record, even yet, heart wrenching experiences that demand new perspectives. Many who think they know seek an enemy rather than looking up to see the human face of God. History reveals that in our darkest hours of wars and famines, in pandemics and evils, witnesses looking up, as Christ did, see on God’s face the promise of victory.

 John the Divine, as portrayed in the Book Revelations, is a stirring example of one such. He is writing to fellow disciples of Jesus while, himself, an exile on the Isle Patmos because of his faith. ” I had a vision of you all in Heaven. In answering an inquiry about each of you, the angel replied, ‘ These before you dressed in white are they who came out of great tribulation. They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of The Lamb”. 

The perspective motivating us each in the Name Of Christ, amidst unfamiliar change and self-revealing fears, is to see in the faces of all, not merely their helplessness but an opportunity to share real love. That effort made now, look up into the Face of God and know that neither things present nor things to come. Neither life nor death nor anything else in all creation will separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

          A Prayer To Follow This Meditation

O God, our Father,
The glory of Your presence dissipates the foggy assertions of our earthly knowledge. We look to the North and the south, to the East and West but find little address anywhere for ” man’s inhumanity to man.”

A horrible pandemic ravages the earth while some atrophied minds and hearts dally in silly political vapours.
It is Your scorching Wisdom that must prevail to dissipate the fog that is threatening our planet. We see the signs of Your gracious wisdom breaking through our malaise, like the sun, despite the fog. ThankYou for brave scientists and all front-line workers, and all who are Your co-workers advancing Your creation.
 Father, You have shown us in Jesus, Your Son, the efficacy of the upward look. He was all about looking toward Heaven and always depending upon Heavenly resources. As He prayed, so now do we, “Father into Thy hands do I commend my Spirit.”

Hymn: Nearer, My God To Thee

https://youtu.be/rwLl5nY5WPI

 

 

 

“The word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” “Alas, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” Jeremiah 1: 4-6  (1)

With these words, there unfolds a drama of stirring influence. More awe-inspiring is this event than the breath-taking results of God’s command that calls all things into being.
An intensely private moment between God and Jeremiah reveals God’s unique intention for the human race. “The word of the Lord came to me(Jeremiah) saying, ” Before I formed you in the womb I  knew you. Before you were born I set you apart.”
As expected, such a revelation initiates a response of disbelief from Jeremiah. Heaven’s perspectives, when revealed, are rarely, if ever, in sync with human understanding. Jeremiah suggests to the Almighty,’ Your Heavenly vision concerning me is somewhat different from my own. I must now consider Your view of me in the light of my preparation in my earthly home.

The world’s way of preparation for human undertakings is vastly different from God’s way of preparing a Jeremiah or anyone else. The most immediate impacts on a child’s behavioural development are traditions, social mores, and expectations. No-one in Jeremiah’s hometown of Anathoth expects him to be a prophet, least of all, Jeremiah himself. Past History confirms the established order for such engagements. The mere suggestion of it being otherwise plunged Jeremiah into a panic attack!

 ” I am only a child. I do not know how to speak.” At that moment, the world comes to Jeremiah’s defence with the appropriate suit of armour, the most used antidote for all such divine challenges, ” I Can’t Do That!”
However, God’s curricula for the preparation of this prophet is in sharp contrast to the world’s expectation.
Listen to the poet, William Wordsworth reflect upon that contrast :
    ” Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting:
The Soul that rises with us, our life’s Star,
Hath had elsewhere its setting,
And cometh from afar:
Not in entire forgetfulness,
And not in utter nakedness,
But trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home:
Heaven lies about us in our infancy!
Shades of the prison-house begin to close
Upon the growing Boy,
But he beholds the light, and whence it flows,
He sees it in his joy;
The Youth, who daily farther from the east
Must travel, still is Nature’s Priest,
And by the vision splendid
Is on his way attended;
At length the Man perceives it die away,
And fade into the light of common day”.
 Could this possibly be the nexus between the OldTestament story of Jeremiah and ourselves? The truth expressed by God concerning Jeremiah is the revelation of God’s way with each of us. Before we came to be, we already existed with Our Creator. It was never God’s intention that human beings depend upon worldly ingenuities and skills while living our lives here. God intends that each individual remains in His Workshop throughout his sojourn. ” Certainly, I will be with you.” affirms the Creator, to the trembling, reluctant child. “Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. See, today, I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow, build and plant.” ( Jeremiah 1:9-10)

 But as with Jeremiah, so also with us still. God is never involved remotely or arbitrarily. Instead, God, first of all, identifies situations on earth, waiting for some special revelation of His Presence. So you are here as a co-worker with Him.

The world has always been a place wherein
absolute control is the goal. The phraseology which Jeremiah uses to record his experience is noteworthy. “The word of the Lord came to me.” We must admire the astuteness of any person who hears above the noisy din of the world, the Voice of the Eternal, especially in the day when Jeremiah lived. Since then, the ‘Word Became Flesh and dwelt among us.” In God’s eternal Workshop, we are graciously equipped for His appointed task. Here,

Jesus, His Son, the master-builder, accepts us into His Workshop, thus fulfilling the Father’s promise,” Certainly, I will be with you.”

A Prayer To Follow This Meditation

Father,
I stood in silence to admire the panoply of autumn colours, and I heard You call my name! At night the harvest moon was clearly in competition with the morning sun to fix a lasting memory in my mind, and I heard You laugh and call my name. And at the end of the day, as I knelt for bedtime vespers, I felt Your hand upon my brow and knew that I dwelt in My Father’s world. 

Here am I, my Father. May You find some way to use even me to contribute to this world’s beauty and to turn human thoughts to You and Your Presence everywhere I go. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.

HYMN: Here I am, Lord ( click link below )
This Is My Father’s World 

 

                    Editorial Notes
1. Scripture quotations are from the NIV
translation.
2.  563. Ode. Intimations of Immortality. By
William Wordsworth.
3. Photo. Gros Morne National Park,
Newfoundlandhttp://www.grosmorne.com/

Suggested Scripture: Mark 5: 1-20. It may be necessary to read the Suggested Scripture in its entirety to fully understand the meditation that follows.

Mark 5:18 – 19  (text)

“As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. Jesus did not let him, but said, “Go home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.” So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.” (1)

Where in this world of technical and scientific success does this strange incredulous episode from the Gospels fit? Believers coyly reserve the right to dismiss some of the story’s details as the product of an unenlightened age. Skeptics feel free to use it to condemn the whole Gospel narrative. 

We quickly discard as fabrication all that we cannot bring under the mastery of our reason. We suppose that we alone create order in the world, through the application of our innovative advancements. 

The present incident reveals both the mystery of our creation and the majesty of God, our Creator. The essence of our being is the primary fact that we are born with dual citizenship, of earth and heaven. But it is in our derivation from God, and not in the light of our achievements that we must understand our being.

Consider the most evidential facts demonstrating this man’s earthly citizenship.

• There are the tombs of the dead. Indeed a strange habitat for one meant to live in a family and interact with the living!
• There are the remanents of chains on hands and feet. They tell of the tragic failures for control through the mastery of reason. 
• There is an indication of self-mutilation, perhaps the evidence of lost hope, to live up to the promptings from heaven, to remember from whence he came.
• Then there is the final prognosis, which is still too freely offered when diagnoses are uncertain,” it’s all in the head,” when the problem is often within the realm of the spirit.According to Teilhard de Chardin, paleontologist and theologian, in The Hymn Of The Universe, “there is an inwardness to a man that is as real as if observed through a rent in the body”. (3) 

Our inquiry now is into the evidence of spiritual inwardness relative to this man’s heavenly citizenship.

• Something beyond the scope of his physical environment is evident from this man’s initial responses. The fugitive’s quick identification of Jesus, and his awareness of accepted theological propositions, indicate some knowledge of the spiritual realm. ( Mark 5: 7)
• There is abundant evidence of an acutely disturbed ” inwardness.” This pitifully divided mind manifests itself in response to Jesus’ question, “What is your name?” ” My name is Legion; he replied, ” for we are many.”
•  Other creditable evidence is that a “guilt complex”  is possibly the name of one of the torturing demons. Had an earlier encounter with Jesus resulted in discipleship in name only, which ended in desertion? Is that perhaps embedded in his expressed fear of being tormented by Jesus? The feeling of guilt is possible only if something once considered satisfying is again revealed. ‘The return to man’s origin is never a new beginning out of nothing, but it is a restoration.”
  It is at this juncture that Jesus enters the inner chamber of this man’s suffering. From boyhood, I have struggled with the phrase in The Apostle’s Creed, 9 ( concerning Jesus it is written) ” He descended into Hell.” Experiencing this episode, in this way, enables me now to understand that phrase more clearly. (2)

Theologians refer to ‘ the dark night of the soul’ experience. For Jesus, entering this man’s inner being was like entering strange, eerie confinement filled with palpable darkness! It reminds one of Dante’s Divine Comedy, with the over-door inscription: “Abandon every hope – who enters here!” (4). The poor fellow’s inwardness must have been just as dark and musty as the tomb where he sought shelter for his body.

Yet in the sea of darkness amidst the internal chaos and confusion, a tiny spark of light refuses to surrender. It grows the brighter as “the Light Of The World” moves invincibly towards it. As happened one day previously in the throes of a vicious storm on the sea of Galilee, the roaring waves once more surrender in meekness. A fresh glow fills the inner sanctuary as the pathetic divided self gains control at the powerful command of Jesus. Jesus rekindles the lamp of memory and permits this epitome of helplessness to remember family ties that yet remain for him. 

Other people soon appear on the scene. Observing such a radiant light emanating from the same source of such previous darkness, they grew mute in disbelief.

The story concerning the lost pigs that drowned in the sea would have to wait for another day for broadcasting in that near-by town. Today the miracle told everywhere was about the new missionary whose presence was aglow with a new light shining from his soul.

Prayer To Follow This Meditation

Father, of all comfort, hear our prayers for those among us who are desperately lonely.
Especially we pray for the homeless who tonight will be comforted by heaven’s night-lights alone.  Some, knowing well the companionship of hunger, will snack now on the scraps from the rich man’s table. The sounds amplifying their inhuman plight are of feet rushing to escape the burdensome evidence of human helplessness and need, and those sounds of the shared miseries of a shapeless existence.
Father, come near to comfort those who have no familial ties anymore. Sometimes, in the haunting darkness, they wander among the tombs of people that used to be. Would You please acquaint them anew with the story of THE PRODIGAL SON and the account of a father whose love remained stronger than all misadventures?
Father, Your Son, relayed to His first disciples how He was homeless here. He had no place to lay His head. Save us all from becoming overly concerned with creaturely comforts here, where so many endure such a fragile existence. Equip us with a more vigorous and sincere faith to believe that You will provide, for any sacrifice we make.

“If on our daily course our mind
Be set, to hallow all we find,
New treasures still, of countless price,
God will provide for sacrifice.

Old friends, old scenes, will lovelier be,
As more of heaven in each we see;
Some softening gleam of love and prayer
Shall dawn on every cross and care”. ( 5)
For the sake of Your love, we pray, Amen.

HYMN: Son Of My Soul   (Click on links below)

hhttps://www.bing.com/videos/search?v

 

EDITORIAL NOTES

1. The translation used is the NIV.
2.  www.learnreligions.com/the-apostles-creed-p2-700364
3.Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/994259.Hymn_of_the_Universe
4.Dante’s Divine Comedy
https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/abandon-hope-all-ye-who-
enter-here.html
The Divine Comedy is a long narrative poem by Dante Alighieri, begun c. 1308 and completed in 1320, a year before his death in 1321. It is widely considered the preeminent work in Italian literature and is one of the greatest works of world literature.”
5.  From  Hymn: New Every Morning Is          God’s  Love
http://www.pateys.nf.ca/cgi-bin/lyrics.pl?  hymnnumber=815

 

 

Psalm 5: 7 – 8
“But I, by your great love,
   can come into your house;
in reverence, I bow down
    toward your holy temple.
Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness
because of my enemies—
make your way straight before me.” (1)

Psalm 5 comes fresh from the front lines of life’s conflicts. Here, there are festering wounds, and here there are silent prayers whispered to the Commander-In-Chief! 

The intensity of the conflict brings night prematurely to the soul. The sky is bereft of all signs of hope. There is a depth of loneliness for the petitioner waiting for God’s comforting presence, like a child waiting expectantly for his mother’s overdue return. “Each morning, I bring my requests to You and wait expectantly.” The most treasured word in every human’s vocabulary, ‘friend,’ is sadly missing here. That deficiency is felt all the more in the theater of personal conflict. When abandonment, based on innuendo and insufficient facts, happens, the brain seeks retaliation.
Battles in this life are well known, to this present moment surveillance reveals many weary and exhausted warriors. 

The person under our consideration here is conflicted in distinguishing friend from foe. Because of his enemies, a lifetime of happy memories grinds to a halt.                  

However, here is the story of a man who feels the winds of God. Amid the torment and anguish of his soul, he lifts his sail to catch the winds of God that transport him to his more profound inner being, where he discovers God already in waiting for him.
“But I, by your great love,
    can come into your house;
in reverence, I bow down
    toward your holy temple.
Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness
    because of my enemies—
    make your way straight before me.”

Compare and contrast the two diametrical opposite ventures experienced here. The first venture delivers our protagonist to the swamp of despair. The second brings him to a destination of magnanimous promise and everlasting hope. Be it noted that these two experiences are the only ones possible to every human. The first possible choice is firmly rooted in the physical enticements to satisfy a materialistic existence. The second choice is clarified to consciousness by an insatiable longing that burns like a fire inside an individual, to discover something more than that which the first choice offers.

As an architect plans, designs and oversees the construction of a building, that building already exists in the architect’s mind even before he draws a plan to lay one stone upon another. The building already has an existence in the spirit of the architect. 

God is the architect of each person’s life. There is a blueprint of each life ‘in God’s house.’

    “But I, by your great love,
    can come into your house;
in reverence, I bow down
    toward your holy temple.
 Lead me, Lord, in your righteousness
    because of my enemies—
    make your way straight before me.”

Deliberately, he chooses his Father’s house, ‘the house not made with hands.’  Here the Eternal Architect shows the seeker, himself as the finished product of the Creator’s loving hands: “And God saw that it was good. The suppliant sees what is and what God meant him to be.

Such is the transforming effect upon everyone who chooses to dwell ‘in God’s righteousness. Alfred, Lord Tennyson has it right in his invitation:
“Speak to Him, thou, for He hears, and Spirit with Spirit can meet- Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than hands and feet.”(2)

+Prayer To Follow This Meditation

Bring Your peace to my Soul, O loving God.
The thunderous roar of the senseless world is overwhelming me.
Please let me feel the touch of Your gentleness, in the breeze that whispers from Heaven. From the gloomy blackness creeping into every corner that I inhabit here, I lift my eyes to see the lights shining through Heaven’s windows.
Fill my spirit with images of a Father, waiting nightly for my return to receive my assurance of safe-keeping in love.
Open my lips with songs of praise to greet the morning. Through the long night, You have been keeping faithful watch. I offer back the life I owe so that it will be fuller and more vibrant for Your Glory in the depth of Your love. In the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, I pray. Amen

HYMN: Lead Me, Lord

 

 

NOTES

1. Scripture quotes are from the NIV translation
2. Alfred, Lord Tennyson in The Higher Pantheism
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45323/the-higher-pantheism

1. Photo – Stock images and as indicated on photo

 

Suggested Scripture Reading: John 4: 1 – 42  (It is strongly recommended that the story be read in its entirety.)

Scripture Emphasis:

John 4:5-7 So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon. ⁷When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?”

I invite you to use your imagination to consider another episode in the life of Jesus. The purpose of doing so is to examine some critical ingredients in the formation of a human personality. The story that follows represents thousands of like souls that we encounter as followers of Jesus Christ. Perhaps you will be led to show a measure of compassion because of your association with Him. You may awaken renewed Hope that self-forgiveness may yet be the guiding light, that one day leads another into the Father’s Kingdom. 

This meditation retells the story commonly referred to as “The Woman At The Well.”  Essentially, it is the account of the unmasking of a soul in grave danger of being lost in the tangled underbrush of an uncaring, and even cruel world.

The hills surrounding Sychar, the town which the Samaritan woman called home, vaulted the many merciless rumors concerning her. Uncontrolled tongues, bound by over-generous self-evaluation, wagged to expand upon the already rampant rumors. As Mariam, for that is the chosen pseudonym for her, made her way, in the blistering heat of the noon-day sun, echoes from the prison walls that entombed her, mercilessly rehearsed the details of a wasted life, her life! “There is no escaping this ‘ body of death,’ ” thought Mariam as she tiredly makes her way towards Jacobs Well. Which is worse, to be ridiculed in public, by neighbors who care not to distinguish fact from fiction, or the relentless torture of self-examination of her moral failures, with its predetermined conclusion that mercy has fled in horror?

Mariam scanned the scene to confirm that no potential tormentors were present at the well. She made a contract with herself to endure the pain of the noon-day sun rather than the insults levied against her troubled soul.
Disbelief stabbed her weakened embattled soul! Someone was sitting on the very rock where she placed her water jars for filling! Must she return home empty-handed or, must she prepare for one more desperate attempt at survival? Her inside voice argues for her immediate retreat ” You are not fit to come in contact with another! Like a leper, you must cry out,” Unclean, Unclean?”

The agony of the human soul, not unknown even among the refined and respectful, contrasting the difference between what is and what one hoped to be, now grips Mariam’s imagination.

The familiar themes of childhood-play had at one time engaged her. Her signature of endorsement was on all the dreams of graceful and respectful womanhood. But all was lost in the tangled undergrowth of false promises and moral deception. Yet from the direction of Jacob’s Well, it seemed to Mariam that she was entering a safe harbor’s calm waters. If the world with an iron grip fashioned who she is, would God forget what purpose He intended for her at the time of her creation? Is it not a most critical consideration for all, it is not one’s feeble hold on God, but God’s mighty grasp on us, that matters most?

It’s too late now to retreat, Jesus has seen her!
Gently He knocks upon the door of her personality with a request that reveals the common need they both share, the need for water! Mariam’s basic human decency awaits with bated breath, the answer to Jesus’ question, “Will you please give me a drink”? Should she rely upon her voluntary deafness once again? A wave of rare, unexperienced pity so needed by Mariam, emanated from Him.

 Into which room, then, within her private space, should she admit this stranger? She must be careful to take Him nowhere near the common-room, made ugly by rumors and innuendoes. She must avoid at all cost the truth about who and what she IS. 

Miriam concludes that nothing too personal will result from a conversation about religion. The ensuing conversation is deliberately scant in personal revelation. Miriam’s heart sinks like a stone into the waves of pity she just now had felt. Helplessly she follows Jesus into the darkest and most dingy room of her inner self, the place of Mariam’s greatest need.

The doors of Heaven open wide in the sacred moments that follow. The Saviour of the world restores an imprisoned daughter with the purpose God intended from her birth. Tears stain her cheeks, as Miriam sees everything that she is but only alongside everything that God has kept safe from all loss, the beautiful person she is capable of yet becoming! “Come and SEE, Go and Tell” is to, this day, the impetus behind the never-ending proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Ironically, Mariam’s next mission is to return to her most virulent critics, thereby revealing her unmasked soul, and at the same time covertly revealing the like mercy which they so badly needed to experience.

God knows our world’s most urgent need is to have Heaven’s Door open wide to disperse our darkness and instill a Living Hope for all of God’s children! Be gentle and be kind towards each other! 

   A Prayer To Follow This Meditation

Father, the world’s greatest need is to catch a fresh glimpse of Your Presence here and now. Our longing can not be satisfied with the images of You captured in stained-glass. Instead, we would see Jesus clothed in the bodies of those who are part of the New Creation as promised! 

Let me be Your listening ears to hear the cries of the lonely ones imprisoned within themselves. 

Give me a heart as deep as Jacob’s well to hold enough love to share with a broken and hurting world.

Please give me a mind ever conscious of Your empathy that I may see in others, hopes as yet unborn, and own a readiness to share possibilities waiting to be made real. 

Father, forgive me if I am partially to blame for the lack of trust that others have in You. It’s time for the New Creation to be more evident in this community and throughout the world! Here am I, Lord, let it start anew in me. Through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.

Hymn: In The Bulb There Is A Flower

EDITORIAL NOTES

1. Scripture quotations throughout are from the NIV translation unless otherwise noted in the text.
2. The illustration as acknowledged above.

 

Psalm 42: 3-4; 
“Day and night, I have only tears for food,
while my enemies continually taunt me, saying,
“Where is this God of yours?”
My heart is breaking
as I remember how it used to be:
I walked among the crowds of worshipers,
leading a grand procession to the house of God,
singing for joy and giving thanks
amid the sound of a grand celebration!”

2 Timothy 2: 8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead,

A ‘FORTRESS’ is a place of security, of survival. A fortress exists to protect against harm and loss. But in the case of protecting an individual’s Memory from such, is FORTRESS a misnomer? A defence, to safeguard Memory against loss? Really?

 Of all the things in which we mortals rejoice, none is more treasured than one’s Memory! O! How different life would be for all of us if tonight we could lie down to sleep in the certainty that this invaluable treasure is safe and will remain so, as long as life shall last and may somehow reach beyond into the life that is yet to be. This distinguishing feature of our humanity inhabits the frail casket of a human body, subject to the ravages of time.

Without the content of Memory’s storehouse, a person’s life is little more than a meaningless conglomeration of unrelated episodes. It is like a handful of beads that can never be formed into one string to create a thing of beauty that reveals a distinctive whole. 

Alfred Lord Tennyson’s s elegy: “Break, Break Break,” immortalizes the importance of memories to define the human experience.

“Break, break, break,
On thy cold grey stones, O Sea!
And I would say that my tongue could utter
The thoughts that arise in me.

O well for the fisherman’s boy,
That he shouts with his sister at play!
O well for the sailor lad,
That he sings in his boat on the bay!

And the stately ships go on
To their haven under the hill;
But O for the touch of a vanish’d hand,
And the sound of a voice that is still!

Break, break, break,
At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!
But the tender grace of a day that is dead,
Will never come back to me.” (2)

 In the never-ending ebb and flow of the Sea, Tennyson’s crashing waves eulogizes the power of life to create memories. In every human experience, there is the influence of life’s ebb and flow. The Sea of life crashes upon us with life-changing results. This poem captures the undeniable fact that in this life, nothing remains the same. The restless pounding of the Sea upon the headlands is forever changing the seascape. so too, the swift passage of the years changes radically an individual’s life.
Tennyson realizes that beyond Memory’s recall are likely many details of the games that the fisherman’s boy and his sister played, and the reason for the sailor’s song from his boat on the bay. It seemed impossible at the time that the joys of that day’s activity would one day fade from Memory. To immortalize a young friend’s Memory, Tennyson writes this powerful elegy. But is that the ultimate stronghold of Memory? Does that meet the standards for our envisioned fortress? 

How poignant are the expressions recorded in Psalm 42!
“My heart is breaking
as I remember how it used to be:
I walked among the crowds of worshippers, leading
a great procession to the house of God, singing for joy and giving thanks amid the sound of a great celebration!”
Memory itself is not beyond the ravages of time. Would not his faith appear futile if the Psalmist’s experience of fellowship with God, drifts into the realm of a lost memory? What is our comfort if Memory refuses to open its doors to persistent knocking, begging for recall, when the only response is a heart-wrenching silence about the things that used to be? It may well be that the occurrence of just such a fleeting thought prompts the author’s admission of discouragement. ” Why am I so discouraged? Why am I so sad?”
God, however, refuses to permit him to wallow in this swamp of despair! Put your hope in God, For I will yet praise Him, my Savior and, my God “.
The ultimate conclusion reached by the author of Psalm 42 is that God, Himself, is the fortress that remains unaffected in the surging flood of nature’s declinations. “I will put my hope in God! I will remember You. By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me- a prayer to the God of my life. ( Ps.42: 5 – 8)  His even more important inference is that  God will remember him! What matters most, in the end for us all, is not our feeble hold on God, but God’s mighty grasp on us!
But the two essential truths  GOD and MEMORY when placed in juxtaposition seem untenable and misplaced. God is eternal, Memory is temporal. Yet it remains a truth to be fixed to our souls “with hoops of steel”, that no experience ever had is ever lost to God. Memory here on earth made fade but the eternal fortress remains. One day God will unlock, the casket containing life’s experiences. Here is the soul that never dies, and upon it’s opening its entire contents will be revealed. 

The poet, Robert Browning, in his marvelous poem, Rabbi Ben Ezra, testifies :
 “All that is, at all,
Lasts ever, past recall;
Earth changes, but thy soul and God stand sure:
What entered into thee,
That was, is, and shall be:
Time’s wheel runs back or stops: Potter and clay endure.” (3)
 Saint Paul  advises the young man, Timothy “My    Son remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.”
There is no better advice! It is time for all of us to enter inside ourselves and in the presence of Christ to examine the contents of our soul’s Memory. Remember that the only thing God ever forgets is sins which are forgiven through Jesus Christ. You are bound to be awestruck to have revealed to you the number of occasions when God was closer to you than breathing, nearer than hands or feet.
“Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.”

Rise now, and let us all go forward and,  continue to build memories of undertakings in His Name. Neither life nor death nor anything else in all creation can destroy such memories or alter the Heavenly acclamation, ” Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter  thou into the joy of thy Lord.” ( Matt.25: 23, KJV)

Prayer To Follow This Meditation

Father, whose days are without end, we marvel that You remember each person who ever addressed You as ‘ Father.’ We grow old, and often with that, comes the dimming of Memory. Father, if that is the destiny that awaits us, grant us to know with certainty that You, will never, ever forget us.

In the meantime, it is the essence of Your love for us, to understand our daily prayer that our memories stay green until the day You call us Home.

 Father, at this moment, while our memories remain keen and alert, we gratefully acknowledge that the memories most precious to us are those that reflect Your Presence. Every good and perfect gift comes from You, Gifts too numerous to recall here. One day, You will unlock the casket of our souls wherein is stored every experience. Lost in awesomeness for that gracious promise we are now, but then it will be the theme of our thanksgiving throughout eternity. In Jesus Name, we pray. Amen.

Hymn:  PRECIOUS MEMORIES

EDITORIAL NOTES

1. Scripture quotations in the meditation are from the New Living Translation of Scripture unless otherwise noted. It is further recommended that Psalm 43 be read in its entirety.
2.  Alfred Lord Tennyson, ” Break, Break, Break”
   https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45318/break-break-break  
   3.Robert Browning, Rabbi Ben Ezrahttps://www.gradesaver.com/…/study-guide/summary-rabbi-ben-ezraPhoto: Stock photo, Cabot Tower, St. John’s  NL.

 

    

 

Suggested Scripture: Mark 10:46 – 52.

Mark 10:46-47 Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

The spiritual depth of a mind which suddenly bursts into blossom, and breathes the air of life-giving exuberance, finds masterful expression in the poem ‘The Everlasting Mercy’, by the long- time Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, John Masefield. He writes:

“O glory of the lighted mind.
 How dead I’d been, how dumb, how blind.
 The station brook, to my new eyes,
 Was babbling out of Paradise,
 The waters rushing from the rain
 Were singing Christ has risen again.
I thought all earthly creatures knelt
 From rapture of the joy, I felt”. (2)

Through the use of imaginations, yours, and mine, I endeavour here, to also capture the glory of the lighted mind. 

To this end, I invite you to accompany me along the Jericho Road, where blind Bartimaeus sits, carrying out his life’s assignment of begging. I will, for this purpose, assume the identity and the character of Bartimaeus himself. 

Bartimaeus has endured his blindness for almost thirty-three years. That fact soon relegates him to the bleak company of the poverty-stricken, and to the swamp of easy despair. However, Bartimaeus’ appearance, on this day, is an eloquent testimony that unconditional love and genuine respect are with his going-out and his coming-in every day. 

At this moment, someone of a compassionate heart sits alongside Bartimaeus playing, as it were, the role of a” GOOD SAMARITAN.”  He joins Bartimaeus on his mat and gives full attention to every word.

” It is a painful experience to live among people and never be able to see them. But that can never compare to choosing blindness when a traveller’s’ path intersects that of another who wears the garb of a poor beggar, or choosing blindness because one holds some position of honour and considers the beggar undeserving of human dignity.

 I thank God for people like you who use their eyes the way tha0t God intended. You and I often share the same eyes,” Bartimaeus offers with a grin of approval. “I feel that you would exchange eyes with me if my life depended upon it.” He concludes.

 “I have never seen your face. But now, I will describe the face I see, with the eyes of my soul! Your eyes shine with the gentle light of compassion. You saw me sitting here day after day, alone. Your longing heart begins to leave its signature upon your face. You notice that my mat might be big enough to share. And so, we are together again. I see a compassionate, caring, loving face, not with these eyes for they cannot see, but with the eyes of my soul, I know a brother who loves me!

I will show you how God brought me to experience ‘the glory of the lighted mind”. The details of my birth have always been a frequent topic of conversation with me. I came from God in answer to the faithful prayers of my loving parents. There was just a small mishap in my journey from Heaven to them. Somehow, someone overlooked turning on the switch that would bring light to these orbs of promise, so I am here – and I am blind! 

I have never seen the colour green, Yet God has been with me and has made me “to lie down in pastures green.” I have never seen the reflection of the trees in a quiet stream, Yet God used my parent’s eyes, and together, we rejoice beside the still waters”. I have never witnessed the glory of the temple, yet I know that God ” restores my soul.”(see Psalm 23)

I can recite the biography of many, just by reading the sound of their footfall! I know when they see me here, and then pass by on the other side of the street. The thing most difficult for me to understand is that many of them are on their way to worship God, but they do not see another’s longing soul, nor think that by sharing their God with another, they may receive a double blessing”.

The sound of approaching feet stirs within Bartimaeus the melody of ‘ The Hymn To Joy.’ ” Surely,” he thinks,” this must be the occasion of the arrival of God’s glorious kingdom.” 

” O Bartimaeus,” the co-occupant of his mat interjects with uncontrollable excitement, “Jesus, the Light of the world is coming this way.”

 Bartimaeus’ turns his blind eyes in the direction of the approaching sound, but sees only shadows. However, the passion behind the good news delivered by his friend, made it seem to Bartimaeus that this friend had lent him his eyes. Even with eyes untrained to see the visible, he, SAW Jesus!

 Not “all earthly creatures knelt from the rapture of the joy he felt. Some of those present in Jesus’ travelling company had no understanding whatsoever of the glory of the lighted mind, and the promise of being made fully alive. The harsh response from the crowd demanding Bartimaeus’s silence inferred that God had no time to deal with any critical matter which contributed to a person’s inability to be fully alive. However, the rich blessings he had already received were, for Bartimaeus, but the guarantee that more and even greater miracles are always a part of the glory of the lighted mind.

We arrive now to consider the reason for your participation in this imagined scene. There are millions of people whose need it is, to be made more fully alive; to discover a consuming purpose for even being here. 

Like the unknown person who told Bartimaeus, “Jesus is here, and He is calling for you,” all such people will be called great in the kingdom of God.  

 As we experience the glory of the lighted mind, we recognize that the people calling for help are our brothers and sisters, children of the same God. We must take care of each other for His Sake.

A Prayer To Follow This Meditation
Gracious Father,
whose glory forever remains, to see Your children on earth, become fully alive. We praise You for the perfect Love that enlightens human minds. To see with eyes of faith, the smiling Face Of God, through the sky window of the earth, is the fulfillment of every person’s need.
We praise the Love that sent Jesus to be this world’s light. We pray now that You will fix His Light firmly within us to be the sure beacon that will lead us each towards the fulfillment of Your Glory.

Give us, keen minds to learn early the difference between knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge is generated by the world,
for the world; Wisdom is of God and comes from Heaven to make the world
God’s Kingdom. Wisdom is God’s gift to those whose minds are keen to trust in You with the faith of a child.
As well, equip us with loving minds, that we may understand that great achievements can follow love and kindness. Within each of us, O God, you have left a blank, meant to be filled with LOVE.  You have equipped each of us, from Your storehouse with just what Your Love requires to help another person become fully alive, for Your glory; “Thus the whole round earth is bound by golden chains about the feet of God”.(3)
Give us, always, minds for Praising Thee, our God, from the dawning of the day until the setting of the evening star, we pray in the Name of Christ, our Lord. Amen

Hymn: Amazing Grace – Andrea Bocelli (click on the link below)

https://youtu.be/TF9jQNxJfyU

 

 

EDITORIAL NOTES

1.  Scripture references are from the NIV translation
2.   John Masefield in The Everlasting Mercy. HTTPs://www.bartleby.com/236/337.html
3.   Alfred Tennyson in “The Passing Of Arthur” https://www.bartleby.com/246/392.htm
   
4. Photo from the public domain

Suggested Scripture Reading:  John 16: 17 – 33

Scripture Emphasis: Hosea 2:15

There I will give her back her vineyards,
    and will make the Valley of Achor ( Achor means trouble), a door of Hope.
There she will respond as in the days of her youth,
    as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

  From the Creator’s hand, we arrive home, destined to spend a lifetime in this valley; we call the world. It is in this place that each one must discover what it means to be the living soul as imagined by our Creator. How, in this valley can we reflect the unique distinction of bearing the ‘IMAGE of God,’ no matter how extreme or hostile the environment may prove to be?  From personal experience, each must seek to achieve God’s image of ‘a living soul’ as decreed by Him at creation. The Valley generates all of life’s experiences. We are born into it; we live out our years here, and from it, we eventually go, emerging as complete or atrophied. The poet, John Keats,  exercising an economy of words, rightly describes this world as “A Vale Of Soul-Making.” ( 2)

Endless corridors of solid granite surround us always. Our souls must acquire the skill to determine what is real and what may be mere echoes. Is it the voice of the world we hear, or is it the voice of God calling to us?  Here, the temptation is forever present, to take either the limited resources of the valley or to await the arrival of Heavenly resources as promised by God. Some here, readily accept the suggestion that everything, including ourselves, is of the same cold, hard, lifeless material that the valley itself is, But even though they renounce all responsibility of ‘soul-making’ in the valley, they can never cease being living souls, according to God’s decree.

The walls of this valley, this habitat for all humanity we call home, have words and symbols etched thereon, that testify to the experience of countless millions, that this valley is appropriately named a Valley Of Trouble (Achor). 

Hosea, the author of our chosen scripture emphasis, was an 8th – century Bc prophet of Israel. He is one whose experience in the valley qualifies him well to call this place “The Valley of Trouble. His wife, Gomar, mother of his children, is unfaithful to him, and leaves him and becomes a common prostitute. Hosea is heartbroken by this turn of events and refuses to abandon her. His unconditional love for Hagar inspires his forgiveness and his total re-acceptance of her. 

Not only did Hosea’s experience substantiate his naming this valley a place of trouble, but through his subsequent experiences, to discover a door of HOPE
in the granite walls of the valley. Hosea uses his heart-wrenching experience to symbolize the characteristic love of God for His children, Israel when they abandon their commitment to God and embrace the Canaanite religion.

It matters not how unprepared you might feel about dealing with your situation in this trying hour, or how terrifyingly dark the prospects ahead may seem; there is a door of Hope in this Valley of Trouble. Passing through this door of Hope, you come face to face with God as Hosea did, as David, the Psalmist did, ” Yea, though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me, and as Jesus did, ” In this world, you will have trouble, but fear not for I have overcome the world, and I will be with you until the end”. 

 

Prayer To Follow This Meditation  

Eternal Father, Your compassion is immeasurable and calls from our hearts expressions of loving gratitude.
At those intervals, when the world steals the last jubilant strains of our positive response for life, You are there with a new key.

In the slow awakening of nature from winter’s icy grip, when the chilling wind rattles the dry and lifeless branches, mocking our Hope of spring’s return, You set a songbird on the topmost branch to make us hope again.

When ‘the midnight of the soul’ confers upon us the torment of sleeplessness, You direct us to see a moonbeam on the dancing wavelets of the sea, and we know once more that we are not alone.

When a virulent pandemic sweeps through The Valley, making us feel alone and helpless, You come through the door of Hope, and in Your company, there are the most courageous among us. They defy the threats to their personal safety, and in the presence of the One who died to serve, they inspire hope and confidence once more.

Receive our gratitude now, O God, that in the hour of our unprecedented experiences, we see anew the meaning of God’s “Living Souls. ‘For as much as you do it unto one of the least of these, you do it unto Me.” We pray in the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

HYMN: O God Our Help In Ages Past

https://youtu.be/rsHIwXTjAOU

 

 

FOOTNOTES

1. The Scripture references are of the NIV translation.
2.  “The Vale Of Soul-Making” John Keats http://box5415.temp.domains/~sacreeh5/2012/04/15/the-vale-of-soul-making/
3. HOSEA, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosea

PHOTO,  Taken in Monument Valley, Utah, USA.