Unfortunately, we in this area of Pennsylvania are champion hand wringers! I used to comment that often a conversation with local folks moves from "Ain't it awful!" to "and even worse is..." But what would happen if we celebrated with, "Ain't life grand when it's made holy by God!?" Praise rather than predictions of gloom and doom! Such a posture doesn't ignore what's wrong, but trusts that God can transform everything. Check out the devotional below!

Pastor Kropa

April 3, 2008

Hollowed or Hallowed Lives?

Psalm 116

Donna Schaper

Bible excerpt

"What shall I return to the Lord for all his bounty to me? I  will offer ... a thanksgiving sacrifice." 

Reflection

What shall we return to God for all the bounty we know? Anxiety?  Lethargy? Numbness? Hollowed or Hallowed Lives? We could return  vitality, energy, joy and engagement: that would please God and constitute a bountiful return.

The way to move from one posture to another has to do with which future we claim.

According to Gallup, one half of the American people think  something "terrible" is going to happen. There is another version of apocalypse, one that understands its biblical meaning, as what God is going to finally do, with humanity, "when all is said and done." It moves us from hollow to hallowed lives. It allows us to return to God what God offers, which is promise and future and hope.

The first step in the movement out of the tomb of the negative into the resurrection of the bounty is to change your language. Whenever anyone does the hand wringing, whining Oh, my Gods, your job is to return bounty. Or at least comfort. Oh, my God can be said with reverence or with fear. Say it with reverence. That will change your language from tragic to comic, positive to negative. It will return the bounty God has given to God and spread it around among ourselves.

Odd that the Psalmist calls such a motion "a thanksgiving sacrifice." Apparently, we sacrifice our fear and turn it into thanksgiving.

Prayer

Change me and my language and my picture of the future, O God, so that I may offer bounty as my sacrifice to you.

About the Author

Donna Schaper is Pastor of Judson Memorial Church, New York, New York

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This Devotional is a free service sponsored by the Congregational Vitality Initiative and The Stillspeaking Ministry. Your gifts to Our Church's Wider Mission support this work.