Cycles

Life is lived in cycles, and this week, the Mystery Guest Blogger and I celebrate the completion of a cycle.  In this case, the cycle is the Christian liturgical calendar.  Every three years, the scriptures and the written prayers read in our church are repeated.   It’s not something that most people dwell on, and I dare say, most people don’t notice the cycle.  Three years is a long time to remember what scripture was read on a certain date.

But we remembered.

This past Sunday, the Gospel reading was from the book of Luke.  Most people who have ever been to Sunday School as a kid will recognize the Beatitudes – the series of “Blessed are the . . .” and “Woe to the . . . “  that can make you feel either joyful or scared, depending on your own circumstance.

Go ahead – read it.  Luke 6:17-26.

On Sunday, February 15, 2004, we were in church as per the norm.  That same scripture was read.  Our pastor at the time (a recovering attorney) admitted that when he got to the part that says “"But woe to you who are rich,  for you have already received your comfort”, he gets nervous.  While not as rich as Bill Gates, he certainly had a lot more than the people he saw in Mexico who live in cardboard shacks.  The passage made him uncomfortable.

Then he said this: “God speaks to us in our discomfort.”

Literally – at that exact moment – I took pen from pocket and wrote the letters “VN” on the service bulletin.  When I went to show it to the MGB, she was already in tears – she had heard the same thing I did at the exact same moment.

The rest, as they say, is history.  By May we had found an agency to send us, by August we had been accepted, and by November, we received our assignment to Huê.

Makes me wonder what the next three cycle will bring.

Comments

I remember that particular Sunday quite well. Happy Anniversary!

Dennis

[Tom Murray]

Congratulations on your anniversary.

Tom

[Miss Kitty]

Wow. Just...WOW. I loved this. God gets through to us in the most subtle of ways. And sometimes they're loud in their subtlety (if that makes any sense at all, which it may well not).

I am still considering teaching in Vietnam. It's something I think of often, and I'm carefully considering all my options. I might try a short vacation or volunteering mission first.

All thanks to your blog, Doug. :-) Blessings to you, MGB, your mom, and pets.