A new creation; you’re invited!

Morning: Psalms 93, 96; I Sam 1:1-2,7-28; Colossians 1:9-20; Lk 2:22-40

Evening: Psalm 90; Isaiah 65:15-25; Revelation 21:1-6

These reflections for 2017 end with John’s vision of creation renewed, and with Simeon’s certainty that Jesus is the one renewing it.  You are invited to help fashion this new creation where you live. If you are thirsty for it, ‘living water’ is available to slake your thirst.  This new creation is not just for some future time; it’s happening already!  Now a question hangs in the air: “Will you choose to devote your energies to this new creation?”  [In 2017, we have been ‘Reawakening’ our awareness of this new creation.  In 2018, we’ll dedicate ourselves to ‘Keeping Awake’.]

Neither faith nor unfaith depend on evidence

Morning: Psalms 20, 21; 1 Kings 17:17–24; 3 John 1–15

Evening: Psalms 23, 27: John 4:46–54

Some say they don’t believe in God because of what happens, or because of what doesn’t.  Others say they believe because signs and wonders convince them.  Both rely on evidence.  Jesus teaches that, when faith depends on signs and wonders, it’s not faith.  Belief seeks no evidence. The absence of signs and wonders does not disprove God’s existence any more than their presence proves it (although, as today’s story shows, signs and wonders can help!) Instead, faith means entrusting yourself to the other without conditions.  Then, see what happens.

Justice for all … and the wine will not run out!

Morning: Psalm 18:1-20; 2 Samuel 23:13–17b; 2 John 1–13

Evening: Psalm 18:21-50; John 2:1–11

For Jesus the ‘Word’, who had been involved in the beginning of Creation, turning water into wine at a wedding sounds simple!  Soon after, Jesus challenges unjust religious and secular authorities. His mission is that all taste the new ‘wine’ of strong and just relationships – inter-personally, societally, and spiritually. The wedding feast is a symbol for God’s Kingdom, which is itself a symbol for the completion of everything. The Kingdom will see a celebration of justice, a feast worthy of the dream of the Creator, with all things in balance.  And the wine will not run out.

Love unchanged from the beginning

Morning: Psalm 26; Jeremiah 31:10–17; Galatians 4:1–7

Evening: Psalms 2, 8; John 1:1–18

People have always wondered how things began. Every culture has its legends about the origins of the world and of humanity.  The Christian story connects the origins of all things with the ongoing activity of the Creator in the Creation.  This is the conviction that the same life-giving purpose that was present in the beginning still gives meaning and light to life today.  It may be unclear to our limited understanding how that purpose will be realized, but the purpose itself – grace and truth, or you could call it Love – is unchanged from the beginning until now.

A mighty power is at work here

Morning: Psalms 148, 149, 150; Isaiah 41:17–20; Hebrews 2:10–18

Evening: Psalms 125, 126; Matthew 1:18–25

A mighty power must be at work to convince a man who has never slept with his fiancée that her pregnancy is “from the Holy Spirit”.  If not, the story is a massive cover-up, a pack of lies … but to what end?  And how can such deceit succeed?  Launcelot, in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, says, “Murder cannot be hid long … at the length truth will out.”  Someone knows and someone tells.  Isn’t the same true of parentage?  With Mary, Joseph and Jesus, I am persuaded, a mighty power was at work.  It still is.

Trust your heart

Morning: Psalm 145; Isaiah 41:8–10; Hebrews 1:1–12

Evening: Psalms 146, 147; Luke 2:15–21

Someone tells you something astounding and, like the shepherds, you want to see it.  Or, you want other witnesses. When you hear a story third- or fourth-hand, though, it feels less reliable.  With time, you need an entirely other kind of witness.  I don’t know how God speaks to us exactly, but I trust it is through movements of the heart.  Mary treasured and pondered in her heart what she had heard.  The heart is a more vitally important organ than the eyes – why trust it less?

Monday Dec 25th – Beloved, let us love one another

Morning: Psalms 2, 85; Micah 4:1–5; 5:2–4; 1 John 4:7–16

Evening: Psalms 110, 132; John 3:31–36

Christmas is a threshold, a doorway into a new reality that we may choose to enter or not.  Every year, the feast comes round.  We do what we do, visit family, eat, drink and celebrate.  Perhaps we pause to reflect about why it’s happening.  Christmas is indeed a lovely human tradition; it’s certainly heart-warming. When not colonized completely by materialism, it holds promise, the promise of Love abounding for everyone.  To make this a reality, each one of us must refrain from observing Love from afar, step across the threshold, and play our part.  Beloved, let us love one another.