Prayer As We Ask "What's It All About?"

Wednesday June 3, 2020

What’s It All About?

Lots of questions have been raised in the minds of people during this pandemic and time of social change, physical distancing, social distancing, and quarantine. What is the family life/work life balance? How do we relate to others in meaningful ways? What’s the reason we wake up each day? What’s behind the choices we make, the work we do, the activities that fill each 24 hour block?

I’m about to date myself but “back when I was young” the famous songwriter Burt Bacharach wrote a song, “What’s It All About Alfie?” I probably related to the song because my heart was very heavy in those days and I had a lot of questions that didn’t seem to have good answers. Some of you will also remember it.

What’s It All About Sung By Dionne Warwich: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCZNzydsLzU

Some of the lyrics were:

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT ALFIE?

What's it all about Alfie

Is it just for the moment we live

What's it all about

When you sort it out, Alfie

Are we meant to take more than we give

Or are we meant to be kind?

And if, if only fools are kind, Alfie

Then I guess it is wise to be cruel

And if life belongs only to the strong, Alfie

What will you lend on an old golden rule?

As sure as I believe there's a heaven above

Alfie, I know there's something much more

John the Baptist helps us focus in on what ultimately matters and where everything leads no matter what gets disrupted, even significantly, in our world such as this COVID-19 pandemic. Somehow the clutter was removed from John’s eyes and everything he did throughout the changing circumstances of His life was focused on one thing. Here’s how he saw it, in his own words:

John replied in the words of the prophet Isaiah:

“I am a voice shouting in the wilderness,

Clear the way for the Lord’s coming!”

I have been baptizing with water

so that he [Jesus] might be revealed to Israel.

John 1:23, 31

God has a plan and a purpose for our lives. It will be individually expressed according to the personal set of personality, skills, experience, and training but at it’s core, it’s a point of unity and focus with everyone else. Circumstances like the spread of the virus bring about changes in circumstances and activities but at the heart of our existence and what brings stability to each day is the fact that we are called to be witnesses to who Jesus is and what He has come to earth to do for each one of us. This is God’s mandate for each one of us every day of our lives. It’s a great joy to express pure love and joy and peace and blessing.

Heavenly Father, as simply as we can today we want to clear the clutter and focus in on what matters, and live the answer to the question, “What’s It All About?” We’re so grateful that nothing can separate us from Your love and Your good plan for us. Our thoughts may get foggy every now and then and emotions may rise and fall but through it all we know God that You will hold our heart and steady us so we can stay on track and move forward on the only agenda that ultimately matters.

No power in the sky above

or in the earth below—

indeed, nothing in all creation

will ever be able to

separate us from the love of God

that is revealed

in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:39

We may not know the specifics of how we’re going to do that or what work environment we’ll express it in, what city we’ll be living in while we do it, but we thank You that we have the settledness and security of knowing that the hub around which all of our other life choices turn is this secure and steady fact. We are created to worship and serve the You, the God who created us in love and who is working all things together for good across time and societies.

We pray to be focused like John the Baptist so our lives help others to look and see the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Help us to keep our eyes focused on You, our unchanging powerful and loving God, and on what You are doing in the long range scheme of things.

Look! The Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world!

John 1:29

We don’t want to flail around with the news and upheaval of each day. We want to be informed and care but we want that to be centered in who we know You are and how You are very much in control of the ultimate agenda, even able to work good out of the tragic and upsetting things we read and see on the news.

We pray with the writer of the Psalm today who says:

May the words of my mouth

and the meditation

of my heart be pleasing to you,

O Lord, my rock

and my redeemer.

Psalm 19:14