“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law,
until all things have taken place."
"Da capo!" a conductor might say to his orchestra. "from the top," meaning, "Start over!" or, "Let's try again from the beginning." They might do this because the . musicians got it right and must lock that sound into place. Or because there are still some rough, unfamiliar places that need smoothing out.
We'd sometimes like to start our life da capo, all over again. But no river can be crossed twice. Time passes, that moment is past and this moment is now, and we're in a different place.
The quarrel of conservatives and liberals concerns where we're going, and whether we can or should return to our beginnings. Can we start over? Can we try again to get it right? Should we restore the past as we remember it, or should we attempt an ideal possibility? Why can't we just forgive and forget the troubles of the past and begin as if nothing ever happened?
When the Spirit of God moves us, we can forgive; but we forgive because we do not forget. Should we forget, there is nothing to forgive. But nothing is really forgotten. It happened; it remains there in the past, in God's eternal presence, and it's there between us.
The Lord Jesus did not come to reform but to fulfill, and fulfillment begins where we are, not where we might have been in someone's ideal past. Nor does fulfillment go where it should go for no one really knows what the Kingdom of God must take us. The Spirit of God works within the present situation, and improvement follows. But our descendants will wonder why we didn't do a better job of it. They will not remember the obstacles that were overcome with such effort and sacrifice.
We can admit with the psalmist that "we have sinned, we and our fathers have sinned" but we cannot judge our ancestors; and we pray that, from their place in eternity, they do not judge us. Rather, we pray that God will guide in this moment, and give us occasional tastes of the fullness which is surely coming.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.