Many Levels, Greater Joy

Hope came with a trumpet.

Music filled the campus and an amazing thing happened. The instrumentalists began to appear from all over campus: from junior high through our college students they began to play. The nursery began to dance, the sun was shining, and a campus that had been under siege from a pandemic and an ice storm looked up. The old oak trees were strong and while battered building four remained closed, repairs were underway. We need not deny all the troubles from disease and weather, but Hope and music reminded us in a strong voice that there were parallel realities.

There is an eternal good, truth and beauty that remained untouched even if the sun were to go out. By the intercessions of the Theotokos, we would live in safety for all time in the reigning city of God. The City is built on love. All guns will be melted into tools for peace. All peoples, in their diverse glory, will sing the songs of Zion.

The problems, the battles, such as they are never are solved by hatred. There is not enough hatred to do more than mar and destroy, but even Satan’s hate is not strong enough for anything beautiful to be lost forever. Sin is bad, but metaphorically we are called to pluck out our own eyes, not take on the sins of others. We pray: “Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.”

Yet even our sin is not the final truth. There is more, much more. Our falling short of the glory of God does not diminish the glory of God. The music that made the cosmos still plays and the so everything is sustained and gathered together into the city of God. We can turn from our error, our grievous wrong doings, and join that jolly band of musicians. Nobody need be left out or excluded, though nobody is forced to come. I can come, just as I am, to become as I should be, demanding nothing in myself from anyone else.

Some of us, this side of full realization of the Heavenly City, will be called to be magistrates, but the office is limited and the power in God and not in ourselves. Even the greatest human judge gains power from the system and if just by reflecting the eternal justice of God. Most of us, most of the time, are called to mind our own business and stand in love with everyone we can. We judge as we hoped to be judged with mercy.

As the toddlers danced, basketballs dunked, and the oldsters rested under the cool trees, the moment came. We were able, just for a bit, to see what is real and will endure. Joy endures. One aspect of that joy, the happy passing jollity that cannot be captured in any image, came and is gone. A deeper happiness endures and can be passed on to anyone reading as I recollect that moment. The better day will be when the clouds are rolled back as a scroll, the Lord will descend, and it will be forever well with our souls.

Hope comes with a trumpet.