At Last
(a brief lectionary reflection by Steve Orr)
Something wonderful happened this week. I've been searching, longing, hoping for such a long time; honestly, I sometimes wondered if I would ever find it. But this week I did find it. It had been so long, I was completely caught off guard when it happened.
There I was, riding to work on DART (the Dallas Area Rapid Transit system), and, for a change, not reading anything. I was doing that thing where you just stare out the window, not AT anything, really; just letting whatever slides by paint a moving picture in my brain. You may recall "The Second Rule of Finding Things" says "Don't look. See." I didn't realize it at the time, but I was employing that rule in it's truest sense.
And that's when it happened. Sliding right across my not especially focused vision was . . . A Peet's Coffee! Suddenly I perked up (no pun intended) and really focused. Yes! It really WAS a Peet's; after so many years of living without access to that collections of velvety and robust beverages, I was elated! I first enjoyed a Peet's coffee while in Palo Alto, CA while on our way to Stanford University (and, yes I DO know the way to San Jose). Shortly after that trip, a Peet's opened in my own college town, just a few blocks from our little third-story-walkup-faculty-housing apartment. I was in Heaven!
And then, we moved back to Texas.
Perhaps you are wondering, "Is this some sort of plug for Peet's Coffee?" No, it's not.
It's a plug for hope.
I had all but given up on there ever being a Peet's in Texas. When I first moved back to Texas, I looked forward to introducing my new friends to that tasty brew; but, alas, it was not to be. I searched and searched the Internet for any indication of a Peet's, but found none in Texas. I just kept thinking I was not doing it right. How could there not be a Peet's in Texas? I finally wrote an email to the company and asked them to just tell me where one was. By that time I didn't care, I would drive anywhere in Texas. What I learned was that there HAD been a Peet's in Austin, but that it had closed!
So, for some time now I have been more or less resigned to the situation; not completely giving up, but not actively on alert for one, and certainly no longer searching for one. But that all changed this week. What had become a favorite, but fading, memory, had transformed into a very present reality!
And that's a good way to view this week's lectionary passages. If you read them in the order I have placed them, below, you can experience some of the frustration and longing (from BOTH sides) as the years passed away without the arrival of what had been so long promised.
Take a few minutes and read these passages. Let them sink in before going on.
Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19
Psalm 82
Isaiah 5:1-7
Jeremiah 23:23-29
Luke 12:49-56
And then, when all seems to be at the worst, we arrive at the Hebrews passage.
Hebrews 11:29-12:2
Up to then, God had been expressing some pretty harsh things to his chosen people, first through the prophets and then through Jesus, about how they had not lived up to what had been expected. And the Psalmist was eloquent in expressing the desire of that people to, somehow, reconcile to their God.
It is only after we get to the Hebrew passage that we get it all set in context, and only then do we realize that all along we have been silently hoping for the story to have a good ending. And, finally, our hope, though it had grown small, is rewarded.
If you are in Waco on Friday, join the group at the Olive Branch (River Square on Franklin, near University Parks) at 8:00 for breakfast and more of the above. We had such a great visit last Friday. Wish I could be there every week.
Enjoy!
Steve
P.S. Olive Branch has great coffee, too. I especially love Leah's "Downtown Dark" blend. Missing that!
