“All around you, people will be tiptoeing through life, just to arrive at death safely. But dear children, do not tiptoe. Run, hop, skip, or dance, just don’t tiptoe.”

― Shane Claiborne

Finally, 2020 is coming to an end! It has been a very long year, indeed, replete with political drama, racial tension and unrest, and partisan political drama. Most folks with whom I speak are ready to start fresh with a new year and just forget about the one now ending. We have learned and become accustomed this year to taking extra precautions to safeguard our health and the health of others. We have been exposed in a very real way to the notion of putting the good of the community over our own self-interest. We have discovered new ways to give of ourselves and to look after our friends, families and neighbors. And as the urgent nature of the global situation has come to our front door, many of us have engaged in a more serious consideration of the deeper things of life.

There is no doubt that this year has been more challenging and fraught with sacrifice than any that most of us have experienced. Along with the immense difficulties and sacrifice, however, we have become stronger. For those of us who claim Jesus Christ and his way of living as the way for our own lives, this year has been a crash course in discipleship. Unknowingly, as we have spent so many of our days in our own homes either by ourselves or with our immediate families, we have been learning to run, hop, skip and dance the Way of Love. Jesus often suggested that the Kingdom of God is sneaky, and the Kingdom has snuck right into our very midst.

I am in complete agreement with Shane Claiborne as he warns us against tiptoeing through our lives, progressing each day in fear. Fear keeps us from experiencing God’s Kingdom. It restricts us from seeing and responding to those in need. Fear sucks the life right out of us. There is nothing about the life of Jesus that suggests that he was living it tentatively or in fear. Further, Jesus constantly exhorts his disciples to “fear not,” and we, modern disciples, should heed his exhortation as well.

 This does not mean that we should back away from the precautions that we have embraced for our own and others’ safety. Now, more than ever, we must be vigilant in the safety practices that we have learned and patient as the vaccines get disseminated. But it does mean that we should consider each day as another spectacular opportunity to embrace the life that God has given us and to partner with God in extending that life into the world. The needs of the world are immense, and Christ is counting on us to be his heart and hands in this community and beyond.

So, a toast to 2020… despite the challenges, the sadness, and the sacrifices of so many, thanks for making us a stronger people, prepared to let the love of God flow through our lives.. And a toast to 2021… may this year be one of great courage as we run, hop, skip, and dance with Christ.

~Father Art