And yet his words are a prayer not for supernatural problem solving, nor even to grasp the entirety and complexity of whatever befalls us, but simply for the guidance and support to simply take one more step forward on our pilgrimage of life.
I thank you all for allowing me to bring joy into your lives and I appreciate all the community we build together. We will continue to have fun and expand our culture in the next few months.
As the clamor of the holiday season has faded once more into hopefully happy memories of light and joy, we turn now and look to the future, as we step into the New Year of 2018.
There are many special days for us individually which cause us to pause and reflect on what has happened in our lives and what may be yet to come, but as we hang our new calendars on our walls and try to remember to write 2018 in our check books, we have a chance to collectively contemplate as we celebrate.
Looking back over 2017 we can remember both times of celebration and times of sadness and difficulty. Thinking firstly of celebrations, 2017 marked 500 years since the beginning of the Protestant Reformation, with events demonstrating unity within the Christian family of faith, while recognizing the contributions of Martin Luther and his fellow reformers. 2017 was also the year during which global measles deaths dropped below 100,000 for the first time – an 84% fall since 2000, and while after starting the season with odds at 15/1, the Houston Astros won the World Series for the first time.
Unfortunately, as well as being able to reflect joyfully on these and many other events, many of us will also be reflecting on how our lives have been touched by sadness this year on a personal level and on a global scale. During 2017 conflicts in the Middle-East continued to add to the largest humanitarian and refugee crisis since WW2, and the people around the world mourned together for the loss of lives in the Las Vegas mass-shooting and as a result of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
As we step in to 2018 we may ponder to ourselves what news the next twelve months will bring both in our own lives and in the wider world. Amid our wonder and our apprehension, perhaps we should greet 2018 with the words of this poem by M. L. Haskins in our hearts and minds;
“And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’ And he replied: ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.’ So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.”
May our New Year bring us closer to God, who walks beside us on our pilgrimage of life, and a Happy New Year to you all.
As the clamor of the holiday season has faded once more into hopefully happy memories of light and joy, we turn now and look to the future, as we step into the New Year of 2017.
There are many special days for us individually that cause us to pause and reflect on what has happened in our lives and what may be yet to come, but as we hang our new calendars on our walls, and try to remember to write 2017 in our checkbooks, we have a chance to collectively contemplate as we celebrate.
Looking back over 2016, we can remember both times of celebration and times of sadness and difficulty. Thinking firstly of celebrations, 2016 was the first year during which child mortality rates fell substantially across the globe. 2016 was also the year during which the nations of the world gathered together in Rio to celebrate their sporting achievements. Speaking of sporting achievements – the Chicago Cubs broke their 108 year dry spell by winning the World Series in Game 7!
Unfortunately as well as being able to reflect joyfully on these and many other events, during 2016 the world was repeatedly distressed by the continuing conflict in Syria with its resulting humanitarian crisis, as well as by the terrorist attacks in Orlando, Europe and the Middle East which, amongst many others around the world, have resulted in the loss of so many innocent lives.
As we step into 2017, we may ponder to ourselves what news the next twelve months will bring both in our own lives and in the wider world. Amid our wonder and our apprehension, perhaps we should greet 2017 with the words of this poem by M. L. Haskins in our hearts and minds:
And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.” So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.”
May our New Year bring us closer to God, who walks beside us on our pilgrimage of life, and a Happy New Year to you all.
Resident, Jane Malek, went in last Tuesday for an “evisceration” of her left eye. Basically, she had her eye removed from its socket and she will soon get a prosthetic eye to replace it. Jane made what is a difficult loss into an opportunity for gratitude. She had a going away party for her eye a few days before the surgery with a cupcake and a candle. She said, I wanted “to thank my eye for all the help it has been to me over the years and reminisce about all the great things it has helped me to see.” She also asked a former pastor of hers if he had an appropriate prayer she could use for the occasion. The Rev. Dr. Steve Wayles is now retired from a long career in ministry and social justice work, and he has given me permission to share this prayer which he wrote for Jane:
“Loving God – who sees us and all things in ways that we can only begin to comprehend, thank you for making us in your image – and for giving us the gift of our eyes to see. We know that we are mortal, and that we are temporary and that each part of our bodies functions miraculously, but for a time. So we thank you for the time that we have to live – and for the time that each of our intricate body parts does its job. Help us as each of those parts wears down or wears out to let it go with gratitude that we had it for so long. Help us to grieve the loss of each part or faculty, but keep us from any bitterness that might diminish our life or the gift we have enjoyed for so many good days. As Jesus said of his whole life, that which we must all one day pray, “Into thy hands, O loving God, I commend my Spirit,” help me now to say “Into thy loving hands, O God, who made and gave me this eye, I yield it back to you. Thank you for all it has helped me to see in my work of healing as a nurse, in my calling to be a good mother, in my beholding the people I love and have loved, in my seeing injustice so I could work on its correction, in beholding the beauty of your creation. Thank you. Now that its function has ceased for me – receive it back, with my thankfulness for all you have done for me through it, and in every other way. Help me to adjust and to see in new ways, until at last you receive me to yourself. In the name of Jesus who made the blind to see. Amen.” (copyright©. Used by permission)
Steve is considering writing a book of prayers of surrender and gratitude and I know those prayers, like this one, will give hope and comfort to many as we all experience losses of parts and faculties. And thank you to Jane for sharing how she is so graciously handling the surrender of her eye. *
