Snow Tires & Hope
/April 4, 2022
Scripture
Jesus answered, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them – do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.’ (Luke 13:2-5 NIVUK)
Snow Tires & Hope
I’m testing fate this morning by changing our snow tires to our friendly, warm season tires. It’s likely in our neck of the woods that a major storm will land and I’ll look premature in my optimism. But risks are part of life.
As I listened to Mike Janzen’s “Lent” album I heard the words behind his jazz phrasing of This Is My Father’s World. I rest me in the thought, that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet. This is all we have in many ways when we face the horrors of war in Ukraine and many other places.
Jesus saw tragedy, of both human and natural origin, and the victims did not bring it on themselves. Misfortune is not judgment on one group over another but perhaps a reminder to us that this is the only day we have to keep our decks clean (another way of describing repentance).
Joy, sorrow, good fortune, disaster are all parts of life over which we have little control but lots of opportunity for faith and doing good. Our biggest tests often come in doing good while things are going well, and we are in rich places of contentment. We remember God to be grateful as an antidote to judging others.
A Prayer for Today
Loving God, the evil we see being done overwhelms us, sometimes leads us to judge those who struggle as victims or pushes us to look the other way and hope it goes away. Grant us faith that good will prevail, that we can serve, even in a small way the needs of those around us. The world stage feels ominous; let it remind us we need your Help to keep our decks clean for good …. For Jesus’s sake.
