WALKING INTO 2023

2022 has not been an easy year. Divisions seem to have deepened and multiplied. Civility is in short supply. It feels like anger, mistrust, and disinformation guide personal and communal actions. We’ve grown accustomed to war and rumors of war. We have stopped seeing the image of God in some faces. Heartbreak crowds the corners of our heart, nudging out joy.

Looking at the blank slate of the New Year, I wonder what it will hold for you and me. When will a sunset create a deep pang so poignant that catches in our throat? What call will we receive in the middle of the night? How will joy well up so fast it will surprise us, and beauty suddenly appear and take our breath away? What strangers will become friends? What will we learn that will inform how we live for the rest of our lives? When and where will love blossom unbidden?

As I look for a word to guide my steps into the uncharted map of 2023, I found this section of I Peter from the First Nations Version of the New Testament:

Walk side by side in harmony with each other. Try to feel what others feel. Love each other as
family. Be tenderhearted and walk with a humble spirit.

Never return evil for evil or insult for insult. Instead, speak words of blessing over each other, for you were chosen to share together in the Creator’s blessings. (I Peter 3: 8-9)

I receive the gift of these words from the Holy Spirit and will hold fast to them each day. I don’t think they will keep hardships at bay, but I do believe that they will make the way through hardships clearer. Grounded in Jesus’ way of love, I pray that my walk in 2023 will be one of gentleness and tenderness, caring for the earth and others as best I can.

What words will guide your steps into 2023?

MY JOB IS TO LOVE

 Last week, I worshipped with FUMC Prairie Campus in Colorado Springs (CO). It was a somber day as the impact of the shootings at ClubQ continued to reverberate across the community. Following the service, Robin and I stopped to look at the memorial that had been created at ClubQ. Rainbow flags, bouquets of flowers, prayer cards and signs had been left in front of large pictures of the five people who had lost their lives in the shooting. The cries of people weeping were the only sound that pierced the silence as folks came to pay their last respects.

One sign left a deep impression on me was a black poster board with white letters: MY JOB IS TO LOVE. In the face of hate and death, the power of those words hit me hard and I have been pondering them all week.

We are in the season of Advent. Each Sunday is a chance for us to focus our waiting on the coming of Christ. The second Sunday of Advent’s focus is Love. We are reminded of a God who loved us enough to become one of us.

Through his teaching, Jesus makes love the center over and over again. He reminds his followers that all of the law can be summed up in two things: Love God and love others. He shows us what love looks like by standing with those on the margins, by being a healing presence, by pushing back on oppressive forces. Love, for Jesus, is an action verb that compels us to act when there is suffering, wrong-doing, and prejudice. In this way, our love of God is made visible in the world.

As we face a world where hate is paraded in the public square, where violence seems to have the upper hand, where we wonder if God has abandoned us, take time this week to ponder the Christmas miracle: Emmanuel, God-With-Us! Make God’s presence known to those around you through the love you share. Live the truth that is found in the familiar song: They will know we are Christians by our love.

Your job is to love.

Make this your aim. In everything you do, ask yourself, “Does this action, is what I am saying, increasing love in the world? Is it a visible sign of my love of God and neighbor?”

As you move through Advent, with your eye on the Christmas gift of love, keep practicing grounding all you do in love. And watch your world change.