I don’t believe in coincidence. At times in my life when God wanted me to pay particular attention to something, He would present me with at least three opportunities to notice it over a short period of time.
When we went to New York City for Labor Day, I was thrilled to spend that time with our daughters and their loving church fellowship – young Christians who love the Lord and others. Their love for others is evident in everything about them.
The visit was filled with lots of fellowship, games, and …Canadian geese.
Some time ago, I had heard about how Canadian geese fly. They fly in a “V” formation. A lead goose flies at the leading center of the “V”, working harder against the head wind than the other geese. This pattern allows them to fly faster and more efficiently than other flying patterns would. Since the leader is exerting more effort against the head wind, when he becomes fatigued, the flock shifts and another goose takes the lead.
I had never heard anything however about the way Canadian geese take off.
I have often marveled at how similar a flock of small birds and a school of small fish look in the way in which they travel. Watch. They disperse and swarm in a very similar way.
This flock of Canadian geese lined up… and took off… one by one! They even spaced themselves as they took off. They reminded me of how planes are lined up on the runway waiting for their turn to take to the sky… only the geese did it without a control tower!
On day four of our five-day visit, as I was packing to return home, I was unexpectedly overcome with sadness. I was surprised at my own reaction.
The visit had been delightful. Our daughters lived in a lovely apartment in an attractive neighborhood and they had lots of loving Christian friends. I had no fears or concerns about their well-being. As I had told the many friends who had inquired whether I was “worried” about them living in New York: “God is in New York, too.”
So why the tears? Maybe because we had had such a wonderful time and I knew it would be a while before we’d be able to do that again…
The second of the first set of threes was almost identical to that one except it occurred in at home, not in NYC. Our married son David was doing a radiology rotation at the medical school in our area and for the month that he was in town, he lived with us. It has been, I realized upon reflection, nine years since he had last lived under our roof—except for six weeks a couple of summers ago.
We had a great visit. I loved seeing him in the morning, making breakfast for him some days, and hearing about his day in the evenings. It went on that way for the four weeks, each day more delightful in some way than the ones before.
Then flash! The four weeks had expired and it seemed to have passed so quickly!
I felt unprepared for his return to his home and his bride. I was surprised to be overcome with sadness as I watched him drive off. How could that be? After all he had been married for four and one half years—yet, I felt as sad as I did sometimes when returned to college after spending a weekend at home.
In this case, I was able to minister to myself. I put myself in his bride’s place. I know for sure that if, at four and a half years of marriage, Beloved had to be away from me somewhere for 30 days, for sure I would not have wanted him to be away for 31 days!
Number three of the first set happened today. I crossed the threshold of a Lutheran Church. I have not attended a service in a Lutheran church since Kate was about 5.
It happened on a Wednesday evening during Lent. During the sermon, the minister asked a (rhetorical) question… and Kate raised her hand to answer him. She kept her hand in the air for several minutes. The minister saw her, looked puzzled but continued with his message.
After a while she whispered to me, “Mommy. Why didn’t he call on me? I raised my hand.”
Today, when I opened the door-- really even before I stepped inside-- a flood of emotions washed over me. In that narthex, as soon as you enter the outer door, you can see right into the sanctuary. The Sanctuary doors were wide open—both of them. The whole wall behind the altar was covered with primary colors of stained glass mostly rectangles I think but exquisitely beautiful.
The sight of it literally took my breath away. I lingered for a bit—just standing there, taking it all in. I really just wanted to go into that Sanctuary and just be there.
But I had come for Bible study, so I turned to my left and entered a rectangular room. The pastor and a small band of Bible students were seated around a conference table, reading from the 16th chapter of Romans. As soon as I was seated the gentleman to my right ended his turn reading and indicated to me that it was my turn to read.
I read the greetings that Paul sent to practically everyone in the Roman church by name and I completed the chapter. Discussion followed. It was so great to be studying a book of the Bible and with others growing and eager to continue to feed on the Word of God, Word of life.
That was nothing however to be compared to how I felt later that afternoon when I returned to that church. As I entered the narthex, I heard the congregation singing the last lines of “A mighty Fortress is Our God”. If the Lutheran church has an anthem, it is “A Mighty Fortress”, written by Martin Luther himself.
From age six till I was in my mid twenties, I attended Reformation Day services every year; they commemorate Luther’s actions on October 31, 1517 when he nailed to the door of the Wittenberg Church his ninety-five theses.
This Reformation Day October 2012, I was attending the first such service for me in over thirty years.
I had been away from all of this: the liturgy —responsive psalms; organ music; and red vestments for all clergy in honor of Reformation Day. I saw that Ephesians 2: 8-9 was emblazoned on a banner hung in the Sanctuary.
I tried to take it all in. Everything moved me deeply: hearing the last notes of “A mighty Fortress”; the sermon; Holy Communion and especially the benediction. Oh! How I loved hearing again the benediction that I grew up hearing: “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.”
I knew I was home in a way I cannot adequately put into words. But I know that some things in the universe lined up today and I feel peace. I can’t wait for next Sunday’s Bible study of the book of Galatians—and the worship service.
The Second Set of Threes
This morning I was singing a little lyric from a song: “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.”
At the 10:00 a.m. service that I attended at a different church this same morning, the words on printed on the right side of the bulletin were: “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good.”
This afternoon at the Reformation service: “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good.”
To someone else this may have a different meaning but what I believe it means for me is that God is making His face shine upon me; He is being gracious to me; and He is welcoming me home… to my Lutheran roots.
No comments:
Post a Comment