Back From the Far Country
I have indeed decided to post here again. It hasn't been on account of a specific decision that I haven't posted for so long, but rather my unforgivable procrastination. But rest assured, I intend to revive this blog, and good things are on the way.
I've chosen to post a quote, one that's been on my mind as of late. It comes via the new Andrew Peterson album, where he found it via Meister Eckhart, who said:
"God is at home. We are in the far country".
This statement has profoundly impacted me. Perhaps more than anything, it has helped me to realize this truly isn't my home. How could I become so comfortable in a land where I'm a foreigner, someone just passing through? I love how Rich Mullins put it in his song, "land of my sojourn":
Nobody tells you
When you get born here
How much you'll come to love it
And how you'll never belong here
So I'll call you my country
But I'll be lonely for my home
And I'll wish that I could
Take you there with me
Rich Mullins, in that moment of lyrical brilliancy, captured a truth that is wonderfully visible and a great example for all those who feel they don't belong. Just like America, our mortal, earthly lives are a beautiful creation that have been inexerably changed by our fallenness, the sin that we inheret. Just like America, we love this world, it's vast beauty and sadness, and feel a longing, not for this finite world, but for our true eternal home where someday we will wander no more. The far country will be but a whisper of a memory, with a few highlights of brilliant beauty shining up through the chasm between heaven and earth, as it slowly falls to its death. But we will never die, but will live forever under the shadow of the Almighty, where we will finally understand what it means to be 'home'.
I've chosen to post a quote, one that's been on my mind as of late. It comes via the new Andrew Peterson album, where he found it via Meister Eckhart, who said:
"God is at home. We are in the far country".
This statement has profoundly impacted me. Perhaps more than anything, it has helped me to realize this truly isn't my home. How could I become so comfortable in a land where I'm a foreigner, someone just passing through? I love how Rich Mullins put it in his song, "land of my sojourn":
Nobody tells you
When you get born here
How much you'll come to love it
And how you'll never belong here
So I'll call you my country
But I'll be lonely for my home
And I'll wish that I could
Take you there with me
Rich Mullins, in that moment of lyrical brilliancy, captured a truth that is wonderfully visible and a great example for all those who feel they don't belong. Just like America, our mortal, earthly lives are a beautiful creation that have been inexerably changed by our fallenness, the sin that we inheret. Just like America, we love this world, it's vast beauty and sadness, and feel a longing, not for this finite world, but for our true eternal home where someday we will wander no more. The far country will be but a whisper of a memory, with a few highlights of brilliant beauty shining up through the chasm between heaven and earth, as it slowly falls to its death. But we will never die, but will live forever under the shadow of the Almighty, where we will finally understand what it means to be 'home'.
posted by Eucharisto | 10:28 PM
2 Comments:
I love how your words hold such depth. I can't scan, as I've gotten into the bad habit of doing, but I have to read slowly and digest, and read again. Your writing causes me to ponder rather than simply comprehend. Thank you.
I'm reminded of some of the thoughts of the old pastor in the book Gilead. I wish I could quote some of them for you but I wouldn't know where to look.
There are some things of heartbreaking beauty here. Tonight I am stirred by feelings of "Northerness"; It's been a while since I felt such a strong tug to the homeland.
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