01-19-21

ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHINGS
January 19, 2021
Scripture: Romans 12:12
Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.

Thought for the Day: One of our church members posted a letter Dr. King sent to Billy Graham in 1957 during Graham’s New York City Crusade. In the letter, King wrote:

We are gradually emerging from the bleak and desolate midnight of injustice into the bright and glittering daybreak of freedom of justice.

I love the imagery and can imagine those words being offered by King with his powerful pastoral voice and cadence. Yet does it feel to you as if the word gradually was a bit of an overstatement? Does it feel like those words could be written today, yet met with great skepticism by most? I can so easily be sucked into the realm of cynicism and pessimism in so many areas of life. It is understandable why some do. For me, it’s not that I have some strong faith that holds such feelings a bay. It is only by the grace of God, and maybe the ignorance of my own position in life. Maybe tomorrow cynicism will win out, but for today I will echo the words of Desmond Tutu who said, “I am a prisoner of hope.”

Prayer: Could it be that cynicism has kept us from embracing and living your message, O Lord? Could it be that your new day is about to dawn, yet we are staring in the wrong direction, vacantly looking into the darkness of the past? Allow for your light of hope to beckon us. Let us always be those who rejoice in hope, not naively, but with a passion for the new day. Amen.

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