I dropped Andrew off at school early this morning, and since I was in the neighborhood, I drove over to the Eden Park Overlook for my morning devotional time. It was still dark when I arrived, so I sat down on a bench near a streetlight so I could read my Book of Daily Prayer and Bible. From my perch, high above the Ohio River, looking across into Northern Kentucky, I could see much of the city coming to life. To my right, the "Big Mac" bridge was outlined with streetlights. Just to the south of that, winding down the hill was I-471 with an unbroken flow of headlights streaming into the city. To my left the river curved off between two ridges. Along the north bank, Columbia Parkway was also bringing in bursts of traffic while a hard-working tugboat slowly pushed a platoon of 15 loaded coal barges down river towards downtown.

The city felt alive; not like it was "coming to life", but like it had been alive all night and was now waking up to a new day. You could hear it. The steady hissing roar of thousands of cars rolling into the city. An occasional distant blare of a horn, a raised voice. And from somewhere behind me, maybe rising from the ground underneath me, a deep throbbing, pulsing like a heartbeat. I was watching the city wake up and waiting for the sun to rise across the river so I wouldn't have to squint to make our the daily Lectionary readings. I found the Old Testament lection for the day, Hosea 3:1-5, and began reading,

The Lord said to me again, "Go, love a woman who has a lover and is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the people of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes."

Strange text... what does it have to do with what I'm looking at? So I turned to Luke 5:27-32, the call of Levi, and the banquet he gave, and the challenge of the religious leaders when they saw Jesus consorting with "sinners and tax collectors," and Jesus' response: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance." And I was prompted to turn to Hosea again, and this time read,

The Lord said to me again, "Go, love a city...which has other loves, and is cheating on me, just as I have loved the Church, even though it turns to its own goals and loves the sweetness of worldly success"...

It's a strange feeling to look down upon a city, to see it is as perhaps the Lord sees it; all in one sweep of the eye, one living thing, an unfaithful lover, who needs to be gone to and loved back into wholeness. Strange feeling, and overwhelming.

Right about that time, the sun began edging its way out of the low clouds and river valley haze, glowing with a strengthening light that seemed to proclaim with quiet assurance, "Nothing shall stop Me, ever," and I remembered the opening sentence from my Morning Prayer, read by the dim orange light of the street lamp behind me, "The Lord's unfailing love and mercy never cease, fresh as the morning, and sure as the sunrise." (Lam. 3:22-23).

It is a fact worth noting that when Jesus calls us, he calls us to something, for something. Not simply to be "saved from eternal damnation," but saved for the Kingdom, saved to be salt and light. As Peter put it, "you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." God calls us for a purpose. This Sunday, I'll reflect on that some more, in my message entitled, "The Awesome Responsibility of Being Chosen."

Also, this Sunday, there will be another kind of "dawning"; the beginning of our new "best two hours of the week" "Celebration and Discovery" with worship beginning at 10:00 AM and classes for children and adults continuing at 11:30. For the kickoff this Sunday, we're all invited to make our own ice cream Sundaes after worship, sing along with Spirit Rising, our praise ensemble, and then hear about the exciting learning opportunities for kids from 2 to 92.

See you Sundae... I mean Sunday!

Pastor Erwin