A walk in the snow this morning…
The continuity of the people of God…
For me, Sunday’s Lectionary brings to mind the continuity of the people of God. Over the years, and in different traditions, this has been represented in many ways;- by the passing down of stories; by the ‘Apostolic Succession’; in liturgy; in my tradition, by the Bible; and so on. All these rely on people. The Bible is not self-explanatory, but has to be understood and re-understood for every generation. Jesus represents change, but not a break in the continuity. Because of some of the things he said and did, and especially because of his early interpreters, I see a change in understanding of the people of God from genetic to ‘memetic’ – it’s now all about hearing and receiving ‘the word’, not about who your parents are. But even that change is founded in a much older history – for instance according to the New Testament letters, it’s Abraham’s faith that’s special, not his birth.
Sometimes that continuity is thin, it depends on only a handful of people – but that’s not the end of the world – it’s how things are sometimes. In these readings, we’ve seen the ‘remnant’ language of Jeremiah, and in Luke’s gospel we see that story of that aged prophet Simeon, who is carrying that continuity: deep inside his mind somewhere, even during the Roman oppression, he carries the hopes of his people. And when Simeon blesses the child Jesus, the gospel writer makes sure that incident gets into his story, because yes, Jesus is part of the long story, the fulfilment of the hopes of his nation.
Meanwhile..
Why isn’t there an immediate and draconian lockdown? Otherwise the only way COVID can go is up – and the hospitals are creaking at the seams already. You can’t rely on people’s good sense and kindness: some have to take risks to put bread on the table.