Some Clever River Song (a Steve Orr scripture reflection)

That’s what I felt I needed: some really clever song about rivers. I wanted to focus on them in this week’s reflection. I thought it would be perfect if I could start out with a few lyrics or song stories about rivers. 

No such luck. 

So, I’m just going to tell you about my rivers. 

When two waters flow into the same space, they call it a confluence. There is such a confluence that frames two sides of my hometown: the Ohio River and the Tennessee River blend together there. It's a very picturesque image ... when described in words. 

In truth, it is two very different energy flows slamming into each other; distinct entities trying to overpower each other, neither giving way. You can actually see the two rivers fighting to remain distinct. They even look different. One is smoother, darker, richer in color. The second is choppier, roiling almost, and much lighter hued.

In my hometown, we are aware of a particular truth that changes how we view that river battle: there is something much larger just over the horizon. Only about a hour farther on, these two battling waters smack into the Mississippi River. 

And that's the end of the battle. 

We say things like, "They join the Mississippi." But, in truth, those two rivers don't so much join as they completely disappear. There is no more talk of which river. It's the "Mighty Mississippi," so big it absorbs all other waters connecting to it, taking them and all they represent down to the sea.

A more perfect metaphor cannot be found for the two main Jewish groups around the time of Jesus and his early followers. The Pharisees believed in an afterlife, and believed each person must scrupulously keep the laws and commandments of God in order to ensure actually getting to that afterlife. The Sadducees rejected the idea of an afterlife, believing each person must do good in this life, because this life is all there is. The two groups were always in conflict, always battling for which was right, which would transcend the other.

We see it in this week's Romans passage. The two factions are like my two hometown rivers; and they were using the laws and the commandments in their battle to control people's lives. Then Jesus came and taught a much larger, all consuming truth: Love is the fulfillment of all those commandments and laws.

Suddenly, just like my hometown rivers, all those laws and Commandments  —and all the conflicts based on them—  are swallowed up in something larger, so much larger it's almost too much to grasp.

Love is a mighty river, the only river that matters. The battles that raged before we joined love are as meaningless as the fighting of my two hometown rivers. Love is the flow that will take us all in and carry us to the sea ... an ocean, really, of living water. 

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A different version of this reflection appeared in September 2017 as Two Rivers Meet in My Hometown. 

Here’s a nice song about a river: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fztz_Vr9uHk

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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK

Proper 18 (23) (September 6, 2020)

https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu//texts.php?id=158

Exodus 12:1-14

Psalm 149

Ezekiel 33:7-11

Psalm 119:33-40

Romans 13:8-14

Matthew 18:15-20

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Almost there. Watch for an announcement concerning DaySpring’s fall reboot of Lectionary Breakfast. We plan to, once again, gather at 8:00 on Friday mornings to share our thoughts. Meeting on Zoom will be different, but it will also be good.

Soon,

Steve