After the events of this past weekend at the US Capital, the common refrain that I am hearing is one that affirms the necessity of ‘healing.’ But what does that mean, I wonder?
Some people say healing will only come through time. These people affirm the saying that “time heals all wounds.” Some of them say that healing comes through retribution. Our healing comes because we have claimed our ‘pound of flesh.’ In this case, the wound is so deep that the only plausible response comes through some form of ‘capital punishment.' Others believe healing comes from righteous indignation and the call to action. In this case healing is only possible if we do something; often that ‘something’ is dramatic or symbolic or both. Healing in both of these previous two places is only accomplished because of action. Sadly, other people believe healing comes from apathy. . . Those people say things like, ‘I can’t fix it so who cares.’
So, I cannot say for certain where healing comes based on any of those perspectives, or how it comes to be manifested, but I know through whom healing alone is possible. When I read that someone, or something, or some group “needs to heal,” my mind gravitates toward one direction. I know of no other way, or individual, or program, or process through whom healing is possible then God.
Normally at this point in these posts I offer you a quotation from a treasured church leader or teacher about the subject. I try to share each day with you some piece of learning that might help you. But with the events in our world so fresh in our mind, I wonder if the correct offering today is different. I wonder if the words from Hebrews can be a pathway, or a balm, that helps move the conversation forward. For God is never that far away from us.
The author of the book of Hebrews wrote:
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
I know that you recognize this verse. I do not need to cite it or tell you where to locate the verse. It is that poignant. It is that applicable. I do not have to ’see’ the place where healing is going to come, and neither do I have to be able to fully grasp it. Complete clarity on something as painful as what we witnessed this weekend is not necessary. Instead, rather than lash out, rather than demand any response, or tell the world and God how healing will come, I fall back upon God. “The substance of things hoped for. . .”
Nothing touches my hope. But that does not mean I cannot be wounded or suffer. I may still hurt, and I know that I still will. I may be angry and I am may not fully know how to move forward as a Christian in my world. But this verse reminds me that I do not have to see, or witness, a thing for God’s healing presence to be accessible to me. I can condemn evil and evil practices right alongside of being able to ‘hope’ for God’s will be done in my world, while still knowing that I cannot see a way forward. For only God has that universal perspective, and so God, is the basis of my hope and that which I ground my faith upon.
Blessings
Rev. Derek
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