Somewhere I read of an art show that featured a unique introduction. The entry area of the gallery featured what appeared at first to be four paintings. Actually the paintings were on mirrors and as you looked at each of them, it was your mirrored image that became dominant. It was an imaginative statement about the nature of art. It was an invitation to enter the paintings —— not to remain aloof to an indifferent viewer, but to identify.

I want us to look at our scripture lesson today as a gallery of mirrors. It is the nature of scripture that we are to put ourselves into it. We are not to be spectators to the drama, but participants.

Do you remember Bobby Burns’ challenging word:

O wad the pow’r the gift to give us
To see ourselves as others see us.

Today, let’s seek the power not to…