Conse--what?

This next Sunday at our church is what we call Consecration Sunday. It is sort of like what New Year's Day is all about: Looking back and looking ahead. It's like the old Greek god Janus, who had a face that looked forward and a face that looked backwards. An appropriate god to provide the name for the month of January.


But this isn't specifically about a new year, although in a sense it is. In agricultural communities, the harvest is pretty much past, crops are in storage or have been sold. There is a time of settling accounts and seeing how things turned out. Then comes the time of planning for next year. What should be planted? What plans should we make?


The same is true of churches, as well as our personal lives. On Consecration Sunday, we look both forward and backward. We look backward and recall all that God has blessed us with. We give thanks for these blessings and then reflect upon how we might pass those blessings on to others. A blessing hoarded is a blessing lost, so keep those blessings alive by moving them on! We look to the future by considering how we can be a part of blessing the world.


This is where the act of consecration comes in. Consecration refers to the act of setting something aside for God to use. Consecration arises out of the recognition that all that we have comes as a gift from God. By consecrating our gifts, whatever those gifts may be, we participate in God's "gifting" of the world. 


For instance, check out Psalm 116. In this Psalm the writer begins by recounting how God delivered and rescued him/her:

For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death,
       my eyes from tears,
       my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before the LORD
       in the land of the living.

This then leads directly into the writer's deeply heartfelt response:

How can I repay the LORD
       for all his goodness to me?
  I will lift up the cup of salvation
       and call on the name of the LORD.
  I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
       in the presence of all his people.

This is consecration: fulfilling our vows to God in the presence of God's people. And not only fulfilling our vows, but also making our vows. This next Sunday is that time in which, like the Psalmist, we recount in our hearts all that God has done for us and then ask, "How can I repay God for all his goodness to me?"

Come and consecrate.
come and celebrate.

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 19, 2011 at 9:36 PM

    The SENATORS and WARD have a SHIP?
    ONTARIO?
    Is this with SAHARA REDPATH?
    This is the CONSE business with HOUSTON, TEXAS?
    This is the MEL MARINEZ " special" with REMMY GENTO LITTL ZZOO?
    GE?
    Torture CHENEY?
    And AMPHYM?
    And this is the CONSE business that's with the BUNN BUNN 5 ?
    And they are also with the MASTESPANKER 69?
    Please confirm because I want my money's worth if I am going to invest in PETWOOD- OSIRIS - HYDRA.

    ReplyDelete

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