He said, "Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you." And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling. – Daniel 10:11

 

Today's Scripture Reading (August 12, 2020): Daniel 10

Every once in awhile, it happens. It is that moment that you find yourself at a party, and you are not sure that the one who invited you, probably a friend of a friend, ever bothered to tell the host you were coming. And so you look for ways to fade into the background, to hide from the presence of the others. Maybe enjoy the food and the ambiance, without ever being noticed.

Or maybe your first reaction is to find the door. You are sure it was a mistake for you to be here. The refrain of "Mama Told Me Not to Come" echoes in the back of your mind as you try to find the door. On the night that Jesus was betrayed, I think that was where Peter found himself. I don't think we understand his sudden betrayal that night. Suddenly, on an emotional night for which Peter had never prepared himself, he found himself in a strange place, a place where he felt that he didn't belong.

He had come with John. And John came from a family of wealth and power. John belonged, but Peter didn't. While he wanted desperately to be close to Jesus during the trial that had been set out for his friend, another part of him wanted to do what everyone but he and John had done; run and hide. And everything that follows, including the apostle's famous denials, is dependent on the reality that Peter had found his way to a place where he was sure that he didn't belong.

And it is where Daniel finds himself. Physically, Daniel might have been standing on the banks of the Tigris River, but in his spirit, he had been transported somewhere else. He was taken to a mystical place where neither he, nor any other human, belonged. And at that moment, Daniel was terrified. Every fiber of his being was searching for the door, a way back to the Tigris River, the place he had been before, a place where he belonged.

Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. And a voice broke the quietness of the moment. "Daniel, you belong here. I have been sent to you. Stand up and listen, because I have a message destined for your ears." And Daniel, still shaking, stands to listen to the message.

What I wish we could understand is that this is the way that every visitor who walks through the doors of our churches, feels. I wish we would become the ones who place a hand on their trembling shoulders and echo the words, "Welcome. You have found a place where you belong." Unfortunately, the words that more often emerge out of our mouths are, "You are sitting in my seat," or maybe "Doesn't your child know how to behave?" Our words reinforce the message that already exists inside of them, as well as in Daniel, and Peter, and us at that party of a friend of a friend. "You don't belong here. There is no way that you ever could."

And, at that moment, God is a million miles from us and our gatherings.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Daniel 11