This afternoon I was looking over the music for Sunday's worship and I found that we are singing a song that I do not know. But the words captured me. It's called Lead On, O Cloud of Presence.
Lead on, O cloud of Presence,
the exodus is come.
In wilderness and desert
our tribe shall make its home.
Our slavery left behind us,
new hopes within us grow.
We seek the land of promise
where milk and honey flow.
After this first verse I was just thinking that it was a nice little song about the Jews following God in a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night through the wilderness as they sought the promised land. On to verse two...
Lead on, O fiery Pillar,
we follow yet with fears,
but we shall come rejoicing
though joy be born of tears.
We are not lost, though wandering,
for by your light we come,
and we are still God's people.
The journey is our home.
First, the word "fiery" caught my attention and took me on a little tangent in my own mind. In the fifth grade my teacher would give us an extra hard word as a bonus word after our normal spelling test. One week the word was fiery. I don't know how I knew how to spell this word (although I was always quite good at spelling) but I remember that day quite clearly.
My special treat for spelling the word correctly was a Jolly Rancher. On that day I got a grape one. And, yes, just remembering it...I can almost taste it. I'm not sure why that event was important enough for me to store in my brain, but that one word bringing back this one memory was enough to make me take a second look at the lyrics of this song.
It struck me that the first verse was pleasing and hopeful with God being referred to as a "Cloud of Presence" while in the second verse He was the "Fiery Pillar" that brought fear...and tears. Even through this wandering, however, they are certain that they are still God's people. Even though they are wandering, they know that they are not lost because they are following God. And the last line here grabbed me:
The journey is our home.
From my earlier posts and even from my talk with a group of women earlier this morning, it is obvious that God is pounding this point through my thick skull. Quit setting your eyes on the Promised Land and embrace the journey as your home.
Lead on, O God of freedom,
and guide us on our way,
and help us trust the promise
through struggle and delay.
We pray our sons and daughters
may journey to that land
where justice dwells with mercy,
and love is law's demand.
In this verse, our Lord is the God of Freedom who is relied upon for guidance through our struggles and through the delays of life. There is an acceptance that we may never reach the destination and a prayer that our children will.
I haven't even heard the song yet, but I think it's beautiful.
