An article from the Cathedral Times
by the Very Reverend Samuel G. Candler,
Dean of the Cathedral of St. Philip
I own very few pieces of jewelry. When I was a young boy in the fourth grade, I received a very nice ring as a gift. After I got home from school that day, the ring was not on my finger. I had no idea what had happened to it. My parents, ever kind, suggested that I had lost it while washing my hands. Or maybe I had lost it playing football at recess. I rarely wanted to wear a ring again.
When I was older, I played piano instead of playing football. I could not bear anything on my fingers while I played piano. I even went a few years without wearing a wrist watch. I liked my hands being free, without the obstruction of rings or watches.
Yes, I did agree to accept a wedding ring from my lovely wife. In fact, I found that love changed my life in lots of ways. It made me do things I had sworn I would never do. I loved giving my wife a ring, but I did not necessarily look forward to wearing a ring myself. I tried my best, but I could not get used to wearing a ring. Fortunately, my marriage has lasted a lot longer than my wearing the ring.
Anyway, at my age now, I have acquired some other items one would have to classify as jewelry. I just do not wear them much.
Now, I have only one piece of "jewelry" that is inscribed. It is inscribed with a verse of scripture, a verse of scripture that I am very fond of, but one which is not well known around the church. If I were to ask friends what verse of scripture they thought I would have inscribed, I wager that no one-no one-could guest what that verse is.So, I will give you the verse. It is from the prophet, Hosea. It is chapter 6, verse 3. "Let us know, let us press on, to know the Lord. His going forth is as certain as the dawn. And he shall come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth." (Hosea 6:3)
No one quotes that verse much. But I think of it a lot. I thought of it last week, when the rain finally fell upon Atlanta. God knows how much we have needed rain. This was not the spring rain, but the fall rain will do. We need refreshment and water. Our earth needs it.
I thought of that verse during our recent weeks of financial turmoil. Again, we need financial refreshment and hope. It is my belief that God has something to show us during this economic anxiety. It may be something as simple as a return to faith.
We have all heard the simple story of that return to faith before. Many of us heard it last Sunday in church, when Exodus 32 was read. In the wilderness, the people of God literally trusted in their gold more than they trusted in the word of God. Moses, their leader, their word, was away. Somehow or another, they took all their jewelry and their gold, their treasure, and they threw it into the fire. What that jewelry and gold produced, a golden calf, is what they worshipped. It became their idol. It became their seduction.
I have no question that much of the world has been worshipping at the idol of irresponsible credit and irresponsible luxury. It became an idol for many of us, without our even realizing it.
I would have understood a God who left us to our own desires. We who think easy money will save us are always surprised to discover just how empty that god is. I would have understood a God who let us choose our own failings.
But the God of the Bible does not leave us to our own devices, our own molten calves. God comes to us like the rain. That rain might be delayed, but it will come. "Let us know, let us press on to know, the Lord, His going forth is as certain as the dawn. And he will come to us like the rain."
The Very Rev. Sam Candler