That’s how Stephen King described his enormously popular novel about a super-flu pandemic when he reissued it in 1990 as THE STAND: THE COMPLETE UNCUT EDITION.
There are many reasons I agree with his description; the novel is packed with themes any Bible reader would recognize. One in particular, though, stands out for me.
They had strange dreams.
King’s characters dreamed of a person and a place. All were being called to come. Each commenced a journey to follow the voice in the dream. In time, they formed into groups, moving with single-mindedness across the country toward their destination. Like the sheep in this week’s passage from the Gospel of John, they knew the sound of their Shepherd’s voice ... and they came when they were called.
There was just one hitch: they were not all dreaming the same dream.
Strange dreams seem to go hand in glove with pandemics. They were a feature of the 1918 Flu pandemic, and they are back with us, today. Even now, media reports are filling up with people retelling their dreams, and serious studies have commenced. The dreams of our 2020 pandemic, though, appear to be more of the stress variety. No one seems to be calling our modern dreamers on a journey.
However different our dreams may be, we each get to choose which Shepherd we will hear. But you have to choose long before you hear that call. Are you among those who can say, “The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want.” like David in Psalm 23? Or, like some of THE STAND characters, do you not hear what the others hear when the Good Shepherd calls?
God knows we stray. And God also welcomes us back if we choose to return. And if any do return, the Apostle Peter assures us in his first letter: the Good Shepherd will once again be the “guardian of your souls.”
Where you take your stand matters. Choose your Shepherd, today. Don’t take the chance you won’t hear the call when it comes.
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PHOTO: Steve Orr
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Fourth Sunday of Easter (May 3, 2020)
CLICK HERE for the full scripture texts ... Or, copy and paste this link.
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=42
Acts 2:42-47
Psalm 23
1 Peter 2:19-25
John 10:1-10
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For the moment, quarantine rules still rule. That means another Friday morning without DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. Hopefully, in a few weeks, our group will again read the scriptures, discuss their meaning, and enjoy a meal together.
In the meantime, here are this week’s scriptures along with a reflection to use in meditating on them.
Keep safe. Keep in touch.
Steve
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