Through the Looking Glass
In
the midst of revisioning the vision I hope we are beginning to see ourselves
with more clarity and in a greater light. Sometimes when one is living life we
fail to see the life we are living. For this reason if no other it is good to
look and see. If we do so I hope we will see what we have done together that
has contributed to the goodness and love of God in the world. I hope we see how God is present and working
in us and through us to love the world. Of course, we may also see, if we are
really looking, where we have failed the love of God but this is to be
expected. Of course we will not always get it right. The truth is that we can’t
really get anything right if we are unwilling to see that we can also be
wrong. This is how our lives are
perfected, how we are changed until we become shalom, the peaceable kingdom on
earth where the wolf shall live with the
lamb and they will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain for the earth
will be full of the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea. You talk
about vision. How about the vision of shalom? To get there we do not focus on
what is right and what is wrong but on where is the next opportunity for love
to be lived out among us for where love is there is God and love will take us
to God and God is shalom.
So
far we have remembered that we are a community of the beloved who teach our children
of God and who reach out to the world in need and include everyone in our
embrace. In October we will celebrate
the role of worship and hear the perspective of the laity and share with each
other our hopes and dreams for the time that we have left to be what we will be
and do what we will do as God’s people at Holy Trinity United Methodist Church
in Danvers Massachusetts, planet earth. Remembering the future, we become who
we are. Thanks be to God for the gift of each new day and for the gifts of God’s
people and for the love that is still possible for us all.
Blessings, Larry
