Issue 297 - Unfinished Business
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June 2023
In this issue we reflect on unfinished business, the ways that God is still working to transform the world - and us!
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In the previous issue we appealed for help funding our Unbound sponsored child, Evelyn. Your generosity will allow Evelyn to receive the eye surgery and care she needs. Thank you a thousandfold.
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Sometimes I wonder just how much attention God pays to me. With 8 billion people on earth, God, for certain, must be busy; but then God is omnipotent. Admittedly, I don’t always pay a lot of attention to God as the minutes go by, although Joseph Tetlow, SJ, says that God is in our lives “momently” (moment by moment) calling us closer.
Apparently, at times the disciples lost sight of the notion of God in their lives. In fact, they did not even recognize Jesus when he came walking near, on the sea. They, in the boat battered by wind squalls, probably quaked in fear as they cried out, “It’s a ghost!” Jesus, paying attention to the disciples, consoled them, “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid. Jesus even got into the boat with them, and everything became calm. (Mark 6:47-51a NAB)
It has been said that a ghost is a spirit with unfinished business. Imagine! The Holy Ghost, at the shores of heaven, longs for us to recognize him in our storms, in our strength, and in our wanderings. God’s business is unfinished until we open our hearts and souls to his peace, protection, and his presence in our everyday navigation of uncertain situations. We need not fear the storms of life.
-by Jan
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God is here! Come and worship.
You who are broken and you who are being healed,
God is here! Come and worship.
Those lines were part of the responsive call to worship at my congregation last Sunday. They are a reminder to me that none of us are perfected, that all of us are in process. We are, every Christian, sinners in recovery and saints in formation.
In her marvelous book, Amazing Grace, Kathleen Norris reminds us that Christian scripture does not call us to perfectionism. Yes, Jesus does say, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt. 5:48). But, as Norris (and many others) note, the Greek word translated “perfect” can also mean “mature” or “whole.”
As Norris puts it, “To ‘be perfect,’ in the sense that Jesus means it, is to make room for growth, for the changes that bring us to maturity, to ripeness.” She goes on to say, “Perfection, in a Christian sense, means becoming mature enough to give ourselves to others. Whatever we have, no matter how little it seems, is something that can be shared.”*
I am also reminded of what Frederick Buechner says about repentance: “To repent is to come to your senses. It is not so much something you do as something that happens. True repentance spends less time looking at the past and saying, ‘I’m sorry,’ than to the future and saying, ‘Wow!’”**
We are, every one of us, sinners in recovery and saints in formation. Wow!
--by Bill
*pp. 55-57.
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Andrea Bocelli sings Amazing Grace
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English lyrics:
Let nothing disturb you
Let nothing frighten you
he who has God lacks nothing
God alone suffices
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We welcome submissions from guest writers. Please contact us for details.
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Copyright (c) 2023 Soul Windows Ministries
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Sincerely,
Bill Howden and Jan Davis
Soul Windows Ministries
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