but God has surely listened
and has heard my prayer.
Praise be to God,
who has not rejected my prayer
or withheld his love from me! (Psalm 66: 19-20)
Here we are! (Daniel Cook from “This is Daniel Cook”)
You are here, and so this is God’s will for your life. (Richard Foster)
When my kids were little, we used to watch this children’s program called “This is Daniel Cook”. It Canadian children’s television show that was about a 7-year-old boy (age 7 to 8 in the first seasons but age 9 in the second season) named Daniel Cook who learns new things and shares his experiences and adventures with other kids. It was kinda cool for us because it featured Canadian places and Canadian activities, when much of the television we had access to was American. One of the things about the show that amused me (and Hugh) no end was that every time Daniel arrived at his newest destination, he would throw his hands up in the air and shout “Here we are!”. Of course this has meant that Hugh and I will imitate it; so if we walk into the kitchen together we both throw our hands up and shout “here we are!”, or if we go to the grocery store, or manage to find a parking space downtown. If you watch when we drive up to the church, you may catch us shouting “Here we are!” in the parking lot as we pull in.
When the kids were little, they were less than amused by this. Now that they’re older they’ve joined us. And of course, we all laugh like it’s the funniest thing in the world.
When I was a young adult, I went to a conference that featured Dr. Richard Foster as the keynote speaker. Dr. Foster was the author of the books “Celebration of Discipline” and “Freedom of Simplicity”. I had read both books and was excited to hear him speak. Like all 20-somethings I was full of the angst of “what should I be when I grow up”. It was complicated by being a person of faith, with very high family expectations of achievement and success, so was framed in terms of “what is God calling me to?” or “am I following God’s direction for my life?”. Dr. Foster, I believe because he read the room and knew he was speaking to angst-ridden faithful 20 somethings began his second talk to all of us with the phrase. “You are here, and so this is God’s will for your life”. This phrase really stuck with me and I have used it for myself on many occasions just to remind myself to stay in the present, to trust in my future, and to let go of the regrets of my past.
You are here and so this is God’s will for your life.
This week I had a conversation with a friend who has had a rough go of things lately, including the end of a relationship, some difficult parenting situations, and significant financial strain. All of this has been complicated by an ambivalence of their future, the choices they feel that they have to make and regret over the choices they had to make in the past. My friend expressed to me last night that they wished that God would just tell them right out what they need to do. You’ll all be proud of me because I didn’t try and get them to ‘reframe’ their thinking, I didn’t even tell them what Dr. Foster had said to a room full of angst ridden young adults so many years ago. I just commiserated and said that it was really tough, and that I would listen if they needed it (for those of you who were in church last Sunday, I was working at being a David to their Saul).
But I was also reminded of the need to not only be in the present, and let go of both my past and my future, but to thank God for my present; not necessarily because its wonderful, or easy or even somehow gloriously faithful. But just because it is. And God is God. God who has not rejected my prayer, or withheld God’s love for me. Even when my life is tough.
And so far, my track record for making it through rough times is 100%, AND you can’t go back and change the past, AND you can’t control the future (and other platitudes that are actually true).
And so, today, my deal Bethel friends, I hope you’ll join me in throwing up your hands and shouting “Here we are!”. Just because it is. And this is God. And as ambivalent as you are about your present, or as worried and fearful you are about your future, God still hears us and loves us.
“Here we are!”.
Blessings today, and remember you are Loved,
~Rev. Lynne
This reminded me of this passage from E. L. Doctorow’s novel, City Of God
Then one night, we received a clandestine visit from a delegation of Jewish partisans. The one
called Benno sat on a table and, holding his rifle loosely across his knees, he addressed us in a
hushed, fluent Yiddish, a sound to me like a brook running over rocks. The Russian army was
within a hundred twenty miles. As the front moves west, he said, your ghetto will be dismantled
and you with it, he said. You will dig the graves you will lie in. It is just a matter of time…
The partisans were proposing to take people out – as many who wanted to come. They could
move thirty or forty a night, Benno said…
The third council member who was present was Rabbi Pomeranz, a very thin, slight,
middle-aged man who wore an old battered homburg and whose beard had turned white. he
sat in a chair against the wall and held a siddur closed on his lap, but with his finger keeping the
place. And he was silently davening while attending to the matters at hand, his head nodding
and his lips moving as he uttered to himself the prayers he knew without the book, but his eyes
on the partisan who spoke.
The Rabbi said: Perhaps the partisans didn’t know the German policy regarding escape- people
were executed who were caught trying…
Benno shook off his hand and signaled the others. Their message had been delivered. They
prepared to leave.
…They opened the trapdoor. The thickset one who had said nothing and the woman descended
and disappeared. Before following them, Benno took Dr. Koening aside and, I assume,
instructed him on how to make further contact. And before lowering himself through the
trapdoor he addressed Rabbi Pomeranz: Since your prayers are so effective and have already
done so much good, you, I expect, will choose to remain and pray to the Lord your God to save
your people.
When he had gone and the desk was back in place, the rabbi stood and set his homburg firmly
on his head as he prepared to go out. That’s not why I pray to the Lord, blessed be His name,
he said to no one in particular. I pray to bring Him into being.
Here we are! Here I am! Living in the present or in the moment. Just be. These are all statements that I try to live daily. I choose to not be ambivalent towards the future, but to accept what will be, will be and to live authentically given that.
Great message to live by