Pastor’s Column 9/28/2025

PASTOR’S COLUMN

10 “And Nehemiah  continued, “Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods andsweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord.  Do be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”   ​           Nehemiah 8:10,NLT

                                       ​           ​                                           “From Sadness to Gladness!”

In this life it is not always easy to turn things around quickly. More often we must encounter some process that will jettison us to the other side of our dilemma. A debilitating illness must inevitably yield to healing. The silver lining must eventually appear in a dark cloud that persists over us. Failure must take us through a learning process to ultimately lead us to success.  These experiences are not merely a passive way of looking at life – but they speak to the fact that all things and experiences have a transcendent purpose. We should always look at the bright and joyful moments in life as an endorsement of the fact, as Dr. Howard Thurman asserted, “The contradictions in live are neither final nor absolute.” As our God-fearing, embolden elders would sing on Sunday, “There’s a bright side somewhere… Don’t you rest until you find it.” Our search to experience and contribute to making things “right” and “just” must never be illusive. The clarity of our faith and hope is realized in the dissipation of sadness before the exaltation of joy. This point was not lost with Ezra, the great priest of the Jewish survivors after a long period of exile in Babylon. Freedom from physical oppression must be immediately followed by the eradication of psychological, spiritual and emotionalbondage. The people were summoned to the plaza in the Water Tower. The area was retrofitted with a platform, or bimah, which was elevated enough for the people to hear the Book of the Law read. As the people listened to the Word, they wept, as an act of repentance. They expressed communal grief for their past suffering. But learning the “joy of the Lord” was their perpetual strength, their sadness turned to joy, gladness, and a time of feasting!