Tuesday, January 21, 2020
1 Chronicles 1-9: Genealogies
![Planting-a-Family-Tree-for-Parents-Day-–-iPhone-and-iPad-Genealogy-Apps[1]](https://thenoontimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/planting-a-family-tree-for-parents-day-e28093-iphone-and-ipad-genealogy-apps1.jpg?w=300&h=297)
Past and future converging in the present. Attempting to establish a legacy from the past that extends into the future. Recording names in books that are passed down through generations. Looking for links to what was. Envisioning the future. Living an intentional present.
We humans concern ourselves so much with time and we hold to our belief that it is a strict, tight line even when mathematics and physics tell us that it is anything but a flat presence consisting of a series of moments. Time . . . God’s time . . . is eternal; yet we humans strive to pull it and push it until it snaps into an obedient straight plane, extending endlessly behind and in front of us. I do not believe that God sees us or time in such a superficial way.
There is value in tracing our roots and recording our deeds. These actions tell us who we are; they remind us of what we have done. With hope we avoid the errors of this past.
There is value in laying plans, being stewards, husbanding resources, striding forward into an unknown future with confidence and a sense of mission. Our faith accompanies us as we step into the mystery.
There is value in living an authentic present, seeking to move through our days with integrity, looking at our faults without condemning ourselves or others, being honest about our successes with humility. In love we live each moment as it comes to us, pleading with God on behalf of our enemies, petitioning favors of God for all those we love, remembering all of God’s creation in our daily prayers.
I realize that when I pray I cannot help but think of time as linear when I remember with nostalgia my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins who wait for me on the other side of the veil that separates the body from that place we refer to as the world of the deceased. I also imagine the great-great-grandchildren I will never see in this life but whom I will know immediately when they rise to God. Resisting the idea that time is a strict line of seconds that march into minutes, hours and years, I see myself in the immense, slowly whirling, spiraling strands of human beings God has created in God’s image. I see us rising like incense in the night from the altar of our lives to bring a welcome aroma to the God who created us. I see the embrace with which we cling to one another as we dance beneath the arms of the Spirit while she is winging us home. I see us curling and binding with one another in an intimate union as we form the Mystical Body of this God-man walking among us.
Revelation tells us that there are many names written in the Book of Life. The names of the faithful. The names of the righteous. The names of the just. The names of the holy. The names of those who endured. The names of those who persevered. The names of those who have come to understand and return God’s love.
So as we consider God’s plan and God’s time, we pray . . . Let us call one another’s names in hope as we rise together in prayer. Let us call one another’s names in joy as we rise to meet our maker. Let us call one another’s names in love . . . and leave no one behind. Amen.
This week we will examine the Second Book of Kings to see what this chronicler has to say to us . . . millennia after he first placed his words on papyrus.
For more information about merging galaxies as captured by the Hubble telescope, click on the image above or go to: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap121019.html
Family tree image from: http://www.octa.com/family-tree-parents-day/
First written on December 5, 2008. Re-written and posted today as a Favorite.
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