Day 45 – Put on your white clothes
Prayer for the week
Start you day with this prayer
Symbol: Notebook
Prayer
Lord, our Creator, we still find ourselves in liminality. We are realising, more and more, that we can never return to our lives as it were before Covid-19; and at the same time we don’t know what a life without Covid-19 even looks like. It feels as if the pause button has been pressed, while life must carry on in some way or another, and we try to keep some semblance of normality and routine.
Some of us had big dreams and plans for this year and for the immediate future, Lord, and it’s a heavy burden to know that these must be postponed or altered indefinitely. Birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, family gatherings, time with friends, visiting grandparents just aren’t possible at this time. We miss those we love, those we so sorely want to embrace, and whom we want to hold and reassure that we care about them and have not forgotten them.
We are worried about those that are ill and in hospital. And it hurts even more to lose someone in this time, especially as we cannot be surrounded by a caring community. Our hearts are filled with emotion, Lord. The uncertainty makes us feel rebellious, tired, sad, angry and hopeless.
May You, the great Comforter, remind us that You are close to us and that we are your children, that we breathe life through your Holy Spirit, and in doing so can inhale your comforting grace. Show us how we can still dream, still cling to the hope that a time will come when we can experience community again.
Help us, Lord, to reach out to each person who feels alone in this time. May we be representatives of You, the living God, who loves and cares for us with undying, uncomprehending love.
Amen.
Reflection
Read this reflection on the text for the day.
Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do. Always be clothed in white, and always anoint your head with oil – Ecclesiastes 9:7-8.
Believers know that God is filled with joy. Along with the psalmist they are rejoicing in the new day that the Lord has made. They are daily joy makers and joy givers. They don’t wait for an official holiday on their calendar before they start celebrating. They experience and enjoy every day as if it were a day of celebration.
In Ecclesiastes 9 we read that we should wear white clothes every day and treat our hair with oil. In the biblical times people were poor. They owned only one or two sets of clothes and then had one special set of clothes for celebrations and festivities. When people wore their festive clothes, everyone knew there would be a special occasion.
The author’s advice is that people shouldn’t save their white clothes for special occasions only, but rather wear it every day. We shouldn’t wait for a day of celebration to come along; we should make every day an occasion to celebrate. Our clothes should show it. Our lifestyle too.
This is also why we should anoint our heads with oil. In the biblical times people put a little bit of expensive oil on their guests’ hair when they showed up for a feast. The author says we should do it to ourselves often. Other people should be able to smell the celebration on us.
Jesus’ followers choose deliberately to fill each day with joy, even though the day might not be so great. God’s people choose to wear their festive clothes and use their special oil. They choose, like Paul, to sing songs of praise in jail. Their passion for life is overwhelming. They emanate hope, strength and life.
Lord, thank you for all my blessings. Help me to find my joy in You each day and for that joy to be even more contagious than any virus, so that the whole world will sing songs of praise like Paul, even though it feels like we’re imprisoned. Amen.
Liturgy for life
See the ordinary things you do in and around the house as signs of God’s care.
This week: Think differently about your cell phone charger
I don’t phone my wife often. Not because I don’t want to. I don’t have to. My office and her office are 10 steps apart in our house. We meet each other in the hallway when we want to talk about something. She doesn’t expect me to call her. But every once in a while she has to go to the city for meetings, and then I phone her … if her phone’s battery has not died.
In the last few years it has happened often that she sent me a message that her phone’s battery is about to die and that I should phone her now, otherwise I won’t be able to reach her. I’ve teased her many times about this dead cell phone and then refer to the story Jesus told about the 10 servant girls and their lamps. “Your lamp is going out again …” is a saying in our house that refers to a dead cell phone.
But what was Jesus’ true intention with this parable? Here is an attempt at a modern version.
Imagine you have a teenage girl at home. She and her highschool sweetheart were torn apart by the monster called Lockdown. The boyfriend lives on the edge of the Karoo and they don’t have good cell phone reception there. He lets her know via SMS that he will be phoning her later that day. She will make sure that her phone is charged. She might even arrange for a power bank or a generator, just to make sure her phone is ready for that call. It gets late, and she falls asleep, but when the call comes through around 00:15 she is wide awake and her phone is charged. There is great joy in the house because she could speak to her loved one again.
The point of this story is that we should wait with anticipation and hope.
Currently we must also wait with hope and anticipation for what is to come. It’s the same kind of waiting that Jesus’ parable asks of us as believers. This Covid-19 time can be a very suited metaphor to help us think about the time all believers are waiting for: the end of times, the second coming of our Lord. We should be prepared for this new time, even if we don’t know when it will arrive.
What do we do to prepare? We live according to the Bible. We love one other and ourselves. We take care of other people. We repair what is broken. We practice love in our homes.
Start a new habit this week every time you charge your phone. Remind yourself of the parable of the 10 servant girls that Jesus told and ask yourself if you are living with hope and anticipation today for the time to come. Charge your phone, fill your lamp, because the wonderful day will arrive when the call comes through.
Children’s activity
Play with your children.
Wow! 21 Days of isolation. 21 Days in which we’re only allowed to be in our homes (or gardens) and can only go out for the most essential things like food and medicine. It can be a little rough! All the things we usually do during the day, like school, sport, church … are not happening anymore. It can really confuse you and maybe even bore you a little. These daily readings will help you to spend some time with Jesus every day in a creative and fun way. You can do these readings and activities by yourself, with your siblings, or with your entire family. Ask one of the grownups to post your activity on Facebook so that others can enjoy it with you. Tag it with #solitudecalendar #churchtogether
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People often have a favourite outfit. Maybe there are some of your clothes that you really like and that you wear to very special occasions. God invites us every day to make that day a reason for celebration. We might not be wearing our best clothes, but luckily we don’t need those clothes to celebrate.
– How can we celebrate every day?
– Why do you think God wants us to celebrate every day?
Activity
Invite everyone in your home to a special meal tonight. Ask how you can help to prepare the food, set the table, and ask everyone to dress up. Celebrate together and remember that God fills our lives with joy.
Picture this
Look at this week’s illustration.
Talk to the people in your home or with your friends on WhatsApp about the illustration.
– What stands out to you?
– Take note of the things you see, but also of the things that aren’t present in the illustration.
– What would you like to add?
– How does this illustration connect with today’s Scripture, and how not?
Create your own interpretation of the illustration through any medium: dance, photography, videography, music, poetry, drawing, painting or short stories.
Record it and share it with us on social media with the hashtag #countdowndoodles
