Wednesday, July 5, 2023
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Be swift my soul to answer him
Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Isaac grew, and on the day of the child’s weaning Abraham held a great feast.
The neighborhood parade was short but sweet. Candy, sirens, our grandkids and their friends shrieking with delight, and neighbors! Neighbors everywhere, coming out of their houses and saying hello. Happy 4th! Same to you! We are all in this together.
Maybe it’s not likely we can live this way, hailing our neighbors from our front yards, sharing sugar and flour when we’ve just run out, putting a cake or pie in front of our neighbor’s door while they are inside. Shhh! Don’t let them know yet!
Andi does that last thing. And the boys, struggling to keep quiet, walk with her, run with her, skip with her, trying to hold her hand while she holds the beautiful homemade cake, decorated with a flag and ready for the Day. How sweet it is to be loved by you.
At lunch Andi gathered friends, from school and church and the neighborhood. We met a couple from Kazakhstan, and their daughter. They had never had a corn dog, or corn on the cob, or artichoke dip. We met her fellow teacher from Killeen, not so far away, who had tasted all those things many times, and told us stories about her family come from Alabama in the 1860’s in a covered wagon, to a Confederate land grant up north of Austin where the US army base is now.
As of May 9, 2023, Ft. Hood is now Ft. Cavazos, named after a contemporary Hispanic army hero. 34,500 soldiers live there, in Killeen, and I guess most of them still call their home place Hood. General Hood failed to stop Sherman at Atlanta, then led his soldiers into slaughter at Franklin and immediately again at Nashville, Tennessee. However, before that he had been a hero, and lost his left leg. His name peppers the pages of Civil War history.
Sarah noticed Ishmael playing with her son Isaac, and she demanded of Abraham, “Drive out that slave and her son!” God told Abraham, who was greatly distressed, “Hear the demands of Sarah, no matter what she is asking of you. I will make great nations of both Isaac and Ishmael, since they are both your offspring.”
God is a consummate diplomat. He preserves lives and dignities. And as battles rage around Jerusalem even this week, Isaac and Ishmael still thrive as Jewish and Palestinian boys and girls. For awhile their eyes are clear. They could even play together in the streets, friends at first, but then the poisons of centuries of struggle and sin, settled into the hooded eyes of their parents, Â catch up with them, the children. Did God end his diplomacy? Did his people refuse to listen? The ones in the refugee camps hear each other more than they hear God, at least during the day, as they sit with nothing else to do in the hot sun.
As his mother sat opposite Ishmael, he began to cry. All their water was used up. Then God said, “Arise, Hagar, lift up the boy and hold him by the hand. And God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She filled her skin with water, and she let the boy drink. And God was with the boy Ishmael as he grew up.
In the United States, the battles mark our celebrations. When we win, and we like anyone can make even a defeat into a victory for the most part, we praise God. We graciously welcome our opponents if they acknowledge their defeat. When they don’t (and usually they don’t, just as usually we don’t), we are kind of set up for another battle. Like I said, the poison of centuries of struggle and sin don’t just disappear. We need God’s diplomacy as much or more on the victor’s side. Jesus wants to help.
The Lord hears the cry of the poor. The Lord heard, and from all his distress he saved him. The anger of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.
Rescue us, O Lord. Remind us quickly of our kinship, which never ends. Even with those we despise, open our hearts.
The swineherds ran away, and when they came to the town they reported everything, including what had happened to the demoniacs. Then the whole town came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him they begged him to leave their district.
Leave us, O Lord, to fight our own battles.
But God’s patience is legion, and he does not leave. We might exist in multitudes of conflict nations still, but God remains with us, encamped around those who fear him, offering water.
And deliverance. Be jubilant my feet.
(Genesis 21, Psalm 34, James 1, Matthew 8)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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