The Word: Eternal

Steven Colbert of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" has a standard feature each show called "The Word." During this segment he elaborates wildly about "The Word" which can range from a single word to a phrase. He goes all over the place during his comments but always returns to "The Word" at the end.

In contrast to wild, satirical ruminating between introducing the word and concluding with the word, we have the ancient spiritual practice called Centering Prayer. It was one of our "Paths of Prayer" in September. It is recommended that we take 20 minutes twice daily for Centering Prayer. In this practice, led by Erica McIlroy, we were encouraged to choose a word or let a word be revealed to us during an extended period of silence. That word would then be brought to mind when we felt we were drifting in our stillness. As much as I am comforted and confounded by Grace in my life, I thought that would be the word. But instead another one came to me: Eternal. I say it came to me because I did not choose it. I have lived with Eternal as a centering word since that time and have come to really like it.

Eternal calls to mind a dimension of time and enduring strength beyond the stress of any particular situation or time. To describe eternity I sing the last verse of "Amazing Grace" (in The United Methodist Hymnal):

"When we've been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise than when we'd first begun"

Ann Spangler in her book, Praying the Names of God, writes that "Olam" is a Hebrew word that occurs more than four hundred times in the Hebrew Scriptures. It is translated as "eternal," "everlasting," "forever," "lasting," "ever," or "ancient." It refers to the fulllness of the experience of time or space. "El Olam" is the Hebrew name for the God who has no beginning and no end, the God for whom a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years are like a day. His plans stand firm forever, plans to give you a future full of hope. When you pray to the Everlasting God, you are praying to the God whose Son is called the Alpha and the Omega. He is the God whose love endures forever.

Eternal also helps me relate to beliefs that are expressed in terms like "absolute" and "unchanging". I don't have positive associations with beliefs that are expressed with these words because most often they are used to support repressive and demeaning judgments against people who are different. My experience is that references to God's truth as absolute and unchanging are asserted during times of fear and change, not to enable people to consider and reflect on new ideas, but instead to shut down dialogue and halt interaction and even refuse community to people who hold different beliefs.

Absolute and unchanging are strong words to associate with beliefs and with the character of God. They express the power of God's truth and love. I accept Eternal, "The Word" that chose me, to declare that power in life-giving and life-changing ways. What's your word?

Peace, Pastor Jeff