Loading...I had the fun of visiting my goddaughter Bryn last month in Las Cruces, New Mexico. She just turned eight and I had not seen her since I baptized her eight years ago this December. I do not want to wait another eight years to see her again — too much changes!!
Bryn attends a private Christian school where 2nd grade parents are expected to present their child with a Bible. Her mom asked me if I have a certain Bible I recommend. I do recommend this Zonderkidz Adventure Bible with this iridescent glitter cover.
I got to thinking about what this Bible might look like through the eyes of a young girl whose entire closet sparkles. Bryn’s bed is made in mermaid sheets and she sleeps with a plush toy made in the shape of a smiling ice cream cone. She insisted that I wear her sparkly sunglasses and that we apply sparkly makeup together in the mirror. There isn’t a corner of her life that doesn’t contain sequins or glitter or light. And now I’m recommending a Bible that can be seen from the space station. When you look at the shiny cover what do you anticipate reading within its pages?
Wouldn’t you possibly be led to expect mermaids and smiling ice cream cones within these pages? This book contains so much more sparkle where this comes from. And this book contains great darkness and doom. How is any eight year old, or eighty year old, expected to navigate through these stories?
Together.
Let’s walk together through the Holy Scriptures assigned for today starting with Isaiah 65. Verses 17-25 contain an image of restoration and hope to a war torn nation and are often applied to the apocalypse. Nineteenth century artist Edward Hicks was so devoted to portraying the lion with the ox and the wolf with the lamb in his work titled the “Peaceable Kingdom” that he rendered it in over 60 paintings.
In one, Hicks portrays the "Peaceable Kingdom" as a political statement. In addition to the animals abiding together, he portrays the Delaware Indians making the treaty of Shackamaxon with William Penn. Hick’s motivation was a thanksgiving that Penn had brought Quakerism to the land, thus establishing peace. The painting portrays a shining tribute to God’s desire that peace to govern all peoples and all lands. What is not portrayed is the price of that peace.
Making treaties is one way peace is established, as experienced by William Penn and the Delaware. Forgiveness, like Isaiah experienced, is a way of restoring peace where once there had been war and upheaval.
When Paul writes his letter to the Thessalonians in our second lesson his point is that not being a freeloader is a way of keeping peace. Paul wants the Thessalonians to know that whoever wants peace is expected to work for their own well-being. Earning one’s own wages doesn’t sound sparkly, it just sounds practical. But one way of shining light into the world is for one to be about the work of one’s mission.
I want to press ahead to a most mysterious passage filled with both light and contrasting dark in the Gospel of Luke. As Jesus hears some marveling at the sparkliness of the Temple he says all that sparkliness is coming to an end; wisdom and endurance will be all that remains.
I’m curious to know how Bryn would experience this passage. Can a person whose life is so bright even comprehend the darkness built into God’s plan of salvation? I am confident she can. Bryn and I didn’t discuss Luke 21 during my visit. Yet, I know she is equipped to manage in world swirling with both sparkle and dark. How? Because Bryn deeply understands the importance of repentance.
I vividly recall her reading the same book over again and then reinforcing it’s message with a lesson to her students. Every evening after dinner, Bryn set all of her dolls in a row on the floor each with a piece of paper and a pencil and conducted school. She read to them and to me for 20 minutes and then gave us instructions both on our behavior and our school work. The book she read is titled I’m Sorry. In it, all the animals take turns saying ‘I’m sorry’ to one another for whatever animal transgressions they committed.
After reading the book Bryn recounted instances from her own classroom where someone said “I’m sorry,” and where others declined to say “I’m sorry.” I felt a sense of peace that a second grader has such a grasp on a concept I still struggle to cope with. Bryn’s world is filled with smiles. What is the origin of her joy? Perhaps it’s because she has a pet ice cream cone -- AND for sure, her joy is based in her daily inventory of forgiveness. Every day, Bryn bravely navigates darkness as if forgiveness is as important to know how to apply as how to apply glitter to one’s hair.
God’s plan of salvation is bright and glorious and majestic...and dark and harrowing, and may make a person afraid. Be not afraid. I bring you good news of a peace which passes understanding. You can find peace in obvious places like where sworn enemies gather to make treaties. And you can find peace in silly places like the heart of a girl who gets her sequins on every morning to face a world where she may or may not have occasions to say or hear “I’m sorry.”
Bryn is about to be given a book containing all things necessary to salvation —that’s the way our faith community defines Holy Scripture. The way she is going to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest those pages is the same way we do: together — with her parents, her teachers and her friends.
Does Bryn have an advantage because she gets to read Luke 21 and other passages through the eyes of an eight year old girl? Maybe. She is reading with Songlasses — sunglasses that sparkle. Bryn’s advantage is the same as ours: she trusts in God and she trusts that the world has been created by a Savior who knows exactly how dark the darkness is and yet shines the light of God’s sacrificial love from the shadow of the darkest place on earth: the cross.
When the darkness of your world seems too heavy to navigate imagine putting on Bryn’s sparkly Son-glasses. Turn your weary eyes toward Calvary where all sparkliness is brought for redemption and then to the empty tomb from which comes the fulfillment of the promise obtained by everyone who is schooled in saying “I’m sorry.”
