Surely his goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder
anew what the Almighty can do,
If
with his love he befriend thee.
---Joachim Neander, 1680/trans. Catherine Winkworth, 1863
This particular hymn text astounds me. Penned in 1680 (the
translation made in 1868), this text deals with the nature of God’s power. What
is amazing to me is the intimate nature of the relationship the writer
envisions between the powerful God of the universe and regular gals and fellas
like us. I know I shouldn’t, but I tend to think of intimacy with God as a
contemporary thought; this text brings me up short. This concept is nothing
born with our relational thinking, but has been a part of the way many before
you and me have wondered about God’s care for us. I am asked to ponder anew
what friendship with God can mean to regular people like me.
What does it mean to be friends with God? And how would
being on God’s ‘friends list’ change the way I walk on this earth, the way I
relate to the rest of humanity? What kind of effect does that kind of
friendship have?
No comments:
Post a Comment