There’s a scene in the 1979 film “The Muppet Movie” in which Gonzo, that beaked and blue-feathered mystery creature, sings a song that gets me every time – “I’m Going to Go Back There Someday.” The second verse goes,
Sun rises, night falls, sometimes the sky calls.
Is that a song there, and do I belong there?
I’ve never been there, but I know the way.
I’m going to go back there someday.
How is it that the muppets always seem able to take life’s mysteries – in this case, the mystery of hope rooted in faith – and re-present them in ways I can understand?
The passage from Hebrews that we’ll hear in worship this Sunday begins with the famous verse, “now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen,” and goes on to say of our ancestors in the faith,
“All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one.” (Hebrews 11:13-16a)
That’s eloquent, to be sure, but I think I still prefer, “I’ve never been there, but I know the way. I’m going to go back there someday.”
See you Sunday,
Pastor Erik
By Proclamation 