Awaiting a Rebirth of Wonder

Devotional Reflection, Wednesday, June 7, 2023

The week of Trinity Sunday (Proper 4)

The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.

Key phrases for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:

20 Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; 21nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.’

(You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.)

Daily Office Lectionary readings: (BCP, 968)

AM Psalm 119:49-72; PM Psalm 49, [53]

Deuteronomy 13:1-11; 2 Corinthians 7:2-16; Luke 17:20-37

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Pioneers of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil. (See below.)

David’s Reflections

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, in his poem, “I am Waiting,” begins a strophe with the line, “I am waiting for the Second Coming” and ends with these lines

“I am perpetually awaiting

a rebirth of wonder.”*

Jesus’ hearers in today’s Gospel were waiting for a rebirth of wonder. They wanted to know when the Kingdom of God would be fulfilled. Just when would God act to keep those age-old promises of salvation and deliverance?

Jesus was not into “when” questions of that sort. He consistently reframed his answers to put the focus on the present moment and take it off some imagined future toward which the questioner was stretching. The present moment loses its full significance when the focus falls on the future, accompanied by dis-ease about the present and a strong desire for some sort of divine quick-fix for the world’s woes.

Jesus gave his interrogators a two-fold answer. First, God’s kingdom would not come with observation. Our translation renders that one word, “observation,” with the phrase “things that can be observed.” Second, the kingdom of God already was present among them.. They continued to miss God’s unpredictable ways of fulfilling those promises of salvation. Jesus embodied that fulfillment, but his coming failed to fulfill their expectations. God’s fulfillment of the promise of salvation was before them, the rebirth of wonder, in Jesus in the present moment, but they were blind to it.

Living “in the moment” and looking for a rebirth of wonder there--that can prove quite daunting, especially when suffering, dis-ease, dissatisfaction, or boring repetition of routine fill that present moment. That rebirth of wonder could spring forth in something as banal or ordinary as a pleasant response from a retail clerk or a receptionist, or the wondering smile of a preschooler in a fast food restaurant, or unexpected recovery from an illness, or a neck-chilling epiphany in an otherwise humdrum Sunday worship service.

We can live without doubt that God will keep faith with the divine promise to reclaim and transform the heavens and the earth. Jesus will return. However, many other grace-filled moments will intervene between us and that day. We wait with wonder for that moment, but we also know that such a God as Jesus shows us constantly moves heaven and earth toward that final moment with myriads of more immediate saving moments, harbingers of that final moment. And, just as the time of God’s final saving act eludes our observation and prediction, so those more immediate saving moments will spring on us and surprise us.

Can we focus on the present moment and look for that rebirth of wonder without losing hope in God’s ultimate saving act? Yes, because those grace-filled moments that come each day are like the smell of fresh-baked bread drawing us toward that day when all God’s wheat becomes eucharistic bread. On that day Christ will host the great banquet of salvation, but each day until then appetizers abound.

Where might the next outshining of a new birth of wonder appear? Will I miss it? Am I living looking for it? Am I awaiting it moment by moment?

*Lawrence Ferlinghetti, “I Am Waiting,” in, A Coney Island of the Mind (New York: New Direction, 1958), pp. 49-50).

Collect of the Day, Trinity Sunday

Almighty and everlasting God, you have given to us your servants grace, by the confession of a true faith, to acknowledge the glory of the eternal Trinity, and in the power of your divine Majesty to worship the Unity: Keep us steadfast in this faith and worship, and bring us at last to see you in your one and eternal glory, O Father; who with the Son and the Holy Spirit live and reign, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 228)

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Pioneers of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil. http://www.satucket.com/lectionary/pioneers_ieab.htm

Collect of the Feast of the Pioneers of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil

O God, who sent your Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: We bless you for those who joined together to establish the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil; and we pray that we, like them, may be ready to preach Christ crucified and risen, and to encourage and support those who pioneer new missions in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A Collect for Grace

Lord God, almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day: Preserve us with your mighty power, that we may not fall into sin, nor be overcome by adversity; and in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 100)

Of the Reign of Christ

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP, 254)

A Prayer for Light

O Lord God Almighty, as you have taught us to call the evening, the morning, and the noonday one day; and have made the sun to know its going down: Dispel the darkness of our hearts, that by your brightness we may know you to be the true God and eternal light, living and reigning for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 110)

A Collect for Mission

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen. (BCP, 101)

Daily Office Gospel, Luke 17:20-37

20 Once Jesus was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; 21nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you.’ 22Then he said to the disciples, ‘The days are coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it. 23They will say to you, “Look there!” or “Look here!” Do not go, do not set off in pursuit. 24For as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day. 25But first he must endure much suffering and be rejected by this generation. 26Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man. 27They were eating and drinking, and marrying and being given in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed all of them. 28Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot: they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building, 29but on the day that Lot left Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed all of them 30—it will be like that on the day that the Son of Man is revealed. 31On that day, anyone on the housetop who has belongings in the house must not come down to take them away; and likewise anyone in the field must not turn back. 32Remember Lot’s wife. 33Those who try to make their life secure will lose it, but those who lose their life will keep it. 34I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed; one will be taken and the other left. 35There will be two women grinding meal together; one will be taken and the other left.’ 36 37Then they asked him, ‘Where, Lord?’ He said to them, ‘Where the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.’

Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer