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A Future Not Our Own

Dear Friends,

I have a little poem for you this week, one that fits into the beginning of a new year kind of theme, so I thought I would squeak it in here while it's still January and we might still be thinking of all the promise of the year, and of our lives, that lies ahead. Not to put a downer on your reading of the poem, but it was written by Roman Catholic Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, who was assassinated by a death squad connected to a very repressive government there at the time (1980). He was outspoken against what was going on and was killed in his church while offering Mass to his people. But a few weeks before, Archbishop Romero wrote these words about the need always to live and work and strive and struggle today, with God's help, to build a better tomorrow:

 

It helps, now and then, to step back
and take the long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,
it is beyond our vision.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of
the magnificent enterprise that is God's work.
Nothing we do is complete,
which is another way of saying
that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

This is what we are about:
We plant seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted,
knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do everything
and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something,
and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way,
an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest.


We may never see the end results.
We are prophets of a future not our own.


Grace and Hope to you this week,

Pastor Duane