Sunday, December 31, 2006

Dearest God,

The last day of the old year. Decisions to make. What to carry forward, what to leave behind. Pivotal day.

I knew earlier this week that I wanted to give people an opportunity in worship to reflect on this concluding year, highs and lows, put in perspective. Slips of paper in the bulletin with two questions: In order to experience the peace of Christ in 2007 what do you need to leave behind? What do you need to reach out to in 2007?

During the sermon I talked about eluding peace and how we may attain it in the new year. Peace won't materialize if things happen outside us. Peace takes the inside road. I have to look within. I can have peace even in chaos. Simeon and Anna, biblical characters at the time of Mary, Joseph and Jesus, had it because they had discovered the secret. A life lived in hope, trust and faith. The outer world can be collapsing, but peace is attainable, the peace of Christ.

I wrote out my own leavings. Too personal to tell. I gave them to God, surrendered. Released. Let go. Walked them to the altar. Laid them down.

You never know what you're going to get in a sermon, either for yourself or others. As people were leaving, we offered one another the gift of a happy new year. But one person lingered, stood nearby. He came to me, looked into my eyes, took hold of my shoulders. "Thank you for your message." (pause) "I am giving up fear." We hugged. I knew exactly what he meant. An incredibly courageous act. We hugged without saying a word. He and God had talked during the sermon, found the middle road, the one that intersects people at the point of their need. Surrender.

Last days, last messages, last thoughts, last words have power. Once lived, they can offer freedom, a personal liberation. Letting go during the last hours, minutes or seconds can free like nothing else. As those moments, miliseconds end, they take with them promises, confessions, the past. And freedom can erupt, bringing a kind of peace impossible without surrender.

He gave up fear. Every tiny moment of the new year I hope he will remember. Because to do so will give him power and calm. A frightening life ahead can be one of acceptance and trust in the capable hands of the Almighty.

Life is fraught with decisions,
decisions to trust or not,
to walk without burden or not.
A journey,
a lifetime
leaning on the unseen presence.
Fear has no place
when trust is present.
Hope can release any kind of fear
because all hope rests on a greater entity,
named God.
And love,
it trusts itself,
its partner.
He or she
who is
partner to God
finds peace.

Love always in the old and the new, Andrea