Anchor Point
Imagine a potion, a formula, something you can release into the air so it will spread far and wide, touching everyone, that would turn love into hate. How would you protect yourself from being infected?
There are some things in them hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures. You therefore, beloved, since you are forewarned, beware that you are not carried away with the error of the lawless and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. - 2 Peter 3:16-18
Peter tells us to stay grounded in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. That, he says, will keep us from being carried away with the lawless.
Today is Sunday. It is the day that is a little less rushed, a little more grounded.
On Sunday, I wake up a bit later and take my time getting started. I need this time. It is my anchor point.
By the time I get to church, I am ready to join my voice with others to pray and praise God, to be thankful for all that has been given to us and to seek His help in sharing what we enjoy with those who have little or nothing.
I truly believe that the antidote for the poisons that have caused us to turn against each other, each viewing the other as ignorant, unstable and dangerous, is administered when we come together in God's presence.
Like the blind man who could only see people as trees walking after Jesus sought to cure him, we need to stay together and seek more help in being able to see each other clearly.
It was in answering Jesus' inquiry, "Can you see anything?" that Jesus knew he needed more healing.
Today, in our church, we will come together for healing and a discussion will follow during coffee hour. We will be asked to share what we feel and what we see.
If we fail to share, out of fear of offending or being offended, we will walk away with only half of what we need.
But the real loss will be if each of us believes it is the other who is in need of healing, the other who is blind, the other who is ignorant or unstable.
Yet, if we stay focused and seek God's help, I believe we will come away with a clear understanding of ourselves, and be firmly anchored in God's love for all.
Then what?
Well, in Mark's Gospel, when Jesus restore the man's sight, he warns him not to go back into the village, but to go home.
Maybe that is what we will need to do as well. We should take a break from the town crier's platform and just be for a while.
The poison is still out there lingering in the air. God help me to breathe deeply without taking it in.
More to come...