“If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?” Jesus: Mark 8:35-37

This weekend was most excellent in so many ways. Rebekah and I enjoyed a Friday evening party with scores of our church friends; the cool, clear weather put the beginning of March in a beautiful light; a number of people met for breakfast Sunday to learn more about joining our church; we shared the Lord’s Supper during worship; there was a sweet wedding Sunday afternoon and Rebekah and I took many walks around the historic district with Max.

There is a sense here that, even in the midst of a world quite literally gone mad, what is right and true and good will prevail. I like the following short prayer penned by Alexander Solzhenitsyn: “You grant me the clear confidence that you exist, and that you will ensure that not all the ways of goodness are blocked.”

“You grant me the clear confidence that you exist, and that you will ensure that not all the ways of goodness are blocked.”

Alexander Solzhenitsyn

Solzhenitsyn experienced political retribution, persecution, betrayal and oppression firsthand, exiled to the black hole of the gulag. But even there enough light seeped in that he could declare his confidence that God’s purposes would not be thwarted.

And God’s purposes are clear: the ways of goodness, and light, and encouragement, and welcome, and of doing everything we can to ease the suffering of others.

There is a lot of talk about ideas like “productivity” and “return” and “profit” – as if government is a business rather than a means of implementing constitutional imperatives and providing for the common good. But Jesus calls that one pretty clearly: “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”

It is a good question. And I believe it is not going to be too long before some people find out just how little profit there is.

As Jesus asks, rhetorically: “Is anything worth more than your soul?”

Meanwhile, I am grateful to be part of a community where the light is strong and where goodness continues to multiply and where what is right and true and good and encouraging absolutely does – and will – prevail.

Peace and promise – DEREK