Back in the mid-1970s the Beach Boys were getting ready to release a new volume of their greatest hits. Their popularity had peaked back in the 1960s, but then their career had slipped into a lull. Mike Love, one of their lead men, came up with a great idea to rejuvenate things: Instead of calling it “Beach Boys Greatest Hits, Volume Three”, they could call it “Endless Summer”. It was a great album title. Love said this title probably made the album sell thousands of more copies.
It’s easy to see why it was a winner. Summertime is a really pleasant time of year. The schools are out. The brutally cold weather is months away. The phrase “Endless Summer” loaded with positive associations of beautiful beaches, California sunshine, surf boards, swim wear, hot rods, cool drinks, tropical places, etc. Back then the idea of an endless summer as a negative thing was far from anyone’s mind. These days we are enduring brutal heat, the worst wildfire season ever, smoke and danger – all that in addition to the COVID-19 pandemic with its social distancing and the absence of gathered worship. Many of the restaurants are closed or having reduced service. The news carries reports of death and dying. People are wearing facemasks and covers. And tempers are flaring. It was similar for the Israelites in the wake of the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. It all seemed endless: traumatic experiences of seeing the hometown destroyed by fire, of being forcibly evacuating into slavery in Babylon (now Iraq) – with all its accompanying displacement and losses of freedom. It seemed like a never-ending time of trials, burdens, and hardships. Part of the way God encourages people in these stages of history is to inspire a proper conception of time: “For a brief moment I abandoned you… In overflowing wrath for a moment I hid my face from you…” (in Isaiah 54:7-8). Yes, an awful experience can seem to go on for an eternity – but that’s different from God’s perspective. God always sees things in the big picture. So the accompanying words say this: “...but with great compassion I will gather you…. But with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer.” Regardless of their nature, life’s bad experiences can lead to troubling thoughts: “God’s abandoned me,” or “God’s mad at me.” Of course we can ask wonder if this is true. Just because things feel that way doesn’t mean it’s so. But even if we take it as true, Isaiah’s prophecy is telling us that it’s only a small slice of a much larger, positive experience of the character of God (in 54:7-10)…
To illustrate, Isaiah points to the experience of Noah in Isaiah 54:9. It looks back to the covenant God gave in Genesis 8:20-22 and 9:8-17. The most popular image that comes from this is the rainbow. God says it serves as a reminder: The mass destruction of life that happened before isn’t the big picture. There’s also a lesser-known image in the change of seasons, temperatures, a night/day cycles: “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” These changes happen all the time; and they serve as a sign of God’s covenant of peace. So yes, the present reality is frustrating as it endures, with all the smoke, viruses, anger, death, and the toxic content in the air and on the internet. All these things will come and go. What’s true in the bigger picture is God’s steadfast love. How do we know this? We place our faith in the truth of Jesus: His resurrection followed the enduring violence of His death. And we observe the cycles of what’s always more enduring: Summer turns to fall, plants are harvested, autumn turns to winter, cold replaces heat, and a new year comes and the cycle resumes. God bless you – Andrew McHenry, Pastor First Congregational Church
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Andrew McHenryI am a husband, a Congregational pastor, and a native Kansan currently living in Thermalito, California. In the past I have also been a prison chaplain and a youth pastor. Interests include reading, railroads, prog rock, KU, and the KC Royals. Archives
March 2024
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