The Blue Church

One of my favorite Christmas traditions has been attending a performance of Handel’s Messiah at the Kimmel Center in downtown Philadelphia. Those memories were fresh on my mind as I listened to an online presentation yesterday.

Israel missed it in the desert.
Moses missed it at the Rock.
Saul missed it at Gilgal.
Elijah missed it in a cave.

The greatest challenge for hikers and backpackers is not struggling up a steep mountain trail or fording a swollen stream. In fact, the most perplexing problem facing trekkers is not even physical.

The year that is coming to an end has seen a remarkable amount of change, and most of that does not seem to have been for the better. Lock-downs, school closures, business failures, family reunions spoiled, and celebrations cancelled all were a part of our life. Much of it was well-meaning,

I’m always fascinated by Bible teachers who profess to know the details of the end times. They wax eloquent about the identity of the Antichrist, the signs they are certain point to Christ’s return, and of course many pinpoint the date itself. And they are inevitably wrong.

I’m not sure how and when it happened, but we somehow imported into modern terminology an idea from German folklore, namely the mythical “magic bullet.”

The planting directions warned, “Needs at least six hours of sunshine each day.” But I was hoping to keep the tomato plants indoors for the summer, shielded from disease, insects, and squirrels.

One spring morning I watched a squirrel scurry to a spot in the back yard, stop, and dig up an acorn. He climbed a bird-feeder pole and enjoyed his buried treasure in the warming sunshine.

My early morning walk took me past a storefront with an outside fountain. The shrubbery was neatly trimmed, and the bronze cranes arranged in different positions of flying or standing in the shallow water. It was rather unexpected in that old neighborhood near a trolley station.

We may not realize how often God calls on us to remember. But the Bible is full of memorials, festivals, altars, celebrations, and psalms dedicated to jog God’s people’s collective memory about salvation history.