Something New--April 12, 2021

Something New--April 12, 2021

"Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds." [Hebrews 1:1-2]

Do you remember the first concert you went to in person?  Do you remember--after the past year and counting of suspended in-person events, gatherings, and concerts because of the pandemic--what it feels like to be in the presence of live musicians, bringing a song to life?

It's amazing, isn't it?  

Even if you have heard the songs they will be playing before in a recording, there's just something different--something more alive, more real--about being in the room, or in the town square, or in the amphitheater--as it is all happening.  Whether it's rock-n-roll, rap, bluegrass, folk, or a classical orchestra, there's a different energy to being a part of a live performance of a song.

I can remember as a kid seeing Blood, Sweat, and Tears playing live downtown in Cleveland's Public Square, and hearing a raw energy--and of course, a lot louder volume than when the same songs were playing from my the tape deck of the family sedan.  I can remember seeing bands whose songs I pored over in college and then hearing them tell the stories or ideas behind their songs, and discovering a whole new depth and intimacy with the music because we had all been let in on something beyond the polished radio version of a popular single on the airwaves.  And I can remember being in orchestra concerts where the sound of the strings just seems to fill the air in a way that mere headphones or earplugs never could.

I imagine you have your own experiences of being a part of live music that have touched your heart and imprinted on your memory as well.  And my guess is that even if you've heard a song, a symphony, or a singer lots of times before in a recording, you know there's something more real about experiencing them in the flesh--even if you already know the words by heart from having heard the lyrics before.

Well, I want to suggest that the opening verses of what we call the letter to the Hebrews sees the arrival of Jesus in much the same way.  God has been singing for a very long time--and we've been hearing the song through the prophets over countless generations.  But something new happened in Jesus.  Something that was both a continuation of the words first sung by Moses and Isaiah and Micah and Miriam, and yet something that felt somehow new, somehow deeper, somehow like we were hearing it in person.  And in a nutshell, that's the Christian claim: that the God who had been speaking in the poetry and visions of prophets whose words were now bound up in fixed words on pages and rolled up in scrolls had come in person and was giving a live show in Jesus.  God has come to be with us, here and now, in the person of Jesus.

That doesn't mean we scrap all the albums we have on our shelves (or stored on our various rectangles of technology), but it means that having experienced Jesus, we can hear those ancient words with a whole new appreciation and depth.  Much like the songs I've heard live with an introduction or explanation from the singer-songwriters themselves carry a new depth even after the concert any time I listen to a recording again, because I can remember what they said in the concert venue, the words and visions of the prophets past continue to speak to us--but with a new depth and in a new light, because of what we have come to see and understand about God in Jesus.

I want to invite you, then, on an expedition to get to know God better as we walk through the book we call "The Letter to the Hebrews," by letting this ancient book show us Jesus.  And I anticipate that we'll come back to this idea of hearing a musician in recordings and in live concerts over and over again--the way that a live concert doesn't mean you stop listening to recorded songs, but that together they both help you to experience the music and to get to know the musician more deeply.

So, just as God sang about justice and mercy through Isaiah or hope after despair through Jeremiah, God has now sung the familiar melodies in a new arrangement in Jesus--live and in-person.   And now we are invited to join in the song, too.

Let's get to know God more deeply in these days, as God has shown up, in concert, so to speak, in the human life of Jesus.

Lord God, keep singing to us, and let us come to know you more deeply and truly, as you sing to us in the living Jesus.