Reimagining "Remembering"

 The past is not dead.  It's not even past.  
William Faulkner   (Requiem for a Nun)

You pile up enough tomorrows, and you'll find you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays.     
 Meredith Wilson  (Harold Hill in The Music Man)

This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
The Psalmist (Psalm 118:24)

Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Jesus (Matthew 6:34)


Birthdays and Anniversaries are times to remember and re-imagine.  This week I seem to be doing a lot of both since last Sunday was my birthday and next Sunday will be Anniversary Sunday at Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church.  And it has gotten me to thinking about how much our past informs who we are today and how we look toward the future.

We all have people, events, and stories in our lives that shape who we are and even how we remember our lives.  We also have stories that others have told us that we accept as truth.  Some of these we cherish and honor while others we had just as soon forget.  Either way,  who we are today is the result of all our yesterdays.

In a way this all sounds rather fatalistic.  However, in reality, it is quite dynamic because each time we remember something we have the opportunity to turn that memory around and look at it from different perspectives and in doing so re-imagine it with the context of the present moment.  And in doing so we actually create a new memory that shapes our future.

The past is always with us. We can't change that.  But we can control how we react to it.  We can release the grip that tragedies, mistakes, and regrets have on us by grieving losses, learning from missteps, and letting go of blame.  At the same time we can also embrace times of success, joy, and satisfaction.  One thing is for sure, whichever we choose is who we are now as well as the beginning of tomorrow.

So, give it a try - re-imagine how you remember and see what happens. 

 

Wonder

"Have a wonderful day."   How many times have your heard or said this? Did you really mean it or actually hear it?

Wonder seems to be missing in much of daily life.  When did you last take time to think or speculate curiously about the world around us, to be filled with amazement and awe, or to marvel at things normally taken for granted like trees, leaves and flowers, or how the car you're driving, or train you're riding works?

There is much wonder around us and within us.   So much so that it can quickly become overwhelming to imagine the thoughts, systems, skills, emotions, imagination, and myriad processes going on about us at any moment.  Yet, to stop and immerse oneself in that moment is the beginning of not only wondering but actually feeling wonder.

Yesterday I stood on the National Mall with thousands of others and witnessed the flyover of the Space Shuttle Discovery sitting atop a Boeing 747 aircraft.  It was truly an amazing and wonderful event.  And one of the most beautiful things about it was all the people not only on the Mall, but those all around the city and surrounding area on lawns, rooftops, sidewalks and roadsides, not to mention perhaps millions watching on television, stopping for a moment in a busy day to wonder.

Like the old movie title says, it really is "A Wonderful Life."   Take a few minutes today to stop and wonder about something.  When you do, I would love to hear about it. 

I hope you really do have a wonderful day!

Resurrection!

 “Most folks tiptoe through life only to make it safely to death.”

            – Eleanor Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Earl Nightingale, Tony Campolo among others.

“…and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.”

            -the Gospel of Mark 16:8

In a profound way the version of Jesus’ resurrection as told in the Gospel of Mark is a wonderful gift to us because it doesn’t give us a nice neat ending with all our questions answered and explained. 

Whether we believe this story as an actual physical coming back from the dead, or as an allegorical, metaphorical truth is up to each of us.  Regardless of our hermeneutic the story at is core is one of life and death.  If we are afraid of death then fear rules our lives.

Mark's story is an open invitation to us to examine and imagine how the story doesn’t end but rather continues; an opportunity to imagine what resurrection means in our own lives, in our place and time. 

Where has resurrection taken place in your life?   What are the possibilities for it now? 

Most of today’s message comes from my Easter sermon, “Easter-The Punch-line of the Gospel”

Holy Week?

Holy Week is the time we Christians commemorate the "Passion of Jesus", and if Passion refers to the suffering and death of Jesus, then what is so holy about suffering and death?

There are many responses to this question, ranging from “nothing” to “everything.”  Some people recoil at the suffering and death of Jesus, while others embrace it.  The events of the week, as recorded in the Bible, are interpreted on a scale ranging from violent torture of an innocent man by imperial powers, to the death of God for the salvation of humankind.   And there is some truth in most of the interpretations along this scale. 

One of the beautiful things about the Bible is that even though there are traditional interpretations and teachings on which to draw, the ultimate meaning of its stories is eventually revealed in our own lives. 

But however we engage and interpret the story, one thing is pretty clear:  there is movement from life to death to life. The story becomes the ultimate allegory of a central teaching of Jesus: One must lose life in order to gain it.  Whether the "loss" is physical, material, emotional, psychological, real, or metaphorical, and whether "life" is temporal or eternal is eventually determined by how we engage the story.

So, my suggestion for this Holy Week is to engage the story.   Find a quiet time and read one or all of the Holy Week stories from the four biblical gospel accounts. (Mark 11-16; Matthew 21-28; Luke 19:28-24; John 13-21)  Read from the perspective of your own life and see where the story takes you.

Warning: It may not be easy, but it will be rewarding.  And this just may be the ultimate "holy" of Holy Week.

Light, Life, Love

Doesn’t the world have enough fearful dictators, gated communities, neighborhood watches, laws protecting vigilantes, check points, security gates, body scans and metal detectors?     sermon, “When The Teacher Disappears”, 03-25-12

The litany above is of serious issues in today's world, none of which has an easy fix.  Sometimes we feel overwhelmed by all that is going on around us when what is really weighing us down are not the things themselves but rather our perception of them and reaction to them.

Jesus never said living the Gospel is easy, quite the contrary - it involves soul searching and sacrifice, and in the end action.  It is not easy, but it is simple: light overcomes darkness, life overcomes death, love overcomes fear.  Jesus also tells us that we are the light, life and love of the world. 

Recently the daily blog Inward/Outward quoted Lawrence Kushner saying,  “When you see something that is broken, fix it. When you find something that is lost, return it. When you see something that needs to be done, do it. In that way, you will take care of your world and repair creation.”

Perhaps the best thing to do when we feel the weight of the world is to refocus on something closer to home that we perceive as fearful and ask how can I bring light, life, and love into the situation.

If you do have such an opportunity we would love to hear about.   Or, maybe you already have such a story to share.  In any case, your thoughts and comments are encouraged.

Spring

The sun rises and the sun goes down, and hurries to the place where it rises.  -Ecclesiastes 1:5

Here comes the sun...and I say, "It's all right."  - George Harrison

Yesterday at 1:14 am EDT was the Vernal Equinox when the center of the Sun crossed the Earth's equator from southern to northern hemisphere.  In other words, the first day of Spring in the northern hemisphere.

Here in Washington D.C. the famous cherry blossoms are at peak.  A phone call from a friend visiting Savannah, GA confirmed azaleas in full bloom there.  Shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops are coming out of closets.  Gardens are being weeded and planted.  Baseball's opening day is only two weeks away.  And all manner of Spring festivals are and will be celebrated. 

Spring is a time of life and light that reminds us of the eternal regenerative energy of the universe.  Things gone dormant during winter come to life again, even and especially the human Spirit.  

The story is George Harrison of the Beatles wrote the song “Here Comes the Sun” in Eric Clapton's garden using one of Clapton's acoustic guitars.   Since the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein had died in 1967, the band had to handle more of their accounting and business affairs, which Harrison hated. He wrote the song after attending a round of "business" meetings. 

Wherever you are today, at work, school, home or somewhere else, and whatever you doing, take a break from "business" to spend time outside soaking in the regenerative energy of Spring.

"Spring" - say it out loud.  Even the word sounds refreshing.

Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away;

for now the winter is past, 

the rain is over and gone.

The flowers appear on the earth;

the time of singing has come,

and the voice of the turtledove 
is heard in our land.

The fig tree puts forth its figs,

and the vines are in blossom;

they give forth fragrance.

Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.    -Song of Solomon 2:10-13

If you're interested here's a link to a prayer I gave yesterday to open a session of Congress

Rumors and Patterns

We end up believing the rumor we spread about ourselves.    

So, why not make it a good one?        - John Bell

In crisis one does not rise to the occasion but defaults to the pattern.    –Roger Nishioka

March Madness is upon us.  Of course I’m talking about the NCAA Basketball Tournament.  Basketball like most other sports is a combination of physical and mental preparation, repeatedly drilled and trained.  Any successful athlete will tell you that the lack of either one will become evident when the game or match is on the line. 

Too many years ago when I played high school basketball our coach would end some practices with free throw shooting and on those days you couldn’t go to the locker room until you hit ten consecutive shots.   Sometimes were a breeze, and others were tortuous.  But when games were on the line, we made our free throws.

Most other practices ended with running sprints until we were exhausted.  The results were we rarely ran out of steam at the end of a game.  By the way, our team had an undefeated season.

The same principles of practice and preparation are true in all aspects of our lives especially our spiritual lives.  This is why prayer, meditation, reading, generosity, compassion, et al, are called spiritual “disciplines” and “practices”.    

Being intentional about regularly nurturing ourselves spiritually, or not, prepares us for daily living.  If you don't already have a regular spiritual practice, why not start with something simple like five minutes of daily silence and prayer.  Sign up for and online "thought of the day" to carry with you, one I like and use is HeartQuotes (they also have an app for mobiles).  Or if you already have a regular practice, extend or deepen it a little.

Whatever you do, remember we literally become our own rumors and default to our patterns.  The good news is we have the God given imagination and ability to create these rumors and patterns.

 Share below how your spiritual practices have and continue to shaped your life. 

 

Practice makes perfect!  –Countless parents, teachers, and coaches

"Speaking Our Imagination" -  last Sunday's sermon.

A Life Sentence

“...in many cultures, the act of naming is regarded as a very, very powerful thing...naming represents a celebration of becoming aware, of knowing the universe at a different level than we had known before.” - Dr.James Gates, Jr., On Being interview with Krista Tippett

"The simple act of naming shifts the lives of Abram and Sarai from local to universal, from human to divine."    - from "God Carriers", sermon 03-04-12

The biblical story in which God changes the names of Abram and Sarai to Abraham and Sarah is not only a story of ancestry and progeny but also a story of awakening. Their consciousness is broadened beyond the confines of immediate family and circumstances as they are invited to imagine themselves procreating and participating with the Creator in creating a new world. Being told that they will be father and mother to “many nations” is a reminder to them and to us that within each human being is endless potential and possibility.

Who among us doesn’t get bogged down with and consumed by the particularities of daily living?  Is there anyone who never feels burdens, pressures and expectations associated with family, school, work, and even play?   Of course not, and therein lies the dilemma. 

Too often we perceive the confines of life as forces and dynamics outside ourselves and beyond our influence.  We see life as something happening to us instead of something in which we participate and play an important role.  Our life’s sentence has us as the object instead of the subject.

It is significant that God doesn’t change the world around Abram and Sarai.  God changes them.  With a slight alteration of name, they are liberated to see themselves differently and become, with God, co-creators of the future. God gives them a new life sentence.

That’s all it takes - a new name that is not so different in appearance but ever so different in meaning.  It is amazing how the world around us changes with only a slight change in perspective.  

So why not try it?  Take on a new name.  If you can’t readily think of one why not try one Desmond Tutu suggests: "God Carrier." Imagine yourself, and others, as a vessel of the Image of God and see how differently you see the world around you.  Become the subject of your life instead of the object.

Let me know how it turns out.

Covenant

God said, “This is the sign of the covenant…for all future generations…between me and the earth. When…the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant…between me and you and every living creature…and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.”   

            - Genesis 9:12-15

The rainbow of Genesis is a multicolored ribbon around God’s finger, a reminder to God that God is bound to all Creation for all time, and if God were to destroy Creation, God would be destroying God’s self. 
             - From “Lent – A Pilgrimage Into The Promise of God’s Covenant” 02-26-12

Today is a gift, not just because it is a day that appears on the calendar every four years, but because like all days it is filled with God’s Promise of Presence in a Rainbow Covenant that not only reminds God, but us, that just as many colors make up the wholeness of light, the Light of God is made up of the multiplicity of Creation, interconnecting and co-mingling all people and all things through One Eternal Presence.

In the gift of this day never given before

may we be open to new beginnings.

In the gift of this day of work and creativity

may our eyes be open to new ways of seeing.

In the gift of this day of play and rest

may our hearts be open to laughter and stillness.

Guide us, Great Creator,

that we may find you in one another.

Guide us, Loving Christ,

that we may give ourselves for the earth and its people.

Guide us, Spirit of New Birth,

that in the matter of our lives we may be bearers of hope.

                     - from Liturgies from Casa del Sol, Philip Newell

Several people have asked about the poem read at the close of last Sunday’s worship service at Capitol Hill Presbyterian.   Here’s a link to “For Presence” by John O’Donohue.

All are invited every Wednesday evening during Lent at 7:30 P.M. at CAPITOL HILL PRESBYTERIAN to explore God’s Calling to Humanity within the Interdependence of Creation through discussion of shared readings from Scripture and various scholars and theologians on Creation Care. Each evening will include times of silent meditation and contemplative music. For readings and resources please visit theresources page on the CHPC website.

From Certitude to Wonder

There is a human propensity to turn wonder into certitude…we are so insistent, and good, at turning wonder into certitude that we don’t even realize we are doing it. Behind everything, even things like kindness, compassion, gratitude, and generosity there has to be a motive and a meaning.

Transfiguration is the threshold into Lent, which is traditionally a season of contemplation, examination, and penitence for Christians. The meta-story for Lent is Jesus in the wilderness for forty days.  Lent is a time to turn away from the comfort and familiarity of certitude and enter the discomfort and strangeness of wonder.

             - from “The Wonder and Weirdness Behind Our Certitude” 02-19-12, Transfiguration of the Lord

If Transfiguration is the threshold into Lent, then Ash Wednesday, which many Christians observe today, is the front lobby, the foyer, the entryway.  It is the room where we take off our coats of certitude and scarves of security becoming vulnerable to our own stories and beliefs, in order to hear, see and feel our own lives, through different words, images, and practices, opening ourselves to the transformative, transfigurative power of God’s wonderful, mysterious Presence.

For those in the DC area looking for an opportunity observe Ash Wednesday in a non-traditional way:

"Stardust to Ashes”
a Contemplative, Interactive
Ash Wednesday Liturgy
Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church
www.capitolhillpreschurch.org

You are invited to participate in a very different, non-traditional Ash Wednesday observance. This is a self-paced contemplative liturgy that can be started anytime between 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. where people go from station to station on a guided pilgrimage exploring the miracle of creation and the frailty of life through poetry, scientific discovery, scripture, music and images. Along the way, there is the freedom to sit in the pews at any time to pray or meditate.

At the end of the pilgrimage all are invited to receive ashes on the forehead as a reminder and symbol of our mortality within the mystery of immortality.

God Is - I am

But Moses said to God, "If I come to the Israelites and say to them, "The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, "What is God’s name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I am who I am."”

                                    -Exodus 3:13-14

“…the word “God” is too huge to allow any other word to breathe beside it.  Furthermore, it is unnecessary; God is omnipresent , and life itself is the primal sacrament, namely the visible sign of invisible grace.  

                                    - John  O’Donohue,  from To Bless the Space Between Us

In the Hebrew Scriptures the name of God is comprised of four letters: YOD, HAY, VAV, and HAY with no vowel markings.  Even though we may pronounce them as “Yahweh,” Rabbinic tradition would substitute “Adonai” or “Lord” claiming the name is too holy to say.

Once in a retreat setting a Rabbi shared with our group that in truth the letters are unutterable not because of the holiness they evoke, but because they are all consonants. You cannot pronounce a string of consonance without vowels.   The Rabbi said if we tried it would sound something like a hissing sound, which he then demonstrated.  The four-letters when “said” together are actually the sound of breathing. The holy Name, the Name of the Creator, is the sound of our own breath.

These letters are also the root letters of the Hebrew verb “to be”, giving us the possible translation of God’s Name given to Moses at the burning bush as  “I am who I am,” or more accurately “I will be who I will be.”

With all of this in mind I suggest combining these imaginative linguistic observations into a simple mantra for meditating and contemplating our identity as being created in God’s image.   It’s as simple as breathing in an out while thinking: “God Is – I am.”

Inhale – God Is.

Exhale – I Am.

And so the act of breathing becomes not only the Name of God but also our name as created in God’s image.

The practical beauty of this meditation is that it can be done anywhere – in quiet, still solitude as well as within noisy, active congestion of daily life.  Wherever we are or whatever is going on, if we are alive, our own breath reminds us:  God Is – I am.

Happy Breathing!

One With God

“I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”
            -  Jesus, John 14:20


Earlier this week I listened to an interview with the Irish poet, priest and philosopher John O’Donohue and was again inspired to consider and experience the presence of God in all of creation - including humanity.

So it is in this Spirit of Incarnation that I share two poems, the first an ancient Irish poem (read as part of the previously mentioned interview), the other from the Psalms.

As you read and contemplate these ancient words, do as Jesus reveals – claim them as your own, knowing the One Eternal Presence of God within you.


"Song of Amergin."

I am the wind on the sea;

I am the ocean wave;

I am the sound of the billows;

I am the seven-horned stag;

I am the hawk on the cliff;

I am the dewdrop in sunlight;

I am the fairest of flowers;

I am the raging boar;

I am the salmon in the deep pool;

I am the lake on the plain;

I am the meaning of the poem;

I am the point of the spear;

I am the god that makes fire in the head;

Who levels the mountain?

Who speaks the age of the moon?

Who has been where the sun sleeps?

Who, if not I?


Psalm 19

The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork.
Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard;
yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In the heavens God has set a tent for the sun,
which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
and like a strong man runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them;
and nothing is hid from its heat.

“I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.”

What happens when we consider ourselves as interconnected and interdependent with all of Creation?

 

Hear the interview with John O’Donohue

Road Trip!

For the past three days I spent 20 hours and a thousand miles behind the wheel of a U-Haul truck through the countryside of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.  My daughter Jayme, her dog Matilda and I were moving them from Atlanta to Austin.   It was quite an adventure and good to get out of DC to experience parts of the U.S. that were very familiar as well as totally new.  

Here are just a few things that caught my eye and imagination while riding along the highway:   

·      KIA and Hyundai plants in GA and AL respectively - just in case you want to buy an American made car.

·      Hank Aaron baseball park in Mobile – as a boy in Alabama could he have even imagined it?

·      The turn off to Bayou LaBatre where CHPC did a mission trip after Katrina.

·      Mississippi State Troopers scratching their heads over giant bales of hay in the middle of the bridge crossing into Louisiana – the source of the mess nowhere in sight.

·      The Mississippi River – always a wonder to behold.  

·      Only “Christian” stations on the frequencies where NPR usually is – OK for a while since I love listening to radio preachers.

·      Tony the Tiger, a poor soul in a cage at a truck stop, in Louisiana

·      Playing interstate leapfrog with a semi flatbed stacked with beehives - and bees. 

·      The word “Texas” on everything – even Texas shaped waffles for breakfast.

·      The lights of oil refineries east of Houston shining like small cities dotting the horizon.

·      Crossing the same meandering river (Texas has its own Colorado River) at least a half dozen times between Houston and Austin.

·      A billboard for “Anteeks!” – yes, that’s the way it’s spelled.

·      Wide open highways where 75 mph feels like sitting still.

·      and finally in Austin, one of the best hamburgers I ever ate – ground sirloin!

All of this is a reminder to me, and hopefully to all of us, of the amazing variety, diversity, and local flavor of the world in which we live.   Wherever you are today, take minute and imagine outside your immediate surroundings and circumstances and ponder the endless places, people, and possibilities on this wonderful planet we call home.  Rest in the truth that as participants in Creation, we all share the same basic needs, hopes, and dreams.   We’re all on the same Road Trip!

Blogger's Block

I guess it happens to all of us at some time or another – we simply have nothing to say that we haven’t said before.  Maybe it comes from not sitting quiet and still long enough (or at all) to hear something new.   Maybe these are the times we need to listen.  And so it is today, I share with you words from Thomas Merton that I shared in last Sunday’s sermon, probably as much for myself as for you.

There is a pervasive form of modern violence to which the idealist … most easily succumbs: activism and overwork. The rush and pressure of modern life are a form, perhaps the most common form, of its innate violence. To allow oneself to be carried away by a multitude of conflicting concerns, to surrender to too many demands, to commit oneself to too many projects, to want to help every-one in everything is to succumb to violence. The frenzy of the activist neutralizes his/her work... It destroys the fruitfulness of his/her own work, because it kills the root of inner wisdom, which makes work fruitful. 

                           - Thomas Merton, from Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander

Failure

"Failure is not an option."
    -from the movie "Appolo 13"

Even though the above quote was never actually said by the real flight director of Appolo 13, Gene Krantz, it captures the "can do" persistence of all the scientist and technicians involved in that historic event.   It also describes an ethos that permeates much of our culture that praises success and has little if any patience with failure.

Ironically, the idea that failure is not an option is one of the greatest obstacles to success and the Appolo 13 mission is a perfect example.   The eventual solutions to problems that finally returned the astronauts safely to earth were the results of trying different options until arriving at one that worked.  Simply put, their eventual success was but a path strewn with failure.

How many times have you said, or heard someone else say, "I'm not going to do it unless I can do it right."?   And, how many times has nothing been done, or done too late as a result of such thinking?   Too often we let the perfect prevent the possible.  Too often we are so afraid of failure that we never risk success.  And to not risk success is living in creative paralysis.

Think of all of the great ideas, inventions, advancements, and achievements in human history.   How many would have actually occurred if the people involved had not risked failure, and actually failed in the process of finding solutions, struggling with language, trying various combinations, or getting up after falling?  This is especially true when looking at the people in the narratives of the Bible and other holy texts.

This doesn't mean we should not set our goals high and have grand vision.  Quite the contrary - it is actually an invitation into excellence as we set our minds and passions on those things that seem impossible.   I'm not sure who said this first but I do know that we need to keep saying and living:  "It's only impossible until someone does it."   And we'll only really do it when we're not afraid to fail.  So in the end, perhaps failure is really the only option.

Log In

Be still and know God
           - Psalm 46:10
 
There is a lot more going on around us that we can’t see than that which we can. Modern physics tells us that the light visible to humans is but a fraction of the entire electromagnetic spectrum of radio, micro, infrared, ultra violet, X, and gamma rays.  And even within the narrow band of visible light there is seemingly endless possibility of perception.  Yet we seem to be predisposed to see that which we expect to see.  Could we possibly tune our lives to expect something different?
 
Back to the electromagnetic spectrum, even though we can’t see all of the different waves we have developed ways of detecting, measuring and using them.   We have smart phones, radios, microwave ovens, infrared and ultra violet lamps, and X-ray machines.  We touch our phones and a world of information opens up,  turn on a radio and music plays; push the button on a microwave and the frozen food thaws; flip a switch and light appears. Through our human imagination and creativity what once would have been thought to be mysteriously impossible and perhaps even sorcery is now commonplace in our lives.
 
What if we applied the same imagination and creativity to the Presence of God in our lives?  What if we began to see our lives as receivers and transmitters of unseen Spirit that permeates the entire universe?   And then, what if we began to tune our lives with intentional silence, stillness and attention to our immediate surroundings?  How do you think our lives and world would change?
 
Just like the only way to hear the music is to turn on the radio, and the only way to check your email is to log in, the only way to know God's Presence in our lives is to intentionally engage the Spirit. 
 
 
 
For people in the DC area, I invite you to a time of listening, stillness and attention, tonight, January 11 and on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month at 7:30 p.m. at Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church.   During the weeks leading up to Lent and on to Easter we will explore Gods Calling to Humanity within the Interdependence of Creation.  Each evening will include times of silent meditation and contemplative music.  Please join us.

A New Year

Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,  “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation…”  …At that moment [the prophet Anna] came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.            –Luke 2:28-30, 38

The stories of prophets Simeon and Anna encountering the baby Jesus at his temple consecration are not so much predictions of the future as they are symbols of passing the torch of Truth from one generation to another.     

Both Simeon and Anna have reached old age with their hopes, dreams and visions of a new world still unfulfilled.  And then they see a young couple with a new baby following the prescribed rituals of their faith. 

If we can enter that moment without encumbering it with all that we have come to believe about this family and especially the baby; if we can see this story as an ordinary human encounter in which the extraordinary breaks through, then something about the moment opens their and our eyes to see what others cannot see: the past and future coming together in new life, new possibility, new promise, new hope.

Perhaps the Truth they see, proclaim and pass on to us is the knowledge that tomorrow is created today.  What ever we think, feel, and believe in our deepest conscience today is what tomorrow becomes.

One thing that usually gets said about Christmas is that we should live every day as if it were a day of peace and good will.  So why not extend the same message to New Year’s Day and live every day as if it were a new beginning leaving behind the old and stepping into promise and potential?  Why not embrace the call of the psalmist?  “This is the day the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice be glad in it.”

Jesus comes as the embodiment of new life and a new world – a new life and new world that according to him is already here if we but only choose to live in it.  And what we choose today becomes tomorrow.

A Prayer for the New Year

God of time and space, known by many names and sought through many traditions, as a new year begins we are reminded of your Eternal Presence.  Beyond this moment and this place your Spirit bonds all creation in a tapestry of interdependence, transcending vested interests and personal privilege.   

Standing on the threshold of a new year may we forgive any discord, mistrust and disappointment of our past, as you have forgiven, and may we receive your grace-filled future of promise and potential that awaits nothing more or less than our open minds, our loving hearts, and our open arms stretched out to one another and thus to you.     Amen.