I am at the beginning of a 40-Day Journey with Gerard Manley Hopkins during my morning devotions, and thought one of the instructions for the day quite apt: “Pray in praise and thanksgiving for God’s creation.” The day’s two Bible readings helped prompt such prayer:
But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being.
(Job 12:7-10)
Praise the LORD from the earth, you sea monsters and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and frost, stormy winds fulfilling his command! Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! Wild animals and all cattle, creeping things and flying birds!
(Psalm 148:7-10)
I have so many things to be thankful for here at CPJ: we are blessed with a wise and visionary board, I am blessed with enterprising and diligent colleagues in Jim and Doreen Skillen (and soon Stephanie Summers), we enjoy the support of a faithful and encouraging network of associates, we have good work to do under the provident guidance of a good and trustworthy God, and we live at a moment when the prospects are good for our work to flourish and bless others. With my dear friend (and favorite bookseller) Byron Borger I rejoice that we live in a moment when an abundance of Christian writers and publishers are “doing books about social justice, for and from the new generation who are serving the poor, and resources for those who are taking up this struggle to seek God’s reign in ways that bring hope to the hurting and hungry.” (And yes, Byron does mention CPJ in his Thanksgiving note.)
As a family we Strausses also have much for which we are grateful: among many other things, Angela and I enjoy the privilege of meaningful, remunerative work, she as a church musician and liturgist, I here at CPJ and as the editor of Comment magazine; our daughters Tala and Hannah are daily making fresh discoveries and diligently persevering in the faithful practice of their skills as students, Tala as a first-year student at Gordon College and Hannah as a high school senior; we enjoy the freedom to gather for worship with the good folk of New City Church, and to share the good news of the life, death and resurrection of Christ and the reign of God.
But what I am most grateful for today, prompted by my morning devotions, is bees. Angela came home from fetching Tala (home for Thanksgiving) at the airport yesterday all enthused by a radio program she had heard about the wonders of bee life and of honey, and deeply concerned over the crisis of colony collapse threatening the honeybee population of North America. As I listened to her, spooning a little honey into my rooibos tea, it is for these creatures that my heart filled with thanks. What a wonderful God, to have made the bee! May our gratitude continue to translate into caring stewardship and ingenious work to let bees flourish and participate in the disclosure of the rich possibilities of God’s world.