a New Year
Friends-I hope your holiday was as enjoyable as mine. It was wonderful to spend time with friends and family, as well as having some time off work. Even better, there were no books I had to read or papers to write. I even got to worship rather than lead for the last Sunday of the year. Truly a good holiday.
However, today marks a return to my routine. In my morning meditation I was greeted by this poem:
Maybe wounded and deranged: or think that a moose
Has risen out of the lake, and he’s carrying on his antlers
A child of your own whom you’ve never seen.
When someone knocks on the door, think that he’s about
To give you something large: tell you you’re forgiven,
Or that it’s not necessary to work all the time, or that it’s
Been decided that if you lie down no one will die.
The new year is a great time to not only look back, but to look ahead. Considering the year ahead presents the opportunity to approach life differently. For me, I am striving to see this new year as a year of invitation, an invitation to encounter God's presence in ways I had never before considered. My faith tells me that God's Spirit is right there in front of me, but I know I often shut my eyes to God's presence. Bly's words invite us to imagine each moment of our lives as an exciting adventure, an adventure into the potential and promise of God's plan.
I hope that you enter the new year in a search for something more--full of hope, excitement, and expectation for what God has in store. I pray this is a year in which you encounter God's bubbling and fermenting presence in new and engaging ways. More than that, I pray you allow yourself to be shaped by those encounters.
shalom, Pastor David
However, today marks a return to my routine. In my morning meditation I was greeted by this poem:
Things to ThinkThink that someone may bring a bear to your door,
Robert Bly
Think in ways you’ve never thought before
If the phone rings, think of it as carrying a message
Larger than anything you’ve ever heard,
Vaster than a hundred lines of Yeats.
Maybe wounded and deranged: or think that a moose
Has risen out of the lake, and he’s carrying on his antlers
A child of your own whom you’ve never seen.
When someone knocks on the door, think that he’s about
To give you something large: tell you you’re forgiven,
Or that it’s not necessary to work all the time, or that it’s
Been decided that if you lie down no one will die.
The new year is a great time to not only look back, but to look ahead. Considering the year ahead presents the opportunity to approach life differently. For me, I am striving to see this new year as a year of invitation, an invitation to encounter God's presence in ways I had never before considered. My faith tells me that God's Spirit is right there in front of me, but I know I often shut my eyes to God's presence. Bly's words invite us to imagine each moment of our lives as an exciting adventure, an adventure into the potential and promise of God's plan.
I hope that you enter the new year in a search for something more--full of hope, excitement, and expectation for what God has in store. I pray this is a year in which you encounter God's bubbling and fermenting presence in new and engaging ways. More than that, I pray you allow yourself to be shaped by those encounters.
shalom, Pastor David
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