By Sr. Doreen, SSJD
The Canadian Anglican Church Calendar quote for March: “Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” (Isaiah 2:3a)
It always surprises me when reading something again for the umpteenth time that I hear words I haven’t heard before! So it was, when I read this passage, just the simple notice of the words “walk in his paths”. Paths is plural! Why didn’t I see that before? It holds a wide-open opportunity for meditation and prayer. There are so many pathways that lead to God, and so many pathways for walking along to share God’s ways. I was going to use a picture I took of a pathway through the forest leading to a mountain, and after thinking about God’s pathways – I decided not to do that!
This quote for the month of March is such a fitting one as we begin this month, March, as it introduces us to such a variety of pathways that seem to beckon us with Jesus words “Come and see”. And so many opportunities that invite us to reach out and share God’s ways with those around us and with the world, in Jesus’ words “Go and Do Likewise”.
Today as I write this it is Saturday, the first day of March, the last Sunday of Epiphany, called Transfiguration Sunday, which ushers in Ash Wednesday and Lent. It is a time when the words of one of Marty Haugen’s hymns “Tree of Life” gives us words to ponder when we ask “Christ, you lead and we shall follow, stumbling though our steps may be. One with you in joy and sorrow, we the river, you the sea. We the river, you the sea. Light of life beyond conceiving, mighty Spirit of our Lord: give new strength to our believing. Make us turn to you alone.” During Lent when I hear the words ‘teach me God’s ways that I may walk along God’s pathways’, what will Jesus’ invitation “come and see” and Jesus’ great commission ‘go and do likewise’ look like for me as I travel through Lent this year?
March is the first month of spring in the northern half of the world. As Canada, in the northern half of the world, is such a geographically huge country, using March to introduce spring varies from coast to coast to coast! While all of the northern coast and much of the country east of the Rocky Mountains continues to be mostly buried under snow, the west coast is emerging slowly into the buds and flowers of spring. For all of us in our own personal seasons of life, the time of March does remind us, with the increasing length of daylight, the vernal equinox and daylight-saving time, of our own seasons of life. It makes us aware of our own longing for the emerging from the wintertime season of life to the springtime season of life. What will Jesus’ invitation ‘come and see’ and Jesus’ great commission ‘go and do likewise’ look like for me as I begin to awaken from a wintertime season in my life and into the longing for a springtime in my life?
The month of March is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. This opens up such a longing for peace in our broken world. Another pathway to God opens before us as we stand amidst a world that seems so broken and remember the world peace prayer – “lead us from death to life, from falsehood to truth, from despair to hope, from fear to trust. Lead us from hate to love, from war to peace; let peace fill our hearts, let peace fill our world, let peace fill our universe.” Our longing hearts cry out, teach us God, come and teach us love, teach us peace, teach us your way of compassion. During March when I hear the words ‘teach me God’s ways that I may walk along God’s pathways’, what will Jesus’ invitation “come and see” and Jesus’ great commission ‘go and do likewise’ look like for me as I travel through March with a longing for peace and justice this year?
The birth flower of March is the daffodil, one of the first flowers to emerge after winter, resilient enough to withstand the tenuous attempts of warmth in the still chilly moments of the end of winter. Another pathway opens that beckons to us, inviting us to God. There is something of feelings of new beginnings, rebirth, hope, and the promise of positive change when standing amidst daffodils! Like daffodils I find myself stretching upwards in hope for something new! During March this year when I hear the words ‘teach me God’s ways that I may walk along God’s pathways’, what will Jesus’ invitation “come and see” and Jesus’ great commission ‘go and do likewise’ look like for me as I travel through new beginnings this year?
This is my song: Teach me your ways that I may walk in your paths, oh God. My heart’s desire is to come and see, and my heart’s desire is to answer, I go now to do likewise.
I share a song written by Lloyd Stone and Georgia Harkness “This is My Song”:
This is my song, O God of all the nations, a song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is; here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine.
But other hearts in other lands are beating with hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
My country’s skies are bluer than the ocean, and sunlight beams on cloverleaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight too, and clover, and skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
So, hear my song, O God of all the nations, a song of peace for their land and for mine.
This is my prayer, O Lord of all earth’s kingdoms: Your kingdom come; on earth your will be done.
Let Christ be lifted up till all shall serve him, and hearts united learn to live as one.
So, hear my prayer, O God of all the nations. Myself I give you; let your will be done.
