THOUGHTS FROM PASTOR LIZ DAVIS
January 2022
Blessed New Year, People of God!
I wish you much joy as we join those around the world in marking the passage of time with celebration and hope. As we enter the new year, our minds are often turned towards new intentions and hopes for what will occur.
Along with writing this reflection, my tasks to complete this newsletter include providing dates for the calendar of the classes and events in the month ahead. This year, I’m struggling to do this. My plan and hope is that I will be able to participate in a clergy study immersion in the Holy Land. We’ll be walking through the Biblical sites and meeting with Lutheran pastors and the bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. That will take a bit of time, displacing some other events I would otherwise have on the calendar. The thing is, I’m not so sure it will happen. It’s already been postponed a couple times due to COVID, and now I just learned that the USA is on the “no-entry” list for Israel, until things are better. How long will that be? Nothing is certain yet, either way. So how do I plan? Is it a waste to hope on things that might not be? Do we look at the year ahead and simply feel ambivalent because we can’t know what might happen?
I tend to be one of those people who is hesitant with anticipatory joy. I’m often not willing to risk disappointment, so I don’t look forward to things. They might not happen, or happen the way I want, and so if I’m not excited for them, I also don’t have to be disappointed. This is not a good way to live. I’m working on it.
Our faith gives us tools to live in the uncertainty of our days. The first is the blunt truth that we are not in charge. It’s not within our power to control everything and make things happen just the way we want. In the book of Job, God reminds Job of his limitations by questioning, “where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?… Have you commanded the morning since your days began…? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?” (Job 38). The scope of our human power is limited. We’re fooling ourselves if we think too much is in our control. That’s why Jesus advises, “can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” (Luke 12:25). When we think we have more power than we actually have, we get stuck in trying to change things that are out of our control. All we gain by that is frustration, worry, and anger.
We can choose to work on ourselves. Our reactions and attitudes are within our control to affect. When we have a difficult time with that, we can find support from therapists and doctors. We are called to “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18a). When we focus on praising God for what we have received from God, our attitudes shift. When we become concerned with the needs of others through prayer, our inward gaze turns outward. We work for the good of others and find joy in that.
Finally, we are given eternal hope through Jesus Christ. We’re not always going to be happy. There may be horrible tragedies in our lives. Grief may overwhelm us. Again, we are freed from having to rely only on ourselves. We may not be able to muster up any hope, but Jesus holds hope for us. Jesus has created a good future that will eventually come to us and to all creation. While everything in the short-term is uncertain, the long-term is taken care of. We can be certain that God will make all things well.
I don’t know what the new year holds. It might be another year of writing plans in pencil. I know that I can look forward to celebrating God’s love for us and the whole creation as the one certainty in an uncertain world. No matter what, church, we have work to do. We will spend this year rejoicing, praying, giving thanks, and serving our neighbors. That’s work good enough to look forward to.
God is with you!
-Pastor Liz
