It is
the third Tuesday of January. As I look out my window, there is fog on this
morning with the forecast of a significant winter storm that may come at the
end of the week, snow and the coldest weather on the weekend for this winter
season. So my advice is to bundle up and keep warm. Also tomorrow is Orders and
Fellowship for the conference. This will be the first one in a long time that I
will be missing. I am not sure what I will miss but it is nice that I can be
home and not worry about traveling in snow and ice.
Nancy
had me watch on YouTube two pastors who were discussing Disturbed cover edition
of Sounds of Silence by Simon and Garfunkel. Simon and Garfunkel were two of my
favorite folk rock artists and lyric writers. As I was watching this rendition,
I was ready to be critical but they did a great job and very powerful images. As
the two pastors were discussing the rendition, they were also impressed by
Disturbed, which is a heavy metal band. One of the things that struck me was
that they felt that what Simon wrote was even more powerful today almost 50
years after the song was popular. They also felt that the words and song themes
were hopeless and feelings of helplessness. The video is bleak and gray. When we watched
the video, we did not feel that it was so bleak and gray. I have always felt
that the lyrics were prophetic and reached to several generations. Nancy and I both
felt at the end of the video there was hope. What the pastors ended up saying
was that their hope and answer came from their relationship with Jesus, with
which I would agree.
What made
this interesting is last night was the beginning of our study of Revelation. We
talked about the book (letter) included apocalyptic writing, prophecy, and a
letter. We are using Warren Carter’s book, “What Does Revelation Reveal” as our
guide. We talked that in many ways we have lost the language that the original
hearers and readers would find common. This is especially true with the
references to the Hebrew Scriptures. We also discussed that prophecy in
scripture was less about predicting the future but more a “forth telling of
God.” This led to talking about the video and the song lyrics of 50 years ago. Not
that this was so much a telling about God but a warning about bowing down and
praying to “the neon gods they made.” As we get into talking more about the
seven churches this may become more poignant to remember. I would invite
readers to look up the video and watch yourself.
I know
that there are so many issues in our world today that it is difficult to let go
of the negativity that surrounds us. I have been deleting about a third of the
posts on my Facebook wall because of the caustic comments. What saddens me, is
that many of these come from people I know that are just reposting them. Whether
these posts really reflect their thoughts and beliefs or not, I would rather
they express themselves instead of having someone else talk for them. If they
feel the way that they repost, I would disagree but honor their beliefs more. Enough
I say, enough. Until next Tuesday, God bless you all.
Eldon
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