The Trumpet Shall Sound by Ira Thomas
Here are the lyrics to an African-American spiritual:
I am a poor pilgrim of sorrow,
I'm tossed in this wide world alone,
No hope have for tomorrow,
I've started to make heav'n my home.
Sometimes I'm tossed and driven, Lord,
Sometimes I don't know where to roam,
I've heard of a city called heav'n,
I've started to make it my home.
My mother has reached that pure glory,Amidst the pain, the song urges us to start making heav'n our home...
My father's still walkin' in sin,
My brothers and sisters won't own me,
Because I'm tryin' to get in.
Sometimes I'm tossed and driven, Lord,
Sometimes I don't know where to roam,
I've heard of a city called heav'n,
I've started to make it my home.
Of course, in the long run, heaven is our home - the paradise for which God created us and the world we live in. Sometimes, though, we might be so comfortable in the present moment, in the home that is already ours, that we forget the Lord has prepared a place for each of us in heaven: In my Father's house there are many dwelling places. Otherwise, how could I have told you that I was going to prepare a place for you? I am, indeed, going to prepare a place for you and then I shall come back to take you with me so that where I am, you also may be. But Thomas said, "Lord, we don't know where you're going, how can we know the way?" And Jesus told him, "I am the way, and the truth and the life. (John 14:1-6)
Regardless of what faith teaches and we might believe, there is little -perhaps nothing- in our culture to prompt us to look at this life as anything other than the final chapter. Virtually nothing in our culture urges us to prepare for a life to come. What of those words we pray every Sunday: Deliver us, Lord, from every evil and grant us peace in our day. In your mercy keep us free from sin and protect us from all anxiety as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ...
If, indeed, this life is a way station en route to the home that will truly be ours, should we not start making heav'n our home? Should we not be preparing for the home, the dwelling place, the Lord has prepared for us?
Lent is a time to take stock of what is now, in light of what is yet to be, yet to be revealed, yet to be know. Lent is a season to live here and now as befits one who has a room reserved in heaven. Lent is a season to start making heav'n our home...
The Lenten exercises of prayer, fasting and caring for the poor are all ways to rescue our view of life from being mired in the present and turn our eyes to a future for which we wait in joyful hope.
Prayer connects us with the one who is our future; fasting teaches us to let go the things at hand whose comfort keeps us from hungering for something more nourishing; and caring for the poor opens our eyes and hearts beyond our own needs to work for that kingdom in which all are one and none go without.
Lent is a season to start making heav'n our home...
Some of the spirituals are so eloquent in their simplicity. I didn't know this one. I like it very much and also your amplification. Thank you, Concord Pastor.
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