05-15-24

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
May 15, 2024
As a young kid, I remember hearing the song, Turn! Turn! Turn! The song is based upon the well-known words from the Book of Ecclesiastes: To every thing there is a season... The song actually hit Number One on the Billboard Charts before I was born, but one Sunday evening, after an earlier Sunday School lesson from Ecclesiastes, there was this aha moment as I heard the song on the radio. Come to find out, there has never been another number one pop song that had more scripture in it—nothing even close. I share that background because Jesus seemed to talk about certain things occurring in the proper season at the right time. Once you move away from God as the great puppeteer, controlling every move of every human being, to an understanding of God who respects free will, you begin to realize how involved we need to be in the realization of the vision presented by Jesus. God not only needs us, but God expects us to be a part of the process. And there are moments in human history when seismic shifts have occurred, and those moments were not magic or brought about by a really good speech. The moment was right and ripe, in part, because there was a tipping point in the collective consciousness of humanity—a tipping point that had been building long before the tip ever occurred. Some are always a little dumbfounded by what appeared to be an unexpected and dramatic change, but for many others, the generational hope had been consistently building and gaining strength. Jesus recognized how important the season was—a time to laugh, a time to cry, a time to dance, a time to mourn, a time to enjoy a meal, a time to fast. Often, fasting would come just ahead of the tipping point.

Holy God, create within me a holy awareness so that I am not blindsided by the movement of your Spirit. I do not wish to be caught off guard by the new thing you are doing. Instead, I want to feel as if I somehow participated in seeing some small part of your vision actualized. Amen.