Thought for Today
Ecclesiastes 1:9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun.
Joel 2:28 Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.
John 13:34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.
Acts 17:21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners living there would spend their time in nothing but telling or hearing something new.
At some point, I transitioned from being young to being old. One morning, as I looked into the bathroom mirror to shave, an old man stared back at me. For many years, I have treasured a line from Robert Browning’s Rabbi Ben Ezra, “Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be, The last of life, for which the first was made: Our times are in His hand Who saith ‘A whole I planned, Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!’'' I’m there now. Although I pondered that line of poetry for many years, I now know the truth of it, am living that truth.
That being said, recently the full impact of my age was thrust upon me by a text from our daughter. Even the most casual glance readily reveals to us that both of our children are themselves transitioning into the role of parenting their parents. Greta and I can remember making that transition many years ago. Our daughter had seen something (online?) suggesting the danger of measles being contracted by the elderly. She suggested that we might want to check with our PCP to find out whether we should be vaccinated for measles. When I texted back that we both had contracted measles in our youth, she responded in surprise. In our youth, both measles and rubella were relatively ubiquitous. Although both diseases can have serious consequences, in my youth neither was a cause of major concern for most parents. The most lasting effect for Greta and for me is the still present memory of spending an endless eternity in bed in a darkened room, supposedly to avoid damage to our eyes.
Now, virtually every news show includes one segment on the outbreak of measles in Texas. Some of these reports almost approach panic level. All of this is about a serious disease for which a highly effective vaccine was developed in the 1960s. When Greta and I were young and later when we were parents of young children, the idea of anyone being anti-vaccine would have been preposterous. We grew up in an area where polio was endemic. The minute the first polio vaccine was available, we stood in line at our elementary schools to receive the vaccine . . . as happy as any child could be when anticipating a shot.
One of my favorite and most often repeated lines is, ‘You never live in the world in which you grew up!’ The world of 2025 only vaguely resembles the world of 1950. Today is the distant great grandchild of my youth. The world of small, expensive, black-and-white televisions with only 3 channels has been supplanted by huge, relatively inexpensive color televisions and an immense variety of channels. The 2-way wrist radio of the cartoon character Dick Tracey has become the smart watch of today.
Was the prophet Qoheleth of Ecclesiastes correct? Is there truly nothing new under the sun? Is my surprise at what I read and see in the world of 2025 merely the proof of the words of Joel about old men dreaming dreams? Should I be asking myself each time I question the world around me whether those are dreams or nightmares?
As a Christian, my response to all of this is a resounding “NO!” Something new did come into the world, into all of Creation, at the Incarnation of Jesus, the Christ. Jesus did give us a new commandment, “love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” Not new in the sense of God’s children never previously having heard the suggestion about loving each other. But, definitely true in the reality that Jesus demonstrated the true meaning of that commandment through his ministry, his crucifixion and ultimately in his Resurrection! That’s the truth of the gospel message of God’s love, mercy and grace. Young, old and every age in between that truth abides, “love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”
Stay safe, love one another, trust God,
Pastor Ray