President’s Corner
by Minister & President Rev. Dr. Jim Antal
April/May 2007
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| Minister and President Jim Antal (second from left in red shirt) walked part of the way in the 100-mile Walk for Climate Rescue that took place in March. |
One Spring day
Timing is everything. Whether it is human time (chronos) or God’s time (kairos) – timing is everything.
Connecting with God offers an education in timing. When we expand our circle of attention beyond our immediate needs, our single self, our community, or even the human community – expanding our attention to include God’s providence, to embrace inclusive love, to absorb resurrection power, to tap Pentecostal fire; when we connect with God – life begins, time stops, possibility emerges, eternity is revealed, past is no longer prologue, and all things become new.
Resurrection is just around the corner. In human time we can count the days. In God’s time, it is “already” and “not yet” – both. And it’s elusive; often, it feels that resurrection is just out of reach, over the next hill.
Must it be that way?
A great change is necessary if future generations are to inherit the Eden into which we were born.
I believe that people of faith are God’s best hope to lead the changes we need. Will we? As I sit writing this in late February, I have no idea whether you and hundreds of others who heard about it will have joined some part of the Walk for Climate Rescue (scheduled for March 16-24).
In God’s time, there’s always another chance. April 14 can be that one Spring day that just might reshape the future. On that day villages, towns and cities across the country (thus far, 757 events in 48 states are planned) will bear witness to the scientific warnings, the ethical mandates, and the faithful hope that people, communities, and governments can change. Go to www.stepitup07.org to learn how you, your congregation and your community can join in this one day, nationwide expression of hope.
What would our lives be like if we were as receptive to change – if we were as open to doing a new thing – as God is? What if we were to hear Ezekiel’s trumpet and respond? (Ezekiel 33) What if we swept away the debt we owe to our habits and we loosened our grip on entropy and let it slip through our fingers? If we woke up each day and took in the beauty all around us and the opportunities to love one another and work for justice? Does anyone doubt that we would include future generations in our moral orbit of concern? And not only future generations of humans but current and future generations of animals and plants as well?
Resurrection is just around the corner. Just as we created the trajectory of the infamous “J curve” – a pattern of increased temperatures indicating global warming – we can also change it. One Spring day can begin that change.
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