‘Tis the season for goal setting and New Year resolutions. Many of us are likely including renewed commitments to eat healthier, exercise more, and perhaps maintain better balance in our lives. We might be committing to better stewardship of our financial resources.
As unoriginal as it may seem, with Epiphany drawing near, I don’t think we could do much better than to try to live into the hymn “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light”.
“I want to walk as a child of the light,
I want to follow Jesus.
God set the stars to give light to the world.
The star of my life is Jesus.
In him there is no darkness at all.
The night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God.
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.”
Walking as a child of the light needs to incorporate all that we do. As Richard Rohr reminds us “Christianity has far too easily called individual, private behavior sins while usually ignoring or even supporting structural and systemic evils such as war, colonization, corporate greed, slavery, and abuse of the Earth. All of the seven capital sins were admired at the corporate level and shamed at the individual level. This left us utterly split in our morality, dealing with symptoms instead of causes, shaming people while glorifying systems that were themselves selfish, greedy, lustful, ambitious, lazy, prideful, and deceitful. We can’t have it both ways….”
Let us begin the new year not only evaluating our individual behaviors but also considering our influence on structures and systems. And let us practice Incarnation, seeking to see the divine DNA in all people and all of creation. May we have eyes to see the light in all people and to share the light that we have been given with others through the ways that we value and treat one another. “Christ is everything and he is in everything” [Colossians 3:11]. My prayer is for each of us to deepen our ability to realize this as we strive to have “the mind of Christ”. Our actions will follow.
Shalom y’all,
If you would like to print or share this edition of Claire…ification,
you are encouraged to use this pdf:
Claire – New Beginnings
To read past editions – you are encouraged to follow this link:
http://capitaldistrictnc.org/clarie-ificaton/
