Thought for Today
Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; 3 though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble with its tumult. Selah
Malachi 3:6 For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished.
Matthew 18:3 "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
James 1:17 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Yesterday I wrote about remembering and memory. This morning, on the front page of the Boston Globe, there is a picture from the winter of 2014-2015. For those of you reading this who live in sunnier climes, Boston recorded 100”+ of snow that winter. Ironically, until the end of January, 2015, we had relatively little snow. “A six-week-plus snow siege in January-February 2015 had parts of New England blowing past all-time records . . . As of 7 pm EDT on March 15, the National Weather Service in Boston announced that Boston Logan Airport received 108.6 inches of snow, officially making the 2014-2015 season the all time snowiest season for the city.” (weather.com)
Last evening, as we listened to the meteorologist during the local newscast, he made mention of that winter and likened our current weather pattern to that of 2014-2015. Like so many other aspects of human existence, memory can be both a positive and negative thing. I did not want to remember our first winter in New England yesterday as I once again shoveled our driveway clear. My desire not to remember was even stronger this morning as I went out to shovel away the ridge at the end of the driveway left by the snowplow driver. Either the city or the state has a hidden device somewhere nearby that sounds an alarm when my driveway has been cleared of snow. The plow driver then knows to make one more round on our street to reestablish the ridge so that it is more difficult to get out of our driveway. Bonus points are awarded if that last round is after sunset on a night of a freeze, thereby ensuring the ridge will freeze into an impenetrable, concrete-like barrier.
Obviously (?) all of this led me this morning to ponder on the immutability of God. The lives of my generation have seen great changes. I have often reflected on the changes in technology during my lifetime. I was in kindergarten when my family bought our first television. I was in the fifth grade before we moved into a home with air conditioning; and, I was in the eleventh grade before we moved into a home with central air conditioning. That final home was the first home with a landline telephone that was not black. I had graduated from college and was working at my first job before handheld calculators were available on the commercial market. Our family bought our first computer when our children were in elementary school.
Despite our almost universal longing for ‘the good old days,’ those days only exist in our memories. I suspect that were we forced to return to “those thrilling days of yesteryear,” (think The Lone Ranger introduction) they would be neither thrilling nor even comfortable. Change in technology, change in lifestyle, change in fashions and in almost every aspect of our lives is not only ubiquitous, it is inevitable. Usually change is positive and desirable. At my age, I have doubts about some changes in fashion and in music . . . but, so too did my parents and their parents.
Our God does not change. The God of today is the God of Genesis. The God who witnesses AI is the God who told Moses, "Exodus 3:14 Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" We cannot assume that our latest electronic devices are the final version of whatever they are designed to do. I remember cassette tapes and 8-track cassettes. I remember black-and-white television. I remember when video games were first marketed and I remember the promise of Bluetooth. PDAs, pagers, and cell phones have morphed into smartphones which have displaced cameras and film. But the God to whom I pray each day and who watches over me is the God who created Creation.
Stay safe, thank God for being God, trust God,
Pastor Ray