Sister Doreen’s Reflections
November Anglican Church Calendar Scripture:
“As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.” Genesis 8:22
One of the first words that came to me when I was pondering this passage as we come to the end of November is the word ‘faithfulness’. The other word was ‘resilience’. Somehow for me I needed both of those words to knit together a deeper understanding of ‘will never cease’. The fruit of the Spirit known as faithfulness could also be called ‘fidelity’. It speaks of a firmness of purpose, especially when we feel discouraged. Faithfulness suggests staying on course and not giving up. Resilience seems to me to be a combination of strength and flexibility … much like the line in the Shaker song ‘Simple Gifts’: “To bow and to bend we shan’t be ashamed, to turn, turn will be our delight, till by turning, turning we come ’round right”. (Attributed to Elder Joseph Brackett)
There have been and are so many experiences during the different seasons of my own life that God will never leave me or forsake me, a faithful God who is always faithful to me in the good times and especially in the bad time. It is a gift that I know even when I do not know it!
When I find myself in situations that cause me to think “I’ll believe it when I see it.” It’s easy to slip into the mindset of doubt and cynicism. We live in a broken world, and we may have gone through painful experiences that cause us to lose our trust in others. For this reason, faithfulness, a fruit of the Spirit, can be a challenging trait to possess. It is God that enables our faithfulness – it is the gift from God offered to those who open themselves to the hard work of trust and loyalty. None of this is the result of our own efforts alone, but comes by the hard way meditating on God’s faithfulness to us and by walking day by day in step with the Spirit. Faithfulness is a result of that combination expressed in psalm 85:10-11: “mercy and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other”, that justice, that habit of giving each person their due.
I know that I am called to faithfulness, we are all called to faithfulness, to reflect the characteristics of God – that unconditional, tenacious, never ending – constant love – of God. It will mean that those around us know they can trust us – we mean what we say, we do what we say we’ll do, and we can be depended on to be consistent in the way we treat people, and in all that we say and do. Oh how I wish I was perfect! But I fail from time to time, and disappoint myself and others. It will mean falling down and getting up – it will mean resilience, trust, forgiveness, and hope: but also, determination in “will never cease”.
Sometimes as we go about our simple tasks of daily life, we can easily feel that they have no importance, but it is in the small acts of faithfulness that we do each day that brings about the gift from the Spirit. “the one who had received two talents also came forward and said, ‘Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have made two more.’ His master said to him, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. Since you were faithful in small matters, I will give you great responsibilities. Come, share your master’s joy.” (Matthew 25:22-23) There is a quality of trustworthiness about faithfulness, someone who can be relied upon. In the end, it is not perfection but faithfulness that wins the prize of life.
Mother Teresa is quoted several times about faithfulness: “Be faithful in small things because in them your strength lies.” And “God has not called me to be successful; God has called me to be faithful.”
In the parable of the talents in Luke 16:10, Jesus says: “He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.”
Proverbs 3:3-4 “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
I found great encouragement in remembering these things about faithfulness in something that the Rev. Canon Michael Stonhouse wrote in the September 2024 issue of the Saskatchewan Anglican. He wrote: “The (book) ‘The Little Engine that Could’ reminds us of the power of perseverance even when faced with seemingly impossible odds. The Biblical story of the little boy offering his meager lunch reminds us that gifts, no matter how small or insignificant, when willingly given over to the Lord’s service can multiply and accomplish wonderful things.”
November has been a month of many opportunities that are significant reminders of our call to faithfulness. The celebration of All Saints Day, All Souls Day, Remembrance Day and the Feast of Christ the King which is the last Sunday of the Churches year, before beginning the new year starting with Advent, which begins next week.. They are meaningful reminders that our daily life is a call to faithfulness, of encouragement by that never ceasing, loving, forgiving, accepting God who is at home with us and calls us friends. It seems a fitting way to end volume 3 of my reflections – to end it on the note of faithfulness.
God’s faithfulness towards us is never ending. There are many versions of the song “Great is Your Faithfulness” and this one capture meanings for me:
“Great is your faithfulness, O God, there is no shadow of turning with you, you changest not,
Your compassions, they fail not, as you have been, you forever will be.
Great is your faithfulness, great is your faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed your hand hath provided, great is your faithfulness, Lord, unto me
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness to your great faithfulness, mercy and love
Great is your faithfulness, great is your faithfulness morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided, great is your faithfulness, Lord, unto me
Pardon for sin and a peace that endured your own dear presence to cheer and to guide
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow blessings all mine with 10, 000 beside
Great is your faithfulness, great is your faithfulness, morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed your hand hath provided, great is your faithfulness, great is Thy faithfulness
Great is your faithfulness, Lord, unto me.”
Source: Musixmatch, Songwriters: Adam Anders / Thomas Chisholm / William Runyan
Great Is Thy Faithfulness lyrics © Tcf Music Publishing Inc, Hill And Range Songs Inc
What would the song be if I wrote it “Great is my faithfulness …” What if we wrote our own prayer hymn expressing our desire to be faithful? And what, as I live my life each day, is my faithfulness like?
