Hilltophomesteader (Pam D. in southwest Washington state) sent me a "belated happy birthday" email and wondered if all was well because I have not posted anything in several weeks.
The short answer is yes indeedy, All Is well! (3:52), although I do admit to being a little out of sync seasonally.
That song may be appropriate for Christmas Eve, but He is not in the manger now. Easter has come, and as a friend of mine said in an unintentionally humorous post on Facebook during Holy Week, "Let us be reminded Jesus died on that cross but He arose on the third day and now sets on the right hand of the Father, making intersections for us (pleading our case)." [emphasis mine]
Somewhere Mrs. Malaprop is nodding in agreement. For the Biblically-challenged, the word my friend meant was intercession. Also, only someone like me who grew up around chickens seems to know the difference between sets and sits these days. But I digress.
Because of the way my mind works, I immediately thought of the third verse of the old Fanny Crosby hymn, "To God Be the Glory":
Great things He hath taught us, great things He hHath done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son,
But purer and higher and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.
[once again, emphasis mine]
Get it? Intersections? Transport?
Well, I thought it was funny.
But then I started thinking (always a dangerous practice) and decided maybe my friend had a point. After all, the book of Isaiah tells of “the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”
Highways, even the limited-access kind, have to have points of access or they are useless. So maybe Christ really is making intersections for us.
Here are some happy travelers on the highway (8:18).
Well that was a fascinating interlude. I'm still puzzled by the reference to 'sets'. I assume the highway significance is that some roads used to be made of sets (as compared to cobbles).
ReplyDeleteWe all need people prepared to make intersections for us.
ReplyDeleteInteresting says the befuddled reader.
ReplyDeleteGraham, I don't understand your comment at all! Roads used to be made of sets (as compared to cobbles)? My reference to 'sets' had nothing to do with highways, hence my statement "But I digress".... Like lie and lay, the words sit and set are often misused. Set is a transitive verb that requires an object; sit is an intransitive verb that does not. Here's more on the subject. Speaking of bizarre, my telling someone in the U.K. about English words is rather like carrying coals to Newcastle. Chicken farmers in the U.S. speak of a setting hen. Perhaps you folks across the pond would call her a brooding hen? I grow more confused with each passing day. This whole paragraph needs to be rearranged.
ReplyDeleteElephant's Child (Sue), we certainly do.
Emma Springfield, if you are truly befuddled it was very kind of you to call the post "interesting".... I apologize for any befuddlement I may have caused.
Never having in my long life heard of 'set' being used in place of 'sit' I am not surprised at my confusion.
ReplyDelete