How to Reset Heart and Mind

December 4, 2018

Beloved:

Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in one lifetime;  therefore, we must be saved by hope.
Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
    therefore, we must be saved by faith.
Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone;  therefore, we are saved by love.
                                  ~ Reinhold Niebuhr
  

          While Reverend Niebuhr titled his poem The Irony of American History, it rings with the lyrics of Advent.  Hope, faith, and love are the essential skill set for life in the spirit.  Without them we have only the promises and powers of this world to sustain us, a known recipe for calamity.

          Advent invites us to reset heart and mind to what we believe deep down:  that all we see and hear is not all there is to see and hear; that God is at work in the world right now, visible and audible to whoever will watch and listen.  Where justice, kindness, and humility are thriving, God is there.  Where peace persists in the midst of violence, where the hungry are fed, the prisoner set free, and the poor regarded with dignity, God is there. Where hatred fails and love thrives, where truth prevails in the face of duplicity, and evil dies by its own sword, God is there.

           Abide in me, Jesus tells us.  The task, always, is to pray.  Put heart and head, body and soul outside this world’s reach as often as we can for as long as we can, practicing the watching and the hearing so necessary for this life.  I pray you are made strong in hope, faith, and love this Advent season. 

~ peace & prayers,
pastor annette