University Temple Senior Pastor Rev. Dr. Mary P. Boyd

I’ve just returned from a month in Jordan, working at the archaeological dig at Tall al’Umayri.

It has been wonderful to spend time out in the field, in the glorious sunshine, uncovering remnants of the past with pick and trowel.... I love being in Jordan, where the people have a wonderful welcoming spirit. The trip to Petra is always a joy and I was able to explore some new things.

As I dug, I thought about those people who lived long ago, who laid the stones for the buildings, who made the pottery that we find.

From Our Pastor . . .

The walls and pottery were made by humans, and their presence reveals a bit of those people. But it is such a tiny bit that we find! The walls aren’t complete, the pottery is broken, and the textiles and food have long since rotted away. Their lives were richer and more complex than the things they left behind. They lived in families and communities, and worked to provide food and shelter.

These people lived 2500-3000 years ago. That’s a long time. It’s hard to jump across this tremendous gap of years to see the ancient reality. But that got me thinking about time. Living in the Northwest, what we consider “old” is really pretty new. If something is 150 years old, that means it was part of the early settlement of the Washington Territory. Moving to the East Coast, “old” is a bit earlier, as we visit 18th century colonial Williamsburg. All that is recent compared to the world of the Middle East.

Thinking about time gives me perspective on the present. I can feel overwhelmed by today—the problems we find, the decisions we must make.

Then I draw back and look at it from the perspective of the ages. People have struggled, made decisions, had babies, worked hard, grew old and died. And the Spirit has been with them, coaxing them into richer relationships, challenging them to be courageous. We are but a brief moment in the rich panorama of history, one thread in the tapestry of time. We are not the first to make difficult decisions, and we won’t be the last. God is our hope for years to come, as Isaac Watts wrote.

So we are called to delight in the time that we are given, greeting the challenges of our day, using the gift of our lives to share God’s love with all creation. We view our lives with the perspective of the years. We are but one moment in God’s work throughout history. We learn from the past, and live our lives wisely, with hope for the future.

Blessings,
- Mary