Searching for Something...

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Every once in a while a song takes ahold of me.  I become like a child who wants to listen to the song over and over again.  More recently, that song is The River of Dreams by Billy Joel.  I imagine that a part of the reason that the song has such an impact on me is because some of the best memories of my father are associated with this song.  The song helps fills a part of my heart that was taken away when my father died. 

In one of the verses Joel sings, “In the middle of the night; I go walking in my sleep…And I’ve been searching for something; Taken out of my soul; Something I would never lose; Something somebody stole.”  I imagine that we can all relate to Joel’s song on some level.

We are all familiar with loss.  Loss of a spouse.  Loss of a sibling.  Loss of a parent.  Loss of a friendship.  Loss of the good old days.  Loss of a job.  Loss of a marriage.  Loss of security. And the list goes on.  And it really does feel like something has been taken out of our soul. 

It feels like something we never dreamed of losing is lost and it seems the only possible explanation is that it was stolen.  Ultimately, this loss forms a gaping hole in our heart and soul.  And like Joel said, we go searching for something—something that will fill the hole.

Generally speaking we search in one of two directions.  Either we go racing back in time in order to create some semblance of that former reality.  We try to make it so things were as they once were.  And if we do that, then we won’t have to suffer pain or loss.  But instead, this search calls us to live in the past where we long for something that will never be. 

Or we run toward the future to claim some reality that captures a perfect life.  We try to create a situation where we can avoid pain and heartbreak.  We just know if we find this ideal place then things will be better.  But instead, this search calls us to live in a future that will never come into being.

Ordering your life so that you might relieve some past glory is not the answer and neither is ordering your life so that you might achieve that idealized future you dream of.  Both searches will ultimately dump you into an ocean of obscurity where you are lost forever. 

            Instead, the answer is right in front of your face.  The answer is made known through the mystery of faith, through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The search begins and ends by living a life in Christ—a life that looks something like the image we get in today’s passage from Revelation.

Holy City of God, Jo Pate, Artist

            In today’s lesson, John is taken to the top of a mountain by an angel where he sees the holy city of God.  And in this city John sees something old, something blue, and something new...

            The old being that John sees things that remind him of salvation history.  He sees things that suggest that this city is populated by the people of God who are defined by the twelve tribes of Israel and by the twelve apostles. 

            John also sees something blue.  He sees something flowing from the throne of God.  He sees the River of Life and on each side are twelve trees that bear fruit in every season.  He sees that this tree lined river where the leaves are for the healing of the nations.

            And finally, John sees something new.  He sees that in this city there is no need for a temple because God and the Lamb are the temple.  In this city there will be no more darkness because the glory of God is its light and the Lamb is its lamp.

In the vision of the holy city of God we get a picture of restoration.  Some call this vision the restoration of Eden.  This is the place where we finally find what it is we’ve been looking for—healing and wholeness—a place that completes our past, fulfills our future, and reveals something new. 

This is the place where we will finally see God face to face.  This is the place where it becomes abundantly clear that God has marked us as his beloved.  This is the place that God is unveiling even now through Jesus our Savior.    

The take away here is that God’s salvation project is not some process of humanity of evolving toward some perfected utopia that dangles outside of our grasp and neither is God’s salvation project about returning us to the original garden of Eden hoping that we will get it right the second time around.

Instead, God’s salvation project is a restoration project, a project that restores humanity to its original nature—the very nature that God looked upon and said, “It is very good.”  God’s salvation project sets us on a journey to discover how God is making us new by restoring us to who God made us to be in Jesus Christ—beloved child of God. 

And God restores not by throwing away our past mistakes and heartache.  Instead, God restores by healing and redeeming our past.  Eugene Peterson says, “There is nothing so evil in my unfaithfulness and nothing so obscure about my life that is not, even now, being fashioned into the foundation stones and entrance gates of heaven…everything in history is retrievable.”

Yesterday I was having a conversation with Rachel Cannon about Douglas and Gerald’s tee-ball game.  Of course, the first thing I asked was, “Who won?”  Rachel then informed me that the other team won in extra innings.  Then she said Gerald was happy because his friend who played for the other team scored the game winning run.  Gerald said, “I’m glad she won the game.  Maybe I’ll win one day too.”

Gerald just reminded us of who God made us all to be.  God made us to live in community.  God made us to be glad when others do well.  God made us believe that we will all have our turn in the sun. God’s dream is to restore humanity to peace, unity, and concord where all nations and tribes and languages are reconciled to God and each other.  God’s dream has been a part of who we are from day one.

But somewhere along the way our communities divided into different tribes.  Somewhere along the way we grew jealous and contemptuous of our colleagues when they did well.  Somewhere along the way we grew to believe there is only room for a few to shine in the sun and we are going to be the few.   

And slowly over the course of time, through loss and pain and heartache and disappointment and failure, we lose this vision.  There grows a gaping hole in our heart and we go on a tireless search for meaning and importance only to find ourselves in an ocean of obscurity. 

Eugene Peterson says, “The beginning is the strongest and mightiest.  What comes afterward is not development, but the flattening that results from mere spreading out.  It is the inability to maintain the beginning.  The beginning is emasculated, and then exaggerated into a caricature of greatness.” 

At this moment, it seems a country that was once the strongest and mightiest, the United States of America, is destined for that ocean of obscurity.  Because of our obsession to be powerful and great and wealthy we are on the cusp of spinning wildly out of control. 

It is becoming abundantly clear that the pursuit of worldly greatness and power are the very things that are tearing a hole in the heart and soul of our country.  And the answer is not about a return to some past glory and it is not about achieving a future utopia.  Instead, the answer is right in front of our face.  The answer lies in God’s reconciliation and restoration project made known in Christ—a project that makes all things new. 

In a recent op-ed column in the New York Times, David Brooks names the frightening path we as a country are on and dreams of a new America by saying, “I don’t know what the new national story will be, but maybe it will be less individualistic and more redemptive. Maybe it will be a story about communities that heal those who suffer from addiction, broken homes, trauma, prison and loss, a story of those who triumph over the isolation, social instability and dislocation so common today.”

I have no idea what our national story will be.  I hope David Brooks is right.  But I do know what God’s story is all about.  God’s story is a story of redemption and restoration—not just for individuals but also for communities, for the world. 

God’s story is about healing the lost and broken hearted and that includes you and me.  God’s story is about restoring humanity to its original nature where we are designed to live in community, in peace, unity, and concord. 

Instead of choosing the path that leads into an ocean of obscurity, I hope we choose to jump into the River of Life.  I hope that we let God’s salvation song take ahold of all of us and take us to a place beyond our wildest dreams.  I hope we trust that God’s story of healing and salvation will take us on a journey where we all remember who God made us in the first place—beloved children of God. 

I hope that we come to trust that God has and is and will make all things new through a love that is interested in the whole body and not the self, a love that mends the hearts of all through the one who was broken for you.  Amen.