Crossings. I have been pondering on this all week.
Especially yesterday when I visited a parishioner who is some (almost) 95 years old and doing fine physically and mentally. Her mom did not "cross over" until she was 103. And we have more and more centenarians than ever before. Good medicine and nutrition are part of the reason. But crossing has many definitions in our lives.
In Canada, many people do crossings as part of their daily commute. Ferries from Newfoundland cross constantly to the Maritime provinces. The folks on the Toronto ferry, heading to work downtown or other places. And there are those who commute from Vancouver Island to the mainland daily. And then we have ice roads as well. You can go from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk on the winter ice road, crossing some nearly 200 km. of territory. Part of it is driving on the Arctic Ocean. Fort Good Hope is also accessible by winter road. And I have driven on an ice crossing. I was reminded of the time St. Andrew's Lock at Lockport, MB was closed. To get across the Red River, they had created access to the frozen Red River. We drove about a kilometer down the frozen river to access the roads to the east. Terrified some of my passengers. That was a memorable crossing.
There are many crossings in life. From childhood to adulthood there are many crossings written into this journey. As we age, more crossings appear as well. I had no idea of the crossing I was making when I went from singleness into marriage. Some things we just have to experience.
The bible is full of crossings. There are important crossings in Exodus 14, Joshua 3 and 2 Kings 2. All have lasting and significant impacts. Jesus is also known for crossings. The most well known of these is in Matthew 14. And he crosses the Sea of Galilee many times in his ministry. He also crosses into foreign territory. This is viewed by many in his day as dangerous. Yet in these circumstances he brings the love of God to rejected people and those who would not be included. I would point you to John 4 and Mark 7 here.
Now Jesus is about to undergo the most important set of crossings in the history of the world. It starts with him crossing back into Jerusalem one last time. It is in all four gospels, and I would point you to Mark 11 as one example. The crossings will go on all week long and I will come back to this in the coming week. At this point, I would ask you to think with me on the crossings we have made in the last 4 years. Where are we now? Pr. Scott
