January 3, 2020

Over the holidays, with the focus on family and faith, and without the need to wake up to the radio alarm clock, I got pretty much out of touch with the news of the world. Two stories though were inescapable:  the out of control fires in Australia, and the stabbings of Hanukkah celebrants at a rabbi’s home in a New York suburb.

I can’t make sense of what would make someone hate people for their cultural identity or their faith, let alone act out that hatred in a violent way. I want to assign antisemitism to a regrettable time in world history, but incidents like this force me to recognize it as an evil very much present in our world today.

The wildfires that are eating up parts of the beautiful Australian landscape are so clearly part of the climate change that we know about, but are not doing enough about. This morning I heard from my former counterpart in the Uniting Church in Australia that he and his family have the car packed and will be driving inland in a few hours, after hosing down their home as the fires approach. I hope and pray for their safety and for all in their community through these next few days. I wonder whether these crises will become the “new normal.”



As I reflect on these things, I am also thinking about the coming of Epiphany in just a few days. I always love the story of the wise ones who saw a star and knew it was significant and dropped everything to follow it and see what it had to tell them. The star they saw must have been visible to others too, but they had the wisdom to perceive its significance and to act. They journeyed with precious gifts to honour the one whose arrival was signalled by the star.

I wonder if I have the wisdom to see the signs that God has placed in the world in this time. I wonder if I have the faith to journey without understanding what will be found at the destination. I wonder what gifts I might offer.

May we seek together the signs of God’s call to us in our times. May we offer the gifts that the world needs.

Blessings,

Nora
 
Nora Sanders is General Secretary of The United Church of Canada.

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[Photo: "Magi" by Prio (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)]