Between the Times in the Now

 Friends,  

It’s that time of year when people do one of two things. One can look back at 2023 and offer a “year in review” perspective or one can look forward and guess what’s in store for 2024. Or both. Our Commission and Deacons are already in the process of putting together our “year in review,” which we call our Annual Report. And while our culture is obsessed with predictions of all kinds – market projections, sports gambling, forecasting election results, or declaring the end times – I’ve always been cautioned by Robert Heilbronner’s distinction between describing trajectories and predicting results. 

 

For me, this is the time of year when I think about time. Particularly, I think about how elusive the present can be. The kind of thinking that goes into reflection – as we look at the past with regret or joy – requires being ‘outside’ of the past in order to look at it. And the kind of thinking that goes into prediction – from anticipation to dread – likewise requires being ‘outside’ of the future in order to imagine it. The present, however, is a different matter. The present is for living, experiencing, engaging, or simply being. I saw a photo of a person last week on a boat when an orca came up alongside of it. An orca. How often do you come face-to-face with such a creature? What a gift it would be simply to watch, take it all in, wonder, be amazed, live that astounding moment. Instead, she turned her back to the orca – turned her back to the orca! - and was engaged in trying to line up a selfie. While we are necessarily outside of the past and the future, we have become adept at finding ways to distract ourselves and to be outside of the present. I think that’s a shame. 

 

I wonder if the elusiveness of the present is what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he would speak of time. Think of his phrase, “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” which he uses to describe that moment of transformation from earthly struggles to resurrected life. The word translated “moment” is atomos. It is only used here in the New Testament and, as you can see, is the etymological root for the word “atom.” The prefix ‘a’ means ‘not’ and the root ‘tomos’ means to cut or divide. It is an attempt to name the smallest indivisible amount of time possible that one cannot divide any smaller. (Smaller, even than an atto-second, which is a billionth of a billionth of a second, according to recent Nobel Prize winning scientists.) And the phrase “twinkling of an eye” is like a blink. You’ve already blinked many times while reading this essay, but it has happened so fast that you haven’t even noticed it and it has not interrupted your concentration. Paul is trying to name that infinitely small amount of time as a way of speaking of how God works. And that infinitely small amount of time is what we mean by “the present.” It is, by its very nature, elusive. The moment we become mindful of it, conscious about it, reflective on it, it has passed. The only choice for the present is to live it.

 

So, we are at that moment when we look back at 2023 and look forward to 2024. It is right to reflect, and it is wise to plan. But in so doing, I hope and pray that we are not distracted from actually living in the present. In this moment, this twinkling of an eye, God is. And so are we.

 

Mark of St. Mark

Davis Family Christmas Letter

 Dear Friends,  

In the unforgettable opening words sung by the community of Whoville,

“Fah who foraze! Dah who doraze!”

We have no idea what those words mean, but each of you now has a mental image – either animated or peopled – of a Grinch movie and the indomitable Christmas spirit. It is our hope that you, too, find your voice and sing your hope this Christmas, whether all your toys have just been stolen or your dreams have come true. We are happy to say that for us this year has been more a case of dreams coming true than toys being stolen. 

Nic graduated from Gonzaga Law School in May and he and Lindy landed jobs in downtown Des Moines, where both are thriving. We wish they were closer, but Nic seems very happy to be in close proximity to many of his childhood friends, family, and memories. 

Mickey and family continue to live in Des Moines as well, with Mickey and Amanda engaged in various avenues of arts, and Tallulah growing up joyfully and endearing herself to everyone she meets. 

Luke, always the worldly one, spent four months in France at culinary school, learning his third language and refining his prodigious cooking skills. With multiple job offers upon his return, he chose to use his talents cooking for those who are currently without a home. He spends evenings and weekends catering and pursuing his prize-winning art. 

Gail is now a student at Vanguard University. High school was 3.1 miles away from our house; community college was 1.5 miles from the house; and now she attends a school that is .5 miles from the house - saves on housing, saves on gas, saves on meals, and makes Mom and Dad very happy. In addition to being a good student, an active member of the Dance Team, and a Sunday School teacher, Gail continues to enjoy teaching and choreographing for her dance students. 

In March, Chris and Mark were invited to be part of the Senior Faith in Leadership Program, which was initiated by Prince Philip and meets in the Windsor Castle complex. We’re sure that someone will be hired to play us in a forthcoming season of The Crown. We topped off our stay with a couple of days in London, where we learned – to our dismay – that the know-it-all dude outside of the Westminster Abbey had never even heard of the Westminster Confession. Sigh. 

And Mark had yet one more bit of adventure, traveling to Kenya in September to visit Providence Children’s Home, an orphanage and school that St. Mark has supported for several years. The trip concluded with a couple of days glamping in a Mara safari village, and a brief unpleasantry with a baboon. No animals were harmed in the making of that adventure.

On the whole, we have been healthy and happy and hope that you can say the same. We look forward to celebrating Christmas and yearn for a time when peace and justice can be realized throughout our troubled and war-torn world. 

 

“Fah who foraze! Dah who doraze!”

 

The Davisfolk 

Advent Waiting Christmas List

Let’s get in the water with John the Baptist.

Let’s bellow our hope for a new day.

Let’s march to the rhythm of a different drum.

Let’s join in the work of equity and justice.

Let’s demand that our leaders give peace a chance.

Let’s bring our own bank accounts into the conversation of economic justice.

Let’s reach out to repair relationships that we have damaged.

Let’s envision a day of peace, because if peace is possible then war is intolerable.

Let’s examine the prejudices that we have inherited and long harbored.

Let’s sing a joy that is grounded in God’s steadfast love – even as weeping endures for the night.

Let’s examine abundance, because if abundance is possible, nobody should suffer deprivation.

Let’s bring lion and lamb, brambles and thorns, into the story so heaven and nature can sing together.

Let’s be that odd institution that can speak of Christmas joy and Advent pain all around us.

Let’s be that odd institution that we’re called to be.

And let’s do so with hope.