June 4, 2025

Recently, I overheard a conversation between two guys who were meeting each other for the first time. One of them asked the other, “Are you Jewish?” The second guy hesitated for just a second and then said, “Yes.” The conversation kept going about mutual friends and related matters and it quickly became clear that the other’s Jewishness was not a problem. Why the hesitation? Of course, we know why. Being Jewish has to feel like living with a neon sign that invites violence. This story has a familiar ring to it. Way too familiar.

Our world is the story of people who do not get along. Race, ethnicity, and citizenship, are just some of the seemingly infinite categories we divide over. Most of you live with broken and strained relationships with neighbors, co-workers, family members and former friends. You feel the angst. The tension weighs on your heart, even as it adds years to your life in a matter of months. We build trucks and SUV’s for rough terrain, but God did not build us to live well with conflict. Unresolved conflict steals life from us even as it takes joy from our days.

Someday, the griefs of this day will be long gone. There will be no remembrance of harsh words, or fearful responses. We will not brace ourselves when answering the question of where we are from. That day (described in Revelation 7) is glorious to consider and is promised by God as our glorious hope. So, do we just wait for that to come? Do we just accept the fact that unresolved relationships are here for now and we should just get over it?

C.S. Lewis described life now as the “shadowlands.” The shadowlands remind us that we are not home yet. We do not expect things to be perfect now. However, because glory is coming and glory is, well, glory, we ought to do everything we can to preview it so others get a taste of it. That means that since reconciliation, harmony, love and trust, will be experienced perfectly in glory, we need to help one another experience a taste of that now. Do not give up. Jesus is worth a beautiful bride. He is in the process of ironing out her wrinkles. Let’s be part of the beauty treatment.

Grace and peace,

Bob

Sunday’s Text: Luke 12:8-12