The Hope of a Nation
Painted by James Haines in the 1920s
When I was a small girl, this picture, "The Hope of a Nation," hung on the wall in my grandparents' living room. I would stand before it mesmerized by mystery. Where was this place? Where was the river flowing? Where did it end? Then one day, I heard the grown-ups singing the equally (to me) mysterious final stanza of "Battle Hymn of the Republic": "In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea, With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me." Ah ha -- that was it! This was the "beauty of the lilies," the place "across the sea." Perhaps it was even the same place that we little kids sometimes sang about:
My body lies over the ocean,
my body lies over the sea;
my body lies over the ocean,
so bring back my body to me.
[see related post]
At the time, of course, I didn't know that the word was Bonnie; I knew nothing of British history or Scottish folksongs; but the transmigration of souls -- now there was something I could get a handle on.
Here's the picture,
hanging in my hallway,
Thanksgiving 2004
"We had hoped he would be the one to redeem Israel." This sad, beautiful, ironic sentence is one of my favorite in all the New Testament. It is spoken a few days after the crucifixion when two minor followers of Jesus are walking along the road to a town called Emmaus (even the sound of this place name seems so sadly poetic). They are joined by a stranger who asks them "Why so sad?" In answer, they recount the recent arrest and execution of Jesus, concluding in despair, "But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel." What they don't yet realize is that this stranger is the risen Christ.
Richard Swanson & Nadia Bolz-Weber.
That's how the story goes, but for me, this sentence has always seemed so appropriate to any number of our once and future leaders of whom we expected so much and who left us too soon -- King Arthur, Princess Diana, and those four American guys in the song:
"Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
I thought I saw him walkin' up over the hill,
With Abraham, Martin and John."
~ written by Dick Holler
~ sung by Dion
I love that song. It's funny how all things circle round into one theme throughout life. Great post.
ReplyDeleteLink to an excellent sermon: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1992
ReplyDeleteBruce Carriker:
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure when, but a few years ago...as I have aged and keenly observed the world around me (more so than most of my peers, I think)...Hebrews 11 became the operative chapter for my faith.
It opens with a definition of faith: "... being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."
Then, after a roll call of some of the faithful, you get to verse 13: "All these people died in faith, WITHOUT HAVING RECEIVED THE THINGS THEY WERE PROMISED. However, they saw them and welcomed them from afar. And they acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth."
And then the conclusion of the chapter: "Others were tortured...Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated--the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet NONE OF THEM RECEIVED WHAT HAD BEEN PROMISED."
You mentioned "the four guys in the song" and I immediately thought of this, from the last passage above - they saw them (the promises) and welcomed them from afar, and acknowledged that they were exiles on the earth, and the world was not worthy of them.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10216890506402396&set=a.1220677324535&type=3&theater
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