Calendars, powerlessness and blessings

I carry my phone everywhere. Sometimes I use it to make calls, but mostly I use its other features. I have a Bible on it, and I appreciate having the scriptures with me all the time. But mostly I live by the calendar. Lately the phone has been trying to be helpful, telling me that I should leave for my next event, and that “Traffic is light.”

I live by many calendars. My tax year runs from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. The programs in my church go from September to May. I go to the stores, and I see what the next “shopping” holiday is, from Halloween to “Black Friday” to Christmas. Some people follow a calendar that goes from baseball to football to basketball to baseball. High holidays include the World Series, the Super Bowl and the Final Four. Many churches follow a calendar that is based on the life of Jesus. That calendar always starts four Sundays before Christmas.

The next event on my calendar is Thanksgiving. It’s time to count my blessings. I’m not sure I feel like doing that. The terrorist attack in Paris has disrupted our assurance of safety. The economic stability of our community is being effected by investors who are far away, and who have their own agendas. We’re not in control of any of that. Powerlessness can bring on a sense of despair.

We are powerless only when we trust in ourselves. I’ve been studying the life of Paul. He was the first missionary, spreading the message of God’s Love in Jesus to a larger world. For his good work he was arrested, beaten, thrown into prison, and eventually executed. What did he have to say about hard times?

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” [I Thessalonians, 5:16-18 NRSV].

When I read that verse from Thessalonians I always remember a friend of mine from years ago. We went on a canoe trip together, and we had to portage the canoe around a small dam. We climbed up a weed infested bank, carried the canoe a short distance, and returned it to the water. I remember my friend sitting on the bank, praising God as he pulled the sand burrs out of his socks. He was “rejoicing always.”

Now I know that sand burrs in our socks is a small blip in our lives. There are many more urgent issues among us. But I also know that I am a blessed person. My blessings outweigh my woes. We are a blessed community in a blessed nation. When we focus on what Christ can do through us today, we will triumph. We claim the promise: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [Romans 8:37-39].

Pastor Thomas Hyde

First United Methodist Church