Lent 3c - Conclusion

Isaiah 55:1-9; Psalm 63:1-8; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9

Big Red, aka Evelyn Wilkerson, her body thirsting as in a dry and weary land, looked upon the Lord in the sanctuary yesterday and beholding God’s power and glory sat down to dine at the forever feast. As one temporarily left behind, I am grateful that her familiar face is now joined to the vast crowd of witnesses as I am encouraged and strengthened by remembering her faithful witness even as I anticipate what she now knows. Living into that future is like waiting for a fig tree to produce as the work we do here, digging around the roots, watering and fertilizing only fully bears fruit when the tree dies. And so I think of the meal of bread and wine we shared last week now multiplied in the presence of the Holy, a proper feast. I think of the body worn and weary now new and whole, the mortal clothed in immortality, the temporal with the eternal. I think of patient endurance and faithful service rewarded as promises hoped for are realized. So as those who are temporarily left behind we bid our sister Godspeed until we too hear the heavenward call of Christ and sit down with those who are saving a seat for us at the feast that never ends.