Oasis

I can hardly imagine a more meaningful service than the one we had at church this morning. Brent began with a devotional meditation. Then the Oasis Chorale sang during the Sunday School hour and later Arthur preached about the phrase “Under the Shadow of His Wing.” It was as if the Lord orchestrated the service. The main points during Brent’s devotional were a subset of points Arthur intended to speak on in his sermon. Since Arthur got started very late, it was a good thing part of his sermon had already been covered, allowing him to finish in time.

The theme of the Chorale program was “Journey: The Road Home.” For more than an hour the music soared and whispered and lilted and boomed and breathed as the audience mused along with poets, hymn writers, psalmists, and oppressed people of the past. The audience shared in the delight of the journey begun. Then distress intruded, but God gave assurance. Commitment followed, and HOME came into view. With the buildup to the finale, HOME did indeed look very very appealing.

Wendell, who directed the chorale, is a home boy, so the “home” theme allowed him some easy-to-relate-to observations. Kansas is home, but not really. Virginia is home too, but not in every sense. Only heaven is truly home for all of us.

I was Wendell’s co-teacher for three years before he moved away to pursue his master’s degree in music. He was awarded his degree one year ago. Seeing him and Jeanene brought back many warm fuzzy feelings

Other Kansans in the 34-member singing group were “Hobbs” and Gene. And, of course, there were all sorts of connections with others in the chorus. Jotham and Nathan will sing at Shane’s wedding, Kendra’s mother grew up down the road from us. Caroline was the little sister of some of my Ohio students, and her husband Leonard was a child in the home my sister Linda lived in when she taught school in Indiana. Lavelle is the son of my former house mate and co-teacher in Ohio. Lana used to teach here in Kansas. Doreen‘s editor father and I once collaborated with others on planning the program for a Writer’s Workshop Reunion. Three of Howard and Edith’s children sang. Their parents were Calvary Bible School friends. And I met some of the little girls I remember from teaching vacation Bible school in Arkansas. They’re all grown up now.

Present for the program were people from surrounding towns and states who had friends or family members in the singing group. I met people from Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Our own church people, on this Sunday, were home from such far flung places as Romania, China, and El Salvador. The Faith Builders students were on the verge of leaving for summer term, but still here today. We did the good Mennonite thing and had a fellowship meal together afterwards.

Arthur began his sermon by giving several pictures of being “under the shadow of his wing.” He described a hen protecting her chicks, and an eagle protecting eaglets in a nest. Then he asked the audience for word pictures that came to their minds. There were eight or ten responses, each of them adding something to our understanding of what it means to be under the shadow of God’s wing.

Then, step by step, we considered together how a person in need of God’s protection might experience His provision. In abbreviated form, when confronted with distress, people usually follow this sequence:

1. Deny the problem or seek to avoid it. If they can move beyond this productively, they--
2. Call out for help. (Understand their need for God.)
3. Endure. (Resolve to be faithful, even if life is difficult.)
4. Rejoice (That God is not limited.)
5. Worship (Find a way to draw attention to God when others are distressed.)

Each of these responses has a counterpart in the levels of spiritual maturity that Brent had referenced earlier. The first response is most typical of a spiritual infant. Added spiritual maturity correlates to better responses, or at least moving more quickly through the stages. The goal is to be so mature in Christ that drawing attention to God’s good hand comes easily very soon after we first encounter distress and need a refuge.

All these truths fit hand-in-glove with the songs of our faith journey we heard in the Sunday School hour. Hearing everything in the presence of such a great cloud of witnesses as were gathered today in the worship service was a deeply satisfying experience. If it had happened on vacation in a lovely desert oasis, I might have written my friends back home Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here.