The Wonders He Has Shown
“May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you: wherever he may send you; may he guide you through the wilderness: protect you through the storm; may he bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders he has shown you; may he bring you home rejoicing :once again into our doors.”
- Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
Friedrich Schleiermacher once wrote that religion was “a sense and taste for the Infinite.” If the great Schleiermacher’s words are true, then since the very first moment I started The Co-op, I have not only sensed and tasted the Infinite, but have been wholly grasped by it and submerged deeper into the depths of God’s grace and holiness. And how exactly has this internship been a conduit of God’s grace for me—ever constantly reminding me that the very sustenance of my life can only be found at the precious, bleeding side of the Infinite One? Well, it does so through many different ways. From the interactions with the beloved congregants at OU, to the empathetic, Christian comradery that the pastors and staff have worked so hard to cultivate, I encounter the grace of God at this internship time and time again.
However, where I find myself most consumed and at the same time puzzled by the irrationality of God’s grace is at the end of our morning devotions where we repeat the benediction mentioned above, specifically, when we say, “May He bring you home rejoicing: at the wonders He has shown you; may He bring you home rejoicing: once again into our doors.”
There are many wonders that He has shown me! For example, as a Black man in America, and especially in Mississippi, I know it is indeed, God who brings me home rejoicing each and every day with my life intact. To find a way to live and still have joy during these hellish times is indeed one of the heavenly wonders He has shown me, and “Oh how my soul rejoices!” Though many days I wake up with the shame of my sin and lament over the oppression and evil within this nation, through some gracious and loving act He still brings me home rejoicing at the wonder of His mighty power to save! Each and every time He brings me into the doors of the sanctuary to bow on bended knee and see Him face to face is a wonder within itself! To see Him face to face means to see myself as worthy of being loved so therefore my life matters! Oh, what a wonder this is! To live in such a time as this and understand that our present sufferings are a sign of the inbreaking of the resurrected King and His Kingdom is in fact a wonder!
This brings to mind the old Negro spiritual that my ancestors zealously sang, “Lord I don’t feel no ways tired children, Oh glory Hallelujah! For I hope to shout glory when this world is on fire, Children Oh! Glory Hallelujah!” Indeed, the world is on fire and in this present moment in history this fact may very well be His most glorious wonder to show!
But what does this have to do with this internship? The answer is clear—this internship is just one of the numerous flames in which God has started to consume Mississippi and ultimately the nation and whole world! So let us be like John Wesley, and pray that God set us afire so that all the world may come and see! And may the fire never extinguish until all have had a sense and taste of the Infinite! May the fire never extinguish until He brings us home to Zion rejoicing at the wonders He has shown!