Redeemed by Blood or Love
Bob Wickizer
Joel 2:12-19
On the morning of September 11, 2001 I was driving to the National Cathedral in Washington DC for a meeting with my bishop. I heard the news about the World Trade Center towers in New York on the radio. After settling in for our meeting and grabbing a cup of coffee, a Cathedral security officer interrupted us to say that the cathedral was being evacuated. When we asked why he said that the Pentagon had just been hit. About two hundred people were ushered out of the cathedral and onto the south lawn where we could look across the Potomac River on that beautiful fall day and watch the smoke plume billowing off of the Pentagon. It was a chilling sight and I recall a moment of vivid revelation or perhaps it was just hallucination.
In my mind's eye the future played out as if I were watching two completely different movies. In the first scenario, everything was about bombs, destruction, children crying and suffering. In the second, the nations of the world acted out of a new playbook and there was restoration, healing, a golden sun, warmth and love. The vision of the New Jerusalem in Revelation came to my mind where ''On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.'' I wondered in that moment if the Pentagon stood for the healing of the nations or whether there might be a role for the church in that work.
This morning I want to reflect on the sweep of ethics in the Bible. We will talk about some ancient Christian understandings that are not just wrong, they cause harm. And we will conclude with the healing way for individuals and for nations. This all began as I started to prepare today's worship. At staff meeting some enthusiastically endorsed ''Alleluia, Sing to Jesus'' as the old, familiar processional hymn. People began to sing parts of the hymn energetically. Now I normally ...
Bob Wickizer
Joel 2:12-19
On the morning of September 11, 2001 I was driving to the National Cathedral in Washington DC for a meeting with my bishop. I heard the news about the World Trade Center towers in New York on the radio. After settling in for our meeting and grabbing a cup of coffee, a Cathedral security officer interrupted us to say that the cathedral was being evacuated. When we asked why he said that the Pentagon had just been hit. About two hundred people were ushered out of the cathedral and onto the south lawn where we could look across the Potomac River on that beautiful fall day and watch the smoke plume billowing off of the Pentagon. It was a chilling sight and I recall a moment of vivid revelation or perhaps it was just hallucination.
In my mind's eye the future played out as if I were watching two completely different movies. In the first scenario, everything was about bombs, destruction, children crying and suffering. In the second, the nations of the world acted out of a new playbook and there was restoration, healing, a golden sun, warmth and love. The vision of the New Jerusalem in Revelation came to my mind where ''On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.'' I wondered in that moment if the Pentagon stood for the healing of the nations or whether there might be a role for the church in that work.
This morning I want to reflect on the sweep of ethics in the Bible. We will talk about some ancient Christian understandings that are not just wrong, they cause harm. And we will conclude with the healing way for individuals and for nations. This all began as I started to prepare today's worship. At staff meeting some enthusiastically endorsed ''Alleluia, Sing to Jesus'' as the old, familiar processional hymn. People began to sing parts of the hymn energetically. Now I normally ...
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