All Earth is Hopeful - December 11

For he is the peace between us, and has made the two into one entity and broken down the barrier which used to keep them apart, by destroying in his own person the hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations.

(Ephesians 2: 14-15a)

Cookie Dough

Mom died January 27, 2020 age 100 years 5 months and 10 days. At some point she started keeping a diary. She stopped when my dad died in April 2012. I inherited her diaries because I could not bear to throw them away. I have glanced at a few. They talk of weather and events—nothing personal or profound—just life. There are records of family births and deaths that obviously moved from volume to volume as the years passed. A few notes collected along the way have also survived. One caught my eye. Mom had obviously been on the phone with her then seven-year-old great grandson, Corey. Corey was helping his mother make cookies. He confessed that he had eaten some of the cookie dough before it was baked. Mom told him that was okay because his mom and her siblings had always done the same thing. Corey, whose parents were divorced, quickly informed his great-grand-mother that he was also a part of his dad’s family. Mom said he was half and half. Where upon Corey called to his mother and said, “You said I don’t work. I have to hold 2 families together.” In Ephesians 2:14 Paul tells the citizens of the Gentile family that they are one with the Jewish family because of the reconciling work of the Christ. We hear the word “reconciliation” regularly from our pulpits and in our Bible studies, and so it should be because the reconciling work of the Christ is everyone’s responsibility. Corey understood that. We need too also as we stand amidst a human family divided from one another and the creation on which we depend. Reconciliation is not an option; it is our most pressing work.

A Prayer

Lord, grant that I may see thee more clearly,

love thee more dearly,

follow thee more nearly.