Greetings from the Moderator JANUARY 2021
|
2021 Carpe Diem
I am not sure if it was only me, but it seems as if the “Happy New Year” wishes I received for 2021 were a bit subdued. Maybe we were reminded of New Year’s Day 2020 when we all were wishing everyone with great enthusiasm a “Happy New Year!” and thought it was going to be quite a good year with the economy going strong and the world moving forward at a good pace. We now know how misplaced that “Happy New Year” for 2020 sounds. 2021! Some glimmers of hope and optimism with the vaccines rolling out oh so slowly, but on the other hand we hear about new strains of the virus and the death toll continues to climb. A new year but it seems not that much has changed for us so far. So - what message do we as the church have for our people looking towards us for direction of how to think about 2021? I believe the answer lies in the Word: Matthew 6:25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. I think what the Lord is teaching us here is to live every day to it’s fullest! Not to allow anything to steal your joy! To seize the day — Carpe Diem, as it is expressed so well in Latin. In the Roman poet Horace's work “Odes” (23 BC) Siduri is telling Gilgamesh, to forgo his mourning and embrace life, to abandon his mourning and return to the normal and normative behaviors of Mesopotamian society. This phrase is part of the longer carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero, which is often translated as "Seize the day, put very little trust in tomorrow (the future)". The Ode says that the future is unforeseen and that one should not leave to chance future happenings, but rather one should do all one can today to make one's own future better. This from a Roman that did not know or believe in the only Holy Living God. So – how can we not grab or seize opportunities to worship, love and serve in 2021. We as the church have sought His Kingdom and serve His Kingdom (vs. 33) therefore these promises are for us, even in the midst of all this uncertainty. 2021! Here we come. Day by day with worship, love and hope for we are being taken care of by the God of the promise. Rev. Ferdi Brits
|
Rev. Ferdi Brits
|