LAST WORD ARTICLES...
Last Word - Time
Time is a gift but it is also a warning. Though, for example, I write this before Christmas, it is done now to appear next year. Then, as the poet reminds us, not even half a line can be cancelled.
Looking at one of the seldom read parts of the Bible, there is a prayer by the prophet in which the Lord is asked "Now do in our times the great deeds you used to do. Be merciful, even when you are angry". Like all prayers this is a prayer from someone living in time, to God who is eternal and not constrained by time. Looking at our world and the evils produced by the actions and inactions of people, it is not at all surprising that a prophet should conclude that God might well be angry. Nor is it surprising that a poet should write "...redeem the time, redeem the dream".
It is not time that offers redemption but it is offered here and now. What in a new year should be our resolution, our prayer? Nothing we ask, nothing we might be given in time can last, because it exists only in time. But God is eternal and God is love and what we have been offered in the life of Jesus, whose birth we celebrate at Christmas, is love. As Paul writes "Love never gives up, and its faith, hope and patience shall never fail. Love is eternal".
Bob Mclean
Last Word Article Archive...
To view other articles click here