08-22-24

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
August 22, 2024
How many of you read it in the email Etching that I was unable to correct or read it online before I had a chance to correct it? Yes, in yesterday’s Etching, I wrote “Right them off” instead of “Write them off.” And yes, I know the difference, but this is a reminder for me to not write my Etching while trying to do something else. Especially when there is lots of sound around me and I am trying to write inside my head, I find that I type what I hear in my head and not the meaning of what I am writing. That sounds strange to many of you, but I heard a psychologist who specialized in auditory processing give a name to what I have experienced a number of times. It was nice to know I was not alone. That’s all to say that my mistake has given me reason to pause, not to explain (though I attempted to do so), but to run with it. What might it mean to say, “Right them off”? In Psalm 3:8, we read:

Rescue comes from the Lord!
    May your blessing be on your people!

These words invite the reader’s attention to the central story within the Jewish Tradition: the story of the Exodus, the liberation from slavery. God was the agent of freedom, and God got them right before sending them forth with blessings. I am sort of liking the idea of us righting people off and getting them, with the help of God, in the best position for whatever is to come next in life before sending them forth.

Thanks for putting up with my sort of embarrassing mistake, and thanks for letting me play around with my mistake as it sort of prodded my imagination.

Thank you for your grace, Merciful God, amidst those errors that do happen… sometimes a little too often. But also, thanks for the space to allow for mistakes to not necessarily be a dead end but a doorway to something new. Amen.