Deacon Leah Sandwell-Weiss
--Record heat, drought, forest fires, 30 hurricanes.
--Impeachment hearings, hoax, election ads, contested votes, ---“Stop the Steal.”
--Novel coronavirus, COVID-19, pandemic, shut down, hoax, masks, Zoom meetings, "You’re muted.”
Dear friends,
2020 has been quite a year and we’re all ready to be done with it. Most of us can’t wait for the arrival of 2021, and are hoping that the troubles of this year will be over. We’ll go back to the way things used to be as soon as we all get vaccinated.
That’s the hope, but I think we secretly know better. The world has changed, and we won’t go back, even if we have a 100% success rate in vaccinating the world’s population.
Too many plans had to be changed and too many children lost educational and development opportunities. Too many folks lost their jobs and too many businesses had to close. Too many families went hungry and lost their homes. Too many lives were ruined by illness and death.
A year ago, this was not what we expected of 2020. 2021 won’t be what we hope and expect either. New years rarely are in reality. So what do we do?
We can spend time reflecting on God’s love and care for us.
God is a shelter and strength for us,
a help in straits, readily found.
Therefore we fear not when the earth breaks apart,
when mountains collapse in the heart of the seas.
Psalm 46:2-3, Robert Alter’s translation (2019)
Psalm 46 isn’t unique in its reflection on God’s power and love. We find phrases similar to these throughout the Psalms and the Bible as a whole. So I choose to rely on God to provide guidance and strength whatever happens. It’s not always an immediate comfort, but God’s there for the long haul.
I’ve often used Verse 11 of Psalm 46 as a meditative phrase: Be still, and know that I am God. In his recent translation of the Hebrew Bible, Robert Alter changes the first two words of this verse to “Let go,” based on his understanding that the verb derives from a word meaning to relax one’s grip. Perhaps relaxing our grip on our concerns and fears and relaxing into God’s care may be the best way to make the transition into the new year and whatever it may bring.
Deacon Leah Sandwell-Weiss