Author: Erin Newton

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When Life Feels Meaningless

Links for today’s readings:

Jan 7  Read: Job 7 Listen: (2:23) Read: John 7 Listen: (5:53)

Scripture Focus: Job 7:13-16

13 When I think my bed will comfort me
    and my couch will ease my complaint,
14 even then you frighten me with dreams
    and terrify me with visions,
15 so that I prefer strangling and death,
    rather than this body of mine.
16 I despise my life; I would not live forever.
    Let me alone; my days have no meaning.

Reflection: When Life Feels Meaningless

By Erin Newton

It’s 8am; my alarm goes off with the alert: “Good brain meds.” When my doctor prescribed medication for my worsening anxiety, I was a little disappointed. Four decades had I coped and managed and now—I couldn’t even function.

Job and I are good friends. A miserable soul he is, and I like that. He’s a man of suffering and familiar with pain (Isa 53.3), but unlike our Lord, he does open his mouth. He complains.

The story of Job opens with a heavenly scene where we, the readers, get an inside view of what lies behind Job’s suffering. But Job is on the receiving end of pain and misery. He is in deep grief over the loss of his children. He is in deep financial ruin. He’s now covered in sores. And his wife and friends aren’t the best comforters.

Job’s words feel personal. We are familiar with the exhaustion at the end of the day, looking at going to sleep as our only comfort. We then toss and turn in our beds, sometimes (in my case it was daily) tormented by nightmares. We despise the chronic pain in our body or the instability of our minds. Leave me alone, we beg.

The beauty of the book of Job is the rawness of emotions. Finally! Someone gets it! We commiserate with Job and his pain. We have been there too. Maybe we are there now.

“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10.10). “Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy” (John 16.22).

Life and joy are promises. They are given by God even if our minds cannot grasp it. It’s not really our duty to feel the joy he’s giving us all the time. We can try and we can pray for it. But the life and joy he promises are more deeply rooted than our own feelings.

As this new year begins, I encourage you to seek help if Job’s words sound like your own. I have. I have found help from friends and family, spiritual guides, pastors, biblical and regular counseling. I have a psychiatrist and doctor at my side now too.

We are so thankful that you are here today. Stay. May the joy that cannot be taken away be tangible even today.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. — Psalm 86.4

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more about Counting Waves

The disciples urged Jesus to awake, their voices strained with fear. “Teacher, do you not care if we drown?”

Counting Waves
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Reflection on a Year Gone By

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What has this year in the scriptures meant to you? Would you mind telling us?

  • How has your prayer life changed?
  • What passages surprised you with new meaning or relevance?
  • What passages did you read for the first time, or did you see a new detail you never noticed?
  • What passages came into your inbox at just the time in the year when you needed them?

We’d love to know how God spoke to you through the scriptures this year. Drop a note to info@theparkforum.org and put “2025 Scripture Reflection” in the subject line.

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Links for today’s readings:

Dec 31   Read: 2 Chronicles 36 Listen: (4:26) Read: Psalms 149-150 Listen: (1:36)

Jan 1  Read: Job 1 Listen: (3:38) Read: John 1 Listen: (6:18)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 150

1 Praise the Lord.

Praise God in his sanctuary;
    praise him in his mighty heavens.
2 Praise him for his acts of power;
    praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3 Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet,
    praise him with the harp and lyre,
4 praise him with timbrel and dancing,
    praise him with the strings and pipe,
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals,
    praise him with resounding cymbals.

6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord.

Reflection: Reflection on a Year Gone By

By Erin Newton

In many places on New Year’s Day (or Eve), we sing “Auld Lang Syne,” a Scottish song that celebrates the practice of remembering those who have been in our lives for a long time.  

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?

And who has been in our lives as long as God? Like the changing of seasons, this last day of the year allows us time to reflect, meditate, and continue the Advent practice of remembering what God has done—not only the birth of Christ but his daily caring of our lives.  

As we gather in our homes or with friends and family, we celebrate milestones. We look back at the accomplishments and hardships we’ve overcome. We remember the difficult times and those we have lost. We grieve the plans that did not turn out the way we wanted. We thank God for the plans that did.

Reflection can be a spiritual practice. The Bible instructs his people to tell of the great deeds of history to each generation. The whole concept of the gospel is telling good news to others. You remember. You relive. You root yourself in what God had done.

Just as the book of Psalms ends with a call to praise God, we too should note how he has carried us through this year, enabled our perseverance, granted us blessings, answered prayers, and steadied our doubting hearts.

Unlike the end of a book, we are simply turning the page to a new chapter. God will continue to be with us in the next challenges and the next victories. Not much of the future can be foretold with certainty but one thing is: God is with us. And that is worthy of praise.

Along with making goals and affirmations for the new year, let us reflect on…

   – A time this year that God brought you joy.
   – A time this year that God gave you peace.
   – A time this year that God calmed your sorrows.
   – A time that solidified what you believe.
   – A time when God helped you endure.
   – A verse that steadied your heart.
   – A hymn that brought you comfort.
   – A truth that changed you.
   – A person you prayed for.

May we begin the new year with hope in our Lord who has, and will be, a firm foundation.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

I will call upon God, and the Lord will deliver me.

In the evening, in the morning, and at noonday, I will complain and lament, and he will hear my voice.

He will bring me safely back…God who is enthroned of old, will hear me. — Psalm 55.17

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

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Peace for Our Path – Peace of Advent

Links for today’s readings:

Dec 12  Read: 2 Chronicles 13  Listen: (3:56) Read: Psalms 119.49-72 Listen: (15:14)

Links for this weekend’s readings:

Dec 13  Read: 2 Chronicles 14-15  Listen: (5:49) Read: Psalms 119.73-96 Listen: (15:14)
Dec 14  Read: 2 Chronicles 16  Listen: (2:51) Read: Psalms 119.97-120 Listen: (15:14)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 119:106

105 Your word is a lamp for my feet,
    a light on my path.

Reflection: Peace for Our Path – Peace of Advent

By Erin Newton

Robert Frost penned “The Road Not Taken” in 1915.

     I shall be telling this with a sigh

     Somewhere ages and ages hence:

     Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

     I took the one less traveled by,

     And that has made all the difference.

Some tend to read a hopeful tone, seeing the untraveled road as a counter-cultural move. Frost admitted that the speaker echoes the laments of a friend who consistently regretted whichever path he had not taken. But therein lies the irony of life. Some paths are brave; others are disappointing. Some are good; some are dreadful.

The diversity of our options is one of God’s greatest gifts to us. We are granted a measure of creativity in how our lives go. Some paths, however, are laid under our feet. Hardships and difficulty come upon us, perhaps having no measurable connection to any decision we’ve made. It just happens. On those paths, it feels rather dark and trepidatious.

I imagine Mary and Joseph seeing their calling as a daunting road to travel. She responded with joy, but we know she must have questioned how the path laid before her was really going to work out. Raise a divine child? I don’t envy that calling! Joseph struggled with his part in the story, even the “right choice” to dismiss Mary was one he likely struggled with. Accepting his role as the guardian of the divine infant is literally the most untraveled road in history.

But we know that they were guided and encouraged (and helped!) by messengers from God and friends and family. Their path was not a darkened, obscure journey. It was lit by the Light of the World—the very same Prince of Peace who called them would be the one to guide them.

I have found myself walking down the unexpected path of raising a special needs child or burying my mother or struggling against my own intrusive thoughts. I have often thought, “I don’t know how I’ll do this,” as I take one step after another.

I have tried to think of peace as a source of light in my life. When there is no peace, it does feel awfully dark.

As we reflect on the peace of Advent, may we ask for God to light our paths—which I think might just mean finding peace where we are.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness,…make your way straight before me. — Psalm 5.8

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Read more: Peace from Uncertainty — Peace of Advent

This is no Canaanite tale of a weak god against the sea-serpent. This is Emmanuel. The God who puts the dragon on the leash…

Peace from Uncertainty — Peace of Advent
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The Absurdity of Peace – Peace of Advent

Links for today’s readings:

Dec 11  Read: 2 Chronicles 11-12 Listen: (6:00) Read: Psalms 119.25-48 Listen: (15:14)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 119: 41-42

41 May your unfailing love come to me, Lord,
    your salvation, according to your promise;
42 then I can answer anyone who taunts me,
    for I trust in your word.

Reflection: The Absurdity of Peace – Peace of Advent

By Erin Newton

Every nativity scene portrays Jesus in his most vulnerable state. This baby is the Prince of Peace? The Almighty God? It sounds absurd.

But Advent is absurd. It is unthinkable that a God of infinite power would limit himself by taking on flesh or that a baby would rule nations. But the absurdity is measured by our human (limited) expectations.

It is the unimaginable aspect of Advent that draws us in each year. It is the unexpected works of God that we celebrate and we hope for. Advent reminds us that our hope does not align with what the world offers.

Though we know little from the text about Mary’s experience during pregnancy, we know that Joseph feared the community would shame her. Taunting was a real threat. Their journey could not have been without sideways glances or hushed whispers when she walked by. Joseph likely feared the taunts when people learned the truth. But she resolutely followed through with what God had called her to do—because she trusted in his word.

Most of us will not receive a level of taunting that causes anything more than hurt feelings, bruised egos, strained relationships, and perhaps a little embarrassment. But when we live fully trusting in God’s word, we might be questioned about our decisions or our demeanor. It is far more likely for a friend to ask a piercing “Why?” when we are following Christ.

Can we call these questions “taunts”? Probably not. We are not like Elijah on Mount Carmel battling the false prophets of Baal. But the motive behind the question hinges on the perspective that God being incarnated into a tiny baby is an absurd idea. Who is this God? Is he really all that powerful? Prove it.

The Prince of Peace’s first advent was in frailty and meekness and in a body completely dependent on two trusting parents. Mary and Joseph trusted in the words spoken to them. They faced potential ridicule because they trusted in God more than the world’s expectation.

As we look at the peace that came with Advent, we see the absurdity of it all. The Virgin pregnant. The Infinite in flesh. The Almighty swaddled.

The absurdity of the peace of Advent gives us confidence that we can face the world’s questions or criticisms. Our peace defies reality. Peace from God sometimes looks ridiculous. The peace born from Advent is unlike any other. Praise God.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting

Seven times a day do I praise you, because of your righteous judgments. — Psalm 119.164

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

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Read more: Peace from Strife — Peace of Advent

There is the expectation…The Redeemer will come with swords and fire and plagues! But you turn the page and find a baby…

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Peace in a World Not Our Home – Peace of Advent

Links for today’s readings:

Dec 10  Read: 2 Chronicles 10  Listen: (3:01) Read: Psalms 119.1-24 Listen: (15:14)

Scripture Focus: Psalm 119: 18-19

18 Open my eyes that I may see
    wonderful things in your law.
19 I am a stranger on earth;
    do not hide your commands from me.

Reflection: Peace in a World Not Our Home – Peace of Advent

By Erin Newton

“This world is not our own”—a phrase we have heard many times. It is an idea that ought to bring us peace. It should identify us as strangers on this earth. But we fall prey to the attempts of conforming to our world and its wishes, its desires, its motivations, its means.

But this world is not always kind, and motivations are often self-serving or abusive. The goals of one sometimes mean the subjugation of another. We cannot be at home here, not now, not as it is.

The prophets cried out in the wilderness against the same social injustices we have not found freedom from yet. We join the call: “Prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert  a highway for our God” (Isa 40:3).

And so one day, Christ left his home in the heavens to abide with us. Now, he bids us all to leave our home here and join him. We are, in fact, strangers on earth.

We are estranged from the impulses of society, the human-centered goals of a self-centered populace. For such reasons, we must see the beauty and wonder of God’s law. We must find peace in going a different direction than what the world says is “the way.” The Way tells us to find our peace in him.

Wendell Berry expresses the need for “the peace of simple things” in his poem “The Want of Peace”:

     All goes back to the earth,
     and so I do not desire
     pride of excess power,
     but men who have had little:
     the fisherman’s silence
     receiving the river’s grace
     the gardener’s musing on rows.

     I lack the peace of simple things.
     I am never wholly in place.
     I find no peace or grace.
     We sell the world to buy fire,
     our way lighted by burning men,
     and that has bent my mind
     and made me think of darkness
     and wish for the dumb life of roots.

As we reflect on the peace of knowing we are truly strangers here—never exactly conforming, never assimilating to those around us—we find peace. The peace of Advent is rooting ourselves in who God calls us to be.

Let us find the peace of simple things. Let go of the ways of the world and embrace the beauty of God’s direction in your life. The peace of Advent calls us to our true home.

Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading

In due course John the Baptist appeared; he proclaimed this message in the desert of Judaea, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is close at hand.’ This was the man spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said: A voice of one that cries in the desert, ‘Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.’ This man John wore a garment made of camel-hair with a leather loin-cloth round his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judaea and the whole Jordan district made their way to him, and as they were baptized by him in the river Jordan they confessed their sins. — Matthew 3.1-6

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

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Read more: People of Two Cities

The righteous, eternal city…is a city of people who trust God for their peace. It is a shelter for refugees escaping the wicked city.

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