Don Veitch

Dear Friends,

As I write this for New Year’s Eve Day, I am reflecting on the custom for many folks to use this day and season to take stock of their year past and their hopes and expectations for the year ahead. Today’s Daily Office includes a couple of psalms; I decided to reflect on one in memory of and tribute to Richard Kuns whose memorial service was in October. He loved to share the psalms with us as he opened Bible Study.

I reflected on the readings for several days before beginning to put thoughts into words on the page. I found that as I reflected on the state of the world, I wandered down a pretty dark rabbit hole.

When I finally got to the text of Psalm 46, I discovered that it seemed that the psalmist had wandered down a similar rabbit hole for the world in his times (it would seem the world of the psalmist was not easy or comfortable)—he describes a world of trouble and upset.

“So we shall not be afraid though the earth be in turmoil, though mountains tumble into the sea
“And its waters roar and seethe, and the mountains totter as it heaves
“Nations are in uproar; kingdoms are tumbling, when he raises his voice the earth crumbles away.”

Having found a (sort of) kindred spirit, I allowed myself to think about concerns for our world—monumental challenges and dire possibilities.

I thought about world leaders whose way forward includes only a path to war; about climate change; about politicians who garner support by espousing alternative truths and association with hate groups and reliance on violent means; about folks who reject good science (masking and vaccination) as unnecessary or dangerous; about a world which values music or sports much more than education; about a culture so ingrained in “making it big” and “having it all” that our Christian call—the Christian call to love one another, to care for the sick, the imprisoned, the weak, the poor, and the disabled—is forgotten. Or (at least) put aside.  

Enough.

You can add your own concerns—I’m sure. I was ready for the sage counsel of the psalmist who begins the psalm with the words, “God is our refuge and strength.”

And importantly to

“Pause!!!”
“Come, consider the wonders of Yahweh, the astounding deeds he has done on the earth
“He puts an end to wars over the whole wide world, he breaks the bow, he snaps the spear; shields he burns in the fire.
There is a river whose streams make glad the City of God.”

The psalmist’s counsel is an invitation for us to take heart, to trust in the power and grace of God, to rest easy in the knowledge that our God is a mighty God—that we can trust in Him to make all right.

Do we trust in God? . . . trust that our God is a loving and all-powerful God? . . . trust that we can rest easy in spite of our troublesome world with its cares and concerns? Perhaps we can take heart from this psalmist’s words and trust that God is our safety net. In Him and His love, we can avoid tumbling down those rabbit holes.

Peace,

—Don