The term The Promised Land may seem like a stale term. That's okay, on some level it seems stale to me as well. There's a part of me that wants to go with another title. To my ears, it sounds like something of a church cliche, which it is -- on some level. But it does provide an example of our attempt to revitalize old symbols. The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy defines the term as follows:
Promised Land: The land that God promised he would give to the descendants of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob; the "land flowing with milk and honey"; the ..land.. of ..Canaan.., or ....Palestine..... The Israelites did not take it over until after the Exodus, when they conquered the people already living there.
By extension, an idyllic place or state of being that a person hopes to reach, especially one that cannot be reached except by patience and determination, is called a "Promised Land." (my bold to emphasize how it relates to our purposes)
As we attempt to restore a shared vision, as mentioned in the previous blog, it's prudent to heed our visionaries and Martin Luther King, Jr. may well have been the last American prophet we had. The context of his use of the term Promised Land excerpted in the following speech made on the eve of his assassination, by itself lends revitalization and lends me to believe, by God, we'll get there one way or another:
"Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the Promised Land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment