Lest we drift

Beginning this Sunday our Lectionary has us in the book of Hebrews as our Epistle reading for the next several weeks.

The first chapter of the book contains no commands. We’re not told to do anything. The whole chapter is a declaration and celebration of God’s final word to the world—Jesus Christ. If I were to “sum it up”, I would say, “God has spoken decisively through his Son, and his Son is Creator and Sustainer and Owner and Ruler and Redeemer of the world”.

The second chapter, however (where we begin this week) starts with a command—something we must do. And the connection with chapter one is very important. Chapter two begins “Therefore”…telling us chapter one is the reason for this command. “Therefore,” it says, “we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”

Think about the word, “drift.” It means to float by. It’s what a piece of wood or a leaf or a dead fish does in the water...just floats along with the prevailing current. It takes no life, no motion, no energy. One need only do nothing to drift.

This is of critical importance to us because it means the result of not paying much closer attention to what we have heard isn’t just bobbing merrily along, it’s drifting away.