Dear Friends,
One of my friends posted a note on Facebook that she wished to go a day without it being an “historic” day. Indeed, they have come frequently as of late, and not for positive reasons: historic climbs in the numbers of lives lost to the pandemic, historic rises in political divisiveness, historic length of days lived online. I get her weariness on this “historic” journey of the last year. It can wear you down.
But yesterday was filled with historic firsts of a positive nature, too. One worth noting is the poetry delivered by the first Youth Poet Laureate in America, the youngest poet to share an inaugural poem, a 22-year-old Black woman from Los Angeles. In case you didn’t catch it in total, you can watch Amanda Gorman deliver her moving and inspirational poem here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp9pyMqnBzk
There was a line that she spoke that particularly moved me: There is always light, if we are brave enough to see it, if we are brave enough to be it. Gorman echoes the call of the Christian people, as we are called to look into the shadows and dark places of the world, noticing the places where God’s light is already shining, and then reflect that light into the world. We are people of hope and our belief, our experience, is that there is always light, God is always at work, and we are called to be a part of that work of shining light.
What will you do today, historic or not, to see the light and be the light of Jesus in our world? Because whether or not you think what you are doing is historic, it is! Any time we are light into someone else’s darkness, it changes the world!
Blessings,
Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink
One of my friends posted a note on Facebook that she wished to go a day without it being an “historic” day. Indeed, they have come frequently as of late, and not for positive reasons: historic climbs in the numbers of lives lost to the pandemic, historic rises in political divisiveness, historic length of days lived online. I get her weariness on this “historic” journey of the last year. It can wear you down.
But yesterday was filled with historic firsts of a positive nature, too. One worth noting is the poetry delivered by the first Youth Poet Laureate in America, the youngest poet to share an inaugural poem, a 22-year-old Black woman from Los Angeles. In case you didn’t catch it in total, you can watch Amanda Gorman deliver her moving and inspirational poem here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp9pyMqnBzk
There was a line that she spoke that particularly moved me: There is always light, if we are brave enough to see it, if we are brave enough to be it. Gorman echoes the call of the Christian people, as we are called to look into the shadows and dark places of the world, noticing the places where God’s light is already shining, and then reflect that light into the world. We are people of hope and our belief, our experience, is that there is always light, God is always at work, and we are called to be a part of that work of shining light.
What will you do today, historic or not, to see the light and be the light of Jesus in our world? Because whether or not you think what you are doing is historic, it is! Any time we are light into someone else’s darkness, it changes the world!
Blessings,
Pastor Becky Jo Messenbrink
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