A Message from Daniel
Dear PCM Family,
As I said at the conclusion of my sermon last Sunday, “God is God and God will continue to be God no matter what.” That’s true yesterday, today, and forever.
Still, in these days following the election, I find myself searching for the reassurance of truer words – both for the benefit of those who are struggling with the outcome – and for those who may be pleased, as well. For everyone, I encourage us to remember the words with which we close our time together each Sunday: Our worship ends, but our service begins. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with God.
There are other traditional words of benediction and blessing that serve as a reminder of what Christians are always called to do, no matter the circumstances: Go forth into the world in peace and in courage. Hold to the good. Honor all of God’s children. Love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit.
In the middle ages, the mystic Julian of Norwich wrote: All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well. Knowing that she wrote those words in the 1300s, you could recite them over and over in your mind to remember that the world has surely seen much worse than whatever happens in American elections.
But I also find myself drawn to the words of one of my favorite poems, The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry. So wherever you are right now, take a deep breath and read on:
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Friends, however you are feeling this day; whatever it is you need to take comfort and care for yourself and those you love, don’t forget to breathe and to feel above you the day-blind stars still shining – just waiting for their light. There is still grace in the world. And always will be.
God is God and God will continue to be God no matter what.
Yours, in Christ,
Daniel
