Skip to main content

Life in Greencastle - The Word

"The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever." - 1 Peter 1:24,25

"For the Word is inexhaustible. One can only stand in wonder and point." - William C. Martin

I was coming back from a dinner with my dad and step-mom last night, and I took the back way home. This takes me along the old State Farm land near Manhattan and Putnamville, and as I drove into a valley where there is a small bridge I looked off to the west. The sun was doing one of those beautiful dances with the clouds - peeking below before it made its exit off stage for the day. It was a glowing fire, a burning orange. And below its radiance, two does stood silently over a field of beans.

I stopped the car right there in the middle of the road. Just to watch and to listen. The deer raised their heads and stared ahead at my car. Together we were matched in curious gaze. I didn't linger long. I put the car back in first gear and began again up the hill to take me out of the small valley. But for a moment I staid long enough to see a deeper world; I caught the glimpse of the inexhaustibly beautiful Word, which John's Gospel reminds us stirs up and orders all of creation.

It reminds me of what surely has to be the best Presbyterian movie of all time. Why A River Runs Through It, of course - the very story written by Norman Maclean and put to film by Robert Redford.

Early in the story, Rev. Maclean, a Presbyterian minister, takes his young boys to the river and gives the boys a lesson - telling them that long ago the rain fell on the mud and made rocks. But, even before there were rocks - underneath those rocks - are the words of God. And all the Maclean boys had to do was to listen. If they listened well, they could hear the words of God.

There is a grace and truth beneath the surface and commotion of our life. This week we will plunge ourselves again into Paul's letter to the Ephesians, and, as we do, Paul will invite us again to see that grace and truth, to listen and to stand in wonder at the Word.

I am also grateful that Pam Coburn will be assisting in our worship this week - offering her voice as an instrument to speak to us the word of the Lord. Pam, as you may know, was once a student at DePauw who participated and sang in our worship back when we worshiped in our old sanctuary. So, she returns to us again - to help remind us that we never know where God will lead us or use us.

And, we will gather around the table of our Lord this Sunday. We will have the occasion to remember that the Word of God did - in fact - become flesh, flesh that was willing to be broken that we might be made whole.

There will be bread enough for all who need it. There always is. The Word is inexhaustible. Let us stand in awe and point to the glory of God.

Wes

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Acts 2:42-47 - Questions for Reflection & Study

This past Sunday, we took a look at Luke's first summary passage in the story of Acts:  chapter 2, verses 42-47.  Here, Luke is presenting a billboard of what the Church looks like at its best.  He is trying to convince Theophilus that Christianity is worth his attention.  The early Church captures what all of us are looking for, whether we know it or not.  This is a close community that truly cares for one another, where everyone truly is seen as a brother and sister, and where no one person is considered more or less important as the other.  Needs are being met.  There is joy in their fellowship.  Take a moment to think about a time in your life when you experienced the joy and blessing of a deep, loving community?  Where was it, and what made this community so different?  What role did you play in this community? Luke tells us the disciples "devoted themselves" to four essential practices.  The Greek word for "devoted" ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Touchdown Jesus

For the second consecutive year, I traveled up US 31 to South Bend, Indiana on a beautiful fall day. I traveled with Curtis Lawrence, and we went for the sole purpose of watching the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team take the field. Now, I must note that it was my childhood dream to attend Notre Dame. Even loftier, it was also my dream - like many young boys growing up in Indiana - to suit up for the Fighting Irish. Surprisingly - even with such hopes - I had never actually visited the campus. For the first thirty years of my life, I never set foot on one of the more storied and celebrated college campus and football meccas in America. That absence was broken, though, when I made that first trip up to South Bend last year. Let me tell you: even after all those years of waiting, the campus and football stadium at Notre Dame lived up to all the out-sized expectations I had. Like most places of prominence, Notre Dame Stadium really cannot be described through words. It is so...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Gifts of Austerity

I’ve had it.   The Canadian Geese finally pushed me over the edge.   That was my tipping point.   I was driving back to the church after running a few errands on my lunch hour, and there they were flying through the sky.   Steadily flying south in packs of ten and four and six. They were escaping what was feeling more and more like an existential play.   No Exit .   Waiting for Godot .     That sort of thing.   The sort of tale where you never really emerge.   You.   Just.   Wait. It’s been almost a year now since this whole COVID journey began, which seems both ridiculous and unreal.   There’s no possible way it hasn’t been a full year.   There’s no possible way we haven’t come up on the one-year anniversary of when they shut down the schools and we fumbled our way through our first on-line service.   There’s a word that captures where we are right now.   It’s not a fun word.   It’s a winter wor...
Post a Comment
Read more