Wednesday, October 28, 2020          (today’s lectionary)
The next great adventure
Dumbledore is talking about his friends Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel, because Harry Potter is worried about them.
“But that means he and his wife will die, won’t they?”
“They have enough Elixir stored to set their affairs in order and then, yes, they will die.”
Dumbledore smiled at the look of amazement on Harry’s face. “To one as young as you, I’m sure it seems incredible, but to Nicolas and Perenelle, it really is like going to bed after a very, VERY long day. After all, to the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure. You know, the Sorcerer’s Stone was really not such a wonderful thing. As much money and life as you could want? The two things human beings would choose above all – the trouble is, humans do have a knack of choosing precisely those things that are worst for them.”
Harry lay there, lost for words. Dumbledore hummed a little and smiled at the ceiling.
In these latter days of my own life (or at least the latter years) these words from the first volume of the Harry Potter books confuse me less than comfort me. Christmas is ambling toward us, and I remember countless Vatican Christmas Eve services at midnight when one pope or another, old men all, spoke words that galvanized my hopes and dreams. Dumbledore, pope or no, is another one I want to listen to.
You are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God built upon the foundation of the Apostles and the prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone.
And that’s the key: “Christ Jesus as the cornerstone.” Learn from those who knew Jesus, and those who knew those who knew Jesus, and so on. We are all of us so imperfectly led, but to follow the path back to Jesus only requires … what does Micah say? … the desire to act justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with our God. And to LISTEN.
Through him the whole structure is held together.
In him you also are being built into a dwelling place for God in the Spirit.
It won’t be long till the first Sunday of Advent. Then it won’t be long till Christmas Eve. The angels will sing on the hills of Bethlehem, Pope Francis will make his way to the pulpit, and in his own mumbling style, say something that makes me want to shout and sing.
Through all the earth their voice resounds and to the ends of the earth, their message.
Of course these will be words that Jesus Christ put into his mouth. Like the pope perhaps, I love to sit on the edge of my bed and listen to God talking back to me, usually to allay my fears, sometimes to help me with my confusion. None of us are alone, especially in the middle of the night.
You are no longer strangers or sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones.
Day pours out the word to day, and night to night imparts knowledge.
Go back two millennia and lie sleeping by the dying campfire with the other disciples. Sometimes I am shaken awake by something I don’t understand. But then my eyes clear and I look around. Not far away, kneeling beside a stone as if it is an ornate altar, Jesus looks up to heaven.
Jesus went up the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came …
Oh yes, when day came! Look up now, and keep your sandals tied tight. The Kingdom of God is here!
(Ephesians 2, Psalm 19, Luke 6)
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