December 6, 2013

There is an extra text tucked into the box for today.  The first one is the scripture reading:  The grass withers, the flowers fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.  Isaiah 40:8

The second is a note of explanation of the box: ‘The copies of the Bible are from Grandma’s Bible presented to her in 1933 for 10 years of perfect attendance at Chalmers United.’

I am sure that the makers of this box are not the only ones with inherited Bible treasures.  In our house there are inherited Bible treasures in languages other than English that we cannot read.  We hold them dearly as a connection to the generations past that gave us the foundations for our life.

Chalmers United Church closed in 1977.  It amalgamated with Greenwood United Church and became the congregation of McClure United.

The church is forever in a state of flux and evolution.  Even those things that we expect to be around forever change and find new uses.  Church buildings seem to come and go within communities, but the mystery of faith, the connection to God’s word seems to withstand all that.  Perhaps it is because God’s word comes to new life in our living.

We are called to live love and justice.  We are called to remember and to work for peace.

Perhaps on this day, December 6, when we light a candle remembering the women massacred in Montreal in 1989, when we light a candle remembering the leadership of Nelson Mandela, we can pause and remember even more deeply the faith of our forebears that light our path today.

May the world know hope and peace.