Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Today’s text

Luke 15:1-5

“Now all the tax- collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to [Jesus] And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “Which of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the other ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it. When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices.”

Prayer

You words transport me a world away, Jesus. I remember the day in Kaya, Sudan. It is a long time now, but in my heart it happened on my last breath, an indelible image in that inmost hall of heart where I cherish all that keeps me human.

Refugees marched out of the bush in a long, serpentine column, covering the warm tan dust of the road side to side. An emaciated man wielding a cross led the column into town as they sang. And how they sang. He punctuated every beat, jabbing his cross of broken sticks as high as he might into the deep blue heavens in defiant ecstasy of death itself.

Around the bend they came, survivors of genocide and brutalities unspeakable, having lost, abandoned and buried too many on the way. They came looking for the lost--seeking children, parents, neighbors, family and friends--knowing their hearts would likely break again.

But for some came the joy of daybreak. They cupped beloved cheeks in their hands, tracing fingers across the smiles and brows of souls for whom they’d all but surrendered hope. A din of weeping rose to the seat of your mercy, Jesus, the sweetest praise heard anywhere on earth that day. And I watched, swept up in the melodies of heaven, giving thanks that I might witness a joy that has no name.

And none will do, dear Friend, for this is the joy of your divine heart, captured in single moment, enduring for eternity, where all that is lost is found at last.

Pr. David L. Miller