Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Today’s text

Isaiah 25:7-9

On this mountain, he has destroyed the veil which used to veil all peoples, the pall enveloping all nations; he has destroyed death for ever. The Lord God has wiped away the tears from every cheek; he has taken his people's shame away everywhere on earth, for the Lord has spoken. And on that day, it will be said, 'Look, this is our God, in him we put our hope that he should save us, this is Yahweh, we put our hope in him. Let us exult and rejoice since he has saved us.'

Reflection

Salvation comes with a word or a smile. It arrives on the wings of laughter or the touch of a hand in quiet conversation. It is the rising warmth of soul physically filling you when your heart connects with the soul of another in silent knowing, the wonder of wordless union where words only intrude.

And yes, this is the salvation of our God, the sweet connection of soul to soul when Soul, the great divine soul, is known and flows into the narrow margins of our own and expands our being to hold the joy of eternity.

It happens amid the mundane and common and most certainly when the defenses behind which we hide come down, and we reveal ourselves as human and needy as every human soul and feel no shame, only grace.

Salvation is the soul-to-Soul connection when the total love of divine life flows and fills us, and we know what we need to know, a knowing not of words and concepts but of being and love that transcends all words, a knowing which awakens tears of the heart that have nothing to do with sadness but of joy at finding what one has always wanted and needed … home in the heart of God.

These words can barely touch its truth.

Yes, the prophet spoke of a historical moment when all the death that descended upon his nation, his people, would be no more, and the oppressed would know happy liberation.

But his eyes strained toward a farther horizon, and he saw the final union of the heart of God with the hearts of human beings. He saw all creation bathed and filled with deathless life, a final state of salvation when all is well.

We are not there yet, but there are moments when salvation won by the resurrection of the Christ comes and fills us. On one hand, we are saved, wanted and loved forever. The Holy One seeks intimate connection to flow into us in every moment of our days.

On the other hand, salvation doesn’t always fill us. We resist and refuse. The difficulties of our days harden our arteries so life and the breath of love find little passage into us.

But sometimes it happens. Soul fills soul, and we smile mysteriously as those around us wonder why.

But we know. Salvation comes when it comes, sometimes in odd moments.

Pr. David L. Miller