Dear Friends,
2016.
An election year, with all its
fractious rhetoric which does more to unite a base around fears than a country
around a vision.
An Olympic year, with all its hype
and hope, inspiring stories and shattered dreams.
And who knows what will happen
right here in Jonesborough? Come what may, some of it will prove wonderfully
energizing and renewing. Some of it will make us cringe, and grieve, and lose
more faith in humankind. Maybe even in God.
Never have human beings known life
in this world without both dark and light, hope and despair, happiness and
sorrow. Never will we.
Joy (not the same as happiness!) comes as a gift of living gratefully
and generously with and for one another and the earth in the relentless
tensions of opposites. Joy does not allow us to surrender to despair or to fend
off painful realities with blissful denial. We discover Joy by living graciously
in the midst of gracelessness, peacefully in the midst of violence, and
confidently in the midst of fear. Joy requires faith in more than our own efforts,
and hope in more than what we might reasonably expect.
Without using the word, Paul
describes Joy most memorably this
way: “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth
comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us…We know that the whole
creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation,
but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while
we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved.
Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we
hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (Romans 8:18,
22-25)
In 2016, may you experience more
joy than ever before, and may you live as a sign of hope.
Joyful New Year,
Allen
No comments:
Post a Comment