The Desert and the Flood
The Gospel yesterday was The Parable of the Sower. Now as it happens, I heard not one but two sermons on this passage (I went to 8 am at St. M's and then picked up a newly-arrived-in-the-bayarea friend for 11 am at Grace, and got some more insights from LutheranChik (it was good to hear a Real Gardener get at this passage), but that's not what really struck me.
At St. M's we used the entirety of Psalm 65, and as we were reading it, N. came into the chapel. One of the reasons that I was at 8 am, when I was planning to attend another service, was that it was N.'s last day with us before he moved back to Sri Lanka. He had been visiting his family over Christmas and they had seen the wall of water on the 26th; indeed, had they gone to church (as is their usual Sunday custom) that day they might have been swept away with the rest. So he's going back to help rebuild. I had to wonder what N. thought of the stilling of the "tumult of the sea" (or whatever the language is in our version). The other news of the day was All About Too Much Water as well, as a Cat 4 hurricane was headed for the Florida Panhandle.
I grew up in a dry country myself, and I understand all about drought cycles (esp. in the days before resevoirs and controlled releases) but I was hoping that people on the Gulf Coast were busy trying to get out of Dodge instead of at church hearing about the blessing of water. Or that their churches used the shortened (alternate) version which didn't have quite as much of it. Or that they were mercifully Not Paying Attention. 'Cause it definitely would have been one of those "you aren't from around here, are you?" type of moments.
At St. M's we used the entirety of Psalm 65, and as we were reading it, N. came into the chapel. One of the reasons that I was at 8 am, when I was planning to attend another service, was that it was N.'s last day with us before he moved back to Sri Lanka. He had been visiting his family over Christmas and they had seen the wall of water on the 26th; indeed, had they gone to church (as is their usual Sunday custom) that day they might have been swept away with the rest. So he's going back to help rebuild. I had to wonder what N. thought of the stilling of the "tumult of the sea" (or whatever the language is in our version). The other news of the day was All About Too Much Water as well, as a Cat 4 hurricane was headed for the Florida Panhandle.
I grew up in a dry country myself, and I understand all about drought cycles (esp. in the days before resevoirs and controlled releases) but I was hoping that people on the Gulf Coast were busy trying to get out of Dodge instead of at church hearing about the blessing of water. Or that their churches used the shortened (alternate) version which didn't have quite as much of it. Or that they were mercifully Not Paying Attention. 'Cause it definitely would have been one of those "you aren't from around here, are you?" type of moments.
posted by Charlotte at 9:07 PM
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