Amidst the Ruins, Christ Is Coming

2 Kings: 22-23, selected verses

November 29, 2015

Back around Christmas time of 1999, I led a group of young adult volunteers in a work trip to the Tar River basin of North Carolina several months after Hurricane Floyd had devastated the area.

Our job was gutting the interiors of houses that had been under as much as 20 feet of water in September. It was nasty work, and in one particular house, after we’d torn out the kitchen, pulled down the ceilings and drywall, and pulled up most of the flooring, we had a pile of debris left in the kitchen stacked all the way to the rafters.

It took a good half hour to shovel the junk out the window opening so it could be hauled away, and when we got to the bottom of the pile, we found this little guy, covered in grime and filth, but otherwise undamaged.

I don’t put much stock in angel stories in any literal way, but it was impossible not to invest this item with pretty rich symbolic meaning, so even though we’d been instructed to throw everything away we decided to keep the angel and I wound up with him.

He has sat on a shelf in my study ever since reminding me that God is present even in the midst of ruin and desolation.

The strange little story from 2 Kings turns on finding something in the middle of a debris field, and although it is a scene of rebuilding and restoration rather than destruction and desolation, the discovery of the book of God’s revelation grabs the attention of the king just like this angel grabbed our attention.

Sure, it’s just a ceramic angel, but, on the other hand, it was just a book, too. It’s up to the finder of the object to discern its meaning. It’s up to the ones who stand amidst the ruins to see signs of hope.

King Josiah understands that the temple needs restoration because the people, in their deep brokenness, have turned from God and allowed God’s house to fall into, if not ruin, at least disrepair. Worse than that, God’s people have fallen into disrepute and Israel is marked by iniquity and injustice.

It is a dark time, yet Josiah finds in it a flicker of light. By that light, he reads in this book an invitation from God to walk into even greater light. The invitation is straightforward: follow the way of the Lord; do justice, love kindness, walk humbly with God; come, live in the light.

We don’t have to look hard to perceive deep darkness all around us these days. There are wars and rumors of wars. The news is filled with images of destruction, debris, and despair. And many of our would-be leaders truck in the most vile and deceitful language.

We don’t have to look hard to perceive deep darkness.

But what if I told you a story about a light shining in the darkness? What if I told you a story about hope arising from the ruins? What if I told you a story about a table where you are welcome, about some bread to fill your emptiness, and about a cup to quench your deepest thirst?

What if I told you that this table, this house, this neighborhood, this community, this city, this nation, this continent, hemisphere, whole wide world belonged to the One who shines a light in the darkness, lifts hope amidst the ruins, and invites you to this table?

What if I said to you, the earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it, the earth and all its people?

Let us pray.