“Our once great western Christian civilization is dying. If this matters to followers of Jesus Christ, then we must set aside our denominational differences and work together to strengthen the things that remain and reclaim what has been lost. Evangelicals and Catholics must stand together to re-establish that former Christian culture and moral consensus. We have the numbers and the organization but the question is this: Do we have the will to win this present spiritual battle for Jesus Christ against secularism? Will we prayerfully and cooperatively work toward a new Christian spiritual revival ― or will we choose to hunker down in our churches and denominationalisms and watch everything sink into the spiritual and moral abyss of a New Dark Age?” - Mark Davis Pickup

Sunday, January 19, 2014

GOD HIMSELF WILL WIPE AWAY EVERY TEAR

Edward Elgar wrote his moving cello adagio, Sospiri, Op. 70 just prior to World War I -- a terrible war that would decimate a generation of young men and change the world. The word Sospiri is Italian for "sighs". The website of The Elgar Society (yes, there actually is one)[1] speculated that "perhaps it was the gathering storm clouds of war that moved him to write a heartfelt, bleak adagio" which was Sospiri. 

 We have all experienced a sense of dread. We may not be able to identify why we have fear and our dread is unfocused. Sometimes there are circumstances developing that makes our sense of unease well founded. Elgar's dread was well founded. 
World War I was called the war to end all wars with the loss of an estimated 37-million people, but it did not end all wars. Only God knows the true numbers of lives lost to war since then and the incalculable grief of loved-ones. 

 I am a Christian. I believe there will come a time when God will put an end to war and wipe away every tear of the brokenhearted (See Revelation 21.3-4). 

 "They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." Isaiah 2.4.

 [Link below to Edward Elgar's Sospiri, Op. 70, Cellist, Sol Gabetta or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=886dO7OA6eY ]

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[1] http://www.elgar.org/elgarsoc/index.html

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