I approached this Sunday worship with some trepidation  as I noted the theme  "caught between heaven and earth "  and zeroed in on the  Scripture reading for meditation taken from 2 Samuel 18.5-9 ,15,31-33. This is a violent reading for sure    and to make matters worse--I was doing the reading !!

But the service began with a hymn of such assurance and peace--My shepherd is the King of Love"  and  the Children's story  served to give a glimpse that this violent reading was going to be tied in with the story of the Prodigal Son  and the power of God's love.  Sure we saw that King David's story  touched on --- the  good, the bad and the ugly in every form, -- on violence,  on a dysfunctional family,  on a story  of rebellion, deceit, murder  and civil war  but through it all God keeps His Promise and it is promise of Love and Forgiveness.

Rev, Karen, like a master weaver, was able to safely ground us after the violence and emotion of the scripture passage  with the thought that  we  too, at times, resonate with King David  and are sometimes caught between violence and peace,  between justice and  mercy,  between wrong and right, between hate and love . But our God is a God of compassion and if we look closely  we realize that this is what God looks like.

Even the hymns served to ground us --",Precious Lord ,take my hand "  "Guide me ,O thou Great  Redeemer ". Yes, it was good to be in the house of the Lord.

Beulah P.