Sister Doreen’s Reflections
April Anglican Church Calendar theme “All Things Created” reflection.
The Message Translation of the Month of April Church Calendar scripture theme:
Job 12: 10 “Put your ear to the earth – learn the basics. Listen – the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories. Isn’t it clear that they all know and agree that God is sovereign, that God holds all things, all things, in God’s hand – every living soul, yes, every breathing creature?”
In God’s hands are held every living, breathing creature! That’s you and me! And all of creation! I can only respond with song – in the words of the Hymn #86 written by Bishop Gordon Light (Common Praise):
“This is more than we can ask or imagine, more than we can ever dare to dream, we are the children of heaven’s creation, God’s own beloved, each called by name,
And we cry, Glory! Glory! Glory to God who call us by name!
Glory! Glory! Glory to God! Glory, we sing!
More than we will ever imagine, more than we will ever understand,
We are sent to walk with compassion, to live out God’s love by heart and by hand.
And we cry, Glory! Glory! Glory to God who presses us on!
Glory! Glory! Glory to God! Glory our song.
More than we can ask or imagine, more than we could every desire;
Out of the dust God’s building a kingdom, like wine from the press, like bread from the fire.
And we cry, Glory! Glory! Glory to God! Glory on high!
Glory! Glory! Glory on earth! Glory on high!”
It is such a blessing to know that there is not anything in creation, and in our life, that does not relate to God. As Psalm 24 says “The earth is our God’s and all that is in it, the world and all who dwell therein.”
This beautiful truth of being held in God’s holy hands comes from many places in scripture, assurance that the whole of creation, and you and me, are held as precious, as beloved by a God whose love is unconditional and tenacious – a love that will not let us go.
Wendell Berry wrote: “The ecological teaching of the Bible is simply inescapable. God made the world because God wanted it made. God thinks the world is good, and God loves it. It is God’s world, and God has never relinquished title to it. And God has never revoked the conditions, bearing on God’s gift to us of the use of it, that oblige us to take excellent care of it. If God loves the world, then how might any person of faith be excused for not loving it or justified in destroying it?” Help us, loving God, to love all that you have made more dearly.
In my darkest moments, in pain and broken heartedness, in loneliness and in my brightest moments, of laughter and achievement, fulfillment and joy, to know that I am held in the palm of God’s hands brings a comfort and deep joy, a security and confidence, something that nothing and no one can take away from me.
Another voice also speaks to me, Sally McFague, when she wrote: “Since for the Christian, God is always incarnate and present, there is no place on earth, no joy or wish that any creature experiences, no need or despair that they suffer, that is not a possible route to God. Wherever reality is seen as hopeful, joyful, and loving, God is there; wherever reality is experienced as despairing, cruel, and hopeless, God must be there also. If God is love, then where love is, God is; where love is not, God must needs be. In nature’s health and beauty, I see God; in nature’s deterioration and destruction, I see that God is here also. In the first case as a YES and in the second as NO: in the first case as a positive affirmation of God’s glory through the flourishing of creation; in the second, as a negative protest against whatever is undermining God’s creation.”
To know that I, and all of creation are held in the palm of God’s hands gifts to us gratitude. It was Meister Eckhart that said: “If the only prayer you say in your entire life is ‘Thank You’, that would suffice.” The gift of gratitude reaches out to us in the assurance of being held in God’s hand. It can turn obstacles into opportunities for us, it can move us beyond the need for privilege, and open our eyes to the blessings of small things. Knowing that everything is held in God’s hands I believe that we are also challenged to carefully build a home in our heart to make room for that gift of gratitude – that response of “I cry Glory, Glory to God”. it is this that teaches us that life is a great unending opportunity to see things differently, to keep reframing our experiences and our discouragements into hope, into faith, into trust in God – in the boundless love and care that God has for us and for all of creation. It introduces us to Psalm 91: 1-2 “You who live in the shelter of God, who abide in the shadow of the Almighty, will say to God, “My refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust” – that longing deep in our hearts and souls.
Perhaps this most popular song is a fitting way to end this reflection! (see Hymnary.org)
He’s got the whole world in his hands.
He’s got the whole world in his hands.
He’s got the whole world in his hands.
He’s got the whole world in his hands.
He’s got the wind and the rain in his hands.
He’s got the wind and the rain in his hands.
He’s got the wind and the rain in his hands.
He’s got the whole world in his hands.
He’s got the little, tiny baby in his hands.
He’s got the little, tiny baby in his hands.
He’s got the little, tiny baby in his hands.
He’s got the whole world in his hands.
He’s got you and me, brother, in his hands.
He’s got you and me, brother, in his hands.
He’s got you and me, brother, in his hands.
He’s got the whole world in his hands.
He’s got you and me, sister, in his hands.
He’s got you and me, sister, in his hands.
He’s got you and me, sister, in his hands.
He’s got the whole world in his hands.
He’s got everybody here in his hands.
He’s got everybody here in his hands.
He’s got everybody here in his hands.
He’s got the whole world in his hands.
