Calvary’s Director of Youth and Family Ministry, Janelle, is always saying my feet would feel neat if I got a pedicure. I tell her I’m a guy and guys don’t do neat feet. Besides, I preach every week so according to the Bible my feet are just fine, thank you very much. But as pretty as the feet of the preacher may be the beautiful thing in this text is that there is no distinction between one foot and the other. The Jew and the Greek stand on the same Word. The generous Lord is Lord of all who call. With that in mind I had the distinct pleasure of preaching at a wedding to a couple who are “in the choir” so to speak, while some of their friends who are not listened in. Is there a distinction between those who can sing the song by heart and those who hearing the song, maybe for first time, just like the sound of it? Maybe if the Lord is really generous calling on the Lord doesn’t mean knowing how to pronounce the Lord's name. Maybe calling on the Lord is a heart or mind or spirit just longing for the song it doesn’t know how to sing and the Lord does the rest. I don’t know, but the better part of me hopes so. Of course the better part of me has such a hope only because I confess with my lips and believe in my heart the One who has the authority to do the rest. For while he washed his disciples feet his feet were put to shame by the nail and in the end those feet bearing the scars of suffering raised from the dead will have the final say. In the meantime I’m grateful I know the name and hopeful that others hear it through my neat feet – with or without a pedicure.
It is good to be reminded that real faith is believeing in something that we don't understand and we cannot explain. Sometimes we think we know the words to the song only to find that we are singing something entirely different. We put our own spin on the lyrics or tune and pretty soon we're just singing our own song. Isaiah's words, "I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, 'Here am I, here am I." remind me that Israel was expecting a Messiah, but when he came he didn't fit the image they expected and they didn't know him. So instead of singing his song, they rejected him because he brought discord to the measured rhymes and meters of their "faith." I hope during Lent that I can put aside what I think I know, and just listen to the song of love like it was the first time...
ReplyDeleteNicely said, Carol. Or should I say sung? By the end of Romans chapter 11 Paul is convinced that the covenant of God with the chosen people is irrevocable and that all Isarel will be saved or singing the same song.
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