4th Michaelmas 2009, Tme to Change

2^nd 3^rd or 4^th Michaelmas Sunday

Revelation 19, 11-16

And I saw the heavens opening up. And behold, a white horse! And the rider who sat upon it is called faithful and true, who judges justly and battles for justice. His eyes are like flames of fire, and his head wears many crowns, inscribed with a name which no one knows but he himself. The cloak  that covers him has been dipped in blood, and he is known by the name “Word of God”.

And the warriors of the sky ride behind him upon white steeds, clad in clean, white linen. And he has a sharp-edged sword coming out of his mouth with which to strike the nations down, and he will shepherd them with a staff of iron. He treads on the winepress holding the wine of the wrath of the will of God, the ruler of all.

And written on his cloak and on his thigh is the name: King of all kings, Lord of all lords.

4^th Michaelmas

October 25, 2009

Revelation 19: 11 – 16

Today’s reading speaks of a white rider on a white horse who judges justly and battles for justice.

In a medieval legend, a hermit on a journey meets a young man who becomes his traveling companion. But the hermit becomes dismayed when after a night of hospitality in a castle, the companion appears to have stolen a golden cup, which he then offers to thieves the next night after their rather inhospitable hospitality. Further along it seems the young man sets fire to a house from which he begged a drink. With herbs he helps a young ill boy to his death, and the boy’s father, their guide in the mountains, he pushes off a cliff. When the hermit finally protests, his companion reveals that he is Michael the Archangel. He explains that the golden cup was poisoned; by taking it, he saved the king’s life and ended the lives of the robbers. The burned down house will reveal an unknown but invaluable treasure. The ill boy not saved would have grown to be a criminal, like his father their guide, who was a thief and murderer.

Michael then says: Often, before God, what is just seems unjust in the eyes of human beings.

And so we temper and broaden our expectations of what inner and outer justice means. For in the words of John O’Donohue:

Michael, Richard Kroft

The mind of time is hard to read.

We can never predict what it will bring,

Nor even from all that is already gone

Can we say what form it finally takes;

For time gathers its moments secretly.

Often we only know it’s time to change

When a force has built inside the heart

That leaves us uneasy as we are.[1]

www.thechristiancommunity.org

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[1]  John O’Donohue, “For the Time of Necessary Decision”, in Blessing the Space Between Us, p. 143.