Many of us shared in a difficult 2008. The common story of economic hardship and international turmoil effects us all. Other factors, personal and private, have entered our stories. Loved ones were lost. Jobs were lost.
There have also been times of great joy - babies born, marriages begun. It is too much, and perhaps not appropriate, for me to reflect publicly about my ups and downs in 2008.
But I will reflect now about 2009. This morning, the lectionary sent me to Psalm 34 for my morning readings. Eugene Peterson, in the poetry we have come to love, renders verse 9 this way:
Worship God if you want the best; worship opens doors to all his goodness.
So I want to live a life of worship. I want the best and the 'goodness' that God offers. I want it for myself, my family, and my community. But I also want it for the world - and this is no hippie pipe dream. It is a desire to work and worship for the peace and grace of the kingdom to take shape in our lives, before our very lives. From the orphanages of Russia to the villages of Uganda... from the nearly-shut-down factories of Buffalo to the campuses of Columbus, Ohio, to the surburbs of Colorado Springs... I want to see the goodness of God. In the Morning Prayer in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, there is a General Thanksgiving. One couplet in this prayer says,
And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies,
that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise.
Worship opens doors to this kind of awareness. Let's not walk around blind in 2009. But let's walk and work and worship and play with our eyes wide open to God's mercy and goodness.
The New Testament reading for today is from Hebrews 12. In verse 7, it says
By faith Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warning and built an ark to save his household; by this he condemned the world and became an heir to the righteousness that is in accordance with faith.
A phrase jumped out to me that I've overlooked in the previous 100 readings of this text. Noah 'respected the warning.' This is an interesting way to look at the idea of learning from our mistakes, or growing through our weaknesses. Respecting the warning. There have been a lot of warnings in 2008. Look back over your life and the global events we've all shared in.
Respect the warnings of 2008. Open doors through worship in 2009.
Comments