Some of my favorite moments as a tour leader are watching the expressions of our travelers as they first encounter some of these wonders. There is a particular corner where I like to skip ahead just a little so I can savor the expressions as the group rounds the corner and sees the magnificent Eiffel Tower towering above them in all its glory.
In 1996, Christian leader Lynn Green walked with some apprehension into a mosque in Cologne, Germany. He was leading a group of 125 Christians intent on retracing, all the way to Jerusalem, one of the routes of the 13th-century Crusades, making a formal apology to Muslims along the way for the suffering their forebears endured at the hands of the Crusaders.
On this beautiful first day of autumn (in the Northern Hemisphere), we're still here. What's the big deal about that? Many sincere followers of biblical prophecy fully expected the rapture to happen on this most important date on the Jewish calendar, Yom Kippur. I dare not ridicule these people for their genuine desire to see the return of Christ and the fulfillment of prophecy; it just appears that the puzzle, as some of them call it, is a little more elusive and mysterious than they claim. In the meantime, today also marks the first visit to the U. S. of Pope Francis, who has by all accounts received not just a papal, but a royal welcome. How refreshing it is to hear people from all corners of the religious and political landscape (with some exceptions, of course) lay aside their partisan rhetoric. You may be right if you label this collective embrace hypocritical on the part of some, but the Holy Father's visit, and his words in particular, point to something in each one of us: to quote a book title by a late friend of mine, it's the "truth you know you know". We all know, deep down, that mercy is not just an action but a way of life. We all know that the plight of the poor must be addressed in some way. Why it takes a papal visit to remind us of these things is another question.
Whatever the case, if we take his words to heart and use them to do some recentering, it might not hurt anything. Or in the words of the prophet Micah, "...do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God."
And perhaps, in the process, we'll be a little more ready for the Second Coming, whenever that may be.
