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Near and Far |
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by Bill |
"Bless all who share in this day's celebration and happiness, both those who are near and those who are far away."
That sentence is from a wedding prayer. I first used it when a bride's father was unable to travel to his daughter's wedding. I use it now in nearly every wedding - there is usually someone not present, someone who is missed.
A wedding earlier this month set me thinking afresh about "those who are near and those who are far away." The bride was escorted by her grandfather, his face beaming with pride. Her father was not present; perhaps he had never been present for her. The bride's mother and the groom's stepmother lit candles. Again, the biological mother was missing, although a deep affection between the groom and his stepmother was clear. But I noticed the stepmother did not sit with the groom's father! They sat far away, even though they were near.
Still, the service was lovely, marked by obvious support for the couple. It was a multi-ethnic affair: the bride was African-American, the groom Hispanic, and the faces in the wedding party ran the full range from dark to pale. The bride's attendants wore rich, dark-brown dresses, while the men wore white tuxedos, with vests that matched the women's dresses. As one of the groomsmen, who was African-American, put on his gleaming white jacket, he joked, "I've finally made it; I'm included in an all-white affair!" So many ways of keeping people distant, even when they are near!
"As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:27-28).
May we so fully put on Christ that, in poet Irene Zimmerman's words, we see, "every face / luminous / with godliness!" Only with such vision will the face of God's earth be renewed.
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Our Bleeding Earth
"Our guilt lies open before you: our secrets in the light of your face." Psalm 90:8 (ICEL)
Walter Brueggemann, speaking in San Antonio this week, said: "We have reached the limits of our technological hubris." At the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, millions of gallons of oil gush from the heart of the earth.
This hemorrhage of earth's riches spewing wildly makes our secret known, the secret greed we tried to hide in the depths of the ocean. Now that earth's heart is impaled, how long will it take to seal the underwater gush? No tourniquet can stop it.
The earth bleeds while we dither about photo ops on the beach.
I am not as optimistic as many. I worry that this latest assault on the earth will not be healed. Seeing the rectangular picture in the lower left TV screen of crude oil gushing more and more every day makes tears stream from my eyes.
We cannot hide the film of flammable fuel floating upon the waters. Have mercy, O forgiving God.
O Creator God, as you look upon your earth, our guilt lies before you. The face of the earth, that stunning picture seen first in the famous NASA photo; the face of the earth drawn with white swirling clouds over terra cotta clumps of earth and teal waters; the face of the earth is now revealing our secret. Have mercy, O God! Turn your countenance toward us. In your heart, love us beyond our hubris. Spill your gracious compassion upon us. Come Holy Spirit, and renew the face of the earth. We pray. Amen
--by Jan |
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