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the online sanctuary of Church of the Resurrection-Chicago
“I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. I will write on you the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.” Revelation 3:12
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This prayer makes reference to the nation of Israel and the redemption God preformed in bringing them out of Egypt the last line of the prayer is only found in Exodus 6:6. "Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments." This passage is part of a promise to Israel God makes through Moses, right before Moses tells Pharaoh to let the Israelites leave the bondage and slavery he had held them in. The prayer asks for this type of redemption, to bring us out of slavery with judgments (the law) and with a loving and strong hand. When the Israelites were out of Egypt they sang: Exodus 15:13 "In Your lovingkindness You have led the people whom You have redeemed; In Your strength You have guided them to Your holy habitation."
ReplyDeleteThis image holds a space in which we are stepping out on what we have been promised. The hand is stretching out into the darkness, we are searching to touch what we cannot see. It is wrapped in a Tefillin (aka phalactery); a hebrew custom of literally binding the word of God and around the arm as a sign (Deut 6,11) of a physical commitment to physically do as God commands. God was bringing his people to a holy habitation which was a physical place, a spiritual harmony, a future promise and a way of life. The way that resulted in harmony with milk and honey was the future they set out for. (droplets) Never had so many people obeyed God in this way, never before was Israel united as a nation and they set off marching into the desert on a word.
We stand on the edge of a dessert often when we receive a promise from God. There is a time of unfulfillment and making ready where we wonder seemingly aimlessly yet we must still wonder forward into what we cannot see, our actions still bound to the promise. This hand reaches out into darkness as the israelites who were never been a nation, who had not known anything but slavery stepped out on a word given though Moses into the desert where they had to certainty of basic necessities, where they learned to trust God for everything. Even slavery can become comfortable, let us not become comfortable with it in our own lives.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts, Travis. What a beautiful image and interaction with this prayer. I think Advent itself is a time of "standing on the edge of the dessert." It is the tension of standing right in the middle of fulfillment and wonder at God's mighty redemption & yet with our attention and gaze looking ever forward to the continued unfolding of The Story. It is similar to the place of the Israelites, having received a powerful deliverance from Egypt and yet desperately dependent on what God will do, out there, in the future. And so I love the image of the tefillin. Bind it to us, O Lord, even as we celebrate the incarnation - the miraculous and merciful movement of the hand of God. Because even in our celebration, we are waiting each day on the God Who Comes. We are desperately dependent and ever stepping forward in courageous obedience because we need that miraculous and merciful movement again today. I love the words of Antiphon: O Adonai - who has already done these wondrous things, Come!
ReplyDelete- Nichole