I took a few days off this week . Then this morning was reminded of the hymn _How Can I Keep From Singing_. Here are the traditional lyrics (although Audrey Assad has a lovely expanded version). But this stanza catches me:
The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
a fountain ever springing!
All things are mine since I am his!
How can I keep from singing?
These lyrics were already in my mind as I approached this week’s texts, and I see their echo and resonance in them. Particular places stand out in light of this idea:
Job in great suffering saying, “Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?" (Job 2:10).
The Psalmist “singing aloud a song of thanksgiving, and telling all your wondrous deeds” (Psalm 26:7).
The Psalmic prayer: “You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet…” (Psalm 8:6).
Christ, “whom GOD appointed heir of all things, through whom GOD also created the worlds” (Hebrews 1:2).
Christ’s words: “it is to such as these [little children] that the kingdom of God belongs” (Mark 10:14).
All things are mine since I am in Christ. All things are mine since I am part of God’s divine whole, my “true self, hidden with Christ in God.” All things are mine, since Christ is heir of all things and so, therefore am I. All things are mine because I am the little child to whom the kingdom belongs.
I am more and more convinced that the lesson here is to learn to live as though this is true. If I, as a person who claims follower-ship (followship, ha!) of Christ, believe this, then I cease to live in scarcity. I adopt a reality of Kin-dom abundance. And I, with even my small weight, shift the balance of power in the world by way of this non-grasping, generous, fulfilled posture.
God, How can we keep from singing?
How can we keep our voices from echoing gratitude and wonder,
Or our hands from creating beauty and art,
Once we have come awake to your goodness;
Which encompasses all things,
Folding us in amongst the bounty of Christ’s riches …