Anew
31 God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. 1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. 2 And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation. (Genesis 1:31-2:3)
Can you imagine that, when you were created, God deemed you good? Every tree and flower, every water bound, land trudging, and sky aimed critter, were all good too. It may be easy to think of the picturesque places of plenty as good, but what about the poverty-stricken, over populated, places of want, or places of desolation - were they once good, are they now? Our polluted, haze obscured, vision of God's good world can impair our ability to love - or even appreciate - the good within and around us.
16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:16-20)
When Jesus issued what we regard as The Great Commission to his original disciples they had to look beyond the world that had tried to crucify Hope, and which sought to extinguish the hope in them - they had to see the promise of what could be. They were, and we are, called to see the hurt behind the hate and the despair behind the destruction, and to trust that, by God's grace, things - and people - can be made new. We must strive to see with eyes of hope, compassion, and grace. What a massive responsibility. What an unmerited honor. Yet, we go forward in confidence, not because our own strength or goodness, but because we know that God views us through the same grace with which we are called to view the world. Make us anew, O God!
1 O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. 2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger. 3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; 4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them? 5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. 6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 9 O LORD, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! (Psalm 8)
