A Gift Not Acknowledged

It is normal that we expect an acknowledgement when we give a gift to someone.  And when you don't receive the acknowledgement, you begin to worry.  You worry whether the person received your gift in the first place. Then you worry whether the gift was appropriate, too small, too big or even offensive.  And of course, you don't want to ask the person whether s/he got the gift you gave, because it might cause the person to think that s/he was ungrateful to you for what you did.  Then it gets complicated. So what do you do, is there a diplomatic way you can find out whether in fact your gift was well received in a way that it wouldn't the make person feel not bad for not thanking you or acknowledging you?
This is something that happened to me this Christmas. It made wonder as to how many times I may not have acknowledged people's gifts to me. How about God's gifts which I receive everyday, every hour, minute, or every second.  The very breath that keeps me alive is a gift from God. How about Susan and my children and grand child, and my extended family?  They are all a gift to me. Do I give thanks to God for all these gifts?
As I begin this new year and as I am about to celebrate the 10th anniversary of my ministry at St. Peter's, I acknowledge that there are so many people I am indebted to for their gifts to me and there is so much that I am thankful to God for.  My prayer for this New Year is that I find myself always grateful to God and to people through whom God blesses me.       

Happy New Year

Yesterday I received on Whatsapp a short message comparing our life to a train journey with its stations, changes of routes and accidents. I found this meaningful as we begin another year. Many passengers we knew as family and friends got off the train and left us this past year, and many new ones got on as fellow passengers on this journey. Many leave a permanent mark or vacuum in our lives, and many when they leave, we hardly notice. This journey is full of joys, sorrows, fantasies, expectations, hellos and goodbyes, and how we treat our fellow passengers and make them comfortable is what is good and remarkable. A mystery on this journey is that we do not know when we ourselves are going to get off, meaning we cannot wait till tomorrow to be good to others. Tomorrows are not guaranteed. Yesterdays are gone.  All we have is today, now, the present. 

Alfred Nobel, the Swedish chemist and inventor of TNT, read his own obituary in the local newspaper which mistook him for his brother who had died, “Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, who died yesterday, devised a way for more people to be killed in a war than ever before. He died a very rich man.” It had a profound impact on him, and as he did not want to be known as someone who profited from his invention of efficiently killing more people in war. He gave the profits from his invention to initiate the awarding of prizes to people and organizations for fostering peace in the world. He had a chance to correct himself from the mistakes of his past. As many of us won't get a chance to see our own obituaries in black and white, perhaps we can visualize or fantasize how we would like to be known and remembered. Now is the time to make the necessary changes in the way we live, move and have our beings today.

This January marks the 10^th anniversary of our labor together in God’s ministry at St. Peter’s.  It has been a great privilege for me to serve as your rector and co-worker. As I look back over the last years of our ministry, I can say without a doubt that we have been experiencing the presence of Jesus in our walk like the disciples did on their way to Emmaus. In many ways I am an outlier and stranger, yet you took me in as your spiritual leader. Many of you have invited me into your family and confided what is going on in your intimate and spiritual lives, and taken me in as part of your family.  I thank God for each one of you and for St. Peter’s, the center of our corporate life.  I admire your vision for the future, your courage to step out of your comfort zone, and your willingness and faith to go where you would rather not go and do things you would rather not do. As we reflect on and thank God for our past years together, let us think about how as a church we have brought joy, happiness and meaning to both members of our church as well as the people we serve in our community. Let us as a worshipping community continue to be relevant in addressing the peace and justice issues that matter to our larger community and the world.

Happy New Year! Pray that in this New Year we find ourselves partnering with God in realizing God’s hopes and dreams for each one of us and for our church.