I confess that I sometimes feel frustrated by the attitudes people express about promoting racial reconciliation. The comments run the gamut from “We do not have a racial problem in our post-racial United States of America,” to “Race problems are too deeply ingrained to be changed.”
As I studied the lectionary readings for October, I was reminded no matter what challenges life presents, God is able to lead, guide and direct us. I invite you to read and reflect on the words of Lamentations 3:19-26 and be encouraged regardless of the troubles you have seen. We cannot undo history but we can look forward to and work toward the new things God will do in us, with us, for us and through us.
Eugene Peterson shares the text this way:
I’ll never forget the trouble, the utter lostness,
the taste of ashes, the poison I’ve swallowed.
I remember it all—oh, how well I remember—
the feeling of hitting the bottom.
But there’s one other thing I remember,
and remembering, I keep a grip on hope:
God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He’s all I’ve got left.
God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
to the woman who diligently seeks.
It’s a good thing to quietly hope,
quietly hope for help from God.
It’s a good thing when you’re young
to stick it out through the hard times.
I pray you will find comfort in the words and music of one of my favorite hymns.
Rev. Brenda Girton-Mitchell
