Our histories are immutable. We can pretend they didn’t happen or that they happened differently than they did. We can even take steps to hide our histories ... but the reality of them cannot be changed. They are what they are.
It can be, at the very least, uncomfortable to have our histories known. Oh, if they are spotless or filled with laudable achievements we might enjoy having them known. But, seriously, what real humans have a spotless history?
Everybody has something they wish would never come to light.
Paducah Life (paducahlife.com) —the magazine of Paducah, Kentucky— is filled with pieces and pictorials that highlight the many and varied laudable ways the community appears, today. It showcases Paducah as a wonderful center for the arts in that part of the country, its role as a significant medical and educational center, its charities, and its businesses. And, being far from my roots, I read it cover to cover.
Each time I settle in to read the current issue, though, I find I am drawn, first, to those articles that take a look back. It’s never an exercise for the weak of spirit. Yes, there are plenty of commendable moments in Paducah’s history ... But there are plenty of the other, too.
Kentucky was a “border state” during the War Between the States (“the Civil War”), which means Kentucky elected to not choose a side in the conflict. That sounds commendable at this remove —to choose to not fight a war— but that’s not how it was viewed at the time. Both the Union and the Confederacy were incensed that Kentucky refused to align with their side.
That same anger was daily evident among the state’s populace, as well; some favoring the north, some favoring the south. It was tense; but perhaps it would have been an acceptable situation had it ended there. However, the Union (correctly) believed losing Kentucky to the Confederacy would be a disaster from which it could not recover ... and the Confederacy knew it. Because of this belief, President Lincoln ordered the Union Army to occupy Kentucky for the duration of the war.
Neutral or not, the war came to Kentucky.
One article in the recent Paducah Life illustrated just the kind of tension that existed during the Union occupancy. Union General Lew Wallace (later author of all-time bestseller Ben Hur) found himself at the center of a near brawl between Union officers and some Confederate army officers who were in Paducah under flag of truce. It happened like this: a Paducah local had hung the Confederate flag from his window, in the face, both literally and figuratively, of the Union army. When he refused to take it down, the Union officers had it forcibly removed, tore it into pieces, and not willing to stop there, cast the pieces at the feet of the Confederate officers.
There were two flags present that day in Paducah. But one of those flags represented an ideology which believed millions of people were less than human; that they could be bred, bought, and sold like livestock. That’s the flag that, when torn to shreds, caused fists to fly in what was already a powder keg ... in my hometown.
Sure, all of it happened almost a century before I arrived on the scene ... but still.
In any case, I relate this story, not to open a discourse on any of the issues that prevailed in that day, nor about those that prevail in our own time. But rather to point out that everyone, every locale, every nation has history of which we are ashamed. And it was no different for the Children of Israel.
What we find in this week’s selections from Isaiah and Psalms is a recognition of the infidelity that plagued the history of their relationship with God. These two are only a tiny sample of the times and ways in which the Israelites failed some rather simple relational requirements. And while it is appropriate to read and learn from those bad choices and behaviors, we must also see what else is in that prophecy and in that psalm: hope.
The authors clearly show that, in addition to fully acknowledging the negative history, there is a real desire to be better people. They want a better relationship with God. While looking back at their true history, they are also looking forward to that time when God’s anger will abate, when God will find a way for them to reconcile, when God will rescue them from their own sins.
And that, spiritual journeyers, is the message of Advent.
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Civil War Border State Map from: http://thomaslegion.net/missouricivilwarhistory.html
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
First Sunday of Advent (December 3, 2017)
Isaiah 64:1-9
Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Mark 13:24-37
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TABLE OF READINGS FOR THE ADVENT SEASON
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//lections.php?year=B&season=Advent
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I hope you can join us Friday morning at Lectionary Breakfast. As we enter the season of Advent, we look forward with hope for the return of Jesus. Our Friday breakfasts are just one way in which we do that corporately. We’re still meeting in the function room of the Waco “Egg and I” restaurant. Gather with us at 8:00 for a time of fellowship, food, and God’s word.
Blessings,
Steve
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