The second readings for today and for next Sunday come from John’s extraordinary vision of the Holy City of God.
Looking at the evening news—its constant parade of refugees from war-torn lands, its vivid footage of bombings intended to maim and kill innocent people, its inescapable films of destruction by tornados, floods and other natural disasters—and it’s pretty clear that John’s vision of the old order passing away has not come to fruition yet.
Yet still we sing “Alleluia!” while we pray for those in turmoil. Yet still we need the reminder of the new commandment: “Love one another.”
One song that encompasses both the beauty of the holy city and the disconnect between our present, tragic reality and God’s plan is, “O Holy City, Seen of John,” a hymn set on a variation of the Kentucky Harmony tune Morning Song. The text is by W. Russell Bowie, who was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1882. He became an Episcopal priest in 1909, served as an World War I as a chaplain in France, was rector of Grace Church in New York, a professor at that city’s Union Theological Seminary, and taught homiletics at Virginia Theological Seminary, where after a very long life he was buried in 1969.
The hymn’s second verse says, “O shame on us who rest content while lust and greed for gain … wring gold from human pain … ” The next verse prays, “Give us, O God, the strength to build the City that has stood too long a dream … where the shining sun becomes God’s grace for human good.”
Now there’s a challenge worth taking up!
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from Religious Clip Art for the Liturgical Year (A, B, and C).
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