On this day, we are reminded that creation begins and ends with God. Those saints who have gone before us know this fully, while we here on earth know this only in part. There is something better yet to come, and God will have the last word.
God sees the past, present and future in one panoramic view. It is a great comfort to know this is the nature of the God we worship. That is something to sing about night and day, and forever.
Every day promises a new beginning. We can choose to expect failure or success, and our actions will mirror that. Imagine what would happen if we prayed this prayer every night: Father, I want to thank you for tomorrow.
Job worshipped a big very God, one who is stronger than anything that may harm us and whose love is even greater. God never leaves our side during times of trouble, and without that knowledge, our faith is incomplete.
There is a prayer behind every prayer that tells us God is not the great fixer of things gone wrong, but the one who is present to comfort us in those times. “The voice that speaks from the hurricane is not always safe, but it is always good.”
We Christians all too often become self-confident as opposed to Christ confident. It’s why God means for us to live in community with each other as the body of Christ; for none of us is complete without the other.
The church of Jesus Christ is about to change, and the God who refuses to be boxed up is calling us to go with Him; to move from institutional maintenance to spiritual renewal. It’s time to go.
Christians of the Celtic tradition tell us that something of the image of God is reflected in all things God has made, and that all creation is a reflection of God’s own self. Creation calls us to join that chorus of praise.
The dove as symbol for the Holy Spirit does not provide us freedom from all affliction, but shows us that the spirit joins us in our place of suffering and enables us to make the journey.
The feeding miracle lies in the charge Jesus made to the disciples: to bring all they had to him. Then he blessed that gift and gave an abundant meal back to them to distribute, as His hands and feet in the world. Let it be so with us.