Happy New Year - January 2

Today’s Readings: AM Psalm 34; PM Psalm 33; Gen. 12:1-7; Heb. 11:1-12; John 6:35-42, 48-51

Happy New Year! 

In just a few days, I will celebrate my 5th Anniversary, not only as a priest at Saint Stephen’s but as a resident of this community.  Over the holidays, I have been reflecting some on what it means to be here, and the sense of community that we have found.  This fall, we moved Anne’s family from Kansas to a few miles south of us, to have them close by and help with the care required at this chapter of life. Our children unequivocally see this as home.  I think Anne and I are there now too. 

Claiming a place as home means something.  Anne and I lived in Northern Virginia for three years for seminary, but it was never home.  When you know a place is temporary, it changes the way you build relationships with people.  Fortunately, most students were in the same boat, eager to finish school so that we could get on with our vocations and ministries and begin to live into our vocations.  School was simply the preparation for what was next, and next is what we were focused on.  Concentrating on what is next changes the way we participate in the now.

As I read today’s Old Testament lesson, an apt on for the first day of the year, the Lord is giving Abram instructions to go to the place that God has given him.  In this passage in Genesis, God promises to bless Abram and that Abram will be a blessing to his people.  But in order for that to happen, Abram has to go to the place that his God has shown him, settle down, and make it home. 

Life is full of transitions.  The home we have today, might not be the home we have tomorrow, but it’s important to reflect on what it means to be rooted, to see a community as the community that not only you are a part of, but that you contribute to and build up.  Did Abram’s sense of place contribute to the way that he was a blessing and that others blessed him? 

I wonder if a simple new year’s resolution for all of us could be found in our Old Testament lesson.  God is inviting us into community.  We see this as the Body of Christ.  Maybe this year, a challenge of considering what it means to be rooted where we are.  Where are our roots?  What are the relationships we are building?  What does it mean to see ourselves as an integral part of the community where we are located?  My hope is the same truth for Abram – that you will see your life as blessed.  And in the process, you will see that you are a blessing too.

Happy New Year to you,

John+

Questions for Self-Reflection:  Consider the questions in this reflection and spend some time pondering your own rootedness in community.