Head to the Islands in 2023
Head to the Islands in 2023
By Pastor Mike Von Behren
One way to step into the New Year is with eager anticipation that the calendar change will bring with it a fresh start resolving all the anxieties that burdened us in the past months. Maybe in 2023 we can each finally take that island vacation we’ve been dreaming about, the one where we sit on the beach basking in the sun without a worry in the world. What if it was not just a vacation, what if the whole year were like that? If you are thinking that sunning in the sand on a tropical isle is not your ideal vacation anyway, well that is fine; it is a far-fetched wish anyway. In reality 2023, like 2022 and 2021 before that, and in truth like every year prior, will arrive with plenty of uncertainties of its own. What will happen this year? Will it be good for me? Will it be good for my family? Will this year be harder than the last? Who is to say?
This New Year I have been recalling some of the most memorable thoughts from books I have read in the past twelve months. The media is doing this with the films of 2022, with songs of 2022, with news stories of 2022, and even with photos of 2022. I thought I would do this with the quotes of 2022 on my reading list; the one thought that tops that list for me might be helpful to us as we enter into this New Year. It is an idea from Hannah Arendt. She was a German-born Jewish university professor who was imprisoned by the Gestapo early in the regime of Adolf Hitler because she was conducing illegal research into the growing anti-Semitism in Germany. Eventually released she fled to Paris and when the Nazis invaded France she escaped to the U.S.; she also helped many other Jews find a path to freedom along the way. She knew something about facing uncertainty.
In her book The Human Condition, Arendt described life as a tumultuous sea of uncertainty. We can never be sure what life is going to bring, not even at the start of a New Year. She recognizes that as people we are altogether helpless to overcome this “inherent unpredictability,” which she calls one of life’s most outstanding characteristics. Yet she said there are ways that we can create for others “islands of security” in the “ocean of uncertainty.” We do that, she said, by making and keeping promises and by leading with forgiveness. Arendt is not Christian, yet even she said this is the greatest contribution that Jesus Christ of Nazareth offered to our world; he recognized the importance of forgiveness in human affairs. Life is uncertain when I am not sure if the people I rely on will keep the promises made to me. Life is uncertain when I never know what reaction the mistakes I make, the selfish acts I do, or the hurts I cause (even inadvertently) will arouse in others.
With that in mind perhaps we can enter 2023 on an island of security. It does not have to be a tropical island in the Caribbean or in the South Pacific. It can be right here in snowy Spokane. Yet it can be a place where our worries fade and the uncertainty of life seems miles away. It can be because no one matches our God for making and keeping promises. Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians 1:20, “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him [Jesus Christ]. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.” Not only so, but God’s leading promise in Christ Jesus is that because of his death and resurrection we have God’s full forgiveness. We never have to question his reaction to us. Paul said in Ephesians 1:6-7, God has “blessed us in the Beloved [Jesus Christ]. In him we have redemption through is blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.” This is our island of spiritual security, but it also surrounds us with security in this physical life too because God whose promises are answered with a resounding “Yes” in Christ also promises strength in times of weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9), a way through every trial (1 Corinthians 10:13), and to work in all things for our good (Romans 8:28).
What made Hannah Arendt’s remarks so memorable for me, is that God gives us the ability to extend these islands of security to others as well. In doing so we not only bring calm and assurance into their lives, but we display the goodness and grace of our God who in Jesus wants to give them an eternal place on that island. So how do we do this? Arendt made it simple (1) we make and keep promises and (2) we lead with forgiveness. I say simple. It is simple to remember. It is not so simple to do. Jesus died doing this. But then he rose. That was one of God’s promises. God promises that new life to us as well. Whatever it costs us, whatever we have to sacrifice of ourselves, to make and keep promises, and to forgive others, God promises will return to us and more. Jesus said in Mark 8:35, “whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it.”
So let us head for the islands this new year, islands of security, and let us bring others with us, as many as we can.
In Jesus,
Pastor Mike